Playing in the Band

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History

“Two Roberts walked into a bar…” 

It sounds like a joke, but it is also  how a few of our favorite songs were written. Among the greatest pairs of Roberts in American music history, Hunter and Weir. Though Weir is better known for his work with the late, great John Perry Barlow, and Hunter is surely far better known for his work with the legendary Jerry Garcia, Weir had significant impact with several songs featuring lyrics by Hunter. 

“Daybreak on the land” is indeed an apt expression for the way the music of the Grateful Dead has lifted and enlightened the landscape of music over generations. At the same time, the lyrics at the same time poignantly capture the singer/band/artists point of view, that they are just a mechanism in the vehicle bringing the music to you. 

After all, a man is just a man. It’s easy to tell the future just look at what’s in your hand: the microphone, the instrument, what have you. It’s already there. All you have to do is play in the band. 

“PITB” is surely one of the most well-known Grateful Dead tunes. Not only is it from a wildly early point in their career, it was played well over 500 times. From its inception in their live show in a historic, debut-stacked performance on 2/18/1971 joining at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY, all the way through the band's final shows in July of 1995, the band would go on to play the song 581 times. 

As mentioned, the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter, and Bob Weir wrote the music with a credit for Mickey Hart as well. It was likely first recorded for Hart’s solo album, Rolling Thunder– where it is titled “The Main Ten” and features The Tower of Power and John Cippolina as well as bandmates Weir and Garcia–which would nevertheless not be released until later in the year after its recording premiere in its familiar form on Bob’s “solo” album Ace. 

Video by Mickey Hart

45 and a ½ years later, Phish played it for the very first time for public consumption with the man who wrote the music himself steering the way on the Ascend Amphitheater stage. In the true spirit of the song, much to the delight of the crowd, the band seamlessly segued into “PITB” from “West L.A. Fadeaway,” the first after a 383 show gap since Bobby’s lone previous guest appearance with the band at Shoreline Amphitheatre. 

It was the perfect, dare I say, the logical choice for the final segue of the evening. After deciding collectively with each other and agreeing with the band, yes, indeed, that we would “tear this whole building down,” it seemed fitting to be rounding out a set (and boy, what a set that was, I’ll tell ya that fer free). A set that was, effectively, a crowd truly playing with the band. 

Video by LazyLightning55a

I like to believe they felt that, too. I feel incredibly blessed to be the one writing this song’s history because the moment that opening guitar lick rang out and we as an audience collectively realized what was about to happen, I truly felt–and still feel to this day–that “Playing” was also an homage to us. 

Yes - us. The audience.

WE are the 6th man off the bench. WE are the 12th player on the gridiron. WE ARE PLAYING IN THE BAND. WE are all, together as one big unit, as an audience, a member of the band. Or, rather, an energy that the band and all of its own Secondhand Talent together needs as a fuel, a way to sustain itself through the final hurrah. There is so much that we can point to: the band, the crew, the cities, the venues. But at the end of it all remains, perplexingly, a consistent anomaly: WE are IT. 

[Writer’s Note: written while listening to 8/27/1972, Veneta OR.]

Last significant update: 12/14/2025

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