Phil Lesh [ tickets ]'s current batch of Friends may well be the best band the bassist's had since the Grateful Dead.

It's not the flashiest or the one with the biggest names in the lineup--given that previous incarnations of the Friends have featured John Scofield, Robben Ford and, at different times, three-fourths of Phish. Yet, this particular grouping is jelling in a fashion that, in many ways, tops what we've seen and heard in the past from Lesh's post-Dead project.

And, according to Lesh, the band is likely to get even better.

During a recent interview, the 67-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer spoke at length to me about how excited he was about the potential of this ensemble, which features lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jackie Greene [ tickets ], guitarist Larry Campbell, drummer John Molo and keyboardist Steve Molitz.

A few days later, he would showcase exactly what he was talking about when he led his Friends in concert on Saturday (1/26) at the Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco. The musical portion of the show was as colorfully entertaining as the crowd itself, which came out to this Mardi Gras celebration decked out in wild costumes and ready to toss/collect beaded necklaces.

Lesh said that the Mardi Gras/Chinese New Year's shows were always his favorites out of all the annual Grateful Dead bookings. Fans most looked forward to the other NYE gigs (on Dec. 31), but the bassist explained that the band usually delivered a more wholly satisfying show when they were celebrating Mardi Gras.

In that sense, it was just like old times for Lesh as he led this band in a rip-roaring two-set show that lasted nearly five hours. Not bad for a guy who will turn 68 in March.

Following a very appropriate opening set by Dumpstaphunk, featuring New Orleans music legend Ivan Neville, the headliners opened their first set with a rollicking run through the Grateful Dead party anthem "One More Saturday Night." The group moved like a juggernaut to start, dishing out the music like some absurdly talented bar band near closing time, and there was a sense of urgency to the songs.

Campbell, a veteran of Bob Dylan's band, seemed to set the mood as he ripped out Duane Allman-worthy leads on "Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)," a pure adrenaline rush of a song taken from the Dead's 1967 self-titled debut. Lesh would step up to the plate, combining with Molo and Molitz, to set a defiantly funky groove on the Wilson Pickett nugget "In the Midnight Hour."

The five-piece then soared into the stratosphere for "Viola Lee Blues," another offering from the Dead's debut, and the lengthy jam lasted for basically the second half of the first set.

Music, however, is only part of the Mardi Gras experience when Lesh is running the show. The set break included a costume contest--with the bassist as emcee--and the eventual winner was someone dressed as a giant dancing bear (the Dead's mascot). Go figure.

The second set kicked off with the title track to the Dead's "Shakedown Street" (1978) and then, as usual, the Fat City classic "Iko Iko." The group had to stretch out "Iko" a bit more than perhaps intended, since it served as the soundtrack for the slow-moving parade of floats and revelers that moved through the crowd, but it was such a fun version--with Neville sitting in--that nobody minded.

The highlight of the second set was a tremendous take on "Jack Straw." Greene did a great job on each of his numbers, but he did his best work on the ones that originally featured the Dead's Bob Weir on vocals ("Jack Straw," "One More Saturday Night").

At just 27-years old, and as an Americana music darling just testing the waters of the jam-band sea, Greene is seemingly an unlikely candidate to be one of Phil's Friends. Yet, the guy manages to fit in perfectly. What he lacks in experience, at least with this type of music, he makes up for versatility and sheer talent.

The last portion of the show was a full-on blast from the past as the group filled the time with some of the Dead's most beloved tunes, including "Fire on the Mountain," "St. Stephen," "Truckin'" and "I Know You Rider." Most in the house could have guessed the encore would be "Box of Rain," even though there are no sure things when it comes to Dead members' set lists.

Lesh handled vocals quite well on "Box of Rain," his signature song, and fans swayed, twirled and smiled broadly as the last notes of the evening washed over them. It was one last dose of Mardi Gras magic, courtesy of a man who has provided so much of it over the years.