21 July 2025

TERRAPIN ROADSHOW DELIVERS THE GOODS | San Rafael | 07.18.2025 – 07.19.2025 – 07.20.2025

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY GABRIEL DAVID BARKIN | PUBLISHED ON July 21, 2025

Terrapin Nation kicked up some major jams in San Rafael this weekend. Three shows at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre on the Dominican University campus featured a variety of Terrapin Crossroads veterans playing – what else? – a whole bunch of Grateful Dead music.

Scott Law and Stu Allen

Guitarists Stu Allen and Grahame Lesh played in the band all three days, accompanied by a different lineup for each show. Eric Krasno, Scott Law, Hollie Bowling, Jason Crosby, and Tim Bluhm were among the featured artists. Others included keyboardists Mookie Siegel and Scott Guberman, bass players Scott Padden, Pete Sears, and Brian Rashap, and drummers Anna Elvy, Alex Koford, Sean Nelson, Nathan Graham, and Danny Luehring. Elliott Peck, Sunshine (Garcia) Becker, and Alex Jordan contributed vocals.

Grahame Lesh

Guitarists including Greg Loiacono, Reed Mathis, Mark Karan, Barry Sless, and Jon Chi rounded out the incredible ensemble of Terrapin Crossroads veterans and others.

Eric Krasno

Each show featured two sets of music by the Terrapin Roadshow all-stars, with a different opening act each day. San Geronimo (from West Marin County, local heroes with a flavor of Neil Young and Commander Cody) played on Friday night. Grahame Lesh and Elliott Peck contributed a Midnight North set on Saturday. Sunday was opened by Mark Karan’s Buds.

Holly Bowling and Alex Jordan

Holly Bowling’s four-year-old son Rylan blew away the crowd with his own opening set on Sunday afternoon, crashing the drums for a ten-minute solo that drew the biggest cheers of the weekend.

Rylan Bowling

Among other musical highlights over three days:

“Terrapin Part 1” (yes, that’s the official name of the full song cycle on the album) was spread out over three days, with a different section of the suite played each night.

On Night 2, the second set closed with Jason Crosby‘s arrangement of “Casey Jones” lyrics sung to the tune of Pink Floyd‘s “Eclipse,” which is a familiar mash-up to fans who’ve seen Jason Crosby’s Crosby Collective.
Also on Night 2, Tim Bluhm sang Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man’s Blues”

Scott Law

Day 3 (Sunday was an afternoon show) opened with “Revolution.”
My favorite cover of the weekend: Mark Karan singing the Elvis Costello hit penned by Nick Lowe, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.” (Side note: We all know about all those variations of “WALSTIB” license plates, but now I’m thinking I may have to get one that says “WSFBPLU.”)

The crowd in the marvelous Forest Meadows Amphitheatre enjoyed ample, nearby, free parking (a treat worth mentioning!), and the ambience of an intimate theater bedecked with a stage backdrop for recent performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Sunny days and warm evenings contributed to the festive atmosphere.

Nathan Graham

Most of all, this was a homecoming of sorts for those of us who spent either a few or a ton of days nights at Terrapin Crossroads during its dozen-plus years in existence. Grahame Lesh summed it up at the close of Sunday’s show: