OAKLAND, Calif. — Phish bassist Mike Gordon, blues guitarist Robben Ford and members of Little Feat helped former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh celebrate his 60th birthday with a concert of Dead tunes and other treats on Friday.

Gordon sat in on the first two tunes — in which Lesh, surprisingly, played electric guitar — and returned for a bass duet and a turn on Phish's "Wolfman's Brother."

Lesh, who suffered from hepatitis C and underwent liver transplant surgery in 1998, donated proceeds to Bay Area organizations specializing in research and treatment of the illness. Lesh and actor Peter Coyote addressed the crowd about the need for research and funding, and organ-donor cards were distributed at the event.

But the show Friday was chiefly a celebration of the Grateful Dead subculture. A park adjacent to the Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium bustled with Deadheads catching up with old friends and selling wares, including beer, handmade jewelry and patchouli oil. Many wore "60 Years So Far" buttons bearing Lesh's photo. His birthday is Wednesday.

Lesh, strumming a red and white Fender Stratocaster guitar, opened with Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." Gordon played six-string bass, drawing the tune into a jam.

The band then cut into "Box of Rain" (RealAudio excerpt) from the Dead's 1970 LP American Beauty. Lesh, still on guitar, demonstrated new vocal inflections as narrow beams of green and blue light shimmered across the stage like water.

Into Darker Territory

Lesh took up the bass for the Dead's improvisational vehicle "Playin' in the Band," while Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere and Ford played the song's melodic leads in tandem, with Ford adding funky, double-time chops during the chorus.

Drummer John Molo supplied a polyrhythmic foundation with his kit as Lesh led the ensemble into darker territory. Barrere's blues-tinged leads steered the band into "Deal," from Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia's self-titled 1972 solo debut.

Little Feat keyboardist Billy Payne punched out rootsy keyboard lines and Barrere stroked uptempo rhythms, leading the group into a disco groove while Ford pulled riffs from high on his guitar's neck.

After Payne showcased his trademark swamp-rock piano boogie on Little Feat's "Oh Atlanta," Lesh surprised the audience again, singing a slowed-down, spooky, yet heartfelt cover of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." Barrere accelerated the rhythms as the tune relapsed into danceable funk.

Lesh played a minor-scale bassline to reprise the "Playin' in the Band" melody as a dirge, then issued a loud, deep note, dropping into "Franklin's Tower" (RealAudio excerpt), from the Dead's 1974 Blues for Allah.

" 'Franklin's Tower' was twice the speed it normally is and really didn't slow down," said 29-year-old Eric Chase of San Francisco. "What I've enjoyed these last few years with these Phil & Friends shows is the space between the songs where they turn it into something else. Instead of the same jam with the same people, they're taking the jam in a different direction."

Lesh — as Phil Lesh & Friends — has played with various lineups of Dead collaborators and members of jam-based bands such as the Allman Brothers, the String Cheese Incident and Phish since the Dead disbanded following Garcia's death in 1995.

Grooves And Riffs

Band and audience sang a rousing "Happy Birthday" as a multicolored sea of balloons dropped from the rafters.

The Dead's "Eyes of the World" followed in a fast rock groove. From there, Ford's thick-toned blues-rock riffs drove "Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues," from his Talk to Your Daughter (1998).

Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" (RealAudio excerpt) featured Barrere's searing slide guitar, while Ford played Garcia's melody lines on the 1978 Dead opus "Terrapin Station" (RealAudio excerpt).

The vast hall became silent as Gordon returned for a bass duet with Lesh. Gordon's four-piece Vermont band Phish are often considered heirs to the Dead's improvisational rock throne; Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Paige McConnell played with Lesh in 1999 — a historic meeting for fans of the genre — and Lesh joined Phish onstage last summer.

The two bassists locked in, then chased each other around the neck, switching off between thumping rhythmic basslines and higher-register melodic runs, occasionally perfectly in synch. (Video and audio clips of the duet are available at fansite www.philzone.com.)

The Dead standard "Morning Dew" led into a tight "St. Stephen," a calypso-flavored jam on "The Eleven" and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away." Gordon returned for Phish's "Wolfman's Brother," which Lesh sang, then another dark, loose jam reprising "Playin' in the Band."

"It definitely made me homesick for Garcia," Hope Price, 41, of San Francisco said. "I used to dance to Garcia's guitar, and I miss that, but I found my moments."