MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Co-headlining a summer tour, folk-rock icon Bob Dylan and ex-Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh each brought a handful of ace musicians, drawing from blues, country, funk, jazz, folk and — of course — rock 'n' roll, to cook up two different yet complimentary sets at the Shoreline Amphitheater.

The show — Lesh and Dylan's second outing together, not counting a few Dylan and the Dead road trips in the 1980s — was short on special effects but long on musicianship.

"It's great working with Bob," Lesh said, seated at a picnic table backstage — not far from a giant skull-and-roses sculpture, a relic of Grateful Dead New Years' shows past and a permanent fixture at the amphitheater. "He's a legend, you know? He's an explorer, a warrior in his own way. I think it's a hell of a show, myself."

Dylan played first. His band wore suits, playing through vintage amplifiers before a shining, gold theatrical curtain, as they opened with a set of country-flavored, acoustic arrangements of the legendary singer/songwriter's classics.

In a dark suit, wide-collared shirt, red necktie and black-and-white shoes, Dylan looked the elder statesman yet acted the youthful rock 'n' roller, dancing in place like Elvis Presley as he traded licks with Texas guitar slinger Charlie Sexton, and ace sessions man Larry Campbell on guitars, mandolin and pedal steel.

Drummer David Kemper (the Jerry Garcia Band) and upright bassist Tony Garnier (Asleep at the Wheel) provided a loping country-rock backbone for "Duncan and Brady." The guitarists picked mariachi melodies on "Ramona."

Campbell stroked the mandolin as Dylan strummed and sang the first verse of "Tangled Up in Blue" as quiet folk. To the crowd's delight, Dylan blew a harmonica as the band took the many-versed tune into an extended acoustic jam.

Dylan Goes Electric

The band plugged in, and Sexton pulled bent leads on a rock 'n' roll "Crash on the Levee," locking in with Dylan and Campbell on a crescendoing staccato melody.

Kemper played sharp drum fills between Dylan's rapped-out verses on the rip-snorting "Drifter's Escape"; then Dylan blew the harp and answered call-and-response by the band's funk-chunky rock riffs. Dylan came close to a Chuck Berry duckwalk during "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat."

"I really liked seeing him play 'Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat,' " said Dan Selgelid, 29, who traveled from Eureka, Calif., for the show. "A nice, fat, stanky blues, man. He really ripped the roof off of it. You saw him getting down — he's like an old guy ... but he's still down there with his Stratocaster, just gettin' off. It was pretty cool."

After the dark rock groover "Things Have Changed" (RealAudio excerpt), from the Wonder Boys soundtrack, Dylan smiled as Sexton soloed high on his neck during "Like a Rolling Stone."

Many in the audience lit up for a country-blues take on "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35" — more commonly known as "Everybody Must Get Stoned." Campbell played the hook on the pedal steel as Dylan danced then dropped to one knee as he mixed it up on the guitar.

One Big Jam

Lesh, who has chosen to explore Grateful Dead music with new blood rather than tour with his ex-bandmates as the Other Ones, brought an all-star band to back him up, featuring guitarist Paul Barrere and keyboardist Billy Payne of Little Feat, as well as guitarist Robben Ford and drummer John Molo. Lesh's ever-changing Phil Lesh & Friends lineup has included members of the Allman Brothers Band, Hot Tuna, Phish and others.

"It's the way it always should be, and the way it was in a lot of ways in San Francisco in the '60s — if you'll forgive me for invoking that — and I just think it's a natural process," Lesh said of his revolving lineup. "Musicians grow in their art, and they want to look around and see what other contexts have to offer. ... It's all one big jam, you know?"

Lesh's set was, indeed, all one big jam as the band sought each other out through improvisation on the deep-pocket thumper "Viola Lee Blues," from the Dead's 1967 debut, and didn't stop playing until they reprised the tune nearly two hours later.

Lesh's band took each song far out into a jam. Lesh, a classically trained musician, occasionally signaled changes, reining it back into the song or letting it roll into the next tune.

Payne took a big electric piano break on Little Feat's "Fat Man in the Bathtub." Barrere screamed on slide while Molo kept the beat funky. Balloons bounced across the crowd during a "Friend of the Devil" that incorporated salsa rhythms before segueing into a soaring "Eyes of the World" — Lesh's first turn alone on lead vocals.

"Broken Arrow" (RealAudio excerpt) was slow and mellow, then Molo's jazzy drumming drew the band into a John Coltrane-inspired "My Favorite Things." Ford plucked the melody while Lesh played counterpoint, returning to the main theme several times as a launching point into different flavors of free-form jam.

Lesh again signaled time during parts of the complex "Terrapin Station." The song took on a dark, Middle Eastern-flavored funk, then tight, fast chops that are a hallmark of this lineup, before leading through a gospel-blues jam and back into "Viola Lee Blues."

Benefit auctions, online at eBay and other sites in conjunction with the tour, offer tickets, signed posters and other memorabilia — including a pencil drawing by late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and chances to select a song for Lesh to play in concert. Proceeds from the auction will be matched by Lesh and donated to school music programs in the cities the tour visits. The tour ends July 30 in Stanhope, N.J.