John Topper from Moe, Bob Kennedy from Deep Banana Blackout, and Darren Cohen from The Slip had all referenced "The Jammys" as an obvious play on "The Grammys.
"[3] Presenters included: Steve Bloom (High Times), Richard Gehr (The Village Voice), Lee Crumpton (Home Grown Music Network founder), Sam Kopper (first program director at WBCN in Boston, Phoenix Presents live engineer), John Scofield, Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone, VH1), Kirk West (The Allman Brothers Band archivist), and Jambands.com staff members.
The Jammy Awards featured performers including The New Deal (band), Frogwings, The Disco Biscuits & Les Claypool, Merl Saunders, John Scofield, Strangefolk, Susan Tedeschi, Deep Banana Blackout, Soulivem and The Slip.
Paul Shaffer sat in with Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade featuring Junior Brown for The Beatles' "Taxman" and King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet".
DJ Logic and guitarist Stanley Jordan performed with The Disco Biscuits featuring John Popper for Jane's Addiction's "Three Days" and Led Zeppelin's "Bring It On Home".
The show concluded with a two-stage dueling jam on The Meters' classic "Cissy Strut", which followed the presentation of the lifetime achievement award to George Porter Jr.
The song featured the Derek Trucks Band with special guests Porter (bass, the Meters), Popper (vocals, harmonica, Blues Traveler) and Jordan (guitar).
Next was Rusted Root, DJ Logic and guitarist Melvin Sparks, who played "Send Me on My Way" and "Ecstasy", with host John Popper (Blues Traveler) adding harmonica.
John Scofield was joined by saxophonist Skerik (Critters Buggin, Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade), drummer Stanton Moore (Galactic, Garage A Trois) and bassist Andy Hess (Gov't Mule).
Rat Dog was joined on the main stage by guitarist Trey Anastasio (Phish), Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, The Allman Brothers Band), Al Schnier (Moe), Popper, Abts, and DJ Logic.
Earlier in the set, Chris Robinson joined the Mule for a rendition of Neil Young’s "Southern Man",[6] Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Steve Winwood and his band took the stage for the evening’s finale, which opened with "Different Light."
For the final jam of the night, Betts and The String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang returned to the stage, along with the show’s host, Robert Randolph, who played guitar, and saxophonist James Carter for "Gimme Some Lovin'", one of Winwood's oldest hits, which he wrote at age 15 while in The Spencer Davis Group.
[8] 2004 JamOff winner Jonah Smith opened the ceremony with an hour-long set in the Theatre of Madison Square Garden’s lobby, while the Disco Biscuits autographed copies of the current issue of Relix magazine.
Next, a mixture band consisting of Joe Satriani, Steve Kimock, Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, horn player Willie Waldman, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey bassist Reed Mathis and Grace Potter performed a set.
Banjoist Bela Fleck led his band, the Flecktones, on their first performance at a Jammys, welcoming jazz legend McCoy Tyner and tap dancer Savion Glover to join them.
Both Page McConnell and Jon Fishman also delivered quick acceptance speeches, before handing over the microphone to Trey Anastasio, who thanked a number of key members in the Phish organization by name and described his former bandmates as his oldest friends.
The supergroup ran through a number of classic rock covers, including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Youngs "Find the Cost of Freedom", Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" (a staple on Potters tour with Govt Mule) and Al Green's, "Take Me to the River."
The strange bedfellows ran through a cover of The Flaming Lips' "In the Morning of the Magicians", before Mountain guitarist Leslie West took the stage with Rose Hill Drive for the evening's loudest offerings.
The hard-rock guitarist jammed with Rose Hill Drive and Potter on a version of "I'm Going Down" that included "Close Encounters", before offering his signature song, "Mississippi Queen".
The pair apparently bonded backstage and when Williams later took top honors in the Song on the Year category, he sent Chase onstage in his place for a humorous speech that included the line, "I want to thank Clive Davis just because I feel like I should."
The Fab Faux then busted into "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and Anastasio emerged partway through the song to thunderous applause to take an extended solo, before leading the group into a jam uncharacteristic of the cover act.
Brownstein, who has shied away from covering Phish over the years, described the group as his favorite band and led the charge through spot-on renditions of "Wilson," "Run Like An Antelope," "2001," and "Maze," the latter of which also featured Disco Biscuits keyboardist Aron Magner.