Two years, eight months, fifteen days. That’s how much time had transpired between Dead & Company’s very first public performance in 2015 and the moment they took the stage for their one hundred and eleventh show, in the welcoming atmosphere of Boulder’s Folsom Field on July 14th, 2018. The band was reaching the end of what had been widely hailed as its most satisfying tour to that point and spirits were high all around (insert your own Colorado altitude and/or legal weed joke here). What might the guys have up their collective sleeve to bring it all home in style?
The ecstatic roar that greets the opening notes of “China Cat Sunflower” will serve notice that the band made exactly the right choice of show opener. And what a “China Cat,” with expansive jams inserted within the song structure suggesting they might never get around to the tune’s constant companion, “I Know You Rider.” But get around to it they do, and then some! Having built up that formidable head of steam, they don’t let the pace slacken a bit, through a first set crammed full of audience favorites, including “Shakedown Street,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Althea,” “Cassidy” and “One More Saturday Night.”
After the intermission, another dependable crowd-pleaser: “Scarlet Begonias.” But just when you think you know where things are going, the band throws you a deft change-up – in place of the customary segue from “Scarlet” into “Fire On The Mountain” comes a hairpin turn into “Franklin’s Tower,” and then “Fire.” While the crowd is still digesting that little mind-blower, the band eases into “He’s Gone,” then a gradually-simmering-to-a-boil “The Other One,” bisected by Drums & Space. Out of that smoking crater ascends a deeply moving Bob Weir rendition of Garcia and Hunter’s elegiac “Days Between,” which sets the stage for the sheer bliss of the set-closing “Sugar Magnolia.” A sweet double encore of “Uncle John’s Band” and “Ripple” make for a perfect end to the evening, and the tour.
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