Last weekend Bob Weir and Wolf Bros wrapped their second tour together. The legendary Grateful Dead guitarist has been touring with Don Was and Jay Lane since this past fall. For those that have never seen or listened to a Bob Weir and Wolf Bros show, they play a mixture of Grateful Dead classics, Bob Weir solo material, and some awesome covers. These shows are a fantastic listen for Grateful Dead fans new and old. Every show from the tour is now available for download or streaming with a nugs.net subscription. Below we’ve got a recap of some of the best tour highlights:
February 28th: Ithaca, NY – The State Theatre
The trio kicked off their tour in Ithaca, New York by dusting off a pair of rarities. This was the first night Bobby had played “Bombs Away” and “The Winners” in nearly 5 years. The rest of the show was filled with Grateful Dead hits like “Peggy-O”, “Let It Grow”, and “Scarlet Begonias”. There were also a pair of great Bob Dylan covers toward the end of the show with “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”.
March 5th: Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
The next week the band played a special show in Don Was’ hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Playing at The Fillmore on March 5th, the trio were joined by another Detroit native- saxophonist David McMurray. He sat in on five songs throughout the night including “Bird Song”, “Eyes of the World”, and a cover of The Temptations’ “Shakey Ground”.
March 8th: Philadelphia, PA – The Metropolitan Opera House
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead guitarist and vocalist, Tom Hamilton, joined the band in Philly for a rousing Friday night. Hamilton joined the band for 4 songs including a reprise of “Man Smart, Woman Smarter”. The King Radio song made its way into the setlist twice on International Women’s Day. The band opened their second set with the tune and then later brought it back for the reprise with Tom Hamilton toward the end of the show. Our webcast of the set-opening cover is available to watch on YouTube.
March 11th: New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Club
Arguably the most special night of the tour was the surprise one-night show at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. The trio announced the show only a day in advance with tickets being distributed via a lottery system. The intimate venue only holds 200 people, notably smaller than the large theaters the band typically plays. To ensure the maximum amount of people got to watch the show, the band rotated audiences between sets. To help out eager fans who weren’t lucky enough to score one of the 400 lotteried tickets, we offered free webcasts of both sets on nugs.tv, YouTube, and Facebook. The setting wasn’t the only unique part of the show- longtime RatDog Saxophonist Kenny Brooks joined the trio for four songs throughout the night. It was a fitting jazz flare for a show at a historic jazz club. You can watch our webcast of the full show right now:
March 13: Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
Following the last-minute show in New York, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros made it to New Jersey- and they weren’t done bringing out surprise guests. Sasha Dobson, of Puss N Boots fame, joined the band for the final two songs of the night. Together they performed “Easy Answers” and covered Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. “Knockin” was the second Dylan cover of the show, earlier in the second set the trio performed their version of “All Along the Watchtower”.
March 26th: Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore
Phish fans are in for a pleasant surprise when listening to the second set of the band’s stop at the Fillmore in Miami. Page McConnell sat in with the band at the opening of their second set. The quartet performed two Grateful Dead tunes: “Hell in a Bucket” and “Scarlet Begonias”. To close out the show, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros played a “U.S. Blues” encore.
March 30th: North Charleston, SC – North Charleston Performing Arts Center
This band closed out the tour this past weekend in South Carolina with a pair of new debuts. First, the trio played their take on Bob Dylan’s 1965 track “Desolation Row”. At the end of the night, the band played the Grateful Dead hit “Black Muddy River” for the first time as the show’s sole encore. The only Bob Weir solo piece in Saturday night’s show was “Lay My Lily Down”. To close out the first set, the band played the Jerry Garcia classic “Deal”. This was the perfect setlist to close out the run.