“Feels like I’ve been here before…” Well, one could certainly use that to represent Furthur’s two night run at Time Square’s Nokia Theater in New York City July 28 and 29th. While not attending the first night of Furthur’s eventful two night stay at the small theater, it was apparent that the whole crowd knew what happened the previous date. It was only a month since the band had last stopped in lower New York at Coney Island’s MCU Park and it appeared The Coney was looking much better than what these pair of shows would amount to.
The previous night Bob Weir had lost control and forgot the words to “El Paso” onstage for reasons unconfirmed, however, being the classic showman that Weir is, he did not let the incident flub him, and appeared to not show any signs of embarrassment from his playing. The overall love that Bob and Phil have shown for New York City is obvious; from the Dead 09 tour where they had three intimate shows in a day, then two Madison Square Garden appearances, and two East Rutherford performances, it was no wonder why the crowds still showed support even during the episode Weir and the crowd had earlier encountered.
The night got off to an interesting beginning when bassist Phil Lesh walked over near Bobby near the beginning of the show, wrapping his arm around him, and faced the crowd (with a straight face) saying “I told Bobby; never drink out of something you haven’t poured yourself.” Now, this wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the friend of someone for 45 years to joke about, but the humor was not revealed anywhere from Bob Weirs blank face. Given the pre-show talk, the crowd appeared to take it as confirming the rumor of Bob Weir having his drink dosed on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the show started up with a rough beginning to “Dancing In The Streets” but found its form at its midpoint, finally stabilizing enough to segue into “Celebration,” a Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter song debuted with Phil And Friends in 2001. Then, the musical direction found itself evolving into the early Grateful Dead classic off of Anthem Of The Sun, “Alligator.” When played in the early days of the Grateful Dead it was usually a second set song (according to the 51 times it was played from January 1967-April 1971), Furthur wailed on this tune from an early standpoint in the show, and graced upon with atmosphere enhancing empowering jams, lead by John Kadlecik’s eye catching licks and humble singing. The four song combination came to a finish with the Grateful Dead country-rock famed “Tennessee Jed,” where Weir’s rhythm guitar craft grasped the attention of those in attendance, foreshadowing a strong night from him ahead.
“Reuben And Cerise” was where the first set took off, highlighted by John Kadlecik’s lead guitar work and Jeff Chimenti’s keyboards. As the Jerry Garcia Band classic came to an end, it was Bob Weir’s time to shine once again with Ratdog’s “Money For Gasoline.” Next up was a crowd enthused “Mississippi Halfstep,” again led by Bob Weir, and was held down by the percussion machine, New York native Joe Russo. “Let It Grow” sent the first set packing in mind boggling fashion parallel with sending the energy through the roof. Furthur carried out this jam-packed masterpiece with a gentle approach but carrying a pouch of intensity, eventually erupting in a euphoric rush during the peak.
To kick off the second set, “So Many Roads” started up as Kadlecik sang with his own quirks and emotion, as Chimenti complimented his vocals from the graceful piano playing that he laid on top of the surrounding instrumentation. Following “So Many Roads” was the new Weir/ Hunter tune “Seven Hills Of Gold.” From other versions of this new installment in the repertoire of Bob Weir, you could tell that this song needed some tweaking to make this a fan favorite. The outcome of this latest version makes it clear that the t band has worked hard on tackling the overlapping instrumentation, and showing the accents that allows it to flow.
A blues influenced “Dear Mr. Fantasy” had the most monstrous cheer at the beginning of any song prior in the first set. The backup singers Jeff Pehrson and Sunshine Garcia Becker’s highlight of the night took place during “Dear Mr Fantasy” as they tied together the different tones, considerably the icing on the cake. A jam that started more heavy, into a light jazzy frolic initiated a segue into “Dark Star (v1)”. This lineup provides an early Grateful Dead sound (1970′s), so the channeling of this song is something that bypasses any of the post Grateful Dead lineups. It was nothing spectacular, much more an entrance into an early dead themed extravaganza. The loose noodling towards the end of “Dark Star” enabled l Lesh to signal for something new, in this case “Unbroken Chain.” Phil’s vocals lightened up the crowds faces, because his unique voice as so fitting for his own song. As time advanced, the music got heavier, and than faded into another Lesh gem, “The Other One” which begins with his ground shattering bass intro, complimented by the rest of the band during a moment of euphoria. Following “The Other One” was once again an early Grateful Dead tune, “The Eleven,” shaking the room with cheers from the crowd, locked in playing, and dancing from the back to the front of the Nokia Theater.
Following “The Eleven” was a Rev Gary Davis standard “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.” Weir came to the microphone and paid little to no attention to perfecting the rhythm guitar part, as he nailed the blues aspect during his emotionally saturated vocals. At one point everyone stood in shock of how into the moment Bob Weir was, eventually on the tip of his toes belting out “No , death don’t have no mercy, in this land,” even toying around with the lyrics to emphasize a point. To have some closure on the earlier “Dark Star,” another hazy spaced out period of unstructured improvisation gave way to “Dark Star (v2).” It was here where the crowd took the musicianship that was just displayed in and voiced their opinion in a huge roar. “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad,” was nothing out of the ordinary, rather was where I was hoping the band would then transition into a huge “Scarlet Begonias,” or “Help On The Way> Slipknot> Franklin’s Tower,” but instead ended the second set with a chill inflicting “And We Bid You Goodnight.”
As the band walked offstage, Bob Weir looked relieved to have made it through the night without another freak accident, and the crowd was on the same page as well. It was a quick banter, as the seven piece band came back on to finish off the night with a enthusiastic performance of “Touch Of Grey.”
Photos by David Oppenheimer