Review: Furthur @ Madison Square Garden
Furthur @ Madison Square Garden, November 20-21
Words: Tyler Curtis
It’s been quite a year for Furthur in every aspect including the size of the venues the group has been playing. Just four months ago, this post-Grateful Dead act offered two performances at the 2,100-capacity Best Buy Theater in New York City. This past weekend, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh brought their latest project to the 20,000 seats at Madison Square Garden for two nights. Both shows were different in everything from the flow of the setlists, to the crowd and band’s energy. It has been said that when the Garden is full of enthusiasm, magic does happen and that was indeed the case for Furthur.
Night one consisted of a monstrous first set that included a Help On The Way, Slipknot! and Shakedown Street combination that shook the entire arena with merciless energy between the crowd and the music. The rest of the set continued the Grateful Dead repertoire’s standard of crisp jams and stellar vocals, though there was a minor flub in El Paso. However, the Terrapin Station Suite closer was the highlight of the set as the 23-minute sequence brought silence and focus from the attentive crowd.
The second set of Saturday’s concert provided a more psychedelic vibe to the atmosphere mainly controlled by bassist Phil Lesh. He seemed to stop and start the songs, leading the way to the next jam or pushing the improvisation to the next level. This was clear on songs like Saint Stephen and from the way Millennium Jam segued into The Eleven, consisting of an increase in the tempo to bring up the intensity of the jams.
READ ON for more on Furthur’s two shows at MSG…
