The voices rang out, some from the stage and tens of hundreds extra from the viewers, becoming a member of forces with conviction on the lyrics to the standard blues tune and Grateful Lifeless live performance staple “I Know You Rider.”
“I do know you, rider, gonna miss me once I’m gone.”
Ain’t that the reality.
So, the very best plan of action is clearly to benefit from the time we’ve got remaining collectively, which is precisely what followers are doing as they attend the ultimate three live shows by Lifeless & Firm this weekend.
The favored Bay Space jam band — presently consisting of vocalist-guitarists Bob Weir and John Mayer, drummers Mickey Hart and Jay Lane, bassist Oteil Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti — kicked off this final stand in memorable trend with a two-set, 19-song providing that ran three-hours-plus in entrance of 40,000 followers on Friday evening (July 14) at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
The run marks the fruits of what has been, by far, probably the most profitable of the Grateful Lifeless offshoots. The group received its begin in 2015, rising from the ashes of the Fare Thee Properly live shows at Soldier Subject in Chicago and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara that celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Grateful Lifeless, after which went on to develop into an enviornment, amphitheater and, finally, stadium touring pressure in its personal proper.
Alongside the way in which, the group established a deep relationship with its followers — one which was definitely tied to the Grateful Lifeless and, most definitely, its songbook, but additionally one which existed by itself airplane as effectively. That connection has been made evident by the success of this farewell tour, with tickets being devoured up at (Taylor) Swift velocity by followers who wish to catch the band as many instances as doable whereas its nonetheless an choice.
The three-night Oracle stand — within the hometown space of the Palo Alto-born Grateful Lifeless — is totally offered out. The band offered a staggering 120,000 tickets for the run, which continues by Sunday. Granted, that in all probability breaks right down to 120,000 tickets offered to some 45,000 followers, the overwhelming majority of whom will probably be attending a number of exhibits.
Weir — the one founding member of the Grateful Lifeless left within the band, now that Kreutzman bowed out of this closing tour — sounded pretty robust on vocals within the first of the live performance’s two units, particularly throughout a slowed-down, un-funked model of the disco-rock anthem “Shakedown Avenue.”
Mayer, the singer-songwriter-guitarist recognized for such Grammy-winning soft-rock hits “Your Physique Is a Wonderland,” “Daughters” and “Ready on the World to Change,” took his activate the microphone for such first set choices as “Chilly Rain and Snow” and “Brown-Eyed Ladies.”
Total, it was form of a mellow, although environment friendly first set of music, with the jams feeling extra perfunctory than impressed. Mayer, an ace guitarist, led the way in which most of the time, however he performs like he sings — very easily.
The group instantly ratcheted it up into the next gear in Spherical Two, kicking issues off with a properly spacey “China Cat Sunflower” that, as per Grateful Lifeless custom, powered proper into “I Know You Rider.”
Chimenti, who has been enjoying alongside Weir in numerous Lifeless-related band initiatives for the reason that late ’90s, was in super type as he grooved by such gems as “Scarlet Begonias.” Mix what he was doing with the work of Burbridge — who additionally sang lead vocals on “Fireplace on the Mountain” — and followers had been actually in for a cool deal with.
Weir’s voice appeared prefer it was on its final leg by the point the group reached the touching ballad “Standing on the Moon” — which is smart given all of the singing he’s finished, each with Lifeless & Co and his personal Wolf Bros outfit — but he was by some means in a position to summon up simply sufficient to carry the tune to a robust conclusion, with ample assist from Mayer’s most poignant guitar work of the evening.
The group then charged proper into “Casey Jones” in a trend that, fairly merely, they hadn’t managed at any level earlier within the evening. But, they performed this well-known favourite like they had been completely conscious that it could be the final time they’d ever play the tune — they usually needed to make it depend.
And mission completed.
Right here’s hoping that they take that very same sense of urgency and conviction into the last-ever Lifeless & Firm present on Sunday evening.
Setlist (7/14/22)
Set 1:
1, “Not Fade Away”
2, “Shakedown Avenue”
3, “Chilly Rain and Snow”
4, “Ramble On Rose”
5, “Brown-Eyed Ladies”
6, “New Speedway Boogie”
7, “Wharf Rat”
8, “Don’t Ease Me In”
Set 2:
9, “China Cat Sunflower”
10, “I Know You Rider”
11, “He’s Gone”
12, “Scarlet Begonias”
13, “Fireplace on the Mountain”
14, “Drums”
15, “House”
16, “Standing on the Moon”
17, “Casey Jones”
18, “U.S. Blues”
19, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
