Dead & Company suited up and trotted out onto Folsom Field on Saturday to close out another weekend run in Boulder, CO. Saturday’s show, which marked the Grateful Dead offshoot’s tenth appearance at the University of Colorado Boulder stadium, saw the debut of another Brent Mydland-era tune, “Foolish Heart”, along with a birthday tribute to Sir Paul McCartney.
Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti, and Oteil Burbridge started Saturday’s event with the eternal pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider”. The stadium roared to life as it shined its light through a cool Colorado day on the latter before transitioning into “He’s Gone”. The lament over Mickey’s father and the Dead’s one-time manager, Lenny Hart, opened up into a breezy, leg-stretching first set jam.
Dead & Company – “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” (Traditional) [Pro-Shot] – 6/18/22
Up next came a modest “Brown Eyed Women” before the biggest surprise of the evening as Dead & Company debuted “Foolish Heart”. Audio of Saturday’s show reveals a gradual wave of realization moving through the audience as Mayer’s replication of Jerry Garcia‘s central riff to the Built To Last track unlocks the memory of this latter-era Garcia/Robert Hunter gem. Weir took lead vocals as Chimenti’s playful keyboards brought to mind the Dead’s longest-serving keyboardist, Brent Mydland, who shouldered the majority of the song’s performances from its debut on 6/18/88 all the way to his last performance on 7/23/90, three days before his death.
Dead & Company – “Foolish Heart” – 6/18/22
[Video: The Zalewski Law Firm]
Perhaps anticipating the melancholy for Brent that “Foolish Heart” would spur, John Mayer had “It Hurts Me Too” locked and ready to go. His evocative blues vocals on the Elmore James cover called to mind yet another fallen Grateful Dead keyboardist, Ronald “Pigpen” McKernan. Saturday’s concert marked 50 years and one day since Pigpen’s final show with the band he helped found before he passed away less than nine months later in 1973.
Related: Grateful Dead Studio Albums Ranked Worst To Best
The air thick with sentimentality, Weir took back the wheel to steer the band through the misty waters of “Lost Sailor”. The surviving Grateful Dead members and their younger shipmates navigated the tides to find themselves on the uproarious set-closing companion, “Saint of Circumstance”, which eloquently articulated life’s uncertainty with the refrain, “Sure don’t know what I going for, but I’m gonna go for it for sure.”
Returning for the final set of the weekend, Dead & Company once again pointed back to the Grateful Dead’s 1980s commercial boom with the pairing of Traffic‘s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and the tail-end of The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude”. Saturday’s performance marked Macca’s 80th birthday as well as Dead & Co’s second-ever take on the sing-along classic, with the first arriving at the summer’s tour opener at Dodger Stadium.
Dead & Company – “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (Traffic) > “Hey Jude” (The Beatles) – 6/18/22
Happy Birthday Maestro! @PaulMcCartney pic.twitter.com/i1UpBnr9Tj
— Dead & Company (@deadandcompany) June 19, 2022
The second set never stopped, with a seamless transition into the trifecta “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower”. While the first two thirds of the movement traveled at a brisk pace, the band took a moment to linger in the bliss of “Franklin’s Tower” before a transition into “Drums” and “Space”. Out of the cosmos came the tour debut of Miles Davis‘ “Milestones”, which Dead & Company utilizes a few times a year to extend deep “Space” missions.
Weir ultimately brought this voyage back to Earth with a one-two punch of Bob Dylan‘s reading of “All Along The Watchtower” followed by “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”. With no other way to cap off such a monumental set, Dead & Company wandered the post-apocalyptic desolation of “Morning Dew” to put emphatic punctuation on Saturday’s second frame.
Dead & Company – “Milestones” (Miles Davis) > “All Along The Watchtower” (Bob Dylan) – 6/18/22
[Video: The Zalewski Law Firm]
Dead & Company – “Morning Dew” (Bonnie Dobson) – 6/18/22
[Video: The Zalewski Law Firm]
The band was still not out of surprises as Dead & Company delivered an encore performance of “Lady With A Fan” > “Terrapin Station” for the first time since 6/3/19. Despite the debuts, birthday tribute, and careful setlist planning, diligent fans knew all along the way this show would end, as Weir brought the evening to its logical conclusion with “One More Saturday Night”.
Full-show audio of Saturday’s Dead & Company show at Folsom Field in Boulder is available thanks to taper Nakguy. Check out a gallery of images courtesy of photographer Andrew Rios.
Dead & Company tour continues on Tuesday evening, June 21st in St. Louis, MO. For a full list of upcoming dates, head here.
Dead & Company – Folsom Field – Boulder, CO – 6/18/22 – Full Audio
Setlist: Dead & Company | Folsom Field | Boulder, CO | 6/18/22
Set One: China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > He’s Gone, Brown Eyed Women, Foolish Heart [1], It Hurts Me Too, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance
Set Two: Dear Mr. Fantasy > Hey Jude > Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower > Drums > Space > Milestones > All Along the Watchtower > Going Down the Road Feeling Bad > Morning Dew
Encore: Lady With A Fan > Terrapin Station > One More Saturday Night
[1] Debut; LTP by BW, BK, MH on 7/4/15
The post Dead & Company Leave Boulder With “Foolish Heart” Debut & Paul McCartney Birthday Tribute [Photos/Videos/Audio] appeared first on L4LM.
