Following their recent guest-filled appearance at Farm Aid, which saw the band joined by Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price, as well as a stint on Wille Nelson‘s Outlaw Music Festival tour, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros continued their fall tour at Columbus, OH’s Mershon Auditorium, where the band dug deep into its repertoire and added a new cover of “Working Man Blues” by Merle Haggard.
The band opened with “Viola Lee Blues” and continued to weave the song through the rest of the set. Working the debut of “Working Man Blues” into the middle of the song’s first and second verse, the group continued on with “Hell in a Bucket”, saving Viola Lee’s third verse for for the end of the set.
“Only a River”, played for the first time since February, came next followed by “Brown-Eyed Women” and another song that’s been shelved since winter, “She Says”, from Weir’s RatDog days. Anthem of the ticketless “I Need a Miracle” and “Bird Song” brought the set to a close, but not before the band finished off “Viola Lee Blues”, completing the song’s third verse after a fake-out “China Cat Sunflower” intro.
Set two likewise started in the country with Kris Kristofferson‘s “Me and Bobby McGee” and continued with another RatDog original, “Two Djinn”. The Beatles‘ “Come Together” featured an “Eleanor Rigby” outro and led into a dreamy sequence of “Eyes of the World” > “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye) > “Eyes of the World”.
Bobby’s theme, “The Other One”, and a slow and steady “Stella Blue” rounded out the set, which was then punctuated with the ironically joyous “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad”. A “Ripple” encore brought the night to a sublime conclusion.
Click below to view a collection of fan-shot videos from Bob Weir & Wolf Bros at Mershon Auditorium in Columbus, OH. The band’s tour continues tonight in Philadelphia, and Weir just announced five nights at The Capitol Theatre in December. For a full list of upcoming shows and to purchase tickets, visit his website.
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros – “Viola Lee Blues” > “Working Man Blues” (Merle Haggard) > “Viola Lee Blues” – 9/26/23
[Video: Sojahsey1]
Setlist: Bob Weir & Wolf Bros | Mershon Auditorium | Columbus, OH | 9/26/23
Set 1: Viola Lee Blues (Memphis Jug Band) > Working Man Blues (Merle Haggard) [1] > Viola Lee Blues, Hell in a Bucket, Only a River, Brown-Eyed Women, She Says (RatDog), I Need a Miracle, Bird Song (Jerry Garcia) > Viola Lee Blues reprise [2]
Set 2: Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson), Two Djinn (RatDog), Come Together (The Beatles) [3], Eyes of the World > ‘What’s Going On’ (Marvin Gaye) > Eyes of the World reprise, The Other One, Stella Blue, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (Traditional)
Encore: Ripple
[1] Wolf Bros debut, LTP by Bob 4/25/16
[2] w/ “China Cat Sunflower” intro
[3] w/ “Elanor Rigby” outro
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