Bill Kreutzmann was forced to find a sitter for his Kids last night in California after testing positive for COVID. Luckily, the Grateful Dead drummer tapped Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend, Taper’s Choice) to fill in behind drums with Billy & The Kids at the Santa Barbara Bowl.
“In show business they say the show must go on. In the world of the Grateful Dead, that’s never even been a question,” Kreutzmann wrote on social media shortly before the show. “Our community knows how to take lemons and make tie-dye lemonade. We know how to improvise and we know how to jam. And we know how to come together as a community and dance our way through twists and turns while the music plays the bands.”
As Kreutzmann revealed, Billy & The Kids were already planning on having Tomson come out as a surprise guest during “Drums” and “Space”. Considering Chris was already on his way to the Santa Barbara Bowl anyway, Kreutzmann said they just decided to roll with the punches and have him play the entire show. “He felt the same way as the rest of the band — the show must go on,” Bill added.
“‘Day of the Dead’ is about spirits, so may the spirit of the Grateful Dead ride with us tonight while the Kids they dance and shake their bones,” Kreutzmann concluded.
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The show did indeed go on, with Thomson joining Bill’s Kids Tom Hamilton (guitar), Aron Magner (keyboards), and Reed Mathis (bass). Thomson wasn’t the only special guest in attendance, with The Slip‘s Andrew Barr and Brad Barr once again sitting in just as they have done throughout Billy & The Kids’ four-night, coast-to-coast Daze of the Dead Halloween run.
The two-set performance had plenty of tricks and treats for those who decided to eschew the offered refunds and still attend. After opening the California leg of the Daze of the Dead run with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on Halloween in Saratoga, the group had more nods to The Beatles in store with their debut of “I Am The Walrus” in the first set. In fact, the entire California trip was bookended with references to the Fab Four as Billy & The Kids ended the Santa Barbara show with an encore reprisal of the same “Sgt. Peppers” that opened the previous concert.
Between the Beatles nods, Billy & The Kids jam-packed the show with Grateful Dead favorites. Reliable Bob Weir songs like “Me and My Uncle” and “Cassidy” were interspersed in the first set with the latter-era favorite “Lazy River Road” and improv vehicle “Eyes of the World”. When the band returned from set break, the classic pairing of “Help On The Way” into “Slipknot!” took a detour down south for “Mississippi Half-Steup Uptown Toodeloo”.
Kreutzmann’s absence was surely felt during the “Drums” breakdown, and the remaining Kids empathized with the crowd on a later-set “It Hurts Me Too”. Reviving another latter-era Dead gem, the band grooved “Foolish Heart” into a reprisal of the earlier “Slipknot!” to end the second set, before an encore pairing of “So Many Roads” and the aforementioned “Sgt. Pepper’s” capped off the evening.
This was far from the first time that Kreutzmann has sat out a show for health reasons. Last summer, the drummer missed the majority of Dead & Company‘s 20-date tour due to a back injury as well as testing positive for COVID. In the midst of sporadic appearances with Dead & Co, Kreutzmann assured fans “I’m okay” and “I’m not retiring.” Kreutzmann ultimately chose not to join Dead & Company’s The Final Tour this past summer, though his former bandmates once again confirmed that Bill “is in good spirits, good health and he is not retiring.”
Check out some fan-shot videos of Billy & The Kids with Chris Tomson subbing in for Bill Kreutzmann in Santa Barbara courtesy of Green Cloud Art Org.
Billy & The Kids – “U.S. Blues” – 11/2/23
Setlist: Billy & The Kids | Santa Barbara Bowl | Santa Barbara, CA | 11/2/23
Set One: Don’t Ease Me In, I Am The Walrus > Me And My Uncle, Cassidy, Lazy River Road, Eyes Of The World > Don’t Do It, U.S. Blues
Set Two: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Drums > China Cat Sunflower, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, It Hurts Me Too, Foolish Heart > Slipknot! Reprise
Encore: So Many Roads > Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise
Note: Chris Thomson played drums the entire show after Bill Kreutzmann tested positive for COVID
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