Two nights after playing a surprise show at the tiny Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros resumed their regularly scheduled tour on Wednesday at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. The three-piece welcomed Sasha Dobson, who’s best known as a member of country trio Puss N Boots she performs in with Norah Jones and Catherine Popper, for a handful of songs to help close out their night.
Weir started off on the acoustic guitar alongside his Wolf Bros bandmates bassist Don Was and drummer Jay Lane as they looked to the Blue Mountain track “Only A River.” A seamless pairing of “The Winners” and with a feisty take on the Grateful Dead classic “Jack Straw” followed. Bobby strapped on his electric guitar for the first time next, as the trio offered up slower-paced, sing-along version of “Tennessee Jed.” A blues-tinged version of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” that featured some impressive slide-guitar work came ahead “Shades Of Grey,” which was recently debuted by the band. A full rendering of “Weather Report Suite” closed out the opening frame as Bobby started the expansive tune on acoustic before switching over to electric for “Let It Grow.”
The Kriss Kristofferson-penned “Me & Bobby McGee” was tapped to open the second set of the night in The Garden State. The classic pairing of “Lost Sailor” and “Saint Circumstance” kicked off a segue-filled run that would take them through the rest of the stanza. The second Dylan cover of the evening “All Along The Watchtower” and a three-pack of Dead tunes followed with “I Need A Miracle,” “Looks Like Rain” and “The Music Never Stopped.” Dobson emerged next adding backup vocals and tambourine on the final two songs of the set. First up was a sultry version of “Easy Answers” that included Weir delivering some particularly inspired standout rock guitar work with a reprise of “The Music Never Stopped” bringing the set to an end.
Dobson would return to the stage for the encore as the augmented ensemble would once again look to Dylan’s songbook for their lone encore delivering “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Watch pro-shot video of the openers from each set courtesy of nugs.tv along with fan-shot video below:
