Furthur, the post-Grateful Dead project helmed by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh and featuring Dark Star Orchestra veteran John Kadlecik channeling the presence of Jerry Garcia, kicked off its four-date “Winter Run” of shows in Colorado at the Ogden Theatre in Denver last night with two sets heavy on songs from the earlier part of the Dead’s history. Six of the 14 songs – “Cold Rain and Snow,” “Doin’ That Rag,” “Viola Lee Blues,” “St. Stephen,” “The Eleven” and “Box of Rain” – all date to the 1967-70 time period that mark the Dead’s first studio and live album releases.
Other Furthur shows have relied more on material from the Dead’s late 1970s and 1980s output, as well as originals from Furthur and Weir and Lesh solo projects as well as a wide variety of covers. The only cover tunes played last night were “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” from Bob Dylan and “Let It Ride” from Ryan Adams, and with the exceptions of show opener “Feel Like a Stranger” and “Estimated Prophet” everything else came from the first half of the 1970s. The second set opened with “Playin’ in the Band” and closed with a “Playin’” reprise, which has worked well in the past, and “Box of Rain” as an encore always ends the show on a bittersweet but uplifting note. The Winter Run continues tonight through Sunday night at First Bank Center in Broomfield.
SET LIST
Set 1
Feel Like a Stranger
Cold Rain and Snow-He’s Gone
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Doin’ That Rag
Let It Ride-Cosmic Charlie
Set 2
(songs played on continual segue)
Playin’ in the Band
Viola Lee Blues
Crazy Fingers
Estimated Prophet
St. Stephen
The Eleven
Stella Blue
Playin’ Reprise
Encore: Box of Rain
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