The acoustic Goose offshoot Orebolo (“Acoustagoose” as my 10 year old daughter calls them) returned to Colorado this past weekend for three nights at two beautiful venues. The first night’s festivities took place at the Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail, while the second two nights of the run were held in the old barn at Chautauqua Park in Boulder.
This past weekend, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros made their triumphant return to Denver to celebrate the end of the their Fall tour. While no member of The Grateful Dead has ever really needed to tour “in support of” an album, it could be argued that this tour was in support of Weir’s recently released Live From Colorado – Volume 2 which dropped on October 7th.
Bursting with hope, inspiration, and gratitude, WinterWonderGrass Festival announces its 2023 lineup, and will celebrate its 10 year Colorado anniversary on March 3-5, 2023 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
It’s always a treat to catch Wilco anywhere, but Red Rocks (or “Rust Rocks” as Jeff Tweedy said was a little more appropriate) makes it that much more special. With the incomparable Margo Price handling opening duties, this was an incredible night on The Rocks!
Well, well, well, String Cheese Incident pulled it off again. It’s no secret that they tend to save some of their best stuff for Red Rocks. The sky-divers, the tower drum jam, and the giant octopus that made it’s way through the crowd, are just of the mind blowing spectacles the band has put together over the years at the famed amphitheater. This one was just as special!
The Mission Ballroom was the place to be last Friday night if you were looking for your fix of Bluegrass. With a fantastic line-up of local heroes featuring The Sweet Lillies opening up for The Infamous Stringdusters the stage was set for a great night.
Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann put together his Billy and The Kids project back in 2014 for Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam and while the band played a smattering of shows over the next two years they hadn’t played together since 2016 when the took to a Hawaiian lawn in May for a pair of live-streamed show to celebrate the legendary drummer’s 75th birthday. Joining original “Kids” Tom Hamilton, Reed Mathis, and Aron Magner for these shows was Billy Strings on guitar, and James Casey on Sax. The shows were an overwhelming success and it came as a welcome surprise when Red Rocks announced a pair of concerts with the same powerhouse line-up.
There was one line that was running through my head all night – and yes, it’s a little cheesy but I couldn’t shake it – Weir Back! From the opening notes of “New Speedway Boogie” it was apparent that not only were the Deadheads back in force, but so was Bobby. Looking to be in great shape both physically and vocally, Weir’s choice of songs to open his first show back from the pandemic was no happenstance as the opening trio all contained references to the odd year we’ve all endured together, and apart.
When Bob Weir and the crew rolled in Boulder on Thursday afternoon, it was a scorcher. Folks walking Shakedown were mopping sweat from their brows as they perused booth after booth of stickers, bootleg shirts, heady veggie burrittos, and my personal favorite Philafel with Hummus. While it wasn’t quite as extensive as the Shakedown at Phish Dick’s, it was quite a scene and warmed us all up nicely (pun intended) for the evening.
Last Saturday, Cervantes’ was alive with the sounds of two of the best bands to come out of the 60’s. Little Feat and The Grateful Dead. To kick of the night, The New Orleans Suspects took the stage to serve up some Little Feat and man did they do Lowell George justice with a smokin’ set that highlighted some of the best tunes in the Feat catalog.