Leisure
So long as the band’s legacy continues to evolve indirectly, form, or type, there’s no signal that it is going to be stopping anytime quickly.

Within the Grateful Lifeless’s huge, near-60-year historical past, the time period “last” used to explain a present or tour has grown more and more doubtful, but concurrently contested.
Many longtime Deadheads would say that the band’s definitive finish came across the passing of founding guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995. Others would possibly level to 2015’s “Fare Thee Nicely,” a three-night run of exhibits at Chicago’s Soldier’s Subject that marked the final look of remaining members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, and Invoice Kreutzmann collectively on one stage, as a closing of the e book.
Now, Lifeless & Firm, a band by no means claiming to be the Grateful Lifeless, however fashioned across the nucleus of Weir, Hart, and Kreutzmann, with a supporting solid that features guitarist John Mayer, has launched into its “Last Tour” — a trek that landed at Fenway Park for the primary of two exhibits on Saturday evening.
For a lot of, the prospect that any Lifeless-adjacent tour could possibly be the final we see a group of authentic members onstage collectively is an alarming one. Sufficient, not less than, to pack Fenway Park regardless of wet skies earlier within the day.
After a short warmup jam, the band landed shortly on “Cassidy,” a track first showing on Weir’s 1972 solo album “Ace.”
An indication of issues to return for the night, the band opened the track as much as breathe, permitting Mayer to hit some early peaks within the solo part. Maybe nothing however coincidence, Weir acknowledged the load of the event with the repetition of the lyrics, “Fare thee nicely now, let your life proceed by its personal design.”
“Brown-Eyed Girls” proved to be the gem of set one. Not solely did Mayer’s vocals shine, however keyboardist Jeff Chimenti answered the decision and offered power and vibrance when the rounds of improvisation pointed to him.
A nod to the resilient Boston climate, “Right here Comes Sunshine” showcased Mayer’s developed sound throughout the collective.
Rising up idolizing blues legends like Buddy Man and B.B. King, Mayer spent the early a part of his tenure with Lifeless & Firm including his personal shades of 12-bar brilliance to the equation. Eight years later, he’s picked up various tips of the Lifeless commerce, discovering a cushty pocket inside Weir’s signature rhythm enjoying, and stirring in a powerful Garcia-esque twinkle, buying and selling the tendency to play numerous notes for the intuition to play that one important observe.
Bassist Oteil Burbridge owned the vocal duties on Jerry ballad “China Doll” and took full benefit, pulling the pulp from each lyric and pacifying the Fenway crowd because the solar started to set.
A blues-driven first set spilled over into set two because the group launched with “New Speedway Boogie.” An oft-held critique amongst Lifeless & Firm followers factors to slower tempos relative to the Lifeless’s touring heyday, and this rendition was the clearest instance of the night. It didn’t cease the gang, nevertheless, from echoing some fan-favorite lyrics alongside the way in which.
“Darkish Star,” maybe the definitive dwell staple within the band’s repertoire, meandered at occasions and swelled at others, although anybody aware of the Lifeless’s exploratory nature is aware of you could’t have the latter with out the previous.
“Darkish Star,” together with the continuing “The Different One,” put the highlight on Weir. Because the rhythm guitarist, he does greater than set the tone for the group. He appears to all the time be searching for new threads to weave into the general cloth, and occasionally, his mastery really manifests within the open areas of a jam.
A triumphant “Terrapin Station” was the centerpiece of set two — a soldiering motion of stress and launch enveloping with the harmonized guitars of Weir and Mayer. A transfixed Fenway trustworthy had been at no level extra locked in than with the culminating chants of “Terrapin.”
Percussionist Mickey Hart is consistently within the laboratory, and welcomed the viewers into his thoughts throughout an prolonged and notably experimental “Drums” into “House.” A second-set custom, Hart sparred with visitor drummer Jay Lane, who tagged in for Invoice Kreutzmann upon Kreutzmann’s choice to forgo this last tour.
Already a member of the Lifeless prolonged household, Lane match like a glove each throughout the full band’s sound and as a complement to Hart’s thunderous rhythms.
Teary ballad “Black Peter” gave method to “One Extra Saturday Evening,” a Weir authentic and acquainted nearer. Not solely did the blues quantity cap off the evening with immense spirit, it appeared to offer a “goodbye” to the gang reasonably than a “goodbye,” whether or not later means at Sunday evening’s present or some other place down the street.
A night with Lifeless & Firm is a welcome reminder that the extra issues change, the legacy of the band will all the time really feel acquainted.
Whether or not it’s the thrill of Shakedown Avenue, the favored pre-show car parking zone bazaar that seemed to be alive and nicely off of Brookline Avenue or the flexibility to stretch 17 songs right into a present that clocked in at three hours and 45 minutes, there are specific truths that one can all the time depend upon when any formation of the Lifeless come to city.
And whereas many followers of the Grateful Lifeless might have gotten off the bus way back, the magic remains to be alive for others. When requested, “What’s your favourite Lifeless present?” It’s no coincidence {that a} widespread response amongst followers is, “the subsequent one.”
Saturday evening’s efficiency proved that, within the phrases of the band, “the music by no means stopped.” And so long as the band’s legacy continues to evolve indirectly, form, or type, there’s no signal that it is going to be stopping anytime quickly.
Setlist
Set 1: Cassidy, Brown-Eyed Girls, I Want a Miracle, Right here Comes Sunshine, Tennessee Jed, China Doll, Viola Lee Blues, The Music By no means Stopped
Set 2: New Speedway Boogie, Darkish Star, The Different One, Terrapin Station, Drums, House, Black Peter, Casey Jones, One Extra Saturday Evening
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