Friday, January 29, 2010

Furthur


Because its been way too long since our last Grateful Dead post

The latest iteration of the post-Jerry Grateful Dead is on tour. Phil and Bob are on the road again, but the Rhythm Devils (Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart) stayed home for this one. Furthur is comprised of original Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir along with long time collaborators Jeff Chimenti (keys) and Jay Lane (percussion), Joe Russo of Benevento-Russo duo fame (drums), and John Kadlecik on lead guitar.

Kadlecik is the fascinating guy in this lineup. He's known for his work as the lead guitarist in Dark Star Orchestra. For those who don't know, Dark Star Orchestra is a band that tours around the country playing old Grateful Dead concerts, in full, in as historically accurate a way as possible. The band's act is nearly performance art; at the end of each show they announce the date and location of the Dead show they just imitated. Each member of the band emulates a member of the Dead. They are good at what they do, and Kadlecik is Jerry.

So here's this guy who has dedicated his life to emulating Jerry Garcia on stage getting called up to the big leagues and living what must surely be his dream of playing with actual members of the band. It's something I never imagined could actually happen. The results with "fake Jerry" are understandably a little eerie. And awesome.

Each guitarist who has played with the Dead since the band returned to the road has played the songs in their own style. Kadlecik plays the songs in Jerry's style. His guitar sounds shockingly similar to Garcia, lending the band a historical sound that they haven't had in well over a decade. And because Kadlecik knows the songs so well he has the ability to LEAD a jam, something that was a rare occurrence with previous guitarists.

But don't take my word for it: check out the tracks below from their New Year's show at the legendary Bill Graham Civic Center in San Francisco. The voice isn't exactly the same and the guitar skills aren't truly comparable, but the sound, oh that good 'ole Grateful Dead sound!

Help on the Way
Slipknot!
Franklin's Tower

So Many Roads

Download Furthur's shows to your heart's content from the Internet Archive

Here's a video of the band playing Jack Straw at a ridiculously small venue in Mill Valley, CA


The band is coming through Chicago in March. I think some ticket scalping may be in order.

Stew

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