Grateful Shred brought their Dead tribute shows to the East Coast for the first time this past weekend, with a show at Garcia’s in Port Chester and two nights at Brooklyn Bowl serving as the NYC-area offering. We were able to catch the NYC shows, which utilized a live, three-person liquid light show to accommodate the bands psychedelic music.
Night one started with a “China > Rider”, foreshadowing the way Dead & Company would kick off their tour finale the next day in Boulder. The set moved into “El Paso” before including “Althea”, “Unbroken Chain”, and “The Music Never Stopped”. The six-piece band, complete with three guitars and a bass, was warming up before the set break, and they’d deliver a big second set on the first night.
When the group starts things off with “Help on the Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower”, you know it’s going to be a good one. The shifting lead guitar and vocal duties kept things fresh, while bassist Dan Horne (Circles Around the Sun, Cass McCombs, etc.) anchored the whole thing with his low end theories. “Estimated Prophet” was executed wonderfully before dissolving into space and rendering itself back into “Eyes of the World”, and the room was in fine spirits as Grateful Shred blazed into “Sugar Magnolia” to end the second set. A “Casey Jones” encore was the only way to keep things going in the current momentum, so that’s exactly what the Los Angeles sextet gave us.
Night two was a Saturday night, and the room was a bit more full with more energy and more people. It probably helped that things were running a little earlier than the night before, and everyone had the energy to keep it going toward the 1am hour. We missed the first set due to Radiohead (at Madison Square Garden), but the second set sounded wonderful. The highlight coming in the form of a “Truckin’ > Space > St. Stephen > Not Fade Away > St. Stephen” segue that had the entire dance-floor bouncing with excitement. Lots of young people were there celebrating the music of a band they obviously never got to see (myself included), but there were also older, more tenured fellas there as well who were also eating it up. An absolutely disco-rockin’ “Shakedown Street” ended the set before the group encored with “One More Saturday Night”, much to the delight of many.
Grateful Shred are definitely worth catching if they hit your town. If you’re into the classic Grateful Dead sound, complete with spacey improvisation, warts, and soaring melodies, these guys deliver on all fronts. August tour dates to follow…
Aug 4 | Teragram Ballroom | Los Angeles, CA | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 10 | Vinyl @ Hard Rock Hotel | Las Vegas, NV | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 12 | Urban Lounge | Salt Lake City, UT | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 13 | Neurolux | Boise, ID | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 15 | Tractor Tavern | Seattle, WA | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 16 | Mississippi Studios | Portland, OR | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 17 | Harlow’s | Sacramento, CA | Tickets On Sale Now
Aug 18 | Sweetwater Music Hall | Mill Valley, CA | Tickets On Sale Now
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