Better Off Dead is a weekly Tomorrow’s Verse feature collecting the best Grateful Dead-related news, videos, covers and more.
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros perform NYE livestream from California
In perhaps the biggest immediately Dead-related news this month, Bob Weir reconvened with the Wolf Bros – bassist Don Watt and drummer Jay Lane – as well as keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz for a full set recorded live from TRI Studios in San Rafael, California. Throughout three sets, the band incorporated a number of covers (“Big River,” “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” “Mule Skinner Blues” featuring Ramblin’ Jack Elliott) as well as plenty of classic Dead material, including a third set “Dark Star,” before an encore closed the night out with timeless favorites “Ripple” and “Touch of Grey.”
Watch a preview of the night below and check out the setlist.
Set 1: New Speedway Boogie, Jack Straw, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Loser, Big River, Row Jimmy, The Music Never Stopped > Easy Answers > The Music Never Stopped
Set 2: Friend of the Devil, Mule Skinner Blues (with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott), Eternity > The Other One > Eternity
Set 3: Dark Star > Cassidy, Days Between > Sugar Magnolia
Encore: Ripple, Touch of Grey
The Lame Ducks perform for Georgia Comes Alive
In other Bob Weir news, the guitarist shared his full half-hour set with The Lame Ducks, a one-off supergroup featuring Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools, Dead & Company keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Wolf Bros drummer Jay Lane. Originally recorded and streamed for “Georgia Comes Alive” in December, the group shared the video on YouTube prior to the Georgia election run-offs. Again recorded at the TRI institute in California, the four-piece band performed three Grateful Dead songs, opening with “Truckin’” before going for “The Other One” into “Throwing Stones.” Watch the video below.
Hiss Golden Messenger covers “He’s Gone” on inauguration day
North Carolina’s MC Taylor, better known as Hiss Golden Messenger, used Biden’s presidential win as a dig at Trump on the inauguration day by posting a cover of Grateful Dead’s “He’s Gone,” a 70s tour staple. Alongside the video, Taylor posted:
“How am I not gonna play this song today? I do take exception with the line: “He’s gone, and nothing’s gonna bring him back.” It’s all too clear that that everything the so-called former President embodies, the cancerous cells present in our political system, will definitely come back if we’re not diligent. We’ve got our work. But today, we breathe.”
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Backbeat Underground covers “Sugaree”
Washington D.C. based jazz-funk group Backbeat Underground were joined by Sir Joe Quarterman for a recent cover of the Dead’s “Sugaree.” The band transforms the American Beauty staple into a bouncy, jazz-inflicted tune, with background vocalists, horns and soulful keys leading the way.
Roots Of Creation release acoustic “Standing On The Moon”
New Hampshire reggae-rock band “Roots Of Creation” celebrated the 30th anniversary of “Stand On The Moon” with an acoustic cover. The laid-back re-working is accompanied by a video made by live liquid light artist Brian Davidson, offering a psychedelic twist.
Big Something’s Nick MacDaniels performs “Ripple”
Nick MacDaniels, guitarist for acclaimed band Big Something, shared a video of him covering “Ripple” on New Year’s Eve of 2019. The solo performance served as a nice break from the band’s otherwise high-energy show, and showcases his smooth vocal delivery while otherwise staying fairly true to the original.
Grateful Dead share “Not Fade Away” from ‘90 for ‘All The Years Live’
The most recent installment of Grateful Dead’s ‘All The Years Live’ archival video series features “Not Fade Away,” recorded July 10th, 1990 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC. The energetic set-closer is all fans could hope for from it, with Brent Mydland especially fired up.
Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux is quoted in the video description, saying:
“Usually attached to Throwing Stones from 1983 onward, Not Fade was played as a set closer once Throwing Stones became its partner. Sometimes, though, Not Fade Away would simply appear out of the post-Drums ballad as the closer on its own, and it always went a little deeper when the Grateful Dead did it this way.”