Fifteen or twenty years ago I would’ve been (or at least acted) rather nonplussed by a “Touch of Grey” encore, considering Deadheads my age weren’t supposed to like this track due to its getting so much play on MTV & VH1, and with it still being something of a catch-all love for fairweather fans of the band---but fuck that, it sounded just right (albeit, we were predicting a “U.S. Blues” encore, and are still surprised they didn’t pull one out in 3 nights up there…)!! We caught the last evening of Phil & Bobby’s trio of shows up at Red Rocks with their latest post-Dead tribe, dubbed ‘Furthur’, made up of some very familiar faces including the irrepressible Jeff Chimenti on keys, and it was my first time seeing guitarist John Kadlecik outside of his work with DSO…he continues to nail the essence of Jerry in an organic way (him singing on “He’s Gone” is surreal and amazing). It was a great show, both sets, and the crowd a fittingly stoned, happy (smelly) barefoot mess, smiling & dancing hippies as far as the eye could see. That night we were treated to a moon rise over the Denver skyline that had trippers melting into puddles of radiant bliss, the perfect closer to another season of concerts at the inimitable Rocks, our eighth year, and that mountain magic remains just as strong!
