The 2018 summer tour officially wrapped up Saturday night north of the border in the southern Ontario town of Kitchener. The band sealed the books with a boogiefied Seer jam, closing where they started the run, on a festival stage, blowing minds and changing lives. The seasons journey carrying them from one smoldering coast to the other, freaking freely through the heat and spreading the California groove with a tent show revival intensity at every stop. With this entry we take a look back at the setlist bust outs, freaks outs and trends of the 2018 summer tour!
We’ll start with one of the most talked about occurrences of the tour, the unveiling of “Rare Birds” in Tustin (7/10). This is the new swinging CRB original from the recent “Servants of the Sun” sessions in Stinson Beach. Played a total of 23 times over the course of the tour, it’s now firmly embedded into the scene and growing tighter with every trip. Then there was the reemergence of the Anyway You Love deep cut “Some Gardens Green.” On the shelf since 2016, it was played live for just the second and third time ever (7/24, 7/31). Returning flawless and clean with it’s changes studio tight.
Big Moon’s signature romp Rosalee would be a reoccurring set focal point all summer long, starting with the tours opening night “Rosalee”> SET> “Rosalee” sandwhich in Quincy, California at the High Sierra Music Festival (7/8). Just a few nights later down the coast in San Luis Obispo (7/12) it would be split into by a familiar spaced out classic when the band roared through a 20 minute “Rosalee”> “Magic Carpet Ride”> “Rosalee.” The east coast got in on the theme in Patchogue, New York (7/27) as the song opened and closed the second for another “Rosalee”> SET> “Rosalee” bookend. You could tell this was all brewing and building toward something truly spectacular and the Brotherhood delivered in Milwaukee (8/9). On this day when we remember the passing of our musical captain, Jerry Garcia, the setlist would begin with “Rosalee” and end with it’s reprise before a jubilant Turner Hall Ballroom! The “Rosalee”> ENTIRE SHOW> “Rosalee” was only part of the nights nod to Jerry. The JGB styled encore, “After Midnight”, found a deep funky groove with Adam layering Hopkins/Saunders-esque keys and the rhythm section snug in the pocket throughout.
This brings us to the tours faithful covers, both new and old. These tend to fall into two different categories based on their placement. The first being the traditional encore slot where we’ve all grown accustomed to probing those pre song tunings and opening notes for clues. The Grateful Dead have long been a source of direction for the band and their catalog a wellspring from which they pull often. This summer a couple of old favorites from that Bay Area bag closed shows out in style. The warm psychedelic whiskey blues of “Mr Charlie” (7/9, 7/26) and the sparkle and bounce of “They Love Each Other” (7/14, 7/20).
The encore covers continued as the first full band “Driving Wheel” of the year returned to everyone’s delight in Cincinnati (8/5) and the beautiful Basement Tapes, Dylan and The Band ballad “Going To Acapulco” closed the evening in Indianapolis (8/7). In Green Bay (7/18) they brought back the Byrds, Sweetheart cornerstone “I Am a Pilgrim” and Neil Young’s late night inebriated anthem “Roll Another Number for the Road” sent everyone home smiling from the Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts (7/28). Freaks also got the Stones shoe scraping stomp this tour as “Sweet Virginia” swayed for three nights in the final slot (7/27, 8/3, 8/10).
Then there are mid-set covers that tend to catch us all by surprise. Whether smoking out of the back end of CRB originals or bursting from the between song silence, these are sometimes bust outs that can leave our mouths wide open and our arms stretched high! A couple first timers made their way into the rotation with the most prominent and surprising being the Unicorn freak folk slant on “Coming Round The Mountain.” Dylan and The Band first rocked and rolled this traditional during their Basement Tapes sessions and it appeared at 10 different shows this summer, debuting in Cleveland at the HOB (7/20).
Another Dylan addition arrived, pulled direct from the 1966 masterpiece Blonde On Blonde. The “Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat” B-Side, “Most Likely You Go Your Way” made its debut at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth (7/29) and showed up again a few nights later in Richmond (8/2). Donovan’s transcendental day-tripping love song “Sunshine Superman” came through our window again for the first time since 2016! The track’s psychedelic west coast vibe kicked off a monster second set in Baltimore (7/31) and led into a blistering “Hark the Herald Hermit Speaks” in Wilmington (8/3).
The New Earth Mud favorite “Eagles On The Highway” was played for only the second time this year in Kalamazoo (8/10). Prior to the 2018 fall tour it hadn’t been heard live since the fall of 2016. The Beach Boys “Sail On Sailor” opened the second set twice this summer, first in Plymouth (7/29) leading into “New Cannonball” and again in Cincinnati where it setup the revolutionary twang of “Roan County.”
Then there are stretches where we are shown the true plurality of worlds. Magic and music, manipulating dimensions and peeling away the fabric of space and time. The “Train Robbers”> “Meanwhile” in Providence (7/24) or the entire second set in Phoenix (7/14). The soul explosion that was “Lizzie Mae” in Omaha (7/17) and the set closing “Poor Elijah/Robert Johnson” in San Luis Obispo (7/12). Moments like the stunning “Last Place That Love Lives” encore in Baltimore (7/31) where everyone seemed to hold their breath as the night stood still. Where were you when the motherships transport came for you? Comment below and let everyone know where to listen for the sound of the arrival!
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