Boulder, CO - Night 1 of Dead & Company

Bright and early, at 6:30, I got up from my tentative slumber in the bus at the parking lot of the Isleta Amphitheatre, and we rambled back to the hotel.  I crawled into bed for a couple more hours of attempted sleep and then rallied the troops to make the 10-hour drive to Boulder.  Before we left, the hotel manager asked if I would pull the bus into the front porto cochere so she could get photos of Sugaree in front of her hotel.  It was my pleasure to do so.  The drive to Boulder was long, and we were passed by every Deadhead who had been in Albuquerque on their way to Boulder, most of them honking and flashing smiles and peace signs at us.  It was so sweet to come over that hill and see the Flat Iron Mountain Range and the town of Boulder.  It was definitely a homecoming for all of us, as Avery had recently moved home from Boulder and she was certainly happy to be back to see all of her friends.  We were as excited to see all of her friends, Dylan's friends and our friends old and new, as they pulled into town for the final two nights of the Dead & Company tour.  The Boulder shows are always special, as they wrap up the summer tour here and the town is pulsing with excitement and energy.

As we do every year, we stayed at The Millennium Hotel on 28th Street and Arapahoe.  The manager, Guisseppe, always takes good care of us and we park Sugaree in the far side of the lot under a big shade tree and next to the creek.  It's an ideal scenario, as we can walk to Folsom Field in about 10 minutes and we can hang in the bus during the day and after the shows.  It's way less hectic than Shakedown Street, but we can always go over there when/if we want.

The first evening, Kelly and I went out for pho for dinner, which was just what we needed...some good, delicious comfort food.  After dinner, we came back to the hotel and went to bed early, getting ready for the grand finale of the summer tour.  Morning came, and we ambled over to Rincon Argentinio, an Argentinian empanada restaurant which is wonderful.  That laid the groundwork for a great day hanging with friends at the bus and getting ready for the show.  The Boulder shows always start just a little earlier, 6:30, which really seems to make the day of the show go by very quickly.  Before we knew it, we were in line for the annual clusterfuck of waiting in line to get into the show.  Now, I love Boulder as much as the next hippie, but you would think they've never hosted an event at the stadium before, as hundreds of people wait in lines that go nowhere, only to be told that they are in the wrong line (even though the sign above says otherwise).  If there is anything that could be improved on this fantastic weekend, it is this terrible system of moving large numbers of people into the venue.  As a result of waiting over 40 minutes in the wrong line, and then having to go wait in another new line, we missed the first part of the opening song.  Kelly and I sat in the bleachers with plenty of room and no sweaty drunk kids dancing up against us like we experienced up front in our prior three shows.  The view and perspective from this point is really spectacular, with the Flat Irons rising up triumphantly behind Folsom Stadium and the sun setting in the background.

The first set was good, but not particularly great in my opinion.  After opening with an old Dixie Cups song, and Dead favorite,  Iko Iko, they played Cold Rain and Snow, Black Throated Wind, Bertha, Greatest Story Ever Told, a really sweet Comes a Time (sung by Oteil), then perhaps the most disjointed version of Lost Sailor I've ever heard.  This version should've been named Lost Players, because they all sounded like they were playing a different song.  I love these guys, but we'll chalk this one up as a Lost Song.  Like it usually does, Sailer went into Saint of Circumstance and then a barn-burning Deal completed the set.

After a nice long intermission, the band ambled out onto the stage and opened with what is usually a show closer, The Weight.  Bobby, John, Oteil and even Jeff took turns singing a verse, with Jeff singing Bob's usual verse of "Crazy Chester followed me..."  The crowd cheered enthusiastically to see and hear Jeff singing, which is a rare occurrence, as he usually just pounds it out on the keys.  By the way, like they did in Albuquerque, Oteil and Jeff switched places on stage again.  This is apparently Bobby's idea so he can feed off more of Oteil's energy.  After The Weight, the band wasted no time in going deep with Terrapin Station, St. Stephen (with William Tell Bridge)>The Eleven>Drums>Space then coming out of Space into All Along the Watchtower, Black Peter and Throwing Stones to end the set.  The boys came back out and delivered a rare two-song encore that made everyone proud to be American with Liberty and U.S. Blues.

All in all, it was a good show, but clearly was a momentum builder for the grand finale, which would follow the next evening.