Grateful Dead co-founders Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s side band, Furthur, has disbanded. A message was posted on Furthur.net, reading: “To our loyal Furthur fans and members of the Furthur community at furthur.net, we'd like to thank you for a terrific ride. We'll be closing up shop at furthur.net, and heading onward. Thanks for making the Furthur community a great place to hang out, and for coming out to the shows. We'll all be keeping very busy over the foreseeable future, and it's time to let Furthur take a bow. We enjoyed the ride more than we can possibly express.
As most fans know the coming months will be devoted to Grateful Dead activity as the band gears up for its 50th anniversary -- with the centerpiece of the celebrations being the band's definitive career spanning Martin Scorsese-produced documentary currently being prepped.
Furthur, whose setlists consisted primarily of Grateful Dead nuggets, was formed in 2009, and featured guitarist John Kadlecik from Dark Star Orchestra, Ratdog and Dead keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, along with drummer Joe Russo from Benevento/Russo Duo, and backing vocalists Sunshine Becker and Jeff Pehrson.
Phil Lesh told us that even all these years later, he loves nothing more than to mingle with longtime fans whenever he has a chance: "When I'm on a book tour, or I'm doing a lecture, or I'm signing CD's or DVD's or something like that, then I get to see 'em right up close. And y'know what's wonderful? All they ever want to do is say 'thank you,' and sometimes tell me a story or show me a photograph about their life and their experience with our music and everything -- it's really quite wonderful. I eat it up. I love every minute of it."
Phil Lesh & Friends will kick off their eight-night run at Port Chester, New York’s Capitol Theatre on Friday, February 7th.
Side Notes:
Newly released is the last archival Grateful Dead show featured in the band’s ongoing Dave’s Picks series. The collection Dave's Picks Volume 12: Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 11/4/77 also features a bonus disc of songs taped two nights prior to the gig at Toronto’s Seneca College Field House.
The triple disc set is limited to 14,000 individually numbered copies and mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman. The set’s digipak made of 100 percent recycled and PCW materials.
The tracklisting to Dave's Picks Volume 12: Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 11/4/77 is:
Disc One: “Bertha,” “Good Lovin’,” “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Cassidy,” “It Must Have Been The Roses,” “Sunrise,” “New Minglewood Blues,” “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” “Let It Grow,” Jones Gang Introduction, “Samson And Delilah,” and “Cold Rain And Snow.”
Disc Two: “Playing In The Band,” “Eyes Of The World,” “Estimated Prophet,” “The Other One,” “Drums,” “Iko Iko,” “Stella Blue,” “Playing In The Band,” and “Johnny B. Goode.”
Disc Three - Seneca College Field House, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (11/2/77): “Promised Land,” “They Love Each Other,” “Me And My Uncle,” “Big River,” “ Candyman,” “Looks Like Rain,” “Ramble On Rose,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Fire On The Mountain,” and “Terrapin Station.”
