Furthur at 1STBANK, 2/12/11

Kate Levy

Almost a year after they played the reopening of the remodeled 1STBANK Center and just five months after its three night run at Red Rocks, Furthur, the Grateful Dead spin-off featuring Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia sound-alike John Kadlecik, returned to Broomfield over the weekend.

The set opened with about five minutes of spacey noodling around before Lesh thumped out the opening bass line of "Truckin'" to bring the band around behind him. Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti laid down a solid boogie-woogie piano matching Weir's strong vocals, which were drowned out by the singing of the crowd through the entire song.

Kate Levy

From there, the band meandered their way into a bluesy, bass-heavy jam that morphed into a beautiful but mellow "Crazy Fingers." The playing was good, but every now and then during the song, someone behind us would pop off a flash picture prompting the security guards to pull out their flashlights to obnoxiously scan across the crowd. I know Bobby and Phil are old, but are flashing lights really that distracting?

See the full slideshow from Furthur at the 1STBANK Center

"Crazy Fingers" eventually moved into the folksy "Dark Hollow" that, fittingly, transitioned into the slow shuffle of "Ramble on Rose." Kadlecik and Wier traded off verses and guitar licks throughout the tune until Kadlecic turned it up on the solo with a compressed, auto-wah Jerry Clone-sound that had the gray-haired deadheads around me going nuts.

The meat of the set was a ripping "Cold Rain and Snow" reminiscent of an early '80s, Hammond B3-heavy, Brent Mydland version. Fake Jerry Kadlecik's deep, thick tone echoed through the thunderous arena, while Lesh thundered out the low end with his powerfully loud and amazingly clear near-acoustic bass tone. The song ended and the band quietly jammed along as Weir strummed out the intro of "Throwing Stones."

Again Weir belted out the songs loud and clear, with the crowd chipping in during the chorus. Drummer Joe Russo was amazing throughout the song, dropping jaws with his Animal-like drumming and fills that sound like they are coming from four arms instead of two. A hopping "Lovelight" showcasing Chimenti and Kadlecik's blues chops wrapped up the roughly hour-long set.