Four months without a Melvin Seals & JGB concert is too long for the Denver area, and on Friday the longtime Jerry Garcia Band organist returned to nearby Boulder to satiate the local populace. The sold-out show at the Boulder Theater explored the late guitarist’s wide canon, celebrating the music of the Grateful Dead, Old & In The Way, and the classic soul/R&B favored by Garcia’s eponymous solo band.
With Dark Star Orchestra co-founder John Kadlecik fronting the band, Melvin Seals has secured one of the jam community’s most famous Jerry Garcia recreationists. Kadlecik replicated Jerry’s beautifully frayed vocals on opener “Lay Down Sally” by Eric Clapton before Seals reminded everyone whose name was on the marquee as his B3 organ blasted off during the following “They Love Each Other”. Bassist John-Paul McLean and drummer Jeremy Hoenig were put on full display in the bounce of “Tore Up Over You” and “I’ll Take A Melody”, with the full band coalescing on JGB staple “Cats Under the Stars”. The highlight of the first set came at the tail end, with a 25-minute non-stop run through “Dancing in the Street”, “The Wheel”, “Drums”, and finally Bob Weir‘s ’90s Dead sleeper pick “Corrina” to close.
Related: Dark Star Orchestra Adds Northeast Shows To 2025 Winter Tour
Skipping the clock ahead, Melvin Seals & JGB returned for set two “In the Midnight Hour”. The second frame cast a wide net of the Grateful Dead guitarist’s influences with Bob Marley‘s “No Woman, No Cry” situated alongside Old & In The Way’s bluegrass-infused “Midnight Moonlight”, followed by a trio of Dead favorites “Sugaree”, “Truckin'”, and “Friend of the Devil”. Returning to the soul that was a cornerstone of the original Jerry Garcia Band, Seals shined through on “Waiting for a Miracle” and “My Sisters and Brothers” before “Deal” closed out the show.
Check out a gallery of images from Melvin Seals & JGB in Boulder courtesy of Elliot Siff along with videos by gratefulweb and audio on the Internet Archive. The band will close its touring year with a pair of shows in Auburn, CA on December 20th and 21st. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates here.
Melvin Seals & JGB — “I’ll Take A Melody” (Frankie Miller) — 12/13/24
Setlist: Melvin Seals & JGB | Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO | 12/13/24
Set One: Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton), They Love Each Other, Tore Up Over You (The Midnighters), I’ll Take A Melody (Frankie Miller), Cats Under the Stars, Dancing in the Street (Martha and the Vandellas) > The Wheel > Drums > Corrina
Set Two: In the Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett), No Woman, No Cry (Bob Marley), Midnight Moonlight, Sugaree, Truckin’. Friend of the Devil, Waiting for a Miracle (Bruce Cockburn), My Sisters and Brothers (Charles Johnson), Deal
