Fall hit the Northeast Corridor hard on Saturday, Oct. 1, as inhabitants up and down the East Coast awoke to a gloomy, rainy morning brought on by the remnants of Hurricane Ian. With a nip to the air and the thinning of the veil at hand, Bobby Weir and the Wolf Bros cruised into New Haven’s Westville Music Bowl to cap off the venue’s outdoor concert season.

Founded in 2018 as a trio consisting of Weir on guitar and vocals, Don Was on bass, and Jay Lane on drums, the Wolf Bros have expanded into a five-piece with Jeff Chimenti on keys and Barry Sless on pedal steel. These days, the group is also often accompanied by a brass and string quintet. Billed as an early show, the band took the stage shortly after 6 p.m., easing into a tight, mid-tempo rendition of “Shakedown Street” that gave way to a soulful “New Speedway Boogie.”

With the near-capacity crowd finally filled in and their energy building, Weir stopped to address the audience. “There’s a company policy here…” Weir proclaimed in his deep tenor. “We’re gonna try a couple of tunes that we’re gonna see if we can remember.” What followed was “Salt Lake City,” a Wolf Bros bust-out and a deep cut that Weir hasn’t performed live in over eight years.

In retrospect, the performance of “Salt Lake City” was an early sign of two important aspects of the evening’s activities. On the one hand, its lighthearted, bouncy tone lent itself to a relaxed, joyous first set that stood in stark contrast to the ominous storm clouds that hung overhead. On the other hand, the bust-out performance signaled that the band members were going to dive deep and take some risks–and they were going to have a lot of fun doing it.

A somewhat subdued performance of “Catfish John” was followed by sing-alongs “El Paso”, “Mexicali Blues” and “He’s Gone.” During this sequence of songs, Weir shone as a troubadour, a bard and storyteller weaving his way through narratives that stand the test of time. His voice and playing sounded crisp and clear as ever, inflecting the songs with a sense of authenticity and wisdom that only a 74-year-old veteran of the stage can. A silky, psychedelic rendition of “Cassidy” wrapped up the first set, starting with a mellow groove that gave way to some intense jamming from the Wolf Pack.

After a 44-minute set break on the chilly fall evening, the core members of the band returned to the stage, with Weir picking an A-chord on an acoustic guitar. The group soon joined in, with notes from Sless’ pedal steel soaring over the crowd before Weir crooned the first line of “Dark Hollow,” marking another bust-out for the Wolf Bros and Weir’s first performance of the tune since 2017. The melancholy country number fit perfectly with the bucolic scenery of trees and grass surrounding the venue, as the imagery of a dark hollow mirrored the ethereal, autumnal vibe that had been in the air all day. The band then jammed on the dissonant starting chords of “Two Djinn,” a Ratdog number that saw the Wolf Pack rejoin the band on stage. The complete outfit demonstrated its dynamic range and power on the song, showcasing some serious chops while Lane and Chimenti harmonized beautifully with Weir during the choruses.

“Two Djinn” set the tone for a mysterious, exploratory second set. Its successor, “Truckin’” started off as the fan favorite that all Deadheads know it to be. While it first engaged the crowd as a sing-along, it wasn’t long before Chimenti’s dissonant piano playing took the jam section into dark territory, creating a palpable tension that was accentuated by the intensity of the Wolf Pack’s brass and string instruments. Like a true classical performance, this tension was released by the serene, theatrical first lines of the “Weather Report Suite” as Weir cried out, “Winter rain, now tell me why! Summers fade and roses die.” At long last, Weir acknowledged the gloomy, wet day the audience had embraced on the Eastern Seaboard. The Wolf Pack brought the full “Weather Report Suite” and “Let It Grow” to new heights, as the instrumentation fit beautifully with the compositions. Further, there was some cosmic serendipity between the choice of “Let It Grow” and the bust-out of “Salt Lake City” earlier in the evening, as the late John Perry Barlow penned the lyrics to “Let It Grow” in Salt Lake City in 1973.

Late-show highlights included a somewhat clunky, yet poignant rendition of “Dear Prudence” and a “Playin’ Reprise” encore that harkened back to the previous night’s “Playin’ In The Band” opener in Waterbury, Conn. With that, the first weekend of the band’s fall tour had concluded, wrapping up two extraordinary performances in The Constitution State. 

Much has already been said about Weir’s Wolf Bros project and its ability to provide unique interpretations, arrangements and virtuosity to the songs they play. Indeed, they bring a welcome, refreshing take on the Grateful Dead catalog.