photos: Kristopher Weiss

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Taking up nearly 25 minutes of Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros’ 2 1/2 hour, 21 June concert with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall, “Terrapin Station Suite” was the very essence of what rock ‘n’ roll/classical music hybrids should be. 

Coming after the in-bloom “Sugar Magnolia” that opened set two of Weir’s first London gig in more than 20 years, “Terrapin” found the orchestra powering the train from the exquisite “Lady with a Fan,” which Weir sang like a man on a mission while pianist Jeff Chimenti added Bruce Hornsby-like flourishes and drummer Jay Lane made himself one of the four-person percussion section, to “Refrain.” Along the route, “Terrapin Transit” burned as Lane and the percussionists sparred with strings and Chimenti, who took over Jerry Garcia’s guitar parts under a rainbow color of lights on stage to reflect London’s abundance of rainbow flags marking Pride Month. 

Things began at 8 sharp as the 68-piece orchestra – which Weir called “a national treasure” – performed the 10-minute “Grateful Overture” that featured on the guitarist’s 2024 run of orchestral shows in the States. Comprising elements of “The Other One,” “Dark Star,” “Lost Sailor” and “Saint of Circumstance,” it set the RAH stage and the hall’s exquisite sound, for what was to follow. 

Dressed in formal black – Weir wore shoes instead of sandals and bassist Don Was donned his trademark wide-rimmed hat – the Wolf Bros took the stage for “Truckin’.” And though Weir muffed some words (natch), he also slipped a fuckin’ in there to demonstrate that while much has changed, not much has changed. 

“Black Peter” followed, with sweeping accompaniment from RPCO making the song less a blues and more a rhapsody bathed in red and blue lights. Replete with a trombone solo, “Peter” found Weir putting a falsetto on the coda and letting the audience know he was taking seriously his only scheduled appearance in Europe. 

And when “China Cat Sunflower” emerged, with woodwinds handling Weir’s guitar figure, Weir adroitly delivered the tongue-twisting lyrics and the 72 musicians on stage became one under conductor Grzegorz Nowak. This song filled the Albert’s exalted air with electricity before a glorious classical passage marked the transition to “I Know You Rider.”

With the audience on its feet, “Rider” eventually gave way to a majestic orchestral interlude befitting the traditional song. The following standing ovation similarly befitted this particular presentation and led to the set-closing “Brokedown Palace,” which was faster than most Grateful Dead renderings and gently dominated by the orchestra. 

“We’ll be back shortly,” Weir said at 9:00 sharp. And after a 35-minute interval, “Sugar Magnolia” was bloomin’. 

Weir was dialed in. He sung powerfully over the fully integrated orchestra and band. Together and separately, they were full of kinetic power. And when the string section took over, soon joined by tympani and brass, the players skirted the song’s edges while adding something unique to this set. 

Following the aforementioned “Suite,” Weir’s Bros decamped for “Days Between,” which Weir sung with his guitar to his side and a slight echo on voice to give him an omniscient presence against the fresh, classical arrangement – there was no percussion save for soft xylophone – that reinforced the song’s elegiac posturing. 

The Wolves returned for “Jack Straw,” with Lane singing Garcia’s parts and Weir turning windmills during the stop-start homestretch when orchestra and band tossed the ball back and forth. This moved toward an oddball, but ingenious selection – a fast-paced “Hell in a Bucket,” the perfect segue into “Sunshine Daydream.”

As the fans cheered lustily, Natascha Münter presented roses to Nowak and her husband before Weir & Wolf Bros ended the evening with skeletal-sounding, band-only iterations of “She Says” and “One More Saturday Night.”

All told, the 77-year-old Weir demonstrated it’s not too late to reach new summits with an elevated spirit and ethos. 

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Setlist: Grateful Overture (RPCO only); Truckin’; Black Peter; China Cat Sunflower; I Know You Rider; Brokedown Palace; Sugar Magnolia; Terrapin Station Suite; Days Between; Jack Straw; Hell in a Bucket; Sunshine Daydream; She Says (band only); One More Saturday Night (band only)