Review & setlist: Lockhart, the Pops, and Dead devotees honor the Garcia songbook with brilliance

Boston Pops and guests, Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, Symphony Hall, Boston, June 4, 2025

The Grateful Dead has always boasted a rather large extended family. And in the active years of its core lineup, nobody did more to extend this family than the great Jerry Garcia. Whether touring with his own Jerry Garcia Band, bluegrass supergroup Old & In the Way, or the short-lived Legion of Mary, recording on albums by Jefferson Airplane, Ornette Coleman, or David Crosby, or featuring opening acts from Bob Dylan to Bruce Hornsby to Traffic, the original six-man operation of the Grateful Dead and Garcia himself accrued quite the caravan of collaborators over the years. 

This extended family has only continued to blossom in the now 30 years since Garcia’s passing, as side projects of flagship members and countless tribute bands have entered the scene. On Tuesday and Wednesday night, a collection of Dead-adjacent musicians joined forces with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops for a family reunion of sorts to honor the legendary guitarist. 

Before Wednesday’s show even began, an event like this raised many important questions. What to wear to the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Symphony Hall? Tie-dye? A hippie skirt? A suit? A Jerry Garcia tie? Does one sit or stand (or even spin or groove)? As the performers rose to the stage, Lockhart took the mic to aptly remind the audience not to “harsh anybody’s mellow,” and any preoccupations immediately disappeared as the collective launched into Jerry Garcia Band’s “Cats Down Under The Stars.”

Appropriately clad audience members take a selfie at the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration.

Organist Melvin Seals, known for his tenure with Garcia’s band throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, was an immediate and unmistakable force, pumping deep gusts of Hammond B3 into the room and locking into the bridge with guitarist Tom Hamilton, who also took the lead on vocals for much of the evening. Any moment in which Seals cut through the mix proved to be a special one throughout the night. Hamilton, known for, among many projects, his work playing lead in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, found ways to both spar and dance with Seals given the vibe of each song.

This became apparent in the anthemic “The Wheel,” a Garcia solo tune that became a regular in Dead setlists, and “Bird Song,” which stretched out for the first extended solo section. Hamilton also had the pleasure of playing one of Garcia’s own guitars: the Travis Bean TB500, which was used on the recording of the JGB live album Don’t Let Go. 

While Hamilton and Seals found ways to make the most of these moments of spotlight amongst a crowded stage, the fulcrum of these solo stretches proved to be the rhythm section of Oteil Burbridge, bassist for Dead & Company along with countless other projects, and John Morgan Kimock, who drums in Burbridge’s band and is something of a trusted utility man in jamband circles. A rhythm section is at its best when it’s listening to everyone else on stage, and in creating the balance between a rock band and a full symphony, the duo rose to the occasion. 

There’s an obvious and fascinating duality that comes with seeing the music of Jerry Garcia be performed with the accompaniment of a symphony. The Dead were a lot of things, and precise wasn’t always one of them — often their purpose was to separate themselves from “orchestration” altogether in order to achieve magic through spontaneity. This meant that Lockhart and the symphony had to meet the creature in its habitat, so to speak. And perhaps the most interesting part was watching Lockhart calculate this in real time.

Glued to what Hamilton, Burbridge, and Kimock were doing, he’d provide space for the band to do, well, Dead things, and would subtly communicate with this core trio in order to bring the symphonic elements in and out at key times. 

On uptempo tunes with more rapid chord changes, the Pops painted with broader strokes. This was particularly evident on “China Cat Sunflower,” “Rubin and Cherise,” and “Run for the Roses,” where strings added ribbons of texture and brilliance while helping to ground the songs themselves.

The slower numbers were where the compositional elements of the symphony truly gave songs a new life. Intricate journeys like “Terrapin Station” were bolstered by swirling strings amongst the song’s various chapters — even “West LA Fadeway,” while a more laid-back rocker, felt almost like a James Bond theme with bellows of brass adding to the mystique of backing vocalists Jacklyn LaBranch and Lady Chi.

Keith Lockhart conducts the Pops from his vantage point behind the guest players at the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration.

The pinnacle of the night, however, was a magnificent “Morning Dew” that featured Burbridge on the mic. With more space to work with, it became easier to detect the swells and movements of the symphony itself as the band wove its way through the ballad. This, paired with Hamilton and Seals circling each other with twinkling notes, lent an entirely new perspective to a tune that almost always provides an apex to a set.

By the time “Ripple” came along, most of the crowd had long since been on its feet and shared in the choruses. A reminder that as these songs continue to fill the air, they’re only given new meaning and purpose. 

As the Garcia family tree continues to grow — now including roughly 50 orchestral musicians — the imagination behind his work evolves along with it. It’s been 30 years since the virtuoso’s passing, but coincidentally, it was that same summer of 1995 that Lockhart was appointed conductor of the Pops. The songbook of Garcia is one that’s meant to be shared, like stories passed down through generations. Last night at the Pops proved that as long as there are new and diverse talents there to carry the torch, the words, tunes, and legacy will continue to prosper.  

Setlist for the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Symphony Hall, June 4, 2025

Set I:

• Cats Down Under The Stars
• The Wheel
• Bird Song
• China Cat Sunflower
• West L.A. Fadeaway
• Deal

Set II:

• Rubin and Cherise
• Shakedown Street
• Morning Dew
• Run For The Roses
• Terrapin Station
• Ripple

Encore:

• That’s What Love Will Make You Do (band only)

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