Further, featuring Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, of the Grateful Dead and Friends

It was a hot night on July 21st, 2011 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA. Not only outside, but on the stage too as the the guys in the current line up of "Further" did what they do best. And that is perform great music from a huge catalog of possibilities. The crowd was ready for a great show and the band delivered a great evening of fun and dancing.

The crowd was made up of people from many different backgrounds. I saw families with all the kids and even a few dogs were allowed into the show. It's these different people coming together for the love of a style of music or band that makes going to see "Further" that much more interesting. You could be sitting next to a young professional-looking person on one side, and on the other side of you, you could have an old wise hippie. I fall somewhere in the middle, not really a professional, or a hippie. But I guess I am an older fan.

As the temperature soared, so did the great guitar work of Bob Weir and John Kadjecik followed by the always steady bass of Phil Lesh and drums by Joe Russo, matched by the piano playing of Jeff Chimenti. The show also included the backing vocals of all of the above with Sunshine Becker and Jeff Pehrson. The show opened with a song called "Iko Iko," which got the crowd going wild, and dancing crazily in the aisles and the seats, as well as anywhere that there was space to dance.

After "Iko", they quickly followed things up with "Passenger", "Doin' That Rag", "Loose Lucy", and "Althea." Then they moved on to "Mission in the Rain", "Two Djinn," and ended the first set with "Might as Well." Everyone in the crowd had a smile on their faces, but I'm sure it wasn't from just the music! I only say that because the air was filled with the smell of a lot of different herbs and such, as well as many beer cups on the ground.

After what seemed like an hour break in the action, they returned to the stage to get things started again. The first song of the second set was "Foolish Heart," followed by one of my favorites, "Hard to Handle." That one always gets me out of my seat and dancing. The rest of the set included "New Potato Caboose", "Estimated Prophet" (also one of my favorites), "Scarlet Begonias," and "Fire on the Mountain."

But it didn't end there! The next song was "King Solomon's Marbles", and a Beatles song called "Dear Prudence," which I must say they do a very nice job of. The last song of the set was "Not Fade Away" and the fans were more than happy to continue singing it even after the band had stopped playing it. And the crowd did a nice job with it, singing loud and doing all the hand clapping. "Further" did come out for on encore, performing a song called "Liberty." That wasa nice way to end the evening.