Watch Bob Dylan’s Delicate Cover Of Grateful Dead’s ‘Stella Blue’ In Barcelona

Bob Dylan played the first show of a two-night run Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain on Friday and again added a Grateful Dead cover to his setlist. Dylan and his band premiered their arrangement of the Dead’s classic “Stella Blue.”

Friday (June 23) would have been Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter’s birthday. The late songwriter co-wrote many Grateful Dead songs with the band’s late guitarist Jerry Garcia, including “Stella Blue.”

First performed by the Dead on June 17, 1972, “Stella Blue” was a beloved Garcia ballad that was regularly played by the band through a final performance on July 6, 1995. “Stella Blue” also appeared on the Dead’s 1973 album, Wake Of The Flood.

Dylan and Hunter co-wrote several songs together as well. Hunter contributed to two songs on Dylan’s 1988 album Down In The Groove, nine of 10 songs on 2009’s Together Through Life and one on 2012’s Tempest.

“Hunter is an old buddy,” Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2009. “We could probably write a hundred songs together if we thought it was important or the right reasons were there. He’s got a way with words and I do too. We both write a different type of song than what passes today for songwriting.”

Dylan’s tour continues tonight in France. Watch audience-captured video footage of “Stella Blue” from Friday’s show in Barcelona below: