Bob Weir Guests With George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners At Sweetwater Music Hall

Legendary bassist George Porter Jr. concluded a run of two George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners concerts at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California on Sunday with help from one of the venue’s proprietors. Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir sat-in for a portion of last night’s show just one night after Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners welcomed special guest guitarist Eric McFadden to share the stage.

George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners played two sets at Sweetwater last night. Porter Jr.’s lineup for the weekend featured longtime collaborator Brian Stoltz (funky METERS, PBS) on guitar, Terrence Houston on drums and keyboardist Michael Lemmler. Weir emerged at the start of the second set and stuck around for the rest of the evening. The augmented Runnin’ Pardners kicked off last night’s closing frame with The Meters’ classic “Fire On The Bayou.”

Weir’s time on stage with George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners continued with a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” a staple of the Grateful Dead and post-Jerry projects’ repertoires. The same is true of the “Iko Iko” that followed. Houston took a drum solo to connect “Iko Iko” to The Meters’ “Hey Pocky Way.” George sang lead on both “Iko Iko” and “Hey Pocky Way.” A long on-stage huddle gave way to a particularly funky version of the Grateful Dead’s “They Love Each Other.”

Porter Jr., Weir, Stoltz, Houston and Lemmler went on to perform three additional Dead songs written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter starting with “Loose Lucy.” George then introduced “Eyes Of The World” as his favorite Grateful Dead song. The quintet delivered a gospel-style version of “Eyes” sung by Porter Jr. Bobby struggled a bit with the words on the “Black Muddy River” that followed but recovered for a strong finish. George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners and Bob Weir ended the evening with a romp through Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light.”

Watch a series of clips captured by videographer nowiknowuryder:

Check out video captured by C B at Sweetwater:

Here’s video shared by the venue which unfortunately has audio issues: