Bob Weir & Wolf Bros Honor Robin Sylvester In Las Vegas

Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros offered the second of two Halloween weekend concerts at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on Saturday. Weir and company dedicated the concert to the memory of bassist Robin Sylvester who sadly died yesterday.

Born in the Hampstead neighborhood of London in 1950, Robin Sylvester worked as an assistant at Abbey Roads studios while The Beatles recorded there in the late 1960s. Paul McCartney inspired him to pick up the bass. Robin moved to the States in 1974 and quickly established himself as an in-demand bass player, performing or recording with rock legends like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, ​​The Beach Boys, Billy Preston and many more. Sylvester also played with Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick’s Missing Man Formation.

In 2003, Sylvester stepped into bassist Rob Wasserman’s place in RatDog and performed with the band for the rest of the decade until health issues largely sidelined the musician, although he continued to sit in with groups led by Stu Allen, Melvin Seals, David Nelson and others. News of Sylvester’s death was shared by RatDog guitarist Mark Karan and confirmed by Relix.

Guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Don Was, drummer Jay Lane, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, pedal steel player Barry Sless and longtime Weir collaborator Matt Kelly — who sat in for the entire show as he’s done on previous fall tour outings — along with The Wolf Pack string and horn section kicked off the show dedicated to Sylvester with “Jack Straw.”

The band then went sans Wolf Pack for “Bertha” and “Minglewood Blues.” The Wolf Pack returned for the rest of the set beginning with “Iko Iko” before adding gorgeous touches to “Looks Like Rain.” The RatDog era classic “Two Djinn” followed ahead of the Dead pairing of “Lost Sailor and “Saint Of Circumstance” to wrap the first set.

The cowboy tune “Me & My Uncle” launched the second frame before the Wolf Pack rejoined to commence a seamless sequence including “New Speedway Boogie” followed by “Uncle John’s Band” with “Supplication” sandwiched in between. The latter usually appeared with “Lazy Lightning” at Grateful Dead shows as well as on the 1976 Kingfish album, the self-titled debut of the band featuring both Kelly and Weir.

The poignant “He’s Gone” followed before Wolf Bros delivered their debut of “The Wheel.” The Dead staple gave way to Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” ahead of another Wolf Bros debut — the Miles Davis tune “Milestones,” which has been in the Dead & Company repertoire for five years. Another touching tune, the latter day Dead “Days Between,” counted as the penultimate song of the second set before the Rascals’ rocker’ “Good Lovin’’ capped the frame. The Wolf Bros and The Wolf Pack sealed the emotional evening with a gorgeous “Ripple.”

Listen to official full-show audio below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ6uPu7VtZs&ab_channel=nugsnet