Holly Bowling Plays All-Weir Show At Bobby’s Sweetwater Music Hall

Holly Bowling returned to Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California on Tuesday for a concert at a venue that includes Bob Weir among its owners. The pregnant keyboardist paid tribute to the late Grateful Dead co-founding guitarist by loading her setlist with songs he wrote.

Bowling’s lone solo piano headlining appearance in the immediate Bay Area until November began with “Lost Sailor.” Instead of transitioning into the expected “Saint Of Circumstance,” the pianist swerved into “Sage & Spirit.” The Weir-penned instrumental was recorded by the Grateful Dead for their 1975 album Blues For Allah. The band debuted the song live that same year at a famed Great American Music Hall show immortalized on One From The Vault. Only one additional GD performance followed in 1980.

Holly Bowling moved forward with a performance of Bobby’s “Weather Report Suite.” The Bay Area resident then worked “Estimated Prophet” into the “Saint Of Circumstance” left unplayed earlier in the evening to punctuate her first set.

By this point, many fans at the intimate venue realized the Weir theme of the evening. Holly Bowling kicked off set two with “Black Throated Wind.” She then delivered a twist on the Dead’s “That’s It For The Other One” by serving up a “Cryptical Envelopment” > “The Other One” > “Throwing Stones” > “Cryptical Envelopment”> “Throwing Stones” sequence.

Holly Bowling closed out the second set with “Cassidy,” one of Weir’s signature songs. “Cassidy” was the sole Grateful Dead tune Holly played at Sweetwater Music Hall in 2019 for JamBase’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. Bowling retook the stage to cover Phish’s “Dirt,” the only song of the night not associated with Bob Weir. However, the pianist nodded to the theme by fitting a tease of Weir’s “Only The River” into the mix before seguing into the show-closing “Brokedown Palace.”

Watch a few clips from Holly Bowling’s return to Sweetwater Music Hall below:

Setlist

Set One: Lost Sailor > Sage & Spirit, Weather Report Suite, Estimated Prophet > Saint Of Circumstance

Set Two: Black Throated Wind, Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Throwing Stones > Cryptical Envelopment > Throwing Stones, Cassidy

Encore: Dirt* > Brokedown Palace

* – with Only A River tease