Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros Continue New Year’s Eve Run in Fort Lauderdale, Offer Annual Cover of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row”

Photo: Stevo Rood

On Saturday evening, Dec. 28, 2024, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros continued its New Year’s Eve run by returning for night two of four at Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for concerts billed to feature the expanded Wolfpack, comprised of string and horn players [before the onset of a pair of trio performances at the same venue after the clock strikes midnight, on Jan. 2 and 3]. 

Much like night one of the Sunshine State stage, Weir led the pack through a range of material that beckoned to his own solo career, history with the Grateful Dead, and their highly-regarded collaborators. Notably, during Saturday’s concert, the band offered their yearly display of Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row,” which functioned as a thoughtful cover considering the release of the new Dylan bio-pic, A Complete Unknown, released days earlier on Wednesday, Dec. 25. 

Prior to the onset of the precious moment, Weir led his team, including core members Don Was, Jeff Chimenti, Jay Lane and Barry Sless, through the Ace favorite, “Greatest Story Ever Told.” The group worked through follow-up and crowd-pleaser “Ramble on Rose” before adding Marty Robbins’ beloved “El Paso,” a longstanding feature of Weir and the Dead’s live repertoire. “Desolation Row” emerged next, representing the only run-through of 2024–maintaining a motif of annual plays that began in 2019 and frayed only once, in 2022, when the band played it twice in one calendar year. 

Before the set break, the ensemble took their time to explore sister songs, “Lost Sailor” and “Saint of Circumstance.” Upon their return to the stage, they resumed the run’s celebratory nature with “Shakedown Street” before kicking it into “Uncle John’s Band” and an ensuing “Truckin’.”  After the exploratory journey, Weir singled the entry of “The Other One,” which preluded the first and only Wolf Bros run-through of “The Wheel” since NYE 2023, ending a nearly 12-month gap in plays by this specific lineup.

The group kept the audience’s spirits high through “Sugar Magnolia” and the evening’s encore of “Ripple.” After closing out their first two concerts at Broward Center, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros will return tonight for another live performance. Tickets remain on sale. 

Scroll down to view Saturday night’s setlist.

Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros 

Broward Center for the Performing Arts – Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 

Dec. 28, 2024

Set I: Greatest Story Ever Told, Ramble on Rose, El Paso, Desolation Row, West L.A. Fadeaway, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance 

Set II: Shakedown Street, Uncle John’s Band, Truckin’, The Other One, The Wheel, Sugar Magnolia 

Enc.: Ripple

Setlist via setlist.FM.