Grateful Dead

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When we first spoke with Furthur lead guitarist John Kadlecik for Dead.net over a year ago, he was still getting acclimated to that new band, finding his way with the other players, growing into the material. This is a band that pretty much hit the ground running and was hot from the get-go; still they have definitely evolved a lot together and become stronger with each tour. And John, in particular, has gotten more assertive in his playing, taking the group’s repertoire in some exciting new directions.

An interesting thing happened at the very first show by Furthur at the Fox Theatre in Oakland in the fall of 2009. The opening set had been going along nicely, with the new lineup gelling a bit more with each tune and lead guitarist John Kadlecik obviously becoming more comfortable with every passing moment onstage with his new bandmates. Then came the familiar opening of “Bird Song” and as the intro wound down to make way for the first verse, John stepped to the mic and a great roar swept through the room as he sang lead on a Furthur tune for the first time.