WHAT SONG are you listening to right now?

1999


... The New York Times reported that day that there would be special guests and that they would be three people that you would never imagine playing with Bob Weir. While walking through the crowd during set-break, I heard people saying, “Its’ going to be Neil Young!”, and “Bob Dylan”, “Trey Anastasio”, “the ghost of Jerry Garcia!!” No one could have imagined it would be Hanson.

One look at The Hanson boys, of “Mmmbop” fame, and you’d think they were Deadheads. I spoke to them during soundcheck and asked them if they were into the Dead, and Taylor Hanson replied, “We like a few Dead songs. We respect what they’ve done over the years.” I replied with, “Well how could you not?” The truth is, this appearance was engineered by the powers that be at The almighty Wetlands. When Pete Shapiro asked me two weeks before what I would think if Hanson played with Bobby. I thought it was a great idea, but, I did think he was kidding. When I walked into soundcheck that day to find Hanson playing “One More Saturday Night”, I realized he was very serious.

Your [sic] probably asking yourself how in the world this pairing of musicians came about. The story goes that Peter Shapiro knows the Hanson manager, Sterling, who is a Dead fan. Naturally, Sterling, jumped at the chance to see his boys play with Bob Weir. Bob didn’t think it was a bad idea either, and took on a sort of fatherly nature during the whole thing. I spoke to Rob Wasserman days after the gig and asked him what he thought.