Not a few folks’ first NYE rock show happened with the Grateful Dead, a memorable gathering with a chosen tribe to revel to a beloved score. GD Music resonates with history and emotion on this holiday, and Santa Cruz’s The China Cats understand that and honored this tradition with an evening that’s hard to imagine anyone who loves this songbook not being thoroughly satisfied by.
Billed as a Grateful Dead tribute, the Cats inhabit these songs with as much authenticity, skill, and intentional spirit as its originators. Instead of cosplaying a band that’s been gone for 35 years, they treat the music as a living, evolving thing. Outside of a stray Garcia guitar tone or a Weir-like phrasing, no one is striving for replication. In fact, one of the distinct pleasures is how each dude sounds unique within the familiar frameworks, which imbues the music with a recharging freshness. The China Cats’ 15 years and counting facility with this catalog was reflected in the right-on-the-money NYE setlist progression at Santa Cruz Vets Hall, a journey befitting such a momentous calendar date.
First set opener “Jack Straw” bloomed smiles and sing-alongs room wide, and the positive, shuffling vibes grew as they played, touching on sound cheer bombs like “Tennessee Jed” and “Iko Iko.” The dance was called, and the revelers responded appropriately.
Things grew more expansive and exploratory in Set Two, the shift captured beautifully by liquid light wizards Mad Alchemy, who rode the changing moods and crafty jams all night with organic rightness, permeating the space with value-added gold throughout.
The last set began with a gorgeous “Dark Star” shortly before midnight, leading to a jolly balloon drop and a good riddance farewell to 2025, followed by a happy rendition of “Sugar Magnolia” that made attendees’ joy shine on their faces.
The closing sequence of “Viola Lee > Caution > Viola Lee” into “Stella Blue” provided a winning mix of energizing weirdo blues into reflective space staring down from the moon. An encore of “Casey Jones” was chef’s kiss perfect and just what the party people, ready for more in the wild night, needed, and a grinning sendoff to older heads headed home.
For my money, I’d see The China Cats -especially in a fab, intimate space like the Vet’s Hall – over Dead & Co. Their interpretations feel more alive to me, less a seance and more new incantations from a cherished spell book. That they rose to the occasion of NYE so resoundingly well marks them as fantastic stewards of this music.
Photos by Andrew Quist
Setlist
Set One:
Jack Straw
Half Step Mississippi Uptown Toodle-Oo
Sitting on Top of the World
On the Road Again
Tennessee Jed
Spoonful
Iko Iko
‘Til the Morning Comes
Box of Rain
The Music Never Stopped
Set Two:
Help on the Way>Slipknot>
Franklin’s Tower
Estimated Prophet>
Eyes of the World
Dancing in the Streets
Hard to Handle
King Solomon’s Marbles
Let it Grow
Set Three:
Dark Star>
Auld Lang Syne (Midnight Countdown)>
Sugar Magnolia
Viola Lee Blues>
Caution (Do Not Stop on the Tracks)>
Viola Lee Blues
Stella Blue
E: Casey Jones
2 Responses
Fantastic. They don’t just imitate the Dead (easy), they get inside them (hard), and it makes all the difference. Great.
Why do you have to make the derogatory Dead and Company comment? Also, your math is wrong. 30 years since GD, not 35. One thing is for sure, China Cats are a wonderful way to celebrate our culture and the way it lives so vibrantly in Santa Cruz….and beyond. Thanks to all those who keep the music and community alive and integrated so generations continue to experience the spirit of our 60 year experiment in collective consciousness.