By Dave Read, June 30, 2026 performance – If classical music resides within impermeable bounds, pop music lives inside a porous membrane that allows for one genre to blend with another, so that an audience may enjoy musical mulligatawny. Who knows where, why, or how such marriages are made, but the middle-of-the -road Boston Pops Orchestra now regularly shares the stage with the far-from-mainstream music of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.
Here Comes Sunshine
Birdsong
Reuben & Cherise
West La Fadeaway
China Cat Sunflower—I Know You Rider [jam]
Terrapin Station
Scarlet Begonias
Morning Dew
Shakedown Street
Run for the Roses
Cats Under the Stars
Ripple
Not a few audience members danced in their seats, since heightened vigilance makes the aisles no-dance zones, inconceivable when America was run as a republic, by the people. The Shed was full and the late afternoon rain seemingly had no deleterious effect on the crowded law.
Even though I left my critical glasses home in favor of my summertime shades, I’m reminded of what Neil Young said to the acoustic engineer who was adjusting the balance on the massive speakers installed on his porch and open barn: “more barn!” I think added prominence to the orchestra would have enhanced tonight’s concert, which was plenty fun even so, even if dancers at their seats make better doors than windows!