Photo Credit: Chloe Weir (Additional photos: Dean Budnick)

As with tumbling dice, where one can’t predict with complete certainty what will result, so too Dead & Company continue to incorporate new musical offerings into their Sphere residency in Las Vegas. On Saturday, when the group concluded three weeks of performances at the technologically advanced performance space, unforeseen song selections peppered the two-set show. This motif followed Friday’s gig, when the band added four premieres/first-time plays for this specific venue, including “New Speedway Boogie,” “Row Jimmy,” “Don’t Ease Me In,” and “Black Muddy River.”

From the initial line of the night: “Thirty-two teeth in a jawbone,” the crowd was on their feet, feeling the coursing power of nearly 60 years of musical excellence reverberating through sage lyrics and the pulse of the players’ energy. As if recognizing the previous night’s trend, “Alabama Getaway” served as another Sphere first before it was traded in for party starter “The Music Never Stops.” Easing the tempo, D&C delivered a sweet “They Love Each Other” followed by a spirited “Ramble on Rose.” 

Tampa Red’s original “It Hurts Me Too,” a Pigpen-associated tune that the Grateful Dead performed during live shows from the mid-’60s through the early ’70s, was added to the group’s Sphere song catalog next. For the final offering of the night’s initial frame, the band went with a classic pairing, “Lost Sailor” into “Saint of Circumstance,” complemented by screen-laden imagery of a ship decorated in Dead regalia. 

Following the evening’s set break, Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chiminti, and Jay Lane were back to deliver more favorites, starting with “Sugaree.” Upon completion of the tune, the ensemble moved through “St. Stephen,” and later, “Brown-Eyed Women,” and “Cumberland Blues,” which ran into “Drums.” Notably, the night prior, Hart had his longtime friend, collaborator, and Tabla master Zakir Hussain join. However, this evening was sans guests, as ancient vibrations united the audience in a unique display of high-impact rhythmic skills. 

After blasting into “Space,” the remaining band members retook their places and cut into the first “Dear Prudence” performed at this specific venue during their Dead Forever residency. Perhaps an ode to the first day of June and ensuing seasonal change, the group went with a two-song floral theme, with “Sugar Magnolia” into “Scarlet Begonias” and, inevitably, “Sunshine Daydream,” harkening back to the promise of summer days to come and lavish natural rebirth. 

“Brokedown Palace” was an emotive affair, with heartstrings pulled in lingering remembrance of the late Bill Walton. A news broadcast paired with vintage clips of the Grateful Dead marked the completion of the main frame and ultimate arrival at the night’s encore, an ode to the day of the week with “One More Saturday Night.”

With the third week of their Dead Forever residency on the books, Dead & Company will return to Sphere for the onset of their fourth weekend of concerts beginning on Thursday, June 6. Tickets remain on sale. 

Dead & Company 

Sphere – Las Vegas 

June 1, 2024

Set I: Alabama Getaway, The Music Never Stopped, They Love Each Other, Ramble on Rose, It Hurts Me Too, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance

Set II: Sugaree, St. Stephen, Brown Eyed Women, Cumberland Blues > Drums > Space > Dear Prudence, Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Sunshine Daydream, Brokedown Palace 

Enc.: One More Saturday Night 

Setlist via setlist.FM.