Photo Credit: Chloe Weir
Last night, July 13, Dead & Company returned to Las Vegas’ Sphere venue for the weekend eight finale of their current Dead Forever residency. The show doubled as the ensemble, Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane’s July close out, and last concert before a brief break–resuming Aug. 1, Jerry Garcia’s birthday. During the Saturday stand, concert-goers were treated to a bust out of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and a debut from this group of specific players, a first-time cover of Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”
Alluding to their intent to close the July residency with a bang, the seasoned players started the evening with a take on Pickett’s 1965-released classic, dusting off the number which was last performed during a New Year’s Eve performance at Chase Center in San Francisco on Dec. 31, 2019. Dead & Company continued their initial set by pulling in standards such as “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” and “Shakedown Street,” the latter featured a tease of Genesis’ “That’s All,” evoking the intended melody style of a Beatles original.
The murder ballad “Cold Rain and Snow” preluded a pair of Garcia and Robert Hunter’s co-writes, “Loser” and “Sugaree.” Following the evening’s set break, the group returned to the stage, clicking into the Ace-originated weekend ode, “One More Saturday Night,” before a non-stop sequence of sister tunes, “Help on the Way” into “Slipknot!” Rather than pause, they merged into “Althea,” followed by “St. Stephen,” which included notes of “The Eleven.”
The second set’s instrumental interludes, “Drums” and “Space,” intermingled the cosmic frequencies of Hart, Lane, and Burbridge before a total band return and live debut from this particular grouping of artists on Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” a song that the Grateful Dead frequently covered. Proceeding with favored plays, Dead & Company positioned “Bertha” with “Sugar Magnolia,” closing out the second half of the show with an emotive “Brokedown Palace.” Vintage news clips came before an encore of The Olympics’ “Good Lovin’.”
With Dead & Company’s eighth weekend in the books, the band will take a short break, resuming their residency on August 1. For tickets and more information on Dead Forever, visit deadandcompany.com.
Scroll down to view last night’s setlist.
Dead & Company
Sphere – Las Vegas
July 13, 2024
Set I: In the Midnight Hour+, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Shakedown Street#, Cold Rain and Snow, Loser, Sugaree
Set II: One More Saturday Night, Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Althea, St. Stephen > Drums > Space > It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue%, Bertha > Sugar Magnolia, Brokedown Palace
Enc.: Good Lovin’
Notes:
+ Bust out, last played Dec. 31, 2019
# Tease of Genesis’ “That’s All”
% Live debut for Dead & Company
Setlist via setlist.FM.
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