Dead & Company celebrated Halloween on Thursday evening with a return to New York's famed Madison Square Garden, and the band paid tribute to the late Robert Hunter with two full sets of songs co-written by the iconic Grateful Dead lyricist for the first time since Hunter passed away in September.
To open up last night's Hunter tribute, longtime Grateful Dead bandmates Bob Weir (dressed in a kilt), Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart emerged without their Dead & Co. collaborators to begin an acoustic version of "Ripple" while images of Hunter and Jerry Garcia were displayed on the MSG screens. After being joined by their bandmates, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti throughout the song, the group continued set one with Dead favorites like "Shakedown Street," "Bertha," "Loser," "Tennessee Jed" and closer "Terrapin Station."
At setbreak, Kreutzmann and Hart officially inducted bassist Burbridge into their Rhythm Devils group—nodding to Burbridge joining them during the traditional "Drums" sections at many Dead & Co. performances—by presenting him with his Rhythm Devil horns.
The second set continued the night with Hunter/Dead classics like "Playing in the Band," "Truckin'," "Uncle John's Band" "Eyes of the World" and an interlude of "Drums/Space" before wrapping up with "Sugar Magnolia." The band later returned to the stage for the usual Dead Halloween encore, a cover of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London."
Check out the full setlist below, along with select pro-shot and fan-shot videos from the evening. Dead & Co. continue their MSG run tonight.
Dead & Company
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY
Set I: Ripple, Shakedown Street > Bertha, Loser, They Love Each Other, Tennessee Jed, Terrapin Station
Set II: Playin’ in the Band > Truckin’ > Uncle John’s Band > China Doll > Eyes of the World > Drums > Space > The Wheel > Standing on the Moon > Sugar Magnolia
Enc: Werewolves of London
