Dead & Company resumed their three-night Playing In The Sand run at the Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico on Saturday night. The band delivered a massive “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot,” “Franklin’s Tower” section that bookended the entire, continuous second set.
Dead & Co kicked off the show with the classic opener, “Bertha,” led by John Mayer on vocals and also featuring some tasty guitar work from the singer-songwriter. The band then jumped into “Good “Lovin’” with guitarist Bob Weir taking the reins on vocals. Bobby then led the band on a vibey “Shakedown Street” that saw Mayer working the auto-wah and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti adding some phased-out Fender Rhodes. “Shakedown” then headed into “High Time,” sung by bassist Oteil Burbridge. Mayer stepped back to the mic for “Cold Rain And Snow” before the stellar Bobby song “Black-Throated Wind,” which saw some more choice guitar from Mayer. “Sugaree” came next with John handling vocal duties before the first frame came to a close with Weir leading the band on the Bob Dylan classic “Quinn, The Eskimo.”
Photo by Alivecoverage
The second set got underway with Mayer singing the crowd favorite, “Help On The Way,” which included some jazzy riffing from Chimenti on his Rhodes, before getting into a tight ”Slipknot” that saw Mayer exploring, playing off Chimenti’s jazz stylings, and even throwing in a quick “Dark Star” tease. But instead of completing the trifecta right away with “Franklin’s Tower,” the band headed into a well-put-together “St. Stephen,” with everyone joining in on vocals, and, after some foreshadowing and callbacks, completed another classic paring by rolling into the psychedelic epic “The Eleven,” sung as usual by Weir.
After some flighty riffing from Mayer, Oteil stepped into the spotlight once again for a bass solo before giving way to Rhythm Devils Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart on “Drums” which inevitably faded into “Space” which in turn got into a “Spanish Jam.” D&C revved things back up with a rolling “New Speedway Boogie” before bringing it back down again for the ballad slot with a blissful “Stella Blue” that saw some soaring soloing from Mayer. Then, the band found their way back into “Slipknot” and finally headed into “Franklin’s Tower,” with Mayer on lead vocals and Chimenti tearing up the Hammond organ, to close out the second set.
For the encore? That’s right, “One More Saturday Night.” Check out video of the first and second set openers via Nugs.tv below:
Bertha
Help On The Way > Slipknot
Setlist via Ratdog.org
Set One: Bertha > Good Lovin’, Shakedown Street > High Time, Cold Rain And Snow, Black-Throated Wind, Sugaree, Quinn, The Eskimo
Set Two: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Oteil Bass Jam > Drums > Space > Spanish Jam > New Speedway Boogie > Stella Blue > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower
Encore: One More Saturday Night
