Dead & Company Shows Support For Abortion Rights At Wrigley Field

Dead & Company kicked off a two night stand at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on Friday. The band showed their support for a woman’s right to choose after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court yesterday. The eventful concert saw the band filling the setlist with songs that reference women or have female characters and Bobby also delivered a scathing “Throwing Stones” to kick off the second set. Additionally, Jay Lane filled in for drummer Bill Kreutzmann once again but Billy would join his bandmates for “Drums” and more in a show that also saw the debut of a Miles Davis cover.

Dead & Company got right into showing their support for women’s rights by opening up the show with “Man Smart Woman Smarter.” Guitarist Bob Weir led the band through the King Radio calypso number with images of a pink female symbol, the Grateful Dead “Stealie” and the fist of solidarity displayed above the band. D&C then jumped into a second song “Eyes Of The World,” a tune that heralded some adventurous song placements in the first set and one that lyrically explores the human connection with Mother Earth. Bobby sang lead vocals on the Wake Of The Flood track with guitarist John Mayer adding some flighty runs on the instrumental breaks. Dead & Company then dropped into a third song “Bertha,” a tune that has historically been an opener. John took lead vocal duties on the jaunty number which capped off a seamless three-song opening segment.

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Mayer stayed at the mic to helm the Junior Parker-recorded “Next Time You See Me,” a song sung by Ron “Pigpen” McKernan between 1966 and 1972. The blues number boasted some Hammond organ fireworks from keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. D&C then eased their way into a first set “Dark Star.” After Bobby sang the first verse, the band stretched out a bit on a classic vibey “Dark Star” jam before segueing into “Dear Mr. Fantasy” complete with a “Hey Jude Reprise.” Dead & Company unveiled the Brent Mydland era Grateful Dead juxtaposition at their 2022 summer tour opener at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

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Mayer and Weir shared vocal duties on “Fantasy” and John had some hot blues licks in store for the rocker as well as on the sing-along “Hey Jude Reprise,” made iconic by The Beatles when they performed the song on the David Frost Show in 1968 and were joined by the audience to sing the coda. John Mayer then led the band through the favorite “Althea” and tore into the fretboard to close out the tune with Bobby adding tasty slide guitar touches. Perhaps an unconventional first set closer but a fiery one that would signal things to come.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

Dead & Company continued their support for a woman’s right to choose to kick off the second set with the politically-charged Bob Weir/John Perry Barlow masterpiece “Throwing Stones.” The song speaks of the beauty in the world but also the human race’s susceptibility to greed and corruption. Once again images of solidarity flashed on the screen along with a sign that read “Save Our Rights.” As he’s wont to do, Bobby changed up some of the lyrics to comment on the times, altering the “money green, proletarian grey” line on the bridge to “Money green, it’s the only way you can buy” and “Selling guns instead of food today,” (which also would have been a relevant line to sing) to “God damn the Supreme Court today,” which elicited a rise out of the audience.

My bro-in-law @BobWeir called out the Supreme Court at the @deadandcompany show at Wrigley Field in Chicago last night and my big sis helped design the women’s rights logo on the screen. Go Bobby & Natascha! pic.twitter.com/5kUjdQcYLI

— Leilani Münter (@LeilaniMunter) June 25, 2022

Bobby wasn’t done yet as he led the band into the “on our own” refrain adding, “I mean that, we’re on our own.” Weir’s scathing performance was infectious as Mayer then proceeded to deliver an impassioned and on-point solo that howled beautifully between melody and aggression. All in all a stellar performance of one of Weir’s greatest songs. “Throwing Stones” would also set the tone for the first second set “Brown-Eyed Women” from the band. Mayer took his usual lead vocal duties on the favorite with Bobby adding some nice high harmonies. John would deliver another outstanding solo before linking up with Jeff on piano for a great exchange showing off the chemistry the guitarist and keyboardist have found.

Another Weir/Barlow epic, “Estimated Prophet,” followed which boasted a jazz-tinged jam that saw Mayer and Chimenti teaming up once again along with what sounded like an “Other One” tease. The band, however, dropped into a dreamy sequence that led into the return of “Dark Star.” John had some insane string bends in store for the psychedelic classic before Weir sang the second verse with gusto although the band had a bit of trouble navigating the more technical aspects of the tune. Dead & Company then headed into Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home,” which D&C debuted during night one at Shoreline earlier in the tour. Mayer and Weir traded verses while bassist Oteil Burbridge and Jeff joined on the chorus.

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A bluesy sequence then led the band to the big build up into “Truckin.” Although the song fittingly references a number of U.S. cities, Chicago is the first and the crowd reacted appropriately. After Weir led the group through the first few verses and the band hit the iconic chorus, Mayer presided over a raucous blues romp. Bobby was still feeling it, and threw in an “All a friend can say it’s a fuckin’ shame” in the “Sweet Jane” verse. The tail end of “Truckin” also saw the band playing with a brief Jimi Hendrix “Foxy Lady” jam.

The surprises kept coming when Grateful Dead founding drummer Bill Kreutzmann emerged to join Jay Lane and Mickey Hart for “Drums.” Billy sat out half of the previous show in Cincinnati show due to a pulled muscle he suffered in at Folsom Field in Colorado. Kreutzmann posted on his social feeds before the show that Jay Lane would fill in once again but that he was recovering. So much so that he felt comfortable getting back with his fellow Rythm Devils on “Drums.” Next, Hart got “Space” underway with some Beam work and Oteil showed off some Beam-like skills of his own using a Beam string Mickey popped off to make sounds on his bass as the rest of the band returned.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfPlDOIh1rl/

“Space” gave way to the jazzy blues of Miles Davis’ “All Blues,” a Dead & Company debut led by Chimenti on some jazzy piano before Mayer took over and showed off his skills in The Great American Art Form. Bobby added some choice slide touches as well. “All Blues” kicked off a “Blue” trifecta as D&C then headed into “Cumberland Blues,” with Mayer adding some serious twang to the mix, ahead of a cool down on “Stella Blue.” Things ramped back up again however when Billy took over for Jay on “Not Fade Away.” Dead & Company would understandably wrap up night one at Wrigley with the Buddy Holly number sans encore as the crowd sang and clapped them offstage. Dead & Company returns to Wrigley Field tonight. Livesterams are available via nugs.net.

Watch pro-shot video of “Man Smart Woman Smarter” and “Throwing Stones” below:

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Poster

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfMg_ptOpFl/?hl=en

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Source: JamBase.com