Dead & Company played their last show beneath the Mason-Dixon line on Saturday, when they brought The Final Tour to Bristow, Virginia. The band continued to dig into their large repertoire with five tour debuts making the setlist at the Jiffy Lube Live outdoor amphitheater.
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The temperature was a perfect 72°F as the sextet took the stage for the tour’s fourth and final stop in the south. Fittingly, “Here Comes Sunshine” was selected to open featuring guitarist John Mayer on lead vocals. Mayer strung together bluesy riffs during his initial tasty solo of the evening. The energy stayed high as Bob Weir captained “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” with Mayer going falsetto for portions of the backing vocals. The 45-year-old guitarist went with a more Jerry-esque tone and approach during the verses and then returned to blues-infused licks for the slow-paced jam. John Mayer then channeled original Grateful Dead keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and kept the blues guitar flowing on “Mr. Charlie.”
Dead & Company took the energy down and the emotion up on the ensuing “He’s Gone.” Bassist Oteil Burbridge anchored the jam with a roiling bassline as Mayer shred once more. The final notes of “He’s Gone” were followed by the start of “Brown-Eyed Women,” the first song played three times on The Final Tour. Mayer effusively sang the GD first set staple and was urged on instrumentally by keyboardist Jeff Chimenti while drummers Mickey Hart and Jay Lane provided a steady beat.
Saturday’s first set ended with a pair of tour debuts. First up was Dead & Company’s solemn take on the Beatles’ gem “Dear Prudence.” Weir guided the band vocally on the arrangement he original performed with his RatDog ensemble. Mayer went full Garcia tone-wise on a song that was a live staple for the Jerry Garcia Band’s Jerry Garcia Band’s Seals, Kemper, LaBranch & Jones era. Bobby was also in command of the “Turn On Your Lovelight” set closer. Both “Prudence” and “Lovelight” featured Chimenti wailing away on the organ once owned by GD keyboardist Brent Mydland. John Mayer gave his all on his “Lovelight” solo kicking up his legs to accent certain notes. Weir provided a rap where he urged attendees to “push back the night.”
Dead & Company have opened most second sets on the final tour with a straight-forward number before diving into the improvisation. The trend played out in again in Bristow as a rollicking “Deal” fronted by Mayer laid the groundwork for “Scarlet Begonias.” Chimenti once again unleashed a hearty organ solo on the former with Weir going full bore on a vocal miscue by singing a few extra lines of the chorus while Mayer began to tear it up. Saturday’s “Scarlet” saw Bobby in fine voice ahead of an adventurous jam. Instead of flowing into its usual partner, “Fire On The Mountain,” Dead & Company found their way into “Playing In The Band.”
The six-piece quickly painted outside the lines on a fusion-filled “Playin’” jam. Chimenti was on Fender Rhodes, Burbridge laid down a groovy bassline and the drummers picked up the pace as Dead & Company explored a jazzy progression that eventually faded to near silence when Weir revved into “Cumberland Blues.” The interplay between Mayer and Chimenti will be one of the main things missed when Dead & Co. calls it a career and that delightful chemistry was on full display during the intense “Cumberland” improvisation. Lane guided the outfit back towards the conclusion to the song, earning huge cheers from the capacity crowd. The group then concluded the pre-“Drums” portion of the evening with an adventurous “Uncle John’s Band.”
Dead & Company returned to a similar jazz-fusion motif in “UJB” as they had traversed in “Playin’.” All six members made their presence felt in an impressive jam before Hart and Lane were left on stage. The pair provided a trip through the vibratory universe with Burbridge slipping behind Lane’s kit to help guide the percussive exploration. Eventually, Mickey moved over to The Beam and mixed drones from the instrument with wild samples.
The instrumentalists came back for the free-form “Space” envocation. They hinted at a number of different songs before Chimenti pulled the trigger on the tour’s first cover of Miles Davis’ “Milestones” as the drummers retook their positions. Dead & Company delivered a stellar version of the jazz tune with Burbridge’s bubbling bassline and Chimenti’s work on synth particular standouts. The group connected on a sequence they used as a pathway to the tour’s first “Days Between.” Weir handled lead vocals on one of the last great Hunter/Garcia ballads.
Dead & Co. patiently made their way through “Days Between” with Mayer stringing together one emotional lick after another within the jam. The sextet picked up the energy in a big way by dusting off “Throwing Stones” for the first time in nearly a year. Weir screamed “You can buy the whole goddamned government today” which was received with a big cheers. The string of three tour debuts and second set came to a close with the day-appropropriate “One More Saturday Night.”
When the sextet returned to the stage for the encore, Weir and Mayer had acoustics in hand. The guitarists shared lead vocal duties on the tender “Ripple” to wrap the concert.
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