After teasing fans on Thursday with John Mayer‘s look-alike of Jerry Garcia‘s “Aligator” guitar, Dead & Company returned to Sphere on Friday to dig up Bob Dylan‘s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, a cover not seen since the band’s first post-quarantine tour. The band’s latest concert at the state-of-the-art fully immersive concert venue in Las Vegas sported visuals that traced the band’s history and a setlist that highlighted the Grateful Dead‘s vast stylistic diversity, mixing blues, reggae, folk, orchestral ingenuity, and more.
Robot humanoid Gort from 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still ominously greeted Deadheads who arrived through the ground level, walking through a glowing neon blue arch that looks like how Cloud City would decorate its mass transit system. The sci-fi antagonist ushered beleaguered but buoyant attendees in from the sweltering 106-degree Las Vegas ecosystem, welcomed by the venue’s generous air conditioning and helpful staff at every turn.
Moving through the futuristic lobby adorned with two-dimensional circles suspended from the ceiling and entering the concert area through sound-proofed corridors, one had to stare up in awe. As the sun shined through the semi-translucent exosphere, you couldn’t shake the feeling of being inside the Pantheon in Rome, standing in a shaft of waning daylight. The relatively small stage was backed by pedestrian scaffolding which—to the first-timer or someone who hasn’t voraciously devoured online videos of the residency—looks like just the innards of the digital age’s new church of live music.
The band took the barren stage to roaring applause from an audience warmed up from the night before—those who were repeat customers, a somewhat rarer phenomenon at the luxurious Sphere than your typical multi-night Dead run. Bassist Oteil Burbridge took the stage with a single stripe of white war paint running down the middle of his face, while Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane all assumed their battle stations to open with “New Minglewood Blues”. The visuals for this first song were nothing beyond giant live video projections of the band, allowing attendees to see the finest details of Mayer’s stank-face guitar solos and the grit emanating from Bobby’s singing. Ever the gracious guest, Weir made sure to shout out his host city with the classic amendment, “It’s T for Texas, yes and it’s T for Timbuctoo / Yes and it’s T for [insert town here, in this case Las Vegas] / Where the little girls know what to do.” Sonically, Sphere’s state-of-the-art Immersive Sound system did the impossible and made Bobby’s slide guitar sound good instead of like a rusty chainsaw, immediately proving that the possibilities were endless at the $2 billion evolutionary leap forward in concert technology.
Dead & Company — “New Minglewood Blues” (Cannon’s Jug Stompers) — 7/12/24
[Video: Daniel Marino]
A shakey landing at the end of “New Minglewood Blues” (the first of two Cannon’s Jug Stompers songs of the evening) rolled into a smooth takeoff for the nightly parting of the scaffolding into a 13-point lightning bolt and blissful ascension from the Dead’s former home at 710 Ashbury St in San Francisco. Mayer landed the tone of serenity perfectly with gentle vocal delivery and lofty touches on his guitar as soft as the clouds themselves. As the Sphere lifted off from Earth, the sold-out venue floated deep into space and past satellites to discover that, luckily thanks to Jeff Chimenti, there is boogie-woogie piano in space.
Moving into the cosmos, sonic stardust fell from John’s fingers as the band began to chart its musical journey for the evening. After launching from San Francisco during “Franklin’s Tower” and proceeding to move through the universe, the band grounded itself for “Tennessee Jed”. The song would take fans back to iconic locations from throughout the Dead’s history including the Winterland Ballroom, Cornell University‘s Barton Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Carousel Ballroom—a feed of Mayer’s face plastered on the marquee of San Francisco’s short-lived Carousel for a healthy dose of revisionist history.
The following “Crazy Fingers” revealed the final third of the Dead’s visual trifecta as the ceiling was adorned with glowing Stealies like a hippie version of the glow-in-the-dark star stickers from the ceiling of your childhood bedroom. Throughout the evening, Dead & Company would travel through deep space (sonic explorations in “Franklin’s Tower”), Earthly elements (famous venues during “Tennessee Jed”), and nostalgic Grateful Dead iconography (the familiar Stealies of “Crazy Fingers”).
Dead & Company dug deep into the rich Grateful Dead iconography for the meat of the show, as Bertha dropped rose pedals during “Brown-Eyed Women” and a shoebox’s worth of ticketstubs and photos lined the Sphere for the set-closing “Deal”—between which Oteil led an undersea voyage for “Ship of Fools” that traveled from a Lord of the Rings-worthy coastal tracking shot to deep below the waves to find the titular sunken ship. “Brown-Eyed Women” and “Deal” highlighted the very best of John Mayer, with the guitarist skipping the foreplay and running right up to Jeff Chimenti’s organ so they could both lock eyes missionary-style and lock into one of their jams. No Dead & Company concert review would be complete without mentioning the musical sympatico between Jeff and John that has been a consistent highlight since the band’s inception. That bromance put an emphatic exclamation point on set two as John and Jeff synced up for respective windmill-worthy power chords and hammering grand piano notes to close the relevant nod to gambling.
The second set abounded with familiar imagery from throughout Dead lore, beginning with rose petals falling from the sky and stacking up during the opening “Scarlet Begonias”. Unfortunately eschewing the “Franklin’s Tower” and thus avoiding a double-dose of Oteil singing, the band instead segued into ’60s Dead classic “Viola Lee Blues” (though all hope was not lost for those hoping to hear more of Burbridge’s buttery vocals). Dead & Co fittingly paired the Primal Dead-era staple with liquid light projections emblematic of the band’s acid-drenched beginnings.
Skipping forward eras, the reggae bounce of “Estimated Prophet” introduced a brick-by-brick reconstruction of the Dead’s infamous Wall of Sound P.A. system. A bouncy jam buoyed by Burbrdige’s bass, Mayer’s envelope filter, and Bobby’s beloved ad-libbing took the band on a ride through space on Rainbow Road, ultimately ending up in a ring around a blue planet (possibly Uranus). The journey was far from over, as the band rolled right into “Terrapin Station”. The Dead’s grand orchestral symphony straddled lines between Dead & Company’s visual narratives, as scenic snow-capped mountains turned to a rush of glowing dancing bears, skeletons, Stealies, and more while the band moved through the intricate arrangements.
Dead & Company — “Terrapin Station” — 7/12/24
[Video: Daniel Marino]
Though it’s safe to say Mickey Hart has never necessarily been the face of the Dead operation, the “Drums”/”Space” section at Sphere puts the spacey percussionist out front in a whole new way. Mickey helped program the visuals for his percussive breakdown alongside Jay and Oteil, with images of synapses firing inside a brain and kaleidoscopic renderings of the live feed. The up-close video also showed just how in control Hart is of the drum section, before he manned the stage alone for the Beam—the strings of his percussive concoction eventually coming to resemble the rings of the solar system.
Dead & Company — “Drums” — 7/12/24
[Video: Daniel Marino]
As the rest of the band filtered onstage post-“Space”, Dead & Company utilized perhaps some of the most powerful visuals of the evening that were also the most simplistic. A straightforward black and white feed showed Bob Weir as he began to strum out “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan classic not seen since Dead & Company played Ruoff Music Center (formerly Deer Creek) on September 15th, 2021. While the uninvolved video feed perhaps seemed a bit dull at first, the visuals played right into Weir’s appointed position as a storyteller. Rather than standing in awe of the engrossing visuals, audiences were left to sit and reflect on Dylan’s words that still ring with unwavering truth some 60 years later. While his hair has greyed and he moves a bit slower, the wisdom and grit of Bobby’s 76 years has given him a new cadence and credibility, one that rang through the entire Sphere as he spat out the final verse to thunderous applause,
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Dead & Company — “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (Bob Dylan) — 7/12/24
[Video: Daniel Marino]
Those still kicking rocks after the perceived slight of Burbrdige being denied another song turned their frowns upside down at the sound of the bouncing “Fire on the Mountain”. As little fires flickered in the distance of a cartoonish countryside, the song became a group effort as Oteil started it and Bobby continued it before the big finale—Mickey Hart rapping. The drummer originally wrote “Fire on the Mountain” as a rap with Robert Hunter long before the term “hip-hop” was even invented, and since finally getting to spit the verses last year in Denver, Mickey on the mic has become a regular and still-jovially received occurrence.
While some of the Dead symbols felt like GIFs walking across the world’s LED screen, the visuals for the climactic “U.S. Blues” took fans on quite a ride. After skeleton Uncle Sam rose from his grave and shook a leg, the impressive 3D rendering hopped on a hog and hit the road for a 4k, 21st-century update on the iconic animated opening to 1978’s Grateful Dead Movie. The gritty tongue-in-cheek patriotism seemed like the natural set-closer, but audiences got one extra tug at their heartstrings with Mayer’s emotional reading of “Black Muddy River”. As he crooned the last song Jerry Garcia sang at his final concert 29 years ago this week, the Sphere returned to space and began its descent back to the Golden Shore, landing back at 710 Ashbury.
Dead & Company — “U.S. Blues” — 7/12/24
[Video: Daniel Marino]
After the customary archival news clip that subs in for the encore break, Dead & Company sent audiences home clapping with The Crickets‘ “Not Fade Away”. The song contains perhaps the greatest tension-and-release of the entire Dead songbook, and Mayer certainly knows how to build tension. In the wake of those thunderous beats and shouted declarations of undying love, the band brought the music down lower, lower, and lower until the audience fully took over the words and rhythm for a few measures before erupting in roaring farewell applause. As the band hugged it out, Jeff Chimenti smooched Jay Lane on the cheek—hopefully, John Mayer doesn’t get jealous.
Eight weeks into their historic Las Vegas residency, Dead & Company continue to embark on nightly journeys of sights and sounds that were unfathomable when the original Grateful Dead took their final bows almost 30 years ago. Through deaths, disbandments, spats public and private, and many of the other pratfalls that go with safeguarding a legacy so immense, the keepers of the Grateful Dead flame have continued to light the way for generations of fans as they follow the Band Beyond Description. Speaking as a 27-year-old fan, I felt a moment of melancholy while browsing the thoughtfully curated photo gallery at the Dead Forever Experience earlier in the afternoon. The Grateful Dead are one of the primary reasons I am sitting here writing this review, they shaped my adolescence, adulthood, and art, but I have to often lament the fact that I will never experience a true live Grateful Dead show. And while that is the case, what I witnessed last night in Las Vegas made me feel that I was a part of this same legacy and community that has continued on post-Garcia for almost as long as the band’s original run, and will surely carry on long after the rest of the Core Four, and probably even after me. “While the firelight’s aglow / Strange shadows from the flames will grow / ‘Til things we’ve never seen / Will seem familiar.”
Dead & Company return to Sphere tonight, July 13th, to finish off another weekend of their residency. For a full list of the band’s upcoming shows, head here.
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Dead & Company — Sphere — Las Vegas, NV — 7/12/24 — Full Audio
[Audio: Hunter S T 24]
Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 7/12/24
Set One: New Minglewood Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers), Franklin’s Tower, Tennessee Jed, Crazy Fingers, Brown-Eyed Women, Ship Of Fools, Deal (Jerry Garcia)
Set Two: Scarlet Begonias > Viola Lee Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers), Estimated Prophet > Terrapin Station > Drums > Space > A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan) [1] [2], Fire On The Mountain [3], U.S. Blues, Black Muddy River, Not Fade Away (The Crickets)
[1] LTP 9/15/21
[2] w/ “My Favorite Things” tease
[2] w/ Mickey rap
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The post Dead & Company Dry Off First “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” Since 2021 At Sphere [Videos/Audio] appeared first on L4LM.
