Dead & Company rounded the corner of their long, strange trip in Las Vegas on Friday with the penultimate show of the Dead Forever residency at Sphere. Last night’s show coincided with the 29th anniversary of Jerry Garcia‘s death, and the band played numerous tributes to the late Grateful Dead guitarist and cultural icon.
Though Friday was the 29th show of Dead & Company’s Sphere residency, for many people it was still their first time inside the state-of-the-art concert venue. Prior to showtime, the arena buzzed with excitement from Deadheads of all ages as they shared stories from across tours, decades, and generations. When Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane took the stage, a roar came up from the crowd as the band played the first notes of “Cassidy”.
Mayer’s soaring lead guitar—played with only nine fingers after slamming his fretting index finger in a car door—helped the band take flight on “Cassidy” before the interior of the venue visually took flight over San Francisco during the following “Truckin’”. Dead & Company waited until they were in the outer reaches of the cosmos for their first Jerry tribute with “They Love Each Other”. The performance highlighted the band’s long-standing harmonies and gave keyboardist Jeff Chimenti the space to shine with a funky organ solo.
The serene opening of “Jack Straw” coincided with the serenity of a calm ocean before diving beneath the waves, finding the same sunken ship that has accompanied such aquatic songs as “Ship of Fools”. The ship too long at sea connected with “Jack Straw”‘s inherent sense of travel and adventure, with the band deftly fluctuating in tempo from slow and deliberate to fast(er) and funkier.
Things then took an unexpected turn as skeleton Uncle Sam rose out of his grave. The iconic dancing skeleton has consistently closed out the second set of the Dead Forever residency, but on Friday couldn’t wait to hop on his hog for “Cold Rain and Snow”—riding out the finale of the suspiciously short five-song first set.
Any grumblings about the brevity of the first set were immediately put to rest by the opening notes of “Dark Star” to start set two. The abundance of time served Dead & Company well as they crept in with a slow, melodic introduction accompanied by visuals of deep space. Stars, galaxies, and celestial bodies swirled around the Sphere, creating a dreamlike atmosphere as the band dug into the Dead’s improvisational behemoth. As stars whizzed by overhead, down on the floor a crowd of hippies twirled gracefully, lost in the exploration of sound and movement. The visuals and music seemed to guide them, creating a sense of unity between the band and the audience.
After one verse of “Dark Star”, Dead & Company ditched the vast emptiness of space for the vast emptiness of the desert so Bobby “Ace” Weir could ride into town for Marty Robbins‘ “El Paso”. Following the cowboy foray, John Mayer’s bluesy psychedelic leads signaled the continuation of sonic contemplations on the second verse of “Dark Star”.
As flowers fell from the ceiling, the band locked into the jovial skip of “Scarlet Begonias”. The packed Sphere backed Bob and John up on vocals, Mayer fluctuating his guitar phrasings and tone from aggressive arena rock to delicate strokes of the strings. As the jam evolved, so did the visuals as the pile of flowers cloaking the Sphere’s interior was lifted to reveal a disco ball. Each reflective panel on the shimmering Stealie-clad disco ball hosted a live feed of the band’s performance, merging the past with the present.
The bouncy outro naturally led into the song’s partner “Fire on the Mountain”, as the music changed to a liquid state of matter through filters and effects. Though bassist Oteil Bassist used to handle sole vocal duties on the reggae-infused favorite, the song has become a vocal baton race with John and Bobby.
Following Mickey Hart’s voyage through time and space that is “Drums”—which has emerged as an undisputed highlight of the Sphere experience—the rest of the band rejoined for “Dear Prudence”. The Beatles classic was a staple of the Jerry Garcia Band‘s live catalog, and Bob Weir appeared to get visually choked up as he sang it. Throughout the “days between” Garcia’s birthday on August 1st and the anniversary of his death on the 9th, Dead & Company has been deliberate with the song choices during the post-“Space” ballad slot, including “Days Between” and their debut of “Lazy River Road“. During this unofficial nine-day holiday, emotions run high among Deadheads old and new alike—and Bobby is no exception as he has appeared emotionally stirred on many of these nights.
Another Jerry tribute followed with “Sugaree” as the band transported fans to iconic venues the Carousel Ballroom, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Hampton Coliseum—all of which have a special part in Grateful Dead history—before emerging onto the field of a massive stadium filled with dancing skeletons. Finally, during a climactic “Morning Dew”, visuals of Jerry Garcia appeared in the cosmos and sent a chill through the temperate-controlled room.
As Bobby hollered “There’s nothing to worry about, worry about, worry about,” his voice led into one last full jam. All of the band’s members were locked into each other, narrowing down to one final peak as the visuals of landing in Haight Ashbury brought the evening full circle. After the traditional vintage broadcast about the Grateful Dead, Dead & Company got the entire Sphere clapping along with The Crickets‘ “Not Fade Away”. Having close to 20,000 people doing something in unison is a powerful, communal experience, one that leaves the audience with a sense of connection and continuity, a reminder that the music and the memories will never fade away.
Check out a collection of fan-shot videos below from Cole Rector. Fans hoping to get in on the action for the final two nights of Dead & Company at Sphere can find tons of face-value tickets via CashorTrade. By choosing CashorTrade over other sites you are supporting real fans, not brokers trying to offload inventory. Unlike other platforms, you may even stumble upon a miracle. Browse what’s available on the site here.
Dead & Company — “Cassidy” — 8/9/24
Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 8/9/24
Set One: Cassidy, Truckin’, They Love Each Other, Jack Straw, Cold Rain and Snow (Traditional)
Set Two: Dark Star > El Passo (Marty Robbins) > Dark Star, Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain > Drums > Space > Dear Prudence (The Beatles), Sugaree, Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson), Not Fade Away (The Crickets)
[1] FTP
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