Last night, Dead & Company hit Citi Field in Queens, New York for one their finer performances thus far of this summer tour, returning to the Big Apple coming off their Bristow, Virginia show at Jiffy Lube Live on Thursday. While within Citi Field itself, the Grateful Dead ensemble had some tricks up its sleeve — including bassist Oteil Burbridge taking the vocal lead on “Comes A Time” for the first time ever, exactly one year after Burbridge’s first vocal verse with Dead & Company during “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad” last year — outside the venue, a pretty special light show was being shared with the rest of the city.
The Empire State Building Was Synchronized To ‘U.S. Blues’ Last Night
As announced yesterday, the Empire State Building lights lit up and were synchronized with last night’s encore, just like they were during the Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well encore of “U.S. Blues” for the group’s 50th anniversary. The lights were controlled by Marc Brickman, a renowned lighting designer who has toured Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney among many other. While there was much speculation about what song Dead & Co would choose last night to accompany the special light show, the band settled on “Touch of Grey,” with John Mayer and Bob Weir sharing the lead vocals. The Empire State Building took on hues of predominantly shimmering purples and blues, and the encore was played on iHeartRadio’s Q104.3 for those at home who wished to enjoy the full spectacle of the Empire State Building light show and who were not lucky enough to witness the show in person.
You can watch footage of last night’s Empire State Building light show below, courtesy of Dead & Company.