On Saturday night, Dead & Company hit Fenway Park, kicking off their two-night run at the Boston baseball field. The past few dates on this tour have been particularly triumphant for the six-piece Grateful Dead ensemble, with Dead & Co kicking into high gear as they tear through their summer tour with their eyes set on their Wrigley Field dates ahead of 4th of July. Across their two sets and two-song encore, Dead & Company put on a high-energy show, breaking out well-seasoned songs from this tour as well as the 2017 tour debut of “Passenger.”

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To kick off the show, the group started things off with “Music Never Stopped,” making for a disc0-tinged start of the show. The easy groove of the show opener made way the slower “Cold Rain and Snow” and a soulful “Me and My Uncle,” which saw teases of “Friend of the Devil” worked through it. In a nod to the late Ron “Pigpen” McKernan who played his final show with the Grateful Dead forty-five years ago on Friday, the group then moved into a bluesy rendition of “Big Boss Man” — a song first played by Jimmy Reed that was commonly sung by Pigpen during the 1960’s through to the early 1970’s with the Dead. From there, it was a sprint to the finish, with two upbeat crowd-pleasers — “Ramble On Rose” and “Sugaree” — ahead of the set closing tour debut of “Passenger.”

Music Never Stopped

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After set break, Dead & Company returned with “Dancin’ in the Streets,” picking up the crowd’s energy before moving through the well-worn combination of “Help on the Way” through to “Slipknot!”, which then jammed through to “Estimated Prophet.” While the first set featured a number of one-offs that lacked a focus on jamming across songs, the second set saw the ensemble really take advantage of transitions, with the group then moving through to “Eyes of the World” for the fourth song in their almost-non-stop eleven-song second set. After Weir, Chimenti, and Mayer left the stage for the drums segment of the night, Oteil Burbridge returned to join drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart ahead of “Space.” In an unexpected twist, coming out of the chaotic space jam, the group detoured into the reprise of “Eyes of the World” before moving through to “I Need A Miracle” before a heartfelt “Standing on the Moon.” To close out the second set, the group amped up the energy following “Standing on the Moon” with a laidback “Franklin’s Tower.” To finish out the show in full, Dead & Company put on a two-song encore started with a dramatic “Black Muddy River” led by John Mayer before the night-appropriate, dance-focused “One More Saturday.”

 Dancin’ in the Street

You can listen to the full show below, courtesy of Keith Antaya, plus check out a full gallery from last night’s performance, courtesy of Mark Raker. Dead & Company returns to Fenway Park tonight to round out their Boston run.


Setlist: Dead & Co | Fenway Park | Boston, MA | 6/17/2017

Set One: The Music Never Stopped, Cold Rain and Snow, Me and My Uncle, Big Boss Man, Ramble On Rose, Sugaree, Passenger

Set Two: Dancin’ in the Street, Help on the Way, Slipknot!, Estimated Prophet, Eyes of the World, Drums, Space, I Need a Miracle, Standing on the Moon, Franklin’s Tower

Encore: Black Muddy River, One More Saturday Night


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