On 11/11, First Niagara Center hosted Dead & Company on their 8th night of their fall tour, and everyone in attendance wished it would never end. Another rewarding night for Deadheads involved patriotic bows and cosmic exchanges between founding fathers Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and new entrants John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. 

In honor of Veteran’s Day, the first set opened the evening with anthemic, American-folk classic “Promised Land”; featured the debut of country/western ballad “El Paso”; and ended on the high note of the Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia classic “U.S. Blues”.

Other highlights from the first set include more blues-heavy guitar by John Mayer during “New Minglewood Blues”, supported by enormously strong vocals by Weir. Mayer led the crowd straight to his heart and deep in the pockets for “Bertha”, displaying even more levels of comfort with his new Grateful Dead family than ever before. His energy filled with bliss as he took the blistering solos, and the band exchanged glances of appreciation. 

Second set brought a gorgeous “Viola Lee Blues” to the table, highlighting the communication of each musician’s instrument nicely. Burbridge, with the rhythm locked and loaded, poured in skatty harmonizations and psychedelic tones during “New Speedway Boogie”, then served the room with an extremely enthusiastic sing-a-long that had the whole room “Truckin’ up to Buffalo”!

The room was pleased to add the complicated improvisational jams of “Dark Star” to their Dead-related resumes, which extendedly hugged “Drums/Space” on either side. The percussion break continued to peak our interest, as Burbridge laid down the beats hard behind the drum kit, giving Kreutzmann and Hart an enormous amount of freedom to entertain the percussive toys in the Rhythm Devils section. A natural addition, indeed. 

After a mellow “China Doll”, the night capped with an epic dance party for “Sugar Magnolia” and a rocking encore of “Casey Jones”.

Setlist: Dead & Company at First Niagara Center, Buffalo, NY – 11/11/15

Set I: Promised Land* (BW), New Minglewood Blues (BW), Bertha (JM), Here Comes Sunshine (JM), El Paso* (BW), Althea (JM), U.S. Blues (JM)

Set II: Viola Lee Blues* (BW, JM) > Wang Dang Doodle (BW) > Viola Lee Blues (BW, JM) > New Speedway Boogie (BW) > Truckin’ (BW, JM) > Dark Star > Drums > Space > Dark Star > China Doll* (BW) > Sugar Magnolia (BW)

Encore: Casey Jones (JM)

* = Tour Debut