Last night, Dead & Company returned to Sphere for night three of the band’s Dead Forever Sphere run—the first Saturday of the 24-show residency, which runs Thursday–Saturday throughout May and June—and proved that the age-old adage, “Never miss a Sunday show,” now applies to Saturdays. [Revisit our coverage of the entire opening weekend here: Night 1 | Night 2].

If nights one and two were about the visuals, night three was about the band. From the opening salvo, accompanied again by the same visuals as night one and two, Bob Weir, John Mayer, Mickey Hart, Jay Lane, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti let the “Good Times” roll, and right off the bat, it was clear they were having fun. The crowd went wild when Chimenti sang a verse—his first lead vocals of the run, but not his last. In fact, one theme of the night was that everyone in the band finally got to sing lead (or rap), with the exception of Jay Lane.

As the room levitated above Haight Ashbury and floated up into space, John Mayer’s spirited guitar solo in “Truckin'” set the tone for high-energy first set, and the sudden coordinated drop in volume after the final verse proved the band was well-rehearsed.

Following a groovy “Smokestack Lightning”, Mayer and Chimenti got into it early during “Sugaree”, with the pair’s chemistry coming to a full boil as Mayer took the lead with another powerful solo. The band then dipped back into its blues repertoire to retrieve the second “good time” song of the set, “Loose Lucy”.

The first big surprise of the night arrived during “Ship of Fools”, as the Sphere appeared to dip below the oceans surface to reveal new undersea visuals, followed by what looked like microscopic amoebas floating around as, finally, Oteil sang lead on a few verses. The highlight of the new “Ship of Fools” visuals, though, was the cartoonish pirate ship with roses and stealies decorating its sails.

The video then zoomed in to the ship of fools’ port hole at the start of “Tennessee Jed” to reveal Winterland Ballroom, which, like on night two, transformed into Cornell University’s Barton Hall, and then Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and finally the Fillmore West.

“Casey Jones” capped off the first set on a serious high note. Oteil was running around his side of the stage, barefoot stomping and rocking out during John Mayer’s fiery guitar solo at the end of the tune.

Set two kicked off with a bunch of new visuals, starting with “Scarlet Begonias”, which saw the red flowers rain down and fill the entire Sphere screen. The band then pulled off the traditional transition to “Fire on the Mountain”, which featured the colorful paint-by-numbers scene from the previous night. The surprises were not over, as Mickey Hart rapped his original verses to the song for only the second time ever with Dead & Company.

More new, colorful, psychedelic visuals accompanied “Eyes of the World”, which featured a memorable piano solo from Jeff Chimenti before John Mayer joined in to bring it home as new color-changing skulls, peace signs, winged eyeballs, and other Dead-related symbols formed rings around the Sphere. The song also included an ethereal, mostly chord-based bass solo from Oteil, which was also one his most memorable moments in the spotlight, and it finished with a composed ending that once again showed the band definitely put time and care into rehearsing for this run.

 

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“Terrapin Station”, on the other hand, included a few humanizing mistakes and featured more new visuals, with the Sphere appearing to soar over snowy mountain peaks at sunset.

“Drums” was a highlight once again, with the trio of Oteil, Jay Lane, and Mickey locked in with each other and the crowd. “Space” then gave way to a sentimental “Stella Blue”, which was followed by one of the freer jams of the night during “The Wheel”. At the end of the song, the band transitioned to a tropical, calypso-esque, four-on-the-floor dance groove, with Weir singing the chorus one more time over the unique feel.

“Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” saw the return of Uncle Sam, whose trippy motorcycle ride was the only visual display accompanied by sound. His revving engine was much louder than the band as he started it up and could be heard again at the end of the song as an army of motorcycle-riding skeletons circled the Sphere walls Globe of Death-style. Oteil and Jeff each sang a verse of the tune, much to the crowd’s delight, and the end of the song drew the loudest cheers of the night.

“Throwing Stones” began the descent from space back down to 710 Ashbury, and the same TV news broadcast signaled the final song of weekend one, the predictable yet appreciable “One More Saturday Night”.

For a complete list of upcoming Dead & Company dates at Sphere, click here. Revisit our coverage of the entire opening weekend here: Night 1 | Night 2. Fans hoping to get in on the action can find tons of face-value tickets for the entire run via CashorTrade here. Check out a gallery of images from the show below courtesy of photographers Rich Fury and Alive Coverage.

 

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Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 5/18/24

Set One: Let The Good Times Roll, Truckin’ > Smokestack Lightning, Sugaree, Loose Lucy, Ship of Fools, Tennessee Jed, Casey Jones
Set Two: Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain [1], Eyes of the World > Terrapin Station > Drums > Space > Stella Blue, The Wheel, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, Throwing Stones, [Vintage news clip about the Dead and the scene], One More Saturday Night

Notes: [1] Featuring Mickey Hart rap