Dead & Company returned to the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA on Tuesday night to celebrate the arrival of the new decade with three sets of music amongst friends old and new, and some wildly entertaining tricks when the clock hit midnight.
Related: Dead & Company Opens New Years Run At San Francisco’s Chase Center
The final night of the band’s west coast four-show, two-city New Year’s run opened up with a fitting cover of Wilson Pickett‘s “In the Midnight Hour”, and the end-of-the-year energy kept going strong with “Big Railroad Blues”, “Iko Iko”, and “Mr. Charlie”. The opening set continued with “Loser” and slowed down just a bit with performances of “Tennessee Jed”, “Sugaree”, and finally “New Speedway Boogie” to send fans into the first set break of the long night.
Watch the show-opening performance of “In the Midnight Hour” below.
Dead & Company – “In the Midnight Hour” [Pro-Shot] – 12/31/19
[Video: Dead & Company]
The band returned to start the second part of the night with an abundance of high-energy tunes beginning with the classic “Help on the Way”/”Slipknot!”/”Franklin’s Tower” combination. The music continued with Bob Weir‘s ode to California with “Estimated Prophet” followed by “Eyes of the World” before moving into the instrumental “Drums” and “Space” segment featuring help from Zakir Hussain. The band came out of the group jam into Miles Davis‘ “Milestones”, and then closed the second set with “Standing on the Moon” and a triumphant “Not Fade Away”.
Watch the band’s second set performance of “Help” > “Slip” > Frank” below.
Dead & Company – “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower”
[Video: Dead & Company]
Just as the Grateful Dead did for their hometown fans on many a New Year’s Eve in the Bay Area over the years, Dead & Company had special plans to take their fans into yet another decade. This time, they recruited 1920s-era Flapper-esque dancers who all took the stage and danced to some catchy music while a large, old-fashioned airplane rigged to the ceiling lifted Sunshine Kese (Ken Kesey’s daughter) and Trixie Garcia (Jerry’s daughter) high above the crowded Chase Center, evoking the time the Dead sent promoter Bill Graham through the air in a giant fake joint on New Year’s Eve 1978. Bill Walton stepped in dressed as “Father Time” alongside longtime friend Wavy Gravy, and the two men helped countdown to midnight. As the balloons fell, the band began to play the familiar opening riff to “Sugar Magnolia” to begin their final set of the year.
Watch the band’s entire New Year’s Eve midnight surprise below.
Dead & Company – New Year’s Eve Countdown > “Sugar Magnolia” – 12/31/2019
[Video: gridlifeTV]
From there, the band kept rocking with “Uncle John’s Band” into another classic Dead song combination in “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire on the Mountain”. Weir returned to the climactic closing section of “Sugar Magnolia” with “Sunshine Daydream”, and the band left the stage, only to return for one final song of the evening with “Touch of Grey”.
With their 2020 summer tour now canceled, the Dead & Company have announced the 2019 New Year’s Eve performance will air on Saturday, May 16th as this week’s edition of their “One More Saturday Night” weekly webcasts via the band’s YouTube channel.
Watch the pro-shot webcast of the entire 12/31/19 performance below beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Dead & Company – One More Saturday Night Webcast – 12/31/19
[Video: Dead & Company]
Setlist: Dead & Company | Chase Center | San Francisco, CA | 12/31/2019
Set One: In the Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett cover) > Big Railroad Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover), Iko Iko (Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters cover), Mr. Charlie, Loser, Tennessee Jed, Sugaree, New Speedway Boogie
Set Two: Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower, Estimated Prophet > Eyes of the World > Drums > Space > Milestones (Miles Davis cover), Standing on the Moon, Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover)
Set Three: Sugar Magnolia > Uncle John’s Band > Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain, Sunshine Daydream
Encore: Touch of Grey