By now, it’s crystal clear: Dead & Company’s Dead Forever at Sphere is no ordinary Las Vegas residency. It’s a full-blown, mind-expanding, retina-tickling Deadhead revival tent in (nearly) 360° high-def technicolor.

If Thursday night proved that the Sphere is still the place to be, Friday night took that trip and blasted it into another dimension. March 28th marked the fifth stop on an 18-show cosmic crawl through the Grateful Dead’s vast songbook. By now, fans know this isn’t just a concert, it’s a spiritual reboot with surround sound.

Bob Weir, John Mayer, Mickey Hart, Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge, and Jay Lane kicked things off with a Sam Cooke nugget, “Good Times”, with Bob climbing falsettos like he had Jerry Garcia’s Tiger guitar pushing him from behind. The lift-off sequence was initiated with Sphere’s colossal interior rendered as a massive hangar. John and Jeff joined in harmony because good times call for good vibes, and they were pouring ‘em on like syrup on pancakes.

Dead & Company — “Good Times” (Sam Cooke) — 3/28/25

[Video: Rock N Roll Videos]

From there, “Playing in the Band” took us into orbit, with a mellow float from Haight-Ashbury into the stratosphere and beyond. John and Jeff locked into a cozy jam that felt like two astronauts trading jazz riffs aboard the International Space Station. Outside the windows? A psychedelic space-scape, glistening in the neon dusk.

“Cold Rain and Snow” blew in on a swirling purple cloud portal that led us into a glowing archive room of vintage Dead posters—posters that, naturally, went full neon. Mayer handled vocals here, his bluesy wail punching through the room like a brisk breeze off the Bay.

Dead & Company — “Cold Rain & Snow” (Traditional) — 3/28/25

[Video: Rock N Roll Videos]

Then came “Dancing in the Street”, and things got video game weird. A Tron-like green vortex sucked us into an ‘80s-style platformer, complete with an angular bear jumping through digital portals and scooping up thunderbolt coins like a furry, psychedelic Mario. Oteil dropped bass bombs, Bob sang with soul, and somewhere, probably, Jerry was chuckling through his beard.

Dead & Company — “Dancing In The Street” (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) — 3/28/25

[Video: Rock N Roll Videos]

From 8-bit to heart-melt, “They Love Each Other” shifted the vibe as yellow flowers blanketed the dome, floating into a surreal storm of tie-dye and thunderbolt skulls. Jeff took us to church with gospel style on the keys, and John came in shredding like he was testifying to the gods of tone.

Set one wrapped with a dynamite “Casey Jones” that brought the room from warm-and-fuzzy love song to full-throttle, screamin’-down-the-rails banger. Bob and John shared the wheel as Sphere’s 1.2 million LEDs careened through towers of flickering TVs before zooming in on costumed dancers rolling around on the ceiling. Because, of course. And why not?

Set two opened with Mayer’s trusty muse, “Althea”, played over a tour of legendary Grateful Dead venues—from the dusty corners of Winterland Ballroom to the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and the hallowed gymnaiusm at Cornell University. John sang and played this one like it was tattooed on his heart, and it kind of is at this point.

Then… glitch. The Sphere “broke.” Floods of error messages filled the screen before melting into a Matrix-esque tower reading, “Love is the only future.” It was the perfect psych-out intro to “Dark Star” (verse one), with Mayer leading Dead & Company on a jazz-tinged guitar odyssey into an alien world. Dead weird. Dead wonderful.

Without pause, we were pulled into “Passenger”. Bob took the lead, his voice tight and impassioned on the song with music by the late Phil Lesh—who himself readily admitted it was just Fleetwood Mac‘s “Station Man” but faster and with different chord changes. The band then circled back to “Dark Star” (verse two), punctuating a poignant, tear-tinged moment for the man who built the bottom end of this trip.

Dead & Company — “Dark Star” > “Passenger” > “Dark Star” — 3/28/25

[Video: Stephen Ames]

From there, we dove into “Jack Straw”, submerged in a glowing sea of bioluminescent jellyfish and surreal seafloor treasures. Think Finding Nemo, if Nemo had a head full of orange sunshine and a penchant for bootleg tapes.

“Fire on the Mountain” was a true family affair. Oteil on verse one, Bob on two, John on three, and Mickey Hart delivering a rhythmic rap to tie it all together. The visuals? A whirling rainbow cyclone of Dead iconography that felt like falling through a kaleidoscope with your best friends.

That flowed into “Drums” and “Space”, still the beating heart of the Sphere experience. The percussive trio of Mickey, Jay, and Oteil shattered stained glass, summoned mushroom-banging skeletons, and launched us into a multi-sensory wormhole where Deadheads snowboarded across kaleidoscopic dunes. Mickey toyed with particle clouds like a cosmic DJ. And the extra-deep, in-seat haptics? Like getting a bear hug from the universe.

Dead & Company — “Drums” — 3/28/25

[Video: Stephen Ames]

“Black Peter” brought us back to Earth, slow and bluesy, with Bob on the mic and John tearing into the blues licks he’s spent his life honing. The screen faded to black and blue, letting the music speak without distraction. “Brown-Eyed Women” slammed in next, with red-and-purple velvet curtains giving way to colliding plumes of paint. Mayer and Chimenti absolutely cooked on this one, locking into a jam that epitomized the best their artistic bromance has to offer.

“Estimated Prophet” was a full-on prophecy, floating through archival screens with cameos from Jerry and Phil. It was an emotional voyage through Dead history and a psychedelic sermon all at once, en route to landing back in Haight-Ashbury in 1965. When an old news broadcast started playing through the band, it felt like a time-traveling jam into a future still spinning on bootlegs and bliss.

The encore was “Not Fade Away”, set to a montage of Grateful Dead photos spanning six decades of peace, weirdness, and musical rebellion. The crowd clapped the iconic beat deep into the outro, thousands of hands keeping time with a legacy that shows no signs of fading.

If Thursday was a rocket launch, Friday was a spacewalk, tethered only by love, groove, and a shared reverence for this big beautiful beast called the Grateful Dead. From heartfelt tributes to Phil, to 8-bit dancing bears, to gospel-flavored ballads, and glitchy galactic raps, this show was a full-spectrum celebration of everything that makes the Dead… the Dead.

As Dead & Company continue their Dead Forever Sphere residency through May, it’s becoming increasingly clear: when they’re jamming inside Sphere, the world’s most cutting-edge concert venue becomes a living museum, a pulsing cathedral, and a (final?) love letter to the freaks who kept the bus rolling. You better believe the Dead will not fade away.

Moral of the story: Don’t miss a night. Especially not a Friday.

Dead & Company — Sphere — Las Vegas, NV — 3/28/25 — Full Audio

[Audio: Hunter S T 24]

Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 3/28/25

Set One: Good Times (Sam Cooke), Playing in the Band, Cold Rain and Snow (Traditional), Dancing in the Street (Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) > They Love Each Other, Casey Jones
Set Two: Althea, Dark Star [1] > Passenger > Dark Star [2] > Jack Straw, Fire on the Mountain [3] > Drums > Space > Black Peter, Brown-Eyed Women, Estimated Prophet, Not Fade Away (The Crickets)

[1] Verse 1
[2] Verse 2
[3] w/ Mickey Hart rap