After bidding farewell to New York City earlier this week, Dead & Company continued their final summer tour on Saturday night with their first of two shows at the historic Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

While the massive footprint of Citi Field and its parking lots in Queens, NY had allowed for a sprawling Shakedown Street outside the shows earlier this week, Boston’s lot activities were mainly confined to a much smaller space outside the stadium. Instead, Deadheads filtered in gradually from all directions, filling the streets and watering holes of Kenmore Square and its surrounding area with tie-dyes in the lead-up to the show.

A first set heavy on fan-favorite sing-alongs got started with Bob Weir‘s “Cassidy” before moving into an upbeat “Brown-Eyed Women”. John Mayer and Jeff Chimenti locked eyes as the song got started and seemed to wordlessly hash out the plan for the thrilling guitar/piano face-off that served as the rendition’s biggest highlight.

“Here Comes Sunshine” and “Tennessee Jed” kept the feel-good themes flowing before bassist Oteil Burbridge got the call to sing lead on classic Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter ballad “China Doll”, marking just its second appearance on this tour following 6/5/23 at Star Lake.

“Viola Lee Blues” has become something of a signature song for Dead & Company over the last eight years, and the satisfying version that followed did nothing to dissuade that notion. With time for one more before the break, the sextet moved into a rousing “The Music Never Stopped” to keep fans dancing through setbreak.

Following the intermission, a sauntering “New Speedway Boogie” served as the runway for a set heavy on experimental interplay and ambient exploration—sometimes on multiple songs at once. “Dark Star” popped up first, setting an astral ambiance as Weir took the band through the song’s first of two verses. The wisps of amorphous sound eventually coalesced into “The Other One”, which similarly only lasted through its first verse before wading into uncharted galaxies and, in turn, landing in a shimmering “Lady With A Fan” > “Terrapin Station”.

Mickey Hart took the reins from there, pushing further into the cosmos alongside Jay Lane for a frenetic “Drums” segment. “Space” was the place all set long, and the “Space” half of the show’s Rhythm Devils interlude continued along that flight path. As the rest of the band re-joined the drummers onstage, this “Space” jam dipped back into “Dark Star”, dabbled in “Big River”, and checked back in on the groove from “The Other One” before finding solid ground with “Black Peter”.

While the exploratory zeal of the set to this point had been notable, the spacey nature of the early-frame improv had de-emphasized dancing in favor of tuning in, turning on, and dropping out. That all changed with the standout “Casey Jones” that barreled off the tracks and through the stadium with breakneck momentum thanks to a series of lightning licks from Mayer. That energy remained as “One More Saturday Night” finally brought the set back into the station.

The impending curfew forced the band to scrap its encore and call the game there, but with one more summer night at Fenway on deck—and, in theory, the second halves of “Dark Star” and “The Other One” still in play—tonight’s concert looks poised to confirm that whole thing about Sunday shows (and what you’re not supposed to do with them).

Following Sunday night’s Fenway Park finale, The Final Tour will move on to Noblesville, IN for a performance at the venue formerly known as Deer Creek on Tuesday, June 27th. For a complete list of upcoming Dead & Company tour dates, head here. If you can’t attend in person, head to nugs.net for information about nightly livestreams of The Final Tour.

Below, check out the full setlist from night one of Dead & Company at Fenway Park as well as a gallery of photos (via Charlie Francis) and a selection of crowd-shot videos from the show.

Dead & Company – “Cassidy”, “Brown-Eyed Women” [Pro-Shot] – 6/24/23

Dead & Company – “New Speedway Boogie” > “Dark Star” (Verse 1) [Pro-Shot] – 6/24/23

Setlist: Dead & Company | Fenway Park | Boston, MA | 6/24/23

Set One: Cassidy, Brown-Eyed Women, I Need A Miracle > Here Comes Sunshine, Tennessee Jed, China Doll, Viola Lee Blues > The Music Never Stopped

Set Two: New Speedway Boogie, Dark Star (Verse 1) > The Other One (Verse 1) > Lady With A Fan > Terrapin Station > Drums > Space [1] > Black Peter > Casey Jones > One More Saturday Night

[1] Featured jam containing elements of The Big River, Dark Star, The Other One