Dead & Company continued their New Year’s Fun Run on Saturday with their second of two performances at The Forum.
The Grateful Dead spinoff band got creative with “Viola Lee Blues” to kick off the show. After diving into the first two verses of the Noah Lewis-penned live Dead staple, the band skipped the song’s third verse and opted for a detour into “Bertha” instead. After the John Mayer-led “Bertha”, Dead & Company once again moved back into “Viola Lee” territory for a few more minutes of jamming before finally landing in “Jack Straw”.
Dead & Company – “Viola Lee Blues” Verses 1 & 2 [Pro-Shot] – 12/28/19
[Video: Dead & Company]
Mayer once again manned lead vocals on Ron “Pigpen” McKernan staple “Big Boss Man” before the band slid into a plucky “Friend of the Devil”. From there, the opening riff of “West L.A. Fadeaway” unsurprisingly elicited cheers of approval from the local crowd before a “Lost Sailor” > “Saint of Circumstance” combo closed out set one.
When the band returned to the stage for set two, they dove right back into “Viola Lee”, filling in the third verse that went missing in the first set before moving into an energetic “China Cat Sunflower” and a roaring take on its longtime companion, “I Know You Rider”.
Dead & Company – “Viola Lee Blues” Verse 3 > “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” [Pro-Shot] – 12/28/19
[Video: Dead & Company]
Despite the excellent song choices and “Viola Lee” antics thus far, the highlight of the show was still to come in the form of an intergalactic “Dark Star” jam. The classic Dead improv vehicle showcased all of its characteristic sonic color palettes over the course of the jam’s 17-minute runtime before finally bleeding into an excellent “He’s Gone”.
Dead & Company – “Dark Star” > “He’s Gone” – 12/28/19
Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann took the spotlight next to accent the jam-heavy set with a lengthy “Drums” > “Space” that finally touched down in “Althea”. Consistently one of the strongest Dead & Company songs, this “Althea” did not disappoint as Mayer and Jeff Chimenti skillfully traded licks to build the groove up to a soaring climax.
More cheers of elation echoed through The Forum as the band moved into an emotionally potent “Morning Dew”, and the L.A. crowd sang along as Bob Weir led the band through a set-closing “One More Saturday Night”.
Finally, the band returned to the stage to encore with The Band‘s “The Weight”, with Weir, Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Chimenti each taking a verse in customary fashion.
The Dead & Company New Year’s Fun Run will wrap up this week with a pair of year-ending performances at San Francisco, CA’s Chase Center on Monday, December 30th and Tuesday, December 31st. For a full list of upcoming dates and ticketing information, head here.
Check out a gallery of photos from night two of Dead & Company at The Forum below via photographer Matthew Rea.
Setlist: Dead & Company | The Forum | Inglewood, CA | 12/28/19
Set One: Viola Lee Blues* > Bertha > Viola Lee Blues^ > Jack Straw, Big Boss Man, Friend of the Devil, West L.A. Fadeaway, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance
Set Two: Viola Lee Blues% > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > Dark Star, He’s Gone, Drums > Space > Althea, Morning Dew, One More Saturday Night
Encore: The Weight
*Verse 1 and 2
^Instrumental jam
%Verse 2
A full soundboard recording of the show is available to stream now via nugs.net
