Dead & Company wrapped up the California leg of their summer tour on Saturday night, performing at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. Clearly dialed in after their Friday night stop in Chula Vista, the Grateful Dead spinoff offered up a fiery performance, with a standout first set and transition-heavy second set.

During the first set, Dead & Company opened with “Playing In The Band”, using the song as a launching pad into crowd favorite “Bertha”. A standalone take on “Jack Straw” followed, with a cover of “Big Railroad Blues” up next, a tune the band brought back for the first time this year—the group last played the Noah Lewis number at Blossom Music Center at the end of June last year.

“Playing In The Band”

 

A mournful “Peggy-O” took up the ballad spot in the first set, with sauntering “Ramble On Rose” coming next. While the Los Angeles show has been largely heralded as one of the finer Dead & Company performances to date, the show, unfortunately, had to pause as the group worked through some technical difficulties. Undeterred, Bob Weir used the moment to tell a joke to the crowd.

So once upon a long time ago—this was back in the Middle Ages, fairytale time—a duck goes into a bar, and he hops across the foyer and hops up on the barstool. The bartender, he’s polishing glasses and stuff. The duck says, “Got any flies?”

The bartender says, “We don’t serve flies. We also don’t serve ducks, so you gotta leave.”

So, the duck leaves but comes back twenty minutes later or so and hops up on the barstool. The bartender turns around.

“Got any flies?”

The bartender says, “No! We don’t serve flies. We don’t serve ducks. Get out!” 

The duck goes away, comes back, and hops up on the barstool.

The bartender turns around. “You again!”

“Got any flies?”

“No! You come back in here one more time, and I’m going to nail your fucking beak to the bar. You got that? Get out of here.” 

The duck goes away, comes back twenty minutes later and hops back up on the barstool.

“You again!”

“Got any nails?” 

“No!”

“Got any flies?”

Bob Weir’s Duck Joke

[Video:Thrillionaire]

With a shrug, Weir finished the joke, with John Mayer and the crowd clapping for his comedic effort. With the technical difficulties conquered, the band finished off their first set with an inspired combination of “Cumberland Blues” into “Deal”.

Returning for the second set, Dead & Company launched into “Sugar Magnolia”. While the first set featured a number of standalone tunes, the band flexed their improvisational muscles across the second frame, with a number of well-segued runs.

“Sugar Magnolia”

“Sugar Magnolia” served as a launching pad into a combination of “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire On The Mountain”, an explosive start to the second set with three fan-favorite classics. “Althea”, increasingly a staple in Dead & Company’s repertoire followed, which was used to kick off the second set’s non-stop five-song end, moving through “Eyes Of The World”, “Drums/Space”, “Stella Blue”, and a final “Sunshine Daydream”.

Clearly, the band was feeding off the energy of the crowd, which eagerly lapped up the transition-filled second set, returning for the one-two hit of “Brokedown Palace” and “Not Fade Away” for the show’s encore.

Setlist: Dead & Company | Dodger Stadium | Los Angeles, CA | 7/7/2018

Set One: Playing In The Band > Bertha, Jack Straw, Big Railroad Blues, Peggy-O, Ramble On Rose, Technical Difficulties/Duck Joke, Cumberland Blues > Deal

Set Two: Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain, Althea > Eyes Of The World > Drums/Space > Stella Blue > Sunshine Daydream

Encore: Brokedown Palace, Not Fade Away