Dead & Company returned to Sphere on Friday where the band delivered their first “Liberty”, “Me & My Uncle”, and “Ramble on Rose” of 2025. This weekend’s atypical Friday–Sunday run (normally Thursday–Saturday) marks the Grateful Dead offshoot’s fifth and penultimate weekend of Dead Forever shows at the start of the art Las Vegas venue.
After a hard run through “Bertha” to open the show, Bob Weir, John Mayer, Mickey Hart, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane achieved lift-off with “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”. The Sphere lit up like a neon avenue with an array of old Vegas-style signage for The Olympics‘ “Good Lovin'”, kicking off a trio of covers with “Don’t Ease Me In” and “Me & My Uncle”. The latter John Phillips tune hadn’t been seen since August 1st, 2024 at Sphere and was welcomed back with Spaghetti Western visuals starring Bobby Weir as “Ace” to accompany his time-honored cowboy tune.
Continuing to break open the song book, Dead & Co offered up their first “Ramble On Rose” since that same August 1st show from last year when Mayer played with nine fingers on Jerry Garcia‘s birthday. After making six appearances at last year’s inaugural Sphere run, “Ramble on Rose” dropped off the map for the band’s first 12 shows of 2025. To accompany the song’s jovial bounce, bouquets of begonias adorned the Sphere’s interior as Mayer delivered a six-string serenade. The first set then came to a close with a Vegas-appropriate “Deal”, making its fourth appearance in five weeks.
Returning for the second set, a plain paint-by-numbers graphic slowly filled in with all the colors of the rainbow as Dead & Company dug up “Liberty”. The latter-era Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter ballad has been good for one to two appearances for seven of Dead & Company’s ten years together, making a memorable Sphere debut last year on the 4th of July—ending a two-year drought for the cult favorite. Through the rest of the song-heavy, 11-track (counting “Drums” and “Space” individually) second set, Dead & Co delt classics “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain”, a rare second set “Cumberland Blues”, “They Love Each Other” set to stunning images of Yosemite National Park, and a cosmic “Playing in the Band” that launched into “Drums” and “Space”.
With the Sphere screen a plain blue wall, Bobby delivered a spectral “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” highlighted by Jeff’s gravely B3 organ swells. Balancing out the bluesy darkness, Mayer took the helm for a jovial “Brown-Eyed Women” as Sphere took audiences on a tour of revered Grateful Dead venues like the Fillmore/Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco, Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden in New York, and Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. After Sphere returned to 710 Ashbury St. amid Weir’s stirring rebuke of the status quo “Throwing Stones”, “Casey Jones” kept up its perfect attendance record for Dead Forever 2025 and closed the show.
Check out videos from Dead & Company at Sphere on Friday from Ellen Cook, unless otherwise noted. The band returns tonight, May 11th, to close out weekend five. Find tickets here.
Dead & Company — “Bertha” — 5/9/25
Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 5/9/25
Set One: Bertha, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Good Lovin’ (The Olympics), Don’t Ease Me In (Henry Thomas), Me and My Uncle (John Phillips), Ramble On Rose, Deal
Set Two: Liberty, Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain, Cumberland Blues, They Love Each Other, Playing in the Band, Drums > Space > Death Don’t Have No Mercy (Reverend Gary Davis), Brown-Eyed Women, Throwing Stones, Casey Jones