Last night, Dead & Company continued their ongoing 2017 Fall Tour with a show at Charlotte, NC’s Spectrum Center. After a couple days off, the band came back to the office with a few new tricks to try out. Bob Weir led an opening “Hell In A Bucket”, which John Mayer followed with a bouncing “Bertha”, a song that he’s made his own to exciting effect. Next, Bobby picked up his acoustic guitar, leading the band through “Peggy-O” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece”, the old Bob Dylan tune originally released by The Band which The Grateful Dead used to play–and Dead & Co now play–with some frequency. This would not be the last thread to connect Dead & Co’s Spectrum Center show to The Band, but more on that later…
Watch pro-shot video of “Hell In A Bucket” below, courtesy of the band’s YouTube page:
Watch fan-shot footage of “Peggy-O” and”When I Paint My Masterpiece” featuring Bob Weir on acoustic guitar, as well as the “Greatest Story Ever Told” that followed below, courtesy of YouTube user BorrowedTune:
“Peggy-O”
“When I Paint My Masterpiece”
“Greatest Story Ever Told”
The easy-going first frame continued from there with Weir leading the band through “Greatest Story Ever Told”, before Oteil Burbridge got his first turn of the evening on lead vocals for “Ship of Fools”, trading sections with Mayer in his supple baritone. The energy ticked up slightly from there, as solid renditions of “Missississippi Half-Step” and “Let It Grow” brought set one to a close.
Watch “Ship of Fools”, courtesy of bassist Oteil Burbridge:
The second set opened with a familiar organ line, though not a “Grateful” one: Instead, it signaled the Dead & Co debut of The Band sing-along “The Weight”. Back when the Grateful Dead would break out the cover as an encore in the early ’90s, it was used as a platform to get the whole gang involved, each member of the band taking a line. The song also holds special weight in the Grateful Dead canon as late keyboardist Brent Mydland‘s swan song: On 7/23/90, the band tied a bow on their summer run with a “The Weight” encore at their tour closer, with Brent singing the line “I got to go, but my friend can stick around.” That wound up being the last song he would play onstage: He died less than a week later at age 37.
Watch Dead & Company debut their cover of “The Weight” below, courtesy of the band:
Dead & Co’s “The Weight” took a similarly all-for-one approach, with Weir, Mayer, Burbridge and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti each singing a portion of the tune before Bobby brought it home with a pseudo-Neil Young falsetto coda. Weir’s melodic ad-libs were characteristically hammed-up, cheesy Bobby, and the performance was far from perfect, but the sentiment still rang true–these guys love playing with each other.
The set got moving in earnest with “Playin’ In The Band”, which in turn led into “Uncle John’s Band”, with their own Johnny joining the rest of the group as they sand the timeless tune in unison. Next up, to the delight of the crowd, was seminal Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter composition “Terrapin Station”. The beautiful “Terrapin” led into the Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann show, as the Rhythm Devils continued to push sonic boundaries on “Drums” > “Space”.
Eventually, out of the cacophony rose beloved ballad “Standing on the Moon”. After the token post-“Drums” breather, the rest of the set was straightforward fun. “I Need A Miracle” and “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad” wrapped up set two, before a “Black Muddy River” encore wove back into a “Playin’ In The Band” Reprise to close the show.
Dead & Coompany is back in action tonight in Atlanta. For a full list up upcoming Dead & Company dates, head to the band website.
SETLIST: Dead & Company | Spectrum Center | Charlotte, NC, | 11/28/17
I: Hell In A Bucket, Bertha > Peggy-O*, When I Paint My Masterpiece*, Greatest Story Ever Told, Ship Of Fools, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Let It Grow
II: The Weight, Playing In The Band > Uncle John’s Band > Terrapin Station > Drums > Space > Standing On The Moon > I Need A Miracle > Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad
E: Black Muddy River > Playing In The Band Reprise
*Bob Weir acoustic
[Cover photo via Phierce Photo by Keith G.; Instagram: @PhiercePhoto]