Dead & Company returned to Sphere Thursday night following a three-week spring break, delivering their first performance of “Supplication” since 2022. The Grateful Dead offshoot performed Bob Weir‘s Kingfish track only one other time, June 29th, 2022 at Pine Knob Music Theatre—a show that saw Jay Lane sub in for Bill Kreutzmann all the way to “Drums” and “Space”.
Bob Weir, John Mayer, Mickey Hart, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane emerged well-rested to kick off their third weekend of Dead Forever shows this year. The band went with all GD Universe originals for the first set, Bobby’s “Supplication” marking the only non-Dead release. Opening with “Feel Like A Stranger” the sage-like Weir foretold a long, long, crazy, crazy night ahead.
Dead & Company dove straight into the deep end of improvisation with “Uncle John’s Band” as Sphere took off from the Dead’s former home at 710 Ashbury St. in San Francisco. Reaching orbit, the jam morphed into “Supplication”—taken from the 1976 self-titled studio debut of Bobby’s side project Kingfish. A staple of mid-to-late ’70s Dead concerts, “Supplication” was always (except on 5/22/93) preceded by its partner “Lazy Lightning”—something the tradition-bound Dead & Company opted not to include in Thursday’s bust-out.
After reprising “Uncle John’s Band”, Dead & Co hit the parlay of “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower” while zooming down Rainbow Road. Finally, a euphoric “Sugar Magnolia” closed out the set while an array of Uncle Sam skulls, flying eyeballs, marching bears, and other Grateful Dead iconography flashed across the exosphere like the world’s most expensive screensaver.
Returning for the second set, Bob Weir got in the spirit of the multi-denominational holy weekend with “Greatest Story Ever Told” followed by “Bertha”—two songs debuted at the same show (2/18/71) and played for the final time at the same show (6/27/95). As the band traveled through lysergically rippling blotter artwork, “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” cascaded over peaks and valleys to the rhythm of the pairing’s rising inertia. A “Terrapin Station” focal point served as the springboard to “Drums” and “Space”, a highlight of every Dead & Company show at Sphere. On this particular evening, Mickey, Jay, and Oteil snuck The White Lotus theme into the percussive improvisation.
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Coming out of “Space”, the gigantic Sphere interior projected a plain black-and-white feed of the band as Bobby relayed the tale of August West in “Wharf Rat”. The mournful rumination on a life lost to addiction was followed by a lament for the aging musician on Traffic‘s “Dear Mr. Fantasy”, ultimately exploding into the stadium-sized coda of The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude”. The trio of covers concluded with a cataclysmic “Morning Dew” as the Sphere rocketed back to Earth, before the band bid the crowd goodnight with “Sunshine Daydream”.
Check out videos from Dead & Company at Sphere by Rock N Roll Videos. The band returns for two more shows tonight, April 19th, and Saturday, April 20th. Find tickets and a full list of dates here.
Dead & Company — “Feel Like A Stranger” — 4/17/25
Setlist: Dead & Company | Sphere | Las Vegas, NV | 4/17/25
Set One: Feel Like A Stranger, Uncle John’s Band > Supplication [1] > Uncle John’s Band, Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower, Sugar Magnolia
Set Two: Greatest Story Ever Told, Bertha, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (Traditional), Terrapin Station > Drums > Space > Wharf Rat, Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic) > Hey Jude (The Beatles) [2], Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson), Sunshine Daydream
[1] Sphere debut
[2] Coda only