Dead & Company is taking a well-earned rest this week after giving Deadheads and jam-loving snowbirds four days and nights of musical fun down in Mexico at the 2019 “Playing in the Sand” concert destination event last weekend. Prior to last weekend, the band announced that they would start rolling out the soundboard recordings from all of their performances throughout the fall 2017 and winter 2018 tours.
As Dead & Company continues to share the audio from 2017-18 shows to streaming services every Friday, it appears they’ve spent some time perusing through their video vault as well. On Thursday, the band shared the pro-shot video of their first-ever performance of “If I Had The World To Give” (featuring bassist Oteil Burbridge on lead vocals) from their performance at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio back on November 25th, 2017.
Related: Dead & Company Wrap Playing In The Sand With Fan-Favorites, Nod To Super Blood Wolf Moon
The Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia-penned Grateful Dead ballad initially appeared on the Dead’s 1978 Shakedown Street album. With this performance, Oteil proved once again that he could easily be considered the strongest vocalist in the band when he finds a Dead tune that fits within his range and comfort zone. The five-minute ballad stretches out to a relaxing seven-minutes in length in this version, as the band makes sure to take their time in reviving the Hunter/Garcia tune. This rendition also includes a pair of solos from John Mayer in the middle, and again towards the end to help ease listeners into the song’s closing notes. Fans can watch the entire performance in the freshly served video below.
Dead & Company – “If I Had The World To Give” (Grateful Dead cover) – 11/25/2017
[Video: Dead & Company]
SiriusXM‘s ‘Tales From The Golden Road’ host Gary Lambert also provided his take on the live cover with some liner notes shared with the video’s debut on Thursday:
“If you had to rank the most undeservedly obscure items in the Grateful Dead songbook, there would have to be a place high on the list for this lovely Garcia-Hunter collaboration, recorded and released as the closing track on the Dead’s “Shakedown Street” album in 1978, but performed onstage by the band only three times (all in that year), after which it mysteriously vanished from the repertoire. It was only after Oteil Burbridge emerged as a lead vocalist with Dead & Company that the song made its welcome return with this performance in Columbus.”
Dead & Company will take the rest of the winter and spring months off before starting the Dead machine up again for their 2019 summer tour, which is scheduled to begin with a pair of gigs in Mountainview, California on May 31st and June 1st. Fans can click here for ticket info.