Dead & Company are fresh into their summer tour, which kicked off over Memorial Day Weekend. This past weekend saw the Grateful Dead act hit the Hollywood Bowl for two nights before the first of two performances at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, last night. Perhaps, the stand-out moment of the two-set performance was “China Doll,” which was used as a vehicle to finally let Oteil Burbridge sing. The Allman Brothers / Aquarium Rescue Unit bassist had previously hinted that he would sing lead this summer. However, to the delight of fans, that moment came sooner than expected at the start of Dead & Co’s second set following in the classic opening pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” into “I Know You Rider.” Burbridge’s stellar vocal debut with the ensemble is doubly impressive when considering it was a particularly difficult day for the musician, as his fellow band mate Gregg Allman was laid to rest across the country Macon, Georgia, a few hours earlier.
Dead & Company Takes Hollywood Bowl On A “Dark Star” Space Voyage For The Ages [Video/Full Audio]
Watch Oteil Burbridge sing lead on “China Doll,” courtesy of NalaThaBoxer
Outside of the highly anticipated vocal debut of Burbridge, other highlights of Dead & Co’s performance that evening included the ever-popular “Viola Lee Blues,” which was lead in by show opener “Playin’ In The Band” with a particularly psychedelic jam through. “One More Saturday Night” closed out the first set, and though its position was uncharacteristic (the song has traditionally found itself used as a show opener, second set closer, or encore), the group’s performance of the night-appropriate song was a spirited way to end the first set. For the second set, standout moments included the seventeen-minute “Eyes of the World,” “The Wheel” which built out of “Drums” and “Space,” and the final number of the set, “Good Lovin’,” which the group noted on Instagram was originally supposed to be “Turn On Your Love Light.” You can check out videos and hear the full audio of the show below, as well as check out a photo gallery from last night, courtesy of Matthew Rea.
[Photo: Erik Kabik]
Setlist: Dead & Co | Shoreline Amphitheatre | Mountain View, CA | 6/4/17
I: Playin’ in the Band, Viola Lee Blues, Tennessee Jed, Here Comes Sunshine, Candyman, Me and My Uncle, Friend of the Devil, One More Saturday Night
II: China Cat Sunflower, I Know You Rider, China Doll, Eyes of the World, Deal, Drums, Space, The Wheel, Looks Like Rain, Good Lovin’
E: Black Muddy River
First Set Opener, “Playing In The Band”
Second Set Opener, “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider”
Listen to the full show audio, courtesy of Jeff Frank:
