Dead & Company finished up weekend 1 of its second annual Sphere residency in stellar fashion, delivering its third straight three-hour plus show of Grateful Dead classics before a packed house of some 17,000 gyrating and mesmerized Deadheads at the hi-tech domed venue in Las Vegas on Saturday.
This Night 3 wasn’t the peak performance of the evening prior (March 21) — a gig that many Dead & Company fans are already holding up as one of very finest in the group’s 10-year history — as the energy level, focus, intensity and, well, all the intangibles that fans chalk up as the magic of music slipped a notch or three overnight.
So, instead, the group — consisting of former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir (guitar and vocals) and Mickey Hart (drums) as well as John Mayer (guitar and vocals), Oteil Burbridge (bass), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards) and Jay Lane (drums) — just delivered “One More Saturday Night.”
And it proved to be more than enough, easily topping what Dead & Company delivered during its sleepy Night 1 concert that kicked off the 18-show run at the Sphere.
Saturday’s gig got off to a fine start as the Grateful Dead offshoot opened the hourlong first set with a cool cover of the Noah Lewis-penned “Minglewood Blues” and then rolled, sometimes very slowly, through 16 more GD favorites while a variety of equally impressive and massive graphics were shown on the 16-K wraparound LED screens that run from floor to ceiling in the 366-feet-tall building.
Also, Dead & Company took time on Nights 1 and 2 to tip its collective cap to Phil Lesh — the legendary bassist for the Grateful Dead who died in October at the age of 84 — and the tribute continued, and intensified, on Saturday night. (But you’ll have to read to the end of the review to hear more about that.)
“Franklin’s Tower” was a definite Set 1 winner, but not as much a one as if it would’ve been slipped into the second set and combined with its longtime jamming partners of “Help on the Way” and “Slipknot!” (Sorry, I’m a traditionalist on this particular subject and believe those three songs find their greatest synergy in the order they were originally delivered on Side 1 of the Grateful Dead’s eighth studio release, 1975’s “Blues for Allah.”)
The group followed with a mellow take on “Jack Straw” that was decent, then upped its game for another Lewis number — “Big Railroad Blues.” Too bad the group didn’t continue into “Viola Lee Blues,” or else it could’ve completed a first set trifecta of the Grateful Dead’s Noah Lewis covers.
Pretty standard takes on “Cassidy” and “Deal” followed, setting things up nicely for the explosive pairing of regular traveling partners “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider” that opened the second set. The latter, as trusty a live number as any in the entire Grateful Dead oeuvre, was hugely enjoyable — and necessary — representing one of the rare blasts of pure adrenaline and firepower that Dead & Company would deliver all night.
The graphics continued to play as big a part as the music itself during the show, with many of the old favorites from Nights 1 and 2 (and even from the Dead & Company’s Sphere run in 2024) continuing to blow the collective minds of everyone in attendance. There were also some really cool graphics that were making their debuts on Night 3, notably a supposed technical/computer “malfunction” — complete with plenty of very realistic error codes — that seemed to fool most everyone (including this critic) during “China Cat Sunflower.”
A somber “He’s Gone” — the tune that gave birth to the iconic “steal your face” GD catchphrase — followed the “Help on the Way”/”Slipknot!” combo, which itself then transitioned into the percussion extravaganza known as “Drums”/”Space” (or, as others call it, “bathroom break”).
The band brought the show toward the finish line with a couple of real nice slow ones — “Stella Blue” and the transcendent “Morning Dew” — split in the middle with the rowdy “Playing in the Band” (which is never going to be as good without Donna Jean Godchaux’s backing vocals).
Then Saturday’s trip — which began once again with an image of the Dead’s old ’60s home at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco, only to circle back to that famed Haight-Ashbury neighborhood three-plus hours later — delivered its finest moment:
With the setting of 710 Ashbury in the background, we’d hear Phil Lesh’s voice and see his silhouette in the upstairs window — following a number of his pictures having been shown on the big screen earlier in the night.
Then the group closed out opening weekend of its multi-month Sphere stand in brilliant fashion — and direct all our thoughts in Lesh’s direction — as it performed a gorgeous version of the bassist’s signature “Box of Rain” song.
Dead & Company setlist March 22, 2025Set 1:1. “Minglewood Blues”2. “Franklin’s Tower”3. “Jack Straw”4. “Big Railroad Blues”5. “Cassidy”6. “Deal”Set 2:7. “China Cat Sunflower”8. “I Know You Rider”9. “Help on the Way”10. “Slipknot!”11. “He’s Gone”12. “Drums”13. “Space”14. “Stella Blue”15. “Playing in the Band”16. “Morning Dew”17. “Box of Rain”
