Dead & Company: One More Saturday Night

Playing in the Sand 2020

Tune in this evening at 8PM EDT / 5PM PDT to One More Saturday Night, our new FREE weekly couch tour series. We’re kicking things off tonight with December 2nd, 2017’s show at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, TX!

On Saturday night, Dead & Company returned to Chicago, IL’s Wrigley Field for their second and final show of the weekend at the historic ballpark. The Grateful Dead spin-off band—comprised of Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti—opened up their first set with a monstrous pairing of “Lady With A Fan” into “Terrapin Station”, which set an exploratory tone for the remainder of the show. Set One: Lady With A Fan > Terrapin Station, Sugar Magnolia > Mr. Charlie, High Time, Friend Of The Devil, Bertha, Mama Tried > Turn On Your Love Light Set Two: Spanish Jam > Scarlet Begonias > New Speedway Boogie, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklins Tower > Drums/Space > The Other One v. 2 > Standing On The Moon, Sunshine Daydream Encore: Ripple, One More Saturday Night

Set One 1. Tuning 2. Deal 3. Me And My Uncle 4. Here Comes Sunshine 5. Black Throated Wind 6. Cold Rain And Snow 7. Peggy-O 8. Sugaree > 9. One More Saturday Night Set Two 10. Tuning 11. Dark Star > 12. El Paso > 13. Dark Star > 14. Saint Stephen > 15. William Tell Bridge > 16. The Eleven > 17. Drums > 18. Space > 19. Morning Dew > 20. Turn On Your Lovelight Encore 21. Brokedown Palace

Set I Hell In A Bucket bw Cold Rain and Snow jm Me and My Uncle bw Brown-Eyed Women jm Tennessee Jed bw Bird Song bw jm > Man Smart, Woman Smarter bw Set II Help On The Way jm > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower jm China Doll ob Estimated Prophet bw > Drums/Space > A Love Supreme > Stella Blue bw St Stephen bw > Not Fade Away bw jm jc Encore: US Blues (all)

Set I Hell In A Bucket bw Brown -Eyed Women jm Greatest Story Ever Told bw Deep Elem Blues bw jm ob * Even So bw > Ramble On Rose bw Cassidy bw > Touch Of Grey bw jm Set II Viola Lee Blues v1 bw jm jc > Estimated Prophet bw > Uncle John’s Band all > China Doll ob > Viola Lee Blues v2 bw jm jc> The Wheel bw jm jc > @ A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall bw > Viola Lee Blues v3 bw jm jc > Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad all Encore: Ripple bw jm *# *Bobby acoustic guitar @ Stay jam jm #John acoustic guitar.

Set One: 01 St. Stephen 02 Cold Rain and Snow 03 Sampson and Delilah 04 High Time 05 They Loved Each Other 06 Ramble on Rose 07 Sugareee 08 Jack Straw Set Two: 09 Terrapin Station > 10 Althea > 11 Scarlet Begonias > 12 Fire On The Mountain > 13 Drums > 14 Space > 15 The Wheel > 16 The Other One > 17 Morning Dew Encore: 18 Brokedown Palace

On Wednesday night, Dead & Company continued their 2018 summer tour with a performance at Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center in Noblesville, IN, the fan-favorite shed known to most by its original name, Deer Creek. Throughout their a creatively-crafted set, the band continued to dig into the Grateful Dead repertoire, offering up yet another full show’s worth of tour debuts and pushing their streak of concerts without repeating a song to five. After their customary meandering intro jam, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart‘s drum line began to intensify, taking the familiar shape of Bob Weir-penned classic “The Other One”. John Mayer and Oteil Burbridge continued to push the band through blistering blues as “The Other One” Oteil Burbridge and the Rhythm Devils dialed in the song’s groove beneath him. It was clear from the start that the band had big intentions for this show, as after a single verse of “The Other One”, the band slid back into improv mode, foregoing the song’s second verse in favor of “Dire Wolf”. Jeff Chimenti shined on piano throughout the track, expertly imbuing it with the saloon swagger that its lyrics evoke.

A funny thing happened on the way to Dead & Company’s last three scheduled tour dates of 2017. Well, not so funny from the standpoint of John Mayer, whose appendicitis attack and subsequent emergency surgery on December 5th necessitated postponement until the following February of the show scheduled for that night in New Orleans and the remaining two dates in Florida. But hey… if you’re gonna strand several thousand music-hungry fans anywhere, you could hardly pick a better place than New Orleans, birthplace of so much of our shared cultural heritage and a town where music and good times (and great food!) are continuously and abundantly available. Needless to say, the Dead Heads found plenty of ways to make their own fun during the unexpected time off from tour. As a longtime friend of the Dead put it, “John Mayer has the best bad timing ever!”

Just as the Grateful Dead did for their hometown fans on many a New Year’s Eve in the Bay Area over the years, Dead & Company had special plans to take their fans into yet another decade. This time, they recruited 1920s-era Flapper-esque dancers who all took the stage and danced to some catchy music while a large, old-fashioned airplane rigged to the ceiling lifted Sunshine Kese (Ken Kesey’s daughter) and Trixie Garcia (Jerry’s daughter) high above the crowded Chase Center, evoking the time the Dead sent promoter Bill Graham through the air in a giant fake joint on New Year’s Eve 1978. Bill Walton stepped in dressed as “Father Time” alongside longtime friend Wavy Gravy, and the two men helped countdown to midnight. As the balloons fell, the band began to play the familiar opening riff to “Sugar Magnolia” to begin their final set of the year.

Memorial Day Weekend just got a little spooky. This week’s One More Saturday Night features last year’s Halloween show at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Set One Touch Of Grey 7:38 Hell In A Bucket 8:37 Dire Wolf 5:33 When I Paint My Masterpiece 6:20 Cassidy 11:07 Brown-Eyed Women 7:24 Ramble On Rose 9:03 Next Time You See Me 5:23 One More Saturday Night 5:47 Set Two Eyes Of The World 22:09 New Speedway Boogie 10:11 Cumberland Blues 9:36 Shakedown Street 11:43 Uncle John's Band 12:07 Drums 9:49 Space 5:02 Wharf Rat 4:43 Casey Jones 11:32 Encore Knockin' On Heaven's Door 10:39

Set 1 01. Crowd 02. Cold Rain and Snow 03. Jack Straw 04. Tennessee Jed 05. Ship Of Fools 06. Dark Star V2 07. Friend Of The Devil 08. Althea 09. Casey Jones Set 2 10. Crowd 11. Sugar Magnolia 12. Dancing In The Streets 13. Playing In The Band 14. Comes A Time 15. Scarlet Begonias 16. Fire On The Mountain 17. Drums 18. Space 19. The Other One 20. Days Between 21. Not Fade Away Encore 22. Brokedown Palace 23. Sunshine Daydream w/Fireworks

On Sunday night, Dead & Company once again took the stage at LOCKN’ to close out the 6th-annual edition of the festival with a very special performance. The Grateful Dead spinoff band featuring bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and lead guitarist John Mayer alongside original guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Billy Kreutzmann marked the end of their 2018 touring schedule by welcoming much-anticipated guest saxophonist Branford Marsalis for the entirety of their second set. Despite some rough edges early on, the show lived up to the high expectations set by Marsalis’ previous appearances with the Grateful Dead from 1990-94 and post-Jerry Garcia iteration The Dead in 2009.

Dead & Company is rolling through Los Angeles today to play the infamous Dodger Stadium. As always, the Grateful Dead guys have a storied history with Los Angeles and the trio joining them of John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge have been delivering all tour to high praise. With the heat in LA today, tonight should be an interesting show. Hopefully nobody cools off too much.

The temperature was a little hotter tonight, not a cloud in the sky, the crowd was bigger (Saturday Show) but still not at capacity, and either it was me or everyone seemed to have imbibed just a little more as there was full day for tailgating, without being interrupted by work. The crowd arrived late, the band started early, but everyone seemed fully engaged in the excellent music coming from the centerfield stage. Although there is a big “but” coming later, it was clear that the band came out determined to “go for the gold.” Sugar Magnolia opened the first set and the crowd swelled on the dance floor (unofficial tally from an usher I spoke with told me 8,000 on the floor night one, 11,500 on the floor night two). The Sugar Magnolia opener not only captured the moment-the late Spring sun was just starting to set over the stadium-but also set the tone for the setlist itself. (Would they close the first or the second set with “Sunshine Daydream”, and how would that effect placement of “One More Saturday Night”?)

Set 1: 1. Intro 2. China Cat Sunflower > 3. I Know You Rider 4. Shakedown Street 5. Brown-Eyed Women 6. Althea 7. Cassidy > 8. One More Saturday Night Set 2: 9. Intro 10. Scarlet Begonias 11. Franklin's Tower > 12. Fire on the Mountain 13. He's Gone > 14. The Other One > 15. Drums > 16. Space > 17. The Other One 18. Days Between 19. Sugar Magnolia Encore 1: 20. Uncle John's Band Encore 2: 21. Ripple

While Saratoga Performing Arts Center isn’t quite as large as some of the other venues on this tour (Gillette Stadium has about three times the capacity of SPAC!), there’s just something about the homegrown, upstate New York/Vermont Deadhead vibe that makes each show there feel just like a family reunion.