The long, weird one The journey became much more trippy.
Dead & Company opened their long-awaited Sphere residency in Las Vegas on Thursday night, taking advantage of the world's most advanced concert venue and delivering what has to be the most dazzling visual show in Grateful Dead history.
The band took the stage just after 7:30 p.m., opening with modest visuals — by Sphere standards, at least — for “Feel Like a Stranger,” as large live shots of Bob Weir and John Mayer projected over from the stage. It wasn't the kind of over-the-top spectacle provided by, say, U2's opening concert at the venue late last year, and audience reaction was relatively muted at first.
However, any doubts were short-lived. The crowd hit a collective note of rapture and awe soon after when the band launched into “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,” from 1973. Aftermath of the Flood. The Sphere featured a retractable metal gate that opened as the song began — first revealing the famous Grateful Dead home in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, then taking us into the stratosphere as they seemed to fly higher and higher over the city until to reach the world. . Launching into orbit gave the impression that the entire space was tilted from left to right.
Space was a common theme throughout both acts of the show, with the crowd passing through wormholes and blobs of color earlier in the evening before touching down on new planets later. After the wormhole, Dead & Co. ended in front of a rainforest by a waterfall as they played Bird Song, the Garcia-Hunter classic originally written as a tribute to Janis Joplin. After the rainforest, the band found themselves in an old desert western movie for 'Me and My Uncle', with the 'movie' being jokingly introduced in 'Sphere-O-Vision'.
Live Coverage*
Dead & Company are the third act to play the $2.3 billion Sphere since it opened late last year, following U2's multi-month residency and Phish's much shorter four-show run a month ago. While they completed their final tour last summer, apparently the prospect of a residency at this venue was too tempting to pass up. Dead & Co. has booked more than 20 additional shows at the Sphere through this July.
They're calling the residency Dead Forever, and fittingly, it's a show full of nods to the band's rich history, with plenty of throwback photos of Jerry Garcia and others. The band closed out their first set of the night by turning the venue into a box with walls completely covered in vintage Grateful Dead ticket stubs, backstage passes and other photos.
Rich Fury/Sphere Entertainment
Musically, the band sounds as tight as ever. The harmonies were beautiful and the groove remained solid. Mayer belted out powerful vocals and wailed guitar solos throughout the night — with a particularly powerful rendition of “He's Gone” — and Weir's voice sounded crisp and clear. Mickey Hart took his usual 'Drums' solo, playing alone on stage as a drum floated serenely behind him. Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti was particularly impressive on opening night, stealing the show when the band let him have the spotlight and wowing the crowd with a solo during “Brown-Eyed Women.”
The band took their break between sets around 8:50 p.m., with fans staring at a large pink screen projecting classic Grateful Dead lyrics as they waited for the group to return. The band leaned even more into their nostalgia and classic aesthetic in Set Two, which started just before 9:30. After the Dead & Company performed “Uncle John's Band” in front of a vivid coloring book image of an animated Garcia in front of a booth, there was a recreation of the Dead's short-lived Wall of Sound, with the tower of speakers extending. higher and higher before turning into a rainbow bridge in space. In “Hell in a Bucket,” we saw Uncle Sam's classic skeleton riding a motorcycle through a colorful fantasy land, followed by bears and winged eyeballs, and at one point passing a few sets of large disembodied legs placed right next to the road .
Dead & Co went with their cover of Dylan's “Knockin' on Heaven's Door” as the penultimate song of the night, as the screen showed space rocketing across the universe at the speed of light before coming to rest on Earth, then slowly slowly back to the Haight-Ashbury house. Aside from the song itself sounding great, it was especially moving to listen to the track while actually gazing up at the sky.
After the end of “Knockin' on Heaven's Door” there was an old audio clip of a reporter describing the crowds of Deadheads that come to Dead shows and — in keeping with the Dead Forever theme — noting how fans would prefer the music not never stops.” On that note, Dead & Company closed out the night with another of their best-known covers, “Not Fade Away.”
Live Coverage*
Dead & Company Sphere Opening Setlist, May 16, 2024
Set One
“Feel like a stranger”
“Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”
“Jack Straw”
“Birdsong”
“me and my uncle”
“Brown Eyed Women”
“Cold Rain and Snow”
Set two
“Uncle John's Band”
“Help on the way”
“Slipknot!”
“Franklin Tower”
“Left”
“Drums”
“Space”
“You stood on the moon”
“St. Stephanos”
“Hell in a Bucket”
“Knockin' on Heaven's Door”
“No Fade Away”
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