Dead & Company Debut Bob Dylan Cover In Michigan – Full Show Audio

On Thursday night Dead & Company featuring Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann joined by John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti brought their tour to the Detroit area for a performance at DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan. The show contained plenty of jamming and the Dead & Company debut of a Bob Dylan cover that was a staple of the Grateful Dead’s live repertoire.

Mayer and Weir shared lead vocals on the “Jack Straw” opener with John showing off his chops during a lengthy solo. The young guitarist then fronted the group on Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man” before Bobby stepped to the mic to begin the first-ever D&C “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” Weir was in fine form with powerful vocals throughout the cover. “Friend Of The Devil” and “Minglewood Blues” came next ahead of “Sugaree” which showcased Mayer’s ripping leads. A quick romp through “Don’t Ease Me In” closed out the first set.

Dead & Company kicked off the second set with a “Playing In The Band” that saw Mayer utilize a Jerry-esque MuTron tone over the course of its jam. The six-piece slyly segued into an expansive “Estimated Prophet” with plenty of impressive interplay between Weir, Mayer and Chimenti. Once the band had its fill of jamming on “Estimated,” the drummers picked up the pace for “Cumberland Blues.” From there, D&C treated fans to a lengthy “Truckin'” which was followed by the reprise of “Playing In The Band.” Hart and Kreutzmann then added a hefty dose of livetronica to the concert during “Drums.” The Rhythm Devils made good use of their massive rig throwing in samples, talking drums and what sounded by like a xylophone during the seven-minute “Drums.” As usual, Mickey set the pace for “Space” by utilizing “the beam” to lay the base of a droning note. Mayer and Weir eeked out deliciously weird tones from their axes as part of “Space” before moving on to “The Wheel.”

The six-piece took their time jamming out “Wheel” and moving through its verses and choruses. John threw in a few vocal teases of “Stay” (Maurice Williams) into “The Wheel.” Next up was a beautiful cover of “Dear Prudence” by The Beatles and a set-closing “Casey Jones.” With curfew quickly approaching the sextet delivered a quick and nasty “Johnny B. Goode” to say farewell to the Michigan faithful. Dead & Company now head to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin for shows on Saturday and Sunday that can be viewed via nugs.tv.

Full Show Audio (Taped by Jeff Frank)