Dead & Company Delivers Another Debut & Cuts Show In Camden Short Due To Weather

On Saturday night Dead & Company were in Camden, New Jersey to finish up a two-night run at the BB&T Pavilion. The six-piece continued to make good on the promise of including new material for this tour as they offered up yet another live debut, but with inclement weather in the area the band was forced to end their show midway through their second set.

The band got their night going with “Hell In A Bucket” which came replete with the motorcycle roars and whip sound effects from the Grateful Dead’s studio version found on 1987’s In The Dark. Continuing a trend they started on the first night of the tour the band delivered their fourth live debut in three shows with “It Hurts Me Too.” Guitarist John Mayer stepped up to sing lead on a straightforward rendering of the blues classic that was first made famous by Elmore James. A rollicking “Cumberland Blues” followed with keyboardist Jeff Chimenti throwing some fantastic runs on the piano on the Workingman’s Dead track.

The band slowed things down next as they served up “Ship Of Fools.” Bob Weir took the band through Robert Hunter’s wordy Americana-tinged “Ramble On Rose” next. The sextet then reached for a cover of “The Weight” as Weir, Mayer, Chimenti and bassist Oteil Burbridge each took a verse of The Band’s signature song. A mid-tempo take on “The Music Never Stopped” followed as Mayer provided a counter-point to Weir’s vocals filling in for what had traditionally been Donna Jean Godchaux’s role during the 1970s. A vampy jam led into just their second ever take on “Easy Answers.” The Hunter-Weir-Bob Bralove-Vince Welnick-Rob Wasserman collaboration was debuted by the Dead in 1993 and would stay in rotation through their final tour. The tune saw Dead & Company get loose for the first time all night with a punchy jam led back into Weir belting out the chorus to bring their third frame in the Philadelphia suburb to a close.

After a slow-paced opening set, Dead & Company looked to open things up a bit as “Playing In The Band” got their final stanza in Camden off to a start. D&C didn’t hold back on last night’s version of “Playin'” as the dug in delivering a lengthy must-hear psychedelic exploration of the tune that eventually melted into “Uncle John’s Band.” The band again offered another sonic exploration out of “UJB” as they found themselves teasing “The Other One.” The jam on the Anthem of the Sun track would be the last music they played last night as severe thunderstorms were rolling through the area. Stage announcements were made telling people to evacuate the lawn and that the show would resume shortly, which eventually turned into the show having to be called early.

Watch pro-shot video of the openers from each set and check out the setlist below:

[Hell In A Bucket]

[Playing In The Band]

Setlist

Set I: Hell In A Bucket, It Hurts Me Too, Cumberland Blues, Ship Of Fools, Ramble On Rose, The Weight, The Music Never Stopped > Easy Answers

Set II: Playing In The Band > Uncle John’s Band > The Other One Jam