Fare Thee Well Dead Forever: Dead & Company Wrap 30-Show Las Vegas Sphere Residency

There was one more Saturday night left for Dead & Company’s Dead Forever residency at the Las Vegas Sphere before the band took the stage at the technologically enhanced venue last evening. D&C guitarist John Mayer called Dead Forever, “a trip through the metaphysical anthropology of the Grateful Dead with Dead & Company as your hosts.”

Sphere shows have been a celebration of the music of the Grateful Dead with each performance following the same visual journey, launching from the band’s 1960s house in San Francisco to the depths of outer space and beyond, before falling back to 710 Ashbury Street.

Upon returning to the Haight Ashbury neighborhood, part of the Dead Forever production includes playing a 1960s news report about the Grateful Dead. Played over the PA, the reporter states:

In the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco stands a modest Victorian townhouse. It is the home of a young psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll band who call themselves the Grateful Dead. This ragtag group of musicians have amassed an impressive fanbase of hippies, who seem never to miss one of the group’s sprawling improvisational performances. To the faithful followers of this vibrant young band, there is no such thing as too many Grateful Dead shows. It is safe to say, that if given their way, these free-spirited showgoers would prefer the music never stopped.

The music stopped Saturday after the final notes of “Ripple” brought the concert and Dead & Company’s Sphere residency to an end. With Dead Forever complete, the next time the members of the band — Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart, along with Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane — will share the stage together remains uncertain. Dead Forever followed last summer’s run that was billed as The Final Tour. The residency in Las Vegas has been the only shows performed by the band after they decided to no longer traditionally tour.

“I truly do not know if we’ll come back,” Mayer previously stated. “Last I heard, bands could only play once at the Sphere. Then I heard chatter of that no longer being a rule. That’s the most I know. But I’ll tell you this: If someone asked me to do more, I would absolutely do more. But if we did that, it wouldn’t be this year.”

With that uncertainty looming, Saturday’s Sphere show came with extra significance, even if the extent to which remains fully realized. The last show of Dead Forever began in the same fashion as the first night, as “Feel Like A Stranger” once again kicked off the long, long, crazy, crazy night.

“Franklin’s Tower” came next (its buddies “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” would arrive in the second set) and once again the audience and band were launched on an otherworldly journey from Haight Ashbury. From there the excursion continued with a loping “Row Jimmy.”

The cowboy western visual motif arrived with Bobby “Ace” Weir leading a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Big River.” The countrified vibes continued with a subsequent visit from “Tennessee Jed.” Mayer’s three-fingered fretwork was on display as the guitarist, still powering through an injured index finger, laid into “Althea” to cap the penultimate set at the Sphere.

Presenting an example of the metaphysical anthropology of the Grateful Dead, the second set started with the long-championed pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider.” The transitional segment between songs once again proved to be a pathway for exemplary interplay among the musicians.

Another pair of frequently sequenced songs, the aforementioned “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” stepped up next. With “Franklin’s” already out of the picture, “Help” into “Slip” led into a trip to “Terrapin Station.”

The multi-part suite rolled into “Drums” as Hart, Lane and Burbridge transformed the Sphere into a zone of percussive soundscapes. Hart engaged the deep tones of The Beam, drenching the dome in drone ahead of the full-on immersion into “Space.”

The loose exploration of “Space” fittingly cultivated the sentimental “Standing On The Moon,” as matching lunar visuals surrounded the band. Filling in the back end of the set were back-to-back rockers, “Bertha” and “U.S. Blues.” The tender “Brokedown Palace” triggered the visual descent back to San Francisco.

The night ended with the ‘60s news report teeing up Weir’s Saturday night staple, “One More Saturday Night.” The band members started to gather at center stage for a customary group bow, but encouragement from the cheering crowd prompted a heartfelt encore rendition of “Ripple.”

Weir, Lane and Chimenti will soon embark on a Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros. tour and Oteil Burbridge has Oteil & Friends shows on the horizon. Mayer and Hart’s tour schedules are currently empty.

Check out the setlist, The Skinny and videos from the final Dead Forever Dead & Company show at the Las Vegas Sphere below:

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