Uncommon Way To Go: Dead & Company Keeps Tour Debuts Flowing In Cincinnati

Dead & Company brought The Final Tour to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati on Tuesday. The Grateful Dead incarnation offered three tour debuts with two in the first set, including the beloved “Row Jimmy” and a blues number that was a Ron “Pigpen” McKernan favorite. D&C also rolled through a well-jammed “The Wheel” in the second set.

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Dead & Company’s sole Final Tour stop in the Buckeye State got underway with “The Music Never Stopped.” Guitarist Bob Weir got a rise out of the Riverbend audience when he sang the first line, “There’s mosquitos on the river,” near the mighty Ohio. Drummers Mickey Hart and Jay Lane loaded the song with fills and both wore “Owsley” t-shirts. The notorious Grateful Dead audio engineer and LSD manufacturer hailed from a prominent political family across the Ohio in Kentucky.

The “Never Stopped” groove excursion saw bassist Oteil Burbridge climbing on his six-string while guitarist John Mayer added flighty licks on the song’s breakdown before jumping nicely back into the funky main motif with Bobby vamping vocally on “never stopped.” Mayer had some spicier licks in store for the final jam while keyboardist Jeff Chimenti worked his Clavinet.

John then led the band through the tour debut of the Earl Forest/ Bill Harvey-penned, Junior Parker-recorded number “Next Time You See Me,” a staple Pigpen tune in the early 1970s. The song saw Jeff on a percussive Hammond B3 organ ride before Mayer showed off his copious blues chops, as well as his chemistry with Chimenti, who continued to add complimentary B3 on the blues number. Weir then told the tale of “Me and My Uncle,” which boasted some boisterous barroom piano from Jeff. The tour debut of “Row Jimmy” came next with Mayer handling lead vocals.

The bluesy opening riff of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” then rolled across Riverbend. The sextet stretched out a bit on the tune before segueing into the “Hey Jude Reprise,” which saw more fretboard fireworks and Hammond stabs from Mayer and Chimenti respectively.

One of Bobby’s signature songs, “Cassidy,” came next. The band continued their exploration on a laid-back freeform jam that traversed peaks and valleys, led by exchanges between Mayer and Chimenti. The sextet finally modulated their way back into the “flight of the seabirds.” D&C then brought the Big Easy to Cincy with “Iko Iko” to cap the first frame.

Dead & Company launched the second set with the Wake Of The Flood favorite, “Here Comes Sunshine.” Mayer had some trouble with the lyrics and the vocalists had to work a bit to lock in their harmonies but had them by the second chorus, which cascaded down into a lengthy vamp that toggled between blues and psychedelia and built to a peak and back into “Sunshine’s” main riff and conclusion.

The band then jumped into “Viola Lee Blues.” Mayer manned some more blues exclamations while Chimenti and Oteil bubbled underneath on the organ and bass. The jam saw Jeff switching to his Fender Rhodes electric piano and swapping riffage with Mayer in a sultry exchange. Bobby got in on the solo action over a Meters’ “Cissy Strut” tease ahead of the song’s final verse.

The tour debut of the beautiful Bobby ballad “Looks Like Rain” followed before the band swung into “China Cat Sunflower.” Weir handled lead vocals on the psychedelic Dead classic which, after a rollicking jam, kicked up into its companion — the traditional “I Know You Rider.” The song built to a raucous peak on the “wish I was a headlight” verse before Mayer brought the tune home with spicy licks ahead of the final a cappella chorus.

Mickey then manned The Beam to signal the beginning of “Drums,” utilizing his effects panel to wash Riverbend in squishy sounds. He then joined Jay back on Planet Drum as the percussive segment got going in earnest, although usual participant Oteil Burbridge was absent. Hart then headed back to The Beam for a final sesh before the band began to filter back in for a twinkly “Space” that gave way to “The Wheel.”

After the first few verses, a spirited jam emerged powered by a steady beat from the drummers and a bounding bassline from Oteil that surged into the bridge and chorus. The sextet then bounced through a Latin-tinged sequence that saw Mayer working some West African-inflected guitar licks ahead of a brief “little bit more” vocal jam and conclusion.

“Wharf Rat” then emerged from “The Wheel.” Bobby sang lead on the slow-burner which caught traction on the “I’ll get up and fly away” segment and saw John taking flight on the final jam before Weir brought the tune home. “Casey Jones” would wrap the second set. Mayer engineered the first verse while Bobby drove the second and also reeled off a slide solo before kicking things over to John who also put an exclamation point on the song’s rowdy coda with some fiery front pickup work. Dead & Company returned to encore with the eternally optimistic latter-day Dead classic, “Touch Of Grey.”

Dead & Company’s Final Tour is on to Philadelphia on Thursday. Purchase livestreams for the Philly show and all The Final Tour concerts via nugs.net.

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