Dead & Company Honor Late Grateful Dead Band & Crew Members To Close Night 1 In San Francisco

Dead & Company began the final run of The Final Tour at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Friday. The band delivered two-sets loaded with classic Grateful Dead material but also newer creations including the instrumental “Big River”/”Dark Star” mashup. The encore saw the sextet paying their respects to dearly departed Grateful Dead band and crew members.

Dead & Company have only played at Oracle Park once before on November 9, 2017, although guitarist Bob Weir is certainly no stranger to the home of the San Francisco Giants having sung the National Anthem a time or two at the stadium. In the past eight years, Shoreline has been D&C’s main Bay Area home although they’ve also played at Chase Center and Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

D&C fittingly kicked off their final run at Oracle with a locked-in “Not Fade Away” held down by a chunky groove from drummers Mickey Hart and Jay Lane and some serious thump from bassist Oteil Burbridge. Guitarist John Mayer had some tasty stuff in-store for the Buddy Holly & The Crickets classic.

Weir then captained an equally groovy “Shakedown Street” in the Grateful Dead’s hometown. Bobby led a spirited “poke around” vamp over a percolating bassline from Burbridge leading Mayer into a solo with some octaved auto-wah over a bed of Fender Rhodes electric piano from keyboardist Jeff Chimenti before the guitarist and keyboardist swapped riffs.

The “Shakedown” groove dissipated into “Cold Rain and Snow.” The band continued their tight groove streak on the traditional with Mayer handling lead vocals and lending some bluesy twang to the tune. “Ramble On Rose” fell in the fourth song slot. Bobby turned in a solid vocal performance on the Europe ’72 favorite. Mayer helmed the first ride before kicking it over to Chimenti for a solo that toggled between honky-tonk and Little Richards.

Dead & Company kept the Europe ‘72 favorites rolling with “Brown-Eyed Women.” Mayer handled lead vocals on the tune and had some more twang and double stop action up his sleeve for his first solo. Chimenti unfurled another smoking ride on the 88s after the bridge. Next, the sextet slid into “New Speedway Boogie’ led by Weir and soaked in blues by John Mayer. Bobby dispelled the darkness on the “one way or another” vamp before Mayer peeled off a spicy solo ahead of the acapella ending.

Bobby then strummed out the opening strains to “Wharf Rat” on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. Mayer delivered a weepy then wailing solo for the quintessential San Francisco song. The sextet then chug-a-lugged into the final verse before John took a final torch to the tune.

Mayer then Chuck Berry’d the band into “Don’t Ease Me In.” Chimenti slow-boiled the first instrumental beginning with a crunchy percussion tone before pulling out all the stops for a full-leslie ramp up. John even did a little Chuck Berry duckwalk as he tore into his final solo to seal the first set.

Dead & Company strutted into “China Cat Sunflower” to launch the second frame. Bobby handed off the song’s psychedelic riff to Chimenti as he led the band through the verses before Mayer bent his way through the modulations. Weir hinted at “I Know You Rider” with his familiar rhythm work as the band grooved and Mayer led them through peaks and valleys until Hart and Lane kicked into the double time of “Rider” proper.

Bobby would lead the charge on the “sun will shine” and “headlight” verses ahead of John and Jay vibing as the guitarist reeled off more well-constructed, tiered runs before Chimenti brought piano cascading down on Oracle park ahead of the song’s conclusion. The band then ducked into “He’s Gone” with Bobby and John swapping verse lines. Mayer doubled down on the twang for his solo leading into the bridge followed by a gospel-tinged “nothing’s gonna bring him back” vocal vamp full of blues stylings from Mayer and piano compliments from Chimenti.

D&C then jumped into “Scarlet Begonias.” Weir helmed the From The Mars Hotel tune before John tore into the verse form over a dynamic accompaniment from the band. The sextet then slid into a Latin jazz-tinged rendition of the main riff before dissolving into an understated groove with Mayer continuing to shred utilizing tapping techniques interlaced with jazzy piano chords via Chimenti.

Oteil then bubbled up with the “Fire On The Mountain” bassline and stepped to the mic to sing lead on the Shakedown Street cut. It marked just the third time the band has played the classic Dead pairing although both songs have been played several times separately. Mayer had some flighty auto-wah riffage on hand throughout, layering different effects and flying high up on the neck before reaching the melody.

“Drums” rumbled out of “Fire,” with Mickey queuing up a galloping drone on The Beam ahead of a percussive session on the drum platform with Jay and Oteil. A full-blown Beam excursion followed with Lane rolling the gong before leaving Mickey to it. Some bleep bloops signaled the end of “Drums” and the beginning of “Space,” a twinkling affair that gained form and morphed into the band’s recently unveiled melding of “Big River” and “Dark Star,” a countrified psychedelic romp straight from the brain of Bob Weir.

The mashup melted into “Standing On On The Moon,” a song Bobby has shined on all tour as well as one that references San Francisco and the month of July. Weir capped the poignant number with a goosebump-inducing “be with you” vamp while Mayer tore into the tune.

“Casey Jones” jumped out of “Standing On The Moon.” John engineered the first verse of the chugging tune while Bobby captained the second. Weir had a slide solo up his sleeve for the Workingman’s Dead number before kicking things over to Mayer for the melodic riff. John slapped on some overdrive and cooked his way through the coda.

“U.S. Blues” popped up next and saw Bobby — who also added some tasty slide touches — and John trading verses once again. Seemingly eschewing an encore break, Dead & Company settled down into “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” which served as a Grateful Dead In Memoriam as pictures of Bill Graham, Larry ‘Ram Rod’ Shurtliff, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, Robert Hunter, John Perry Barlow, Vince Welnick, Keith Godchaux, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Brent Mydland and finally Jerry Garcia flashed on the screen ahead of the song’s acapella conclusion.

Dead & Company return to Oracle Park tonight. Livestreams are available via nugs.net.

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