Dead & Company Performs ‘Greatest Story Ever Told’ In Charlotte: Pro-Shot Video

On November 28, 2017 Dead & Company brought their fall tour to the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band featuring Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with Jeff Chimenti, Oteil Burbridge and John Mayer fit a version of Weir’s “Greatest Story Ever Told” into the evening’s first set. Dead & Company recently uploaded pro-shot video of “Greatest Story” to YouTube.

“Greatest Story Ever Told” made JamBase’s list of 10 Standout Dead & Company Debuts From 2017 & 2018. The six-piece first performed the tune from Weir’s 1972 solo debut Ace at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 12, 2017. Charlotte’s version was the third in Dead & Company history. Bobby was in fine voice throughout while Mayer tore up the Jerry leads and emulated Brent Mydland’s backing vocals from the ’80s.

Read Gary Lambert’s notes on the song:

It started as “The Pump Song” on Mickey Hart’s first solo album (1972’s “Rolling Thunder”), because its rhythm track was based (in an ingenious bit of what might be called proto-sampling) on the sound of a water pump on Mickey’s ranch. But once Bob Weir added some changes to the groove Mickey had found and lyricist Robert Hunter contributed a cinematic storyline that was part cowboy movie/part sci-fi/part biblical epic, it became something else again, and a highlight of many a show by the Grateful Dead and its musical successors. This version features a nice, lengthy jam leading up to the song and some fiery soloing by John Mayer and Jeff Chimenti. – Gary Lambert

Watch Dead & Company perform “Greatest Story Ever Told” in Charlotte on November 28, 2017: