Dead & Company Kick Off 2017 Tour & Announce 8 Webcasts

Last night Dead & Company returned to the stage to kick off their 19-date summer tour with a show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. While bassist Oteil Burbridge hinted at an expanded role as a lead singer this summer, last night’s show stuck to formula from previous tours with guitarists Bob Weir and John Mayer handling vocal duties for the entire show.

The two set affair began with a nice nod to the band continuing the legacy of the Grateful Dead with Weir leading them through “The Music Never Stopped,” which includes the celebratory lines about the Dead’s rolling psychedelic touring days “There’s a band out on the highway. They’re high-stepping into town. It’s a rainbow full of sound. It’s fireworks, calliopes and clowns.” The rest of the first set found the band working their way through “Dire Wolf,” “Jack Straw,” with Weir and Mayer trading verses, “Brown-Eyed Women” and “Bird Song.”

Dead & Co. kicked off their second set with “Playing In The Band” > “Deal,” followed by the traditional pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider.” The adventurous “Drums” > “Space” portion of the night followed as they eventually worked their way into “The Other One” > “Black Peter” and closed things out with “One More Saturday Night.”

The band returned to the stage for a two song encore with images of the Gregg Allman and an Allman Brothers Band logo projected on the video screen behind them as Dead & Company played Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” in tribute to the late musician, before closing things out with “Playin’ Reprise.”

Dead & Company surprised fans last night by live streaming the first three songs from Vegas for free, and have also announced that they would be webcasting eight more shows this summer. The Ultimate Devotion Pass, which is available in a number of formats, will feature the band’s gigs from Mountain View, Boulder, Boston, New York and Camden, New Jersey and is available for purchase now.

Check out a handful of videos of last night’s show here:

Setlist via Dead & Company