Dead & Company Plays 2nd Show At Citi Field – Setlist & Videos

Dead & Company’s two-show road trip to Citi Field in New York City wrapped with a performance at the baseball stadium in Queens last evening. Grateful Dead members, guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, with bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and guitarist John Mayer treated fans gathered at the home of the Mets to another tour debut and much more as they made it one more Saturday night in NYC.

“Sugar Magnolia” served as a lively opener as the band got the ballpark rocking behind Weir’s fit-for-summertime anthem. Mayer let off a few nifty riffs and demonstrated his high register as he backed Weir’s vocals on the jangly “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo.” Bobby then went acoustic before leading a take on the traditional “Peggy-O.” Weir switched back to his electric guitar ahead of Mayer taking charge of an upbeat “Bertha.” Burbridge was once again handed lead vocal duties for the tender Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia ballad “Comes A Time.”

Weir was back on acoustic for another traditional cover, “Jack-A-Roe,” which was its first appearance in a setlist since making its Dead & Company debut earlier this tour. Bobby returned to his electric setup during a drawn-out intro to the subsequent “Bird Song.” Mayer displayed nimble fretwork in the psychedelic jam that led up to a segue into a bluesy romp through “New Speedway Boogie.” The sextet circled back to “Bird Song” as they finished out the evening’s first half.

The classic trifecta of “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower” brought the show out of halftime and into the last set of the two-night stand. The tightly delivered trio saw Mayer get creative with his delivery of the final “Franklin’s” verse, again using his higher vocal register. There’s was a bit of a rough start to the following “St. Stephen” as some confusion over lyrics was eventually worked out. The imperfect start to “St. Stephen” was smoothed over by a seamless transition into its often paired companion “The Eleven,” which was making its debut on this tour. The first offering of the irregular-time Dead classic of the summer dissolved into the band’s nightly improvisational “Drums”/”Space” sequence. During “Drums” Billy and Mickey blended ancient primal rhythms with contemporary tones and textures as Oteil joined The Rythm Devils just as he did the night prior.

Weir, Mayer, Chimenti and Burbridge assumed their normal places on stage as they entered into an exploratory and percussive sounding “Space.” Out of “Space” emerged “Eyes Of The World” that gave Chimenti and Burbridge chances to shine during respective solos. The jam out of “Eyes” eventually settled into a sentimental “Stella Blue,” sung affectionately by Bobby. Saturday’s second set concluded with the “Sunshine Daydream” ending to the show-opening “Sugar Magnolia” performed a few hours earlier. The predictably fitting “One More Saturday Night” encore gave Weir a final opportunity to usher the band through one last rocking Grateful Dead tune.

Dead & Company’s Summer Tour continues Tuesday, June 19 in Darien, New York. Webcasts are available for all the shows on the tour via nugs.tv. Watch highlights of last night’s webcast below:

[Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Peggy-O]

[Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower]

Here are audience-shot videos captured by Sean Roche:

[Comes A Time]

[St. Stephen]

[The Eleven]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj9J9cd7dWE