Dead & Company Make Themselves At Home With ‘Lay Down Sally’ Cover Debut At Sphere

Dead & Company returned to Sphere on Friday to continue their 2025 Dead Forever residency. The Grateful Dead offshoot’s second of 18 2025 performances at the high-tech Las Vegas venue saw them trot out a few delicious new visuals and debut a cover of Eric Clapton’s 1977 hit “Lay Down Sally.”

The band featuring Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart along with bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, drummer Jay Lane and guitarist John Mayer opened with “Cold Rain & Snow” as a visual of scaffolding was displayed behind them. Then, in a repeat of all past Dead Forever shows, “Lift Off” was achieved as the scaffolding opened up to showcase 710 Ashbury, the San Francisco home where the Grateful Dead lived from 1966 – 1968.

“Shakedown Street” followed and gave the sextet their first chance of the night to stretch out. Weir handled lead vocals on the 14-minute version of the title track from the Grateful Dead’s 1978 studio album, which featured fractal imagery and visual references to the Egyptian pyramids. A raucous “Cumberland Blues” was played next in front of scenes of famed venues from GD history including the Winterland Ballroom, Red Rocks, Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden.

The ensuing “Lay Down Sally” was the biggest surprise of the night. John Mayer sang the song the Jerry Garcia Band often covered between 1990 and 1995. New neon green graphics straight out of the early days of video games were the theme of the accompanying visuals. A robotic-looking dancing bear was formed from the green lines.

After “Tennessee Jed,” John Mayer was back in the spotlight for the set-closing “Sugaree.” Mayer used a replica of Jerry Garcia’s iconic Alligator guitar for most the night. The Connecticut-bred guitarist patiently built his solo to a crescendo of inspired intensity. Mayer unloaded for the peak, egged on by the appreciative crowd.

Dead & Company came out of the gates for the second set with “Uncle John’s Band.” The well-jammed version set the tone for the improv-heavy frame as extended takes on “Estimated Prophet,” “Eyes Of The World” and “St. Stephen” led into the evening’s “Drums” segment.

“Eyes Of The World” featured both a heady call-and-response between Mayer and Chimenti and an otherworldly bass solo from Burbridge. Another new visual array was premiered early in “Eyes.” Attendees were taken to the circus, a Sphere-style experience with spinning, psychedelic elements layered on top of each other. Iconography interspersed included the winged eyeball Rick Griffin used in multiple posters and the fiddling skeleton from the Blues For Allah cover art.

The exploratory “St. Stephen” saw ‘90s footage of Phil Lesh briefly displayed behind the band. The crowd reacted with huge cheers to honor the late Grateful Dead bassist.

Mickey Hart and Jay Lane were joined as usual by Oteil Burbridge for “Drums.” Wild imagery included a skeleton banging on mushroom-shaped drums. Hart was then left to work over the beam before Oteil returned for a gorgeous bass solo. The other instrumentalists emerged for a short “Space” excursion and then the whole band was back in place for the subsequent “Wharf Rat.”

Bobby helmed the 14-minute “Wharf Rat,” which featured impressive full-band interplay rather than a straight Mayer solo. From there, D&C lit into a “U.S. Blues” that offered a new twist on the classic skeleton visual seen at most of the band’s past Sphere shows. This time, the skeleton drove his motorcycle into and through Las Vegas before arriving at Sphere.

A visual trip through the cosmos accompanied the trailing “Throwing Stones.” This paved the way for the return to San Francisco and 710 Ashbury. A vintage newsreel report on the Grateful Dead played over the P.A. ahead of the evening’s “Casey Jones” closer. The recording of Phil Lesh describing the band used on Thursday was not repeated on Friday.

Check out the setlist, videos and photos from Dead & Co.’s March 21, 2025 show at Sphere by scrolling below:

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