Dead & Company Wrap Dead Forever 2025 Sphere Weekend One In A ‘Box Of Rain’

Dead & Company completed the first weekend of their 18-date 2025 Dead Forever Sphere residency in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The first of six weekends the band will spend at the Sphere ended with one of the songs most closely associated with late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, “Box Of Rain.”

Dead & Company’s nod to Lesh, who died in October 2024 at age 84, was also heard before the “Box Of Rain” finale. Like Thursday’s opening night of the Sphere residency, during the visual descent back to Haight Ashbury and the Grateful Dead’s former house in San Francisco, an audio clip of Lesh speaking about the connection between the Grateful Dead, the music they made, and their community of fans was played in place of the vintage news report used last year and on night two.

Watch footage of the Lesh recording and performance of “Box Of Rain” below:

Dead & Company – Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart with guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane – kicked off the first set with “New Minglewood Blues” and then went into “Franklin’s Tower,” as “Help On The Way” and “Slipknot!” were saved for the second set.

The six-song first half was colored in with “Jack Straw,” “Big Railroad Blues” and “Cassidy,” before the Vegas-appropriate “Deal” ushered in the evening’s set break.

Dead & Co. came back for set two, opening with the well-established coupling of “China Cat Sunflower” into “I Know You Rider.” The aforementioned “Help” into “Slip” came next, but having already executed “Franklin’s,” they instead used “He’s Gone” to complete the trifecta.

Hart, Lane and Burbridge followed with the percussive “Drums” exploration that pulsated and grooved in tandem with the captivating visual accompaniment. Hart paved the pathway to “Space” with an otherworldly drone generated by The Beam. The astral exploration persisted once the other musicians retook the stage and fully engaged in “Space.”

The post-”Drums/Space” portion of the second set began with Weir helming a compelling “Stella Blue.” Bobby’s standby rocker “Playing in the Band” and the poignant “Morning Dew” preceded the playing of Lesh’s audio recording and “Box Of Rain.”

Scroll on for photos, videos, an audio recording, the setlist and The Skinny from Saturday’s Dead & Co. Sphere show:

Audio (Taped by Rainbowtoez)

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