Dead & Company Revive ‘Liberty’ At Sphere Dead Forever 5th Weekend Opener

Dead & Company returned to the Sphere on Friday to kick off the fifth and penultimate weekend of their 2025 Dead Forever residency in Las Vegas. The sextet worked three 2025 debuts into the setlist, including the first “Liberty” since their 4th of July 2024 concert at the high-tech venue.

The band comprised of Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart with guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane opened with a rollicking “Bertha” in front of scaffolding imagery. The scaffolding parted before Dead & Co. began a “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,” which came complete with a visual descent to the Grateful Dead’s former house in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district.

Bobby Weir fronted the subsequent cover of “Good Lovin'” as neon GD iconography was displayed on the venue’s massive screens. A quick romp through “Don’t Ease Me In” followed. From there, the year’s first “Me And My Uncle” was accompanied by a Wild West landscape. Both “Me And My Uncle” and the ensuing “Ramble On Rose” hadn’t been performed by Dead & Co. since August 1, 2024. The band then wrapped the first set with a barn-burning “Deal” featuring a steady stream of fiery licks from Mayer.

Dead & Co. began the second set with just their tenth-ever performance of “Liberty.” Weir helmed the latter era GD song written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia in front of “paint-by-number” visuals. Bobby was also the lead vocalist for the “Scarlet Begonias” that followed. “Scarlet” featured plenty of full-band jamming and eventually gave way to its traditional partner, “Fire On The Mountain.” Weir, Mayer and Burbridge traded vocal duties on “Fire” before Mickey Hart rapped additional verses to the delight of the capacity crowd.

The closing stanza rolled on with a raucous “Cumberland Blues” played in front of animated circus graphics. John Mayer then stepped up to sing “They Love Each Other” before an expansive “Playing In The Band” brought the particularly long pre-“Drums” portion of the frame to a close. Mickey Hart, Jay Lane and Oteil Burbridge took the audience on a powerful percussive voyage amplified by sweeping visual effects. Hart then moved to The Beam, crafting a shifting drone that transitioned into “Space,” where Weir, Mayer, Burbridge and Lane rejoined for the freeform segment.

Bobby Weir stepped up to the mic out of “Space” to front a cover of Rev. Gary Davis’ menacing “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” a song played just twice prior by Dead & Co. at Sphere. The six-piece then picked up the pace with a powerful “Brown-Eyed Women” sung by Mayer as cartoonish imagery of famed venues from Grateful Dead history filled the screens. “Throwing Stones” followed to provide the soundtrack for a visual trip from the cosmos back to Haight Ashbury. An archival Grateful Dead news report aired over the venue’s audio system before “Casey Jones” brought Friday’s show to an end.

Dead & Company resumes their Dead Forever 2025 Sphere residency tonight, May 10. Scroll on to watch videos of Friday’s concert, view the setlist and dig into The Skinny.

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