Leaving Las Vegas: Dead & Company Wrap Dead Forever 2025 Sphere Residency

Dead & Company's closed out their Dead Forever 2025 residency on Saturday with their 48th lifetime performance at the Las Vegas Sphere. The Saturday night show played out as a sort of highlight reel of the 18-date run, as the setlist contained a mix of frequently played Grateful Dead favorites, covers they debuted earlier this year and a pair of tributes to the late Phil Lesh.

While the band comprised of Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart, alongside guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane have found a home away from home at the futuristic venue, they slyly picked “Feel Like A Stranger” to open. Next came the “holy triumvirate” of “Help On The Way”/”Slipknot!”/”Franklin’s Tower,” performed in sequence for just the second time this year.

John Mayer sang “Help On The Way” as the visuals lifted off from the Grateful Dead’s former San Francisco home into outer space. The instrumental “Slipknot!” was accompanied by imagery that debuted earlier this run, incorporating From The Mars Hotel cover art, vintage televisions and animated characters. The euphoric “Franklin’s Tower” featured stellar interplay between Mayer and Chimenti while trippy graphics filled the Sphere screens.

Bobby Weir fronted the subsequent “Tennessee Jed,” which was accompanied by a “paint-by-numbers” landscape. The band then covered “The Harder They Come” for the first time since the Dead & Co. debut of the Jimmy Cliff classic on April 18. A rousing “Casey Jones” was tacked on to punctuate the set.

A performance of the Phil Lesh-composed “Passenger” kicked off the final set of the residency. The Uncle Sam skeleton was a “Passenger” as he took a motorcycle ride to Las Vegas on the screens during the band’s second 2025 performance of the song. Dead & Company devoted the rest of the pre-“Drums” festivities to a double dose of frequently-paired Grateful Dead favorites: “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire On The Mountain” and “Estimated Prophet” > “Eyes Of The World.”

The 20-minute “Scarlet”/”Fire” was memorable thanks to a patient transition jam. As they have for each performance this Sphere run, Oteil Burbridge, Bobby Weir, John Mayer and traded “Fire” vocal duties before Mickey Hart stepped to the mic for his proto-rap verse. “Estimated”/”Eyes” was also well-jammed with Burbridge’s bass solo on the latter a particular highlight.

Mickey Hart strummed The Beam to lay down a drone that marked the beginning of “Drums.” Hart then met Lane and Burbridge on the main kits for a bombastic feast for the senses. Fans could feel the pounding of the drums through the haptic feedback on most of the venue’s seats. Mickey returned to The Beam for an aural trip to “Space” before the full ensemble was back in place to launch “Looks Like Rain.”

Bobby belted out “Looks Like Rain” while the visuals focused on video of the band members performing the ballad. Weir also helmed the ensuing “Tangled Up In Blue,” a Bob Dylan cover premiered by Dead & Company last month. Mayer then stepped up to sing “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” which completed the pairing of Dylan songs.

At the first show of the 2025 Dead Forever residency, a recording of Phil Lesh speaking replaced a vintage news report that played at each of the band’s 2024 concerts at the venue. Dead & Co. aired the Lesh audio once more on Saturday as a silhouette of Phil in the window of 710 Ashbury was displayed.

“Ripple” brought the concert and residency to an emotional conclusion. Images from Grateful Dead history were showcased on the screens, including photos of band members and associates who have died over the years. Mayer, Hart, Weir, Burbridge, Lane and Chimenti gathered center stage to hug and for one last bow to say farewell.

Dead & Company are expected to return to the stage at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on August 1 – 3 for a series of concerts celebrating the Grateful Dead's 60th anniversary. Stay tuned for details.

Read on for the setlist, The Skinny, videos and audio from Saturday’s Sphere concert.

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Audio (Taped by Eric Lugassy)