Dead & Company Fit Clapton & Beatles Covers Into 3rd Weekend Finale At Las Vegas Sphere

Dead & Company returned to the Las Vegas Sphere on Saturday to wrap up the third weekend of their 2025 Dead Forever Residency. The setlist for night nine of 18 was chock-full of Grateful Dead favorites and also included a pair of covers that were frequently played by the Jerry Garcia Band.

The sextet consisting of Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart with guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane began the evening with “Dancing In The Street” before animated visuals of the Grateful Dead’s former San Francisco home in Haight Ashbury accompanied a rousing “Truckin'” as Dead & Co. achieved liftoff.

Next, John Mayer stepped into the spotlight to lead the band through their second-ever “Lay Down Sally.” Often covered by the JGB between 1990 and 1995, the second “Lay Down Sally” was tighter than the Dead & Co debut of Eric Clapton's 1977 hit played during the second show of this year’s residency on March 21, 2025.

Weir fronted the ensuing “Tennessee Jed,” as iconography from Grateful Dead history was shown in buttons behind the band over a sky backdrop. Weir and Mayer then co-helmed “Jack Straw” ahead of a set-closing “Casey Jones.” The latter was the highlight of the opening stanza thanks to an extended Mayer solo and new laser-infused visuals.

Dead & Co. brought the “Scarlet Begonias” that opened the second set to a full stop before Burbridge began “Fire On The Mountain” with the song’s bass riff. The audience was taken on a visual journey to Egypt and a stunning rainbow was displayed while Oteil, Bobby, John and Mickey took turns handling lead vocals.

The next 25 minutes were devoted to a well-jammed sequence linking “He’s Gone” and “St. Stephen.” Mayer shredded through both GD staples with fretboard fireworks galore. Psychedelic imagery gave way to stealies featuring video of Dead & Co. members within during “He’s Gone.” Then, a visual curtain was draped while the six-piece worked through the composed section of “St. Stephen.” Wild tie-dyed liquid lights were shown for the duration of the outrageous “Stephen” jam. Mayer and Chimenti propelled each other to strong peaks ahead of the conclusion of the Live Dead favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psMd-I29mH8&ab_channel=billzlose

The instrumentalists, besides Burbridge, then left the stage for the evening’s adventurous “Drums” segment. Mickey Hart used the Beam right from the start before he joined Jay Lane and Oteil Burbridge in pounding out tribal rhythms. Eventually, Hart returned to the Beam to lay the groundwork for “Space.” Weir, Chimenti, Burbridge and Mayer spent just three minutes improvising what became an intro to the band’s first “Dear Prudence” of 2025. Bobby sang the Beatles classic oft covered by the Jerry Garcia Band.

Mayer laid down one bluesy run after another to close out “Dear Prudence.” From there, Mayer helmed “Brown-Eyed Women” and Bobby Weir sang “Hell In A Bucket,” as the two songs continue to find a home late in second sets of Dead & Company setlists. A beautiful “Brokedown Palace” followed to lead into a vintage newsreel report of the Grateful Dead being played over the venue’s P.A. The day-appropriate “One More Saturday Night” brought the band’s third of six weekends at Sphere to a close.

Dead & Company resumes their Dead Forever 2025 residency on Thursday, April 24. Scroll on to watch videos of Saturday’s show, listen to full show audio, see the setlist and check out The Skinny.

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Lckbu2rAA&ab_channel=billzlose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHigOPGOzak&ab_channel=billzlose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGnoDxc02bs&ab_channel=billzlose

Audio Taped by stelladew

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