Dead & Company ‘Paint Masterpiece’ At Sphere To Wrap 6th Dead Forever Weekend

Dead & Company’s concert on Saturday night concluded the sixth weekend of the band’s Dead Forever residency at the Las Vegas Sphere. Show 18 of the 30-date engagement featured the first performance at the visually wowing venue of Bob Dylan’s fitting “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

The aforementioned Dylan cover arrived in the first set and was one of two Dylan songs to make Saturday’s setlist with “All Along The Watchtower” landing in the second set.

Dead & Co. – Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Mickey Hart with guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane – had gone 22 shows between performances of “Masterpiece.” Weir attempted to play acoustic guitar during Saturday’s rendition but technical issues led to him abandoning the acoustic in favor of one of his electric guitars.

The evening got going with “New Minglewood Blues” getting its second call to open a Sphere show. The virtual scaffolding that flanks the band at the start of Sphere concerts parted open to reveal the house at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco that the Dead lived in together in the 1960s as Dead & Co. went into a funky “Shakedown Street” while the audience was visually lifted to outer space.

Mayer then captained a typically rollicking “Bertha.” Next came “When I Paint My Masterpiece” which was visually accompanied by massive virtual stage curtains framing a roses-adorned Steal Your Face.

The Dylan cover was followed by Sphere staple “Jack Straw.” The six-song set came to an end with “Sugar Magnolia” as the first set closer, playing that role with Dead & Co. for just the second time, while appearing in one of the band’s first sets for just its sixth time.

“Uncle John’s Band” opened a Sphere second set for the fourth time on Saturday night. A seamless sequence continued with segues into “St. Stephen” and “Morning Dew,” which saw intricate improvisation within. The musical train then rolled into “Terrapin Station.”

Once fully arrived at “Terrapin,” Hart, Lane and Burbridge were given the stage for the nightly “Drums” improvisation. The trio’s kaleidoscopic percussive jam eventually transitioned into the free-form “Space” which arrived via transit through Hart’s droning Beam.

Bob Dylan’s anthemic “All Along The Watchtower” materialized from the depths of “Space.” After the Dylan cover, Mayer jumped ahead and started “Althea,” but quickly corrected course and joined his bandmates on a sweet “Stella Blue” instead. Following the completion of the classic Dead ballad, it was then time for Mayer to lead the charge through “Althea.”

Weir got his acoustic guitar functioning properly for the penultimate song of the night, “Brokedown Palace.” A visual return from space to San Francisco led to the nightly playing over the PA of the 1960s news broadcast about the Grateful Dead. The archival report teed up the clap and sing-along favorite “Not Fade Away” for the evening’s finale.

Dead & Company will take next weekend off before resuming Dead Forever at the Sphere on the Fourth Of July (Thursday, July 4). See Saturday’s setlist, The Skinny, audio and additional video from the show by scrolling below:

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More Skinny

Audience Recording (Taped by Hunter S)

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYk4GUI3nh0

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