Dead & Company Tour Continues In Philadelphia

Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart continued the first-ever Dead & Company tour with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti last night at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The band trotted out a handful of tour debuts as part of a lengthy two- set performance in the City Of Brotherly Love on Thursday.

Dead & Company opened with their initial “Here Comes Sunshine.” The band struggled with the intro, which was similar to ’90s Dead versions, but locked into a groove as the song progressed. Mayer handled vocals on the opener. Weir then stepped into the spotlight for the first-ever Dead & Company “Loose Lucy.” The tour debuts continued with “Candyman,” sung by John Mayer, and Bobby handling Jerry’s signature “Mississippi Half Step” vocals. A pair of repeats followed as Mayer fronted the band on a beautiful “Bird Song” that led into a frisky “Cumberland Blues.” For the first set finale, Dead & Company presented “Casey Jones” for its debut which garnered a huge roar from the crowd. John Mayer sang lead for the first few verses before passing the lead vocal baton to Weir.

The sextet came out of the gates for the second set with the Dead & Company debut of “Iko Iko” propelled by The Rhythm Devils. Weir sang the New Orleans classic as well as the “Feel Like A Stranger” that emerged next. From there, the group took another stab of “China”/”Rider” before the nightly “Drums/Space” segment. The tour’s third “Playing In The Band” came out of “Space” and saw the most open-ended jamming of the night. Mayer shined instrumentally during the tour debut of “Standing On The Moon,” which Bobby sang. Another Weir-heavy second set ended with the first D&C “Sugar Magnolia,” while the encore yielded one more tour debut – “U.S. Blues.” Dead & Company tour continues tonight in Washington, D.C.

Audio (Taped by Keith Litzenberger via Archive.org)

Videos (Captured by Rick McGraw)

[Here Comes Sunshine]

[Iko Iko]

[Feel Like A Stranger]

[Standing On The Moon]

[Mississippi Half Step, Bird Song]

Setlist

Set One: Here Comes Sunshine, Loose Lucy, Candyman, Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo > Bird Song, Cumberland Blues, Casey Jones

Set Two: Iko Iko > Feel Like A Stranger, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > Drums > Space > Playing In The Band > Standing On The Moon > Sugar Magnolia

Encore: U.S. Blues