Dead & Company Debuts ‘Sing Me Back Home’ Cover At Shoreline

Dead & Company continued their 2022 Summer Tour on Monday with a concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti offered the fitting D&C debut of Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” as the band begins a two-night run in the Grateful Dead’s native Bay Area.

Dead & Company slipped into the opening strains of psychedelic era Dead classic “St. Stephen” to kick off the first set. Weir and Mayer would handle vocal duties. The guitarists led the band through the tune which flowed into its companion, “The Eleven” with Bobby on vocals for the latter. The disco Dead favorite “Shakedown Street” followed with Mayer and Weir at the mics once again before John helmed the Noah Lewis-penned Cannon Jug Stompers oldie “Big Railroad Blues.”

Next came the American Beauty anthem “Friend Of The Devil,” with Bobby and John teaming back up again on vocals before Weir handled the reggae-tinged Blues For Allah Garcia/Hunter composition “Crazy Fingers.” Mayer then presided over the old-school Dead staple cover, “Don’t Ease Me In,” to close out the first frame with the biggest bust out of the evening.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

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John stepped to the mic once again to kick off the second set with the rocker “Deal.” Another psychedelic gem, “Dark Star,” followed with Weir on vocals. He stayed at the mic as the first leg of “Dark Star” gave way to the Marty Robbins cowboy classic “El Paso.”

Dead & Company then debuted “Sing Me Back Home.” Other than being a D&C debut, the poignant Merle Haggard number is special for a few reasons. Chief among them is Dead & Company returning to the Bay Area and namely Shoreline for the first time since June 2, 2019. The landmark venue has hosted memorable Grateful Dead shows aplenty. Mountain View is just down the road from Palo Alto where the Grateful Dead formed in 1965. Palo Alto is also drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s hometown.

Additionally, it has been around 50 years since Billy and Mickey have performed “Sing Me Back Home” in a Dead band. GD debuted the Haggard tune on April 5, 1971, a long way from home in New York City. Hart has gone the longest with his last performance coming on November 6, 1971, as per a D&C Instagram post. Kreutzmann’s last play coincided with GD’s last performance of the song on September 26, 1973 in Buffalo, New York. For the no doubt emotional D&C debut, Bobby — whose last performance of the song is a little sooner but still substantial coming on March 4, 2013 — teamed up with John Mayer to sing everyone back home.

Dead & Company then finished up “Dark Star” and kept segueing into another sing-along song, “Uncle John’s Band,” which gave way to the Rhythm Devils taking over for “Drums” and “Space,” which also saw Oteil getting in on the fun. In an interesting juxtaposition, “Cumberland Blues” emerged from “Drums”/”Space” and headed into the Reverend Gary Davis blues classic “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” which Weir always shines on. The blues number capped off a massive, six-song seamless section that encompassed most of the second set. Bobby wasn’t through though and sealed up the frame with his classic closer, “Sugar Magnolia.” The band would retake the stage for an encore of the beloved acoustic Dead classic “Ripple.”

Dead & Company closes out their Shoreline run tonight. Livestreams are available via nugs.net. Watch pro-shot video of “St. Stephen” and “Deal” below as well as fan-shot video of “Uncle John’s Band” from night one at Shoreline:

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