Last night Dead & Company brought their summer tour to Boston for the first show of a double-dip at Fenway Park. For the second year in a row the band took over the historic ballpark on Yawkey Way that on Saturday saw Dead & Company nod to the Grateful Dead’s beloved keyboard played Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, who played his last show with the band 45 years ago yesterday, and play a must-hear second set that included a number of unexpected turns.
Dead & Company kicked off the night with “The Music Never Stopped.” From there, John Mayer led the band through a take on “Cold Rain & Snow” with Bob Weir stepping up for a short run through of “Me & My Uncle.” Next up the band used the opportunity to honor Pigpen with “Big Boss Man.” The must-hear version featured some fantastic interplay between the Mayer and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. The winding Americana tale “Ramble On Rose” followed, with a lengthy “Sugaree” and the 2017 debut of “Passenger,” that featured Weir on lead vocals, closing out the first set.
The six-piece act got set two going with another take on Martha & The Vandellas’ Motown classic “Dancing In The Street.” From there, all bets were off as the band offered up an exploratory portion of the set that began with the traditional pairing of “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” The wild psychedelic take on “Slipknot!” took a surprise detour as D&C transitioned into “Estimated Prophet” next and continued to keep the crowd on its toes for the rest of the set. “Eyes Of The World” followed and eventually wound its way into a “Drums” sequence that saw bassist Oteil Burbridge join drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. The Rhythm Devils portion of the night morphed into “Space” which then landed on a reprise of “Eyes Of The World.” A fiery “I Need A Miracle” came next, while a touching “Standing On The Moon” occupied the ballad spot. Dead & Company finished off the set with the “Franklin’s Tower” that the sold-out crowd was waiting for.
The band concluded the evening with the double-encore of “Black Muddy River” and the day-appropriate, party-anthem “One More Saturday Night.”
Dead & Company returns to the stage for their second show at Fenway Park tonight, which will be webcast at nugs.tv.
Watch pro-shot video of the first song from both sets, listen to full show audio and check out the full setlist below:
Taped by Keith Antaya:
Setlist
Dead & Company at Fenway Park
Set 1
- The Music Never Stopped
- Cold Rain and Snow
- Me and My Uncle
- Big Boss Man
- Ramble On Rose
- Sugaree
- Passenger
Set 2
- Dancing in the Street
- Help on the Way
- Slipknot!
- Estimated Prophet
- Eyes of the World
- Drums
- Space
- I Need a Miracle
- Standing on the Moon
- Franklin's Tower
Encore
- Black Muddy River
- One More Saturday Night
