Full Show Audio & Videos: Dead & Company Offers Band Debut & Tour Debut In Dallas

Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir, along with John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge finally brought Dead & Company into the central time zone on Friday for the first half of a Texas two-step. Dead & Company’s performance at the American Airlines Center in Dallas featured a tour debut, the band’s first take on one of the final additions to the Grateful Dead repertoire and a handful of jams.

Weir was in a rare and talkative mood throughout the first set, often making snarky comments. Bob was up front of the funky “Shakedown Street” opener. Mayer then had his first turn in the spotlight for “Brown-Eyed Women.” Earlier this tour, Dead & Company unveiled their take on “Deep Elem Blues,” a song the Grateful Dead played approximately 50 times between 1966 and 1983. Those in the prediction business were wise to pick “Deep Elem” on Friday, as Deep Ellum is a neighborhood in Dallas.

The show rolled on with a tender “Friend Of The Devil” featuring lead vocals shared by John and Bobby. From there, D&C tipped their hats towards Texas with the tour debut of Marty Robbins’ “El Paso.” Up next was “They Love Each Other” and Kreutzmann seemed finished after the song, to the point of throwing his drumsticks towards Weir. “We’re taking a break by the way,” Bob said concluding with, “Some of us needed it more than others.” However, Billy did return to his seat and Dead & Company began “The Music Never Stopped.” The biggest surprise of the night came out of the “Music” jam, as the sextet swerved into “Easy Answers.” Weir wrote “Easy Answers” with Rob Wasserman, Robert Hunter, Bob Bralove and Vince Welnick. He first recorded it with Wasserman and Neil Young for Rob’s 1994 album Trios. The Grateful Dead unveiled their version on June 5, 1993 and “Easy Answers” remained in heavy rotation through Jerry Garcia’s death. Dead & Company slickly segued back into “The Music Never Stopped” to close the frame.

Dead & Company hit the stage for the evening’s second set with “Here Comes Sunshine.” While Mayer handled vocals and the jam began with jazzy overtones, the six-piece quickly worked towards the blues part of town. “Scarlet Begonias” emerged out of the short “Sunshine” and Weir had the crowd help with some of the lyrics when he forgot them. A chunky transition jam gave way to “Fire On The Mountain.” The song has thrived vocally in the hands of Oteil Burbridge. Mayer & Co. were deep in the groove, when Weir initiated a move towards “Eyes Of The World.” The transition jam between “Fire” and “Eyes” was interesting.

“Eyes Of The World” gave the younger musicians a chance to shine. Chimenti delivered a powerful piano solo in which he moved from one octave to the next with a quickness. Mayer picked up on what Jeff was doing and engaged in a bit of a call-and-response. Ever since Dead & Company was formed, the band has given Oteil a spotlight solo within “Eyes Of The World.” Burbridge once again showed off the chops that made him such a force with the Aquarium Rescue Unit and the Allman Brothers Band as he plucked unusual chord voicings and ran down the fretboard with the speed of a gazelle. All of the other musicians provided a firm base off which Oteil exploded to the delight of the crowd.

The instrumentalists then vacated the stage for the evening’s Rhythm Devils work out. Kreutzmann banged away throbbing beats, while Hart handled samples and eventually headed for The Beam. Oteil then joined the action as he and Bill drummed away and Mickey strummed The Beam. Burbridge and Kreutzmann left Mickey with The Beam for more droning ahead of the instrumentalists’ return. Jeff, John, Bob and Oteil worked through a few rhythmic ideas before the entire band launched into a touching rendition of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” Weir was in fine vocal form throughout and stretched the end jam nicely. “The Wheel” emerged out of “Prudence” and was played rather straight until the end, when as he’s done before, Mayer led a move into a reggae groove over which he sang “Stay” (Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs).

For the finale of the set, John switched guitars just ahead of Dead & Company charging through “Casey Jones.” The sextet took a moment for an encore break and then began a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Mayer and Weir shared vocals on the song from the 1973 soundtrack of Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. Up next for Dead & Company is a Saturday night show in Austin. A webcast is available via livedead.co.

Watch pro-shot videos from the evening:

[Shakedown Street]

[Here Comes Sunshine]

Enjoy an audience recording taped by CorFit Chris:

Setlist (via Glen From CT)

Set One: Shakedown Street (bw), Brown-Eyed Women (jm), Deep Elem Blues (jm, bw, ob), Friend Of The Devil (bw, jm), El Paso (bw), They Love Each Other (jm), The Music Never Stopped (bw, jm) > Easy Answers (bw) > The Music Never Stopped (bw)

Set Two: Here Comes Sunshine (jm), Sugar Magnolia (bw) > Fire On The Mountain (ob) > Eyes Of The World (bw) > Drums > Space > Dear Prudence (bw) > The Wheel (all) > Casey Jones (bw, jm)

Encore: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (bw, jm)