George Porter Jr. Guests With Dead & Company In New Orleans On This Date In 2018

Dead & Company welcomed bassist George Porter Jr. on this date in 2018. The Meters legend joined D&C in his native New Orleans at the Smoothie King Center to help the band close out the first set, which is the subject of this week’s Throwback Thursday.

The NOLA concert four years ago was one of a handful of dates Dead & Company made up from Fall 2017 after having to postpone due to guitarist John Mayer undergoing emergency appendectomy surgery. The show got going with a pair of signature tunes from guitarist Bob Weir in “Feel Like A Stranger” and “The Music Never Stopped.” Traditional’s “Cold Rain And Snow” and “Peggy-O” followed ahead of the Dead classic “Friend Of The Devil.”

George Porter Jr. then stepped in for D&C bassist Oteil Burbridge beginning on the Howlin’ Wolf blues standard “Smokestack Lightning.” Usually sung by Weir, GPJ and Bobby traded verses for the sit-in. Mayer lent his expertise to the tune with some bluesy soloing before the band surged into the GD standard “Bertha” sung by Mayer. George Porter Jr. then helped the band close out the first set with “Sugaree” with the bassist handling led vocals on the tune to conclude the collaboration.

The second set got underway with the classic pairing of “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire On The Mountain.” D&C would fill the second frame with more Dead favorites like “Truckin,” “Ship Of Fools” and “Uncle John’s Band” ahead of “Drums” and “Space.” “Stella Blue” fell in the ballad slot ahead of the “One More Saturday Night” set closer. The band would return to encore with the beloved Warren Zevon tune “Werewolves Of London.”

Check out video of the Geroge Porter Jr. collaboration along with full-show audio via nolamule below for this edition of Throwback Thursday: