Scott Feinblatt
The days of seeing the current incarnation of The Grateful Dead at The Hollywood Bowl, Dodger Stadium, The Forum or Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre are over, but for SoCal Deadheads willing to make the journey, The Sphere in Las Vegas provides the mecca they seek. The last weekend of April, we had an opportunity to experience a Thursday through Saturday run of shows for Dead & Company’s second annual residency, dubbed “Dead Forever.” They return this weekend, and their last run will be May 15-17.
The full crowd at each show was a testament to the band’s enduring power. Many people there had dragged along friends or relatives to prove that everything they’d been gushing about was not hyperbole — as they accurately attest that the experience is overwhelming even without the ubiquitous psychedelic additives. Having said that, on the first night, as the band chased their opening number, “I Need a Miracle,” with “Franklin’s Tower,” and the enormous dome screen showcased a POV liftoff from the Grateful Dead’s legendary house at 710 Ashbury St. up over San Francisco and into the clouds, the visual was accompanied by large wafts of marijuana smoke from several dedicated audience members.
Throughout each evening, the venue showcased a variety of highly creative visuals mixed with live feeds of the band from several automated cameras, which encircled the well-lit stage below. As usual, no set from any of their shows is ever the same, no performance of any of their songs is the same, and, suitably, no visual accompaniment is ever the same. Several of the sequences from last year were recycled, and several new — increasingly elaborate — scenarios were added to the mix. One constant was the framing of the experience — each show started with the liftoff from the planet and into space, and each show concluded with the return to Earth and a montage of archival band photographs for the finale.
Expect some trippy visuals (Scott Feinblatt)
On the subject of constancy, you can pretty much bet that each of the band’s Thursday to Saturday runs at The Sphere is going to include nearly 30 standards from The Grateful Dead’s enormous catalog (no repeats per weekend). However, given the facts that each night includes around 16 songs — plus “Drums” and “Space” — and it’s always satisfying to hear a “Deal,” “Sugaree,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Althea,” “Terrapin Station,” “Eyes of the World,” “Bertha,” “Casey Jones,” “Jack Straw,” “Playing In The Band,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “China Cat Sunflower,” “One More Saturday Night,” etc. By the end of a three-day run, most people will feel like they’ve gotten a comprehensive fix. There are always surprises, though.
On Thursday, they played a very soulful cover of Reverend Gary Davis’s “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.” On Friday, they played an uplifting cover of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” And on Saturday, they opened the show with their very first performance of Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue.” On Saturday, singer/guitarist John Mayer incorporated John Williams’s “Can You Read My Mind (Love Theme From Superman)” into his jam during “The Wheel” and the theme from “White Lotus” (season 3) popped up during “Space.”
While Bob Weir (guitar/vocal) and Mickey Hart (drums/percussion) are the only original Grateful Dead members in Dead & Company — well, only Weir if you want to get really technical — Oteil Burbridge (bass), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), Jay Lane (drums) and Mayer, who acquired a 51% majority stake of the band in Aug. 2024, have long since proven their worthiness to assume the mantles of their legendary forebears. And given that this incarnation of the band announced its final show would be July 16, 2023, who is to say if they will continue making magic beyond their final two weekends of this current residency? Time will tell, but in the meantime — whether you are a Dead fan or not — if you have the means, you should try to make it out to Vegas for their last two Sphere runs. Oh, and don’t forget to stop by The Venetian for the official Dead & Company exhibits and Tuscany Suites & Casino for Shakedown Street, where the traditional Grateful Dead bazaar enjoys its own residency.
Dead & Company wraps their residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas with two finals runs, May 9 – 11 and May 15 –17.