Dead and Company Concert Review

Irvine Meadows — Dead & Company — July 26, 2016

The massive crowd at last night’s Dead and Company show proves how the bands’s appeal will never die. I remember one of my first Further shows that I went to and seeing a shirt that said “dead fans never die, they just go further…” which couldn’t be more true as the band transitions into their newest rendition of Dead and Company featuring John Mayer on guitar and vocals.

Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Bill Kruetzmann have moved into a new generation with John Mayer joining them on stage alongside Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge. One of the best parts about The Dead and Further concerts I’ve gone to over the last 9 years has been the people. The first time I got to see Phil Lesh and Bob Weir playing with Waren Haynes in 2008 I was hooked. I had finally seen the music I grew up hearing play from my dad’s speakers live and I loved it.

All the Further shows that I went to after The Dead definitely lived up to my first experience and after last night, so did Dead and Company. I love to hear my parents and other concert attendees reminisce about seeing the original lineup with Jerry Garcia and being able to live through so many forms of the band. Last night was no different, as my mom and the people dancing around us talked about seeing the Grateful Dead playing right where we were, at Irvine Meadows, in the mid and late 80s.

What was different about last night’s crowd though, was the noticeable amount of younger fans. Teens and twenty-somethings were all around enjoying the music which shows how smart it was for Bob Weir to bring on John Mayer and keep the band’s legacy moving into a new direction. Now let’s get to the music. By the time I was close enough to hear the music, the band was playing “Jack Straw”. We were surprised that their 7pm start time had actually meant 7pm since it was 7:30 when they were already through their opening and well into their set. The music had a slower arrangement and vocal leading with Mayer than many people were used to.  Still it sounded amazing once we got used to the slower way to sing along. Next they went into “Bertha” which picked things up. John Mayer definitely did Jerry proud with his guitar skills and also had all the women in the audience swooning for him, especially my mother.

I will admit I definitely have a newfound respect for him as a musician with those guitar skills after being skeptical about this new partnership with one of my favorite bands. My favorite part of the show was when they went into “Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodleloo”. The guitar and piano were unreal on this rendition and the light show that reflected onto the audience matched the energy on, and off, stage.

I won’t lie, they kind of lost me a bit after that. The bands intermission, although well deserved, seem to be longer than the first half of the show that I caught. Still “Scarlet Begonias” was a blast to dance and sing along to and so was “Fire on The Mountain”. The end of the show sounded pretty unfamiliar to the Grateful Dead sound the people around me, and I, were used to. While all the songs were technically covers during the whole show since Dead & Co. is a mix of the original Grateful Dead members and new blood, this was definitely different. We started the long walk out of the venue and down the road to our cars having thoroughly enjoyed what Dead and Company is bringing to the original ‘dead’ fans while bringing something new to new ones. Even though I didn’t get to hear my favorites “Box of Rain” and “Shakedown Street”, I’m lucky to have seen them preformed before given the extensive discography of this legendary group.

The band will be playing in Chula Vista tonight before heading up to Northern California to celebrate the in between week of Jerry Garcia’s birth and death. If you get the chance, definitely get out to see them and celebrate the legacy of such an incredible band.