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Charlie” hit hard in Boulder, as did “Big Boss Man” in Bethel, but the highlight was the Missouri performance of “Easy Wind,” with the song’s tempo shifted to a deliberate stomp allowing Mayer to get maximum mileage out of the “Workingman’s Dead” deep cut. Mayer’s affinity for the blues is comfortably in sync with McKernan’s, and hearing Pigpen’s songs back in rotation simply feels good for longtime fans. One of the great Dead and Company delights is Mayer’s ability to deliver the Grateful Dead’s primordial blues-rock deep cuts that served as signature numbers for late singer and harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. "Easy Wind," June 21 at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, Maryland Heights, Missouri Mayer brought the six-string fireworks on the apocalyptic rocker “Morning Dew,” and a rare encore performance of the “Terrapin Station” suite sealed the deal on this incredibly special evening.
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On this night, the sequence started what may have been the strongest set of the tour, leading to an expert showing by the tricky trio of “Help on the Way,” “Slipknot!” and “Franklin’s Tower,” a fantastic “Drums” and “Space” interlude that featured a glance at Miles Davis’ “Milestones,” then a righteous rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Fantasy” segued into the “na na na na” epilogue of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”Ī frequent showcase for the impassioned vocals of late Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, the “Fantasy” and “Jude” sequence first appeared at the Dodger Stadium tour opener, but by the time it opened the second set of the band’s second night in Boulder, it was rock-solid.ĭead and Company shows are often communal affairs, the band and audience joining together to celebrate the Grateful Dead’s legacy, and few things get a crowd singing along like the crescendo of “Hey Jude.” In what turned out to be one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the summer, Dead and Company took a page out of the Grateful Dead’s 1980s playbook for the rapturous classic rock extravaganza that is Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” > “Hey Jude (Reprise),” June 18 at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado Pairing the ultimate sonic spacecraft with a ditty fresh off the dusty trail will never not be wonderful, the musical equivalent of a “Star Trek” episode where Kirk and company pause their odyssey to visit an Old West-themed planet before once again taking to the stars. The structure was similar to that deployed by the Grateful Dead at Woodstock in 1969 - where Haggard’s “Mama Tried” gave way to “Dark Star.”
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It was Kreutzmann and Hart’s first time playing the Haggard tune since the early 1970s, and it was wonderfully delicate. Then, in the midst of all of the exploration, there was revelation: “El Paso,” the Marty Robbins country and western chestnut that’s lived in Weir’s wheelhouse since 1970, gave way to Dead and Company’s debut performance of Merle Haggard’s tender “Sing Me Back Home.” “Dark Star,” the Dead’s landmark opus, was taken out for a contemplative, cosmic spin, one that seemed to bring the night sky a little closer to the ground at Shoreline. “Sing Me Back Home,” June 13 at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California By separating the longtime companions via another hallowed Dead tandem - “China Cat Sunflower” and the traditional “I Know You, Rider” - on the tour’s opening night, the band was making it clear from the jump that it would be far from business as usual out on the road this summer.