Dead And Company At The Las Vegas Sphere Was A Surreal Experience, As Expected
"The more I know, the less I understand" - Don Henley
I never really understood The Grateful Dead.
Sure, growing up I knew plenty of kids who wore the dancing bear tie-dyed shirts and brikenstocks, grew their hair out and always smelled like weed. One of my good friends in college Cuyler fit that description to a T and tried to put me onto them, but aside from "Touch of Gray", or "Althea", none of it really appealed to me in the way that the depth and artistry of gangsta rap did... (I was very misguided in my youth).
I ignorantly equated The Grateful Dead as a bunch of hippie stoners whose fans used their music as an excuse to get high. And never really gave it a chance.
During my years playing the music for the Cubs at Wrigley Field, we would do an annual Grateful Dead night at the park, sometimes to promote upcoming Dead and Company shows, that fans would go out of their minds for.
I would soundtrack the inning breaks to include all of the classics, and would ask my secret weapon Max for some deep cuts that would impress the die-hards.
It eventually turned into one of my favorite nights of the season every year. The music worked so well in a baseball setting- and a mecca like Wrigley Field. The fans would be up in their seats dancing and twirling around. And my twitter would light up with praise and digital high-fives that was a refreshing change from the usual "why the fuck did you just play song x by artist y?"
My youngest sister went to UMass Amherst and was converted to the church of Jerry Garcia, something that really threw me for a loop.
She was the last person I would have assumed to become a fan of the band. But she bought in, went to all their Fenway shows, read the books, watched the documentary, and sent me this amazing interview that Bill Walton did where he talked about the time he converted the 1986 Celtics into Deadheads.
"The band is warming up and taking the last few notes, and the excitement is just so palpable," says Walton. "Your skin is just goosebumps, electric as can be. Jerry Garcia steps forward into that shaft of light, right where his microphone is, just to make sure everything is perfect, making sure all his foot pedals are all there.
"Then he looks over into the enclave [sidestage, where Walton is standing with teammates Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson] and he makes eye contact with Larry Bird, and he looks at him, gives him an odd little wink and he says to him, 'Larry, this is what we do,' and then he turned back to the audience and just blew it out, five or six hours. Unbelievable, the crowd just absolutely on fire.
"The show's over, the band races off the stage they, they gotta get to the next show, the lights come on, everybody is just wild-eyed as can be, it's so charged up. And the guys on the Celtics, they look at me and they say, 'Wow! Oh my god! Can we come back tomorrow?' And they've been going ever since."
Holy shit. First off, a 5 or 6 hour show? What the fuck?
Secondly, if The Hick From French Lick and The Chief bought in and became fans, I must have been missing something.
So I decided to open my mind a little bit, and swore that the next time Dead & Co. viisted Wrigley Field for a show, I wouldn't miss it.
Only problem was they announced they weren't touring anymore. Just my luck. But then rumors and whispers began that they would be headlining a a residency at Las Vegas' The Sphere.
I had visited The Sphere to see U2 in the first month it had opened. An experience I blogged about here -
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While there, I had heard from my friend Brian who worked there that Phish and Dead & Co. were slated to announce residencies following U2.
Seeing and experiencing how vivid and awe-inducing the visuals were for U2, I couldn't begin to fathom what it would be like for The Dead. I made sure to hit my sister up, ask her to go with me for my first show, and booked our tickets.
That show was last night.
And it was a concert experience I will never, ever forget.
But before we get into it, I want to talk about what lead up to the actual show, because there's a lot.
A few weeks ago Big Cat came on Barstool Backstage to tell us all about his back to back night experience catching Dead & Co. at The Sphere.
Dan's been one of the biggest Dead fans I've ever known as long as I've known him. (And Queens of The Stone Age).
So hearing him describe how these shows blew everything out of the water and simultaneously blew his mind, gave me goosebumps.
I realized that even though I was going to be going into this show a virgin, I could at least study up a little bit beforehand so I wasn't a complete fish out of water.
I brushed up on Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty.
I watched the show from San Francisco Winterland on New Year’s Eve in 1978.
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I watched the show from 1990 at Three RIvers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I watched "Long Strange Trip" on Amazon Priem and learned all about Menlo Park, The Warlocks, Phil Lesh, and all the different genres that influenced Jerry Garcia and the band's sound (bluegrass, country, rhythm and blues, just to name a few).
I felt like I was ready.
But I had no idea what I was in for.
The Sphere is connected by a tunnel walkway to The Venetian Resort next door. And they do a great job of installing interactive fan experiences for the acts they have performing.
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This one was called "The Dead Forever Experience" and was pretty incredible in size, memorabilia, and exhibits. This centralized hub offers a space to gather, explore immersive exhibits, and participate in interactive activities.
The Dead Forever Experience also features a retail store offering a diverse selection of items, such as collector-worthy and exclusive Dead & Company merchandise, including show posters, apparel, accessories, and many other surprises.
Additionally, Grateful Dead vinyl albums and merchandise from James Perse and Teton Gravity Research are also available for purchase. The Dead Forever Experience will be open five days a week for the duration of Dead & Company’s Dead Forever - Live at Sphere residency and will be open to the public at no charge.
(Vibee is the official VIP Concert & Hotel Package partner for Dead & Company’s historic residency at Sphere and is the only way to access ticket bundles for all three weekend shows. For ticket and Vibee VIP Concert and Hotel Package information, visit https://deadforever.vibee.com/. Vibee packages include special shopping hours at the Dead Forever Experience, exclusive commemorative keepsakes including different band posters each weekend, ACES BACK TO BACK: SUMMER 2023 - the first-ever physical release of live music by Dead & Company on vinyl, and more.)
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This was a must if you're a fan. I wish we had arrived earlier so we could have spent more time out there before needing to get in for the show. With the band hitting the stage promptly at 7:35, I would recommend giving yourself an hour at The Dead Forever Experience to really take it all in, and then get into the sphere, grab a drink, and get situated.
Arriving at The Sphere around 7pm, the lines of fans at all entrances moved pretty quickly. They did a good job of wanding everybody down at security and processing tickets quickly.
Once you get inside, you can't help but be impressed.
Everything is clean, wide open, and its easy to get around. There are no lines, ample concession stands with tons of variety, and the escalators up move fast.
There are five levels of seating inside The Sphere, arranged in balcony style. There's a GA floor, which is where I was for U2 a few months ago.
From an audio perspective, being on the floor was amazing. You are so close to the band, with the stage really not being elevated that high, that it actually feels like an intimiate performance. That is, until you look back behind you and see 17,000 people seated.
I loved it for that, but I spent so much time creaking my neck looking straight up at all the visuals that I surmised sitting in the 2nd or 3rd tier was probably the way to go for the best of both worlds experience. And not to brag, but boy was I right.
My sister Jackie, her girlfriend Chris, and I scored seats almost directly in front of the front of house sound and light board, right in section 207. And this might just be me still being on cloud 9 from the show talking, but I don’t think there’s a better section in the house. We were dead center in front of the stage, and the middle of “the wall” where the visuals are displayed. Here’s a vid for reference.
The people in our section were polite, nice, and overly friendly. The guy seated next to us immediately offered us to sample his variety of drugs he brought in in an Altoids case, but we respectfully declined. I wanted to be sober for my first show. Plus I was kind of nervous about what would happen if I was high seeing what they had in store for visuals. (As I would later find out, another great decision.)
Like I mentioned, the band came out to a thunderous applause right at 7:35 and hit the ground running right away.
The crowd went right to their feet and dancing commenced as the fragrance of marijuana wafted through the air like they had been pumping it in through the HVAC system.
After they wrapped up the second song, I turned to my sister and asked, “did a half an hour really just go by?”
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She laughed and told me yes, this is a jam band show dummy. After another 45 minutes went by and they were only on song 4, she told me that it was shaping up to be one of the more jam-heavy shows she’d been to.
This was confirmed when I texted Big Cat during intermission. (Yes, they do like a 20 minute intermission. Which is fucking genius.)
Here were my halftime notes.
(Sidebar- Some prick on Twitter called me an idiot for supposedly being “a music guy” and being surprised by all of that. Having never seen a show, and thinking it’s awesome I have no idea how some people take offense to that kind do stuff, but music gatekeepers are the fucking worst. )
So the big news/worry last week, was that John Mayer almost sliced his left index finger off. How’d he do this you ask? By being a great freaking dude, helping the bands production crew unload equipment from a truck and getting it caught in a door.
Many people were nervous he'd not be able to play. But those people vastly underestimated what a beast John Clayton Mayer is.
Before seeing him play with Dead and Company last night, I knew John Mayer was a top-tier guitarist.
But after witnessing him last night, playing with three fingers, doing what he did, he's a whole different caliber in my eyes now.
I mean this was just ridiculous.
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I spent the night after the Sphere going on a hot-streak right out the gate at the blackjack table and then blowing it all. After that I walked back to my hotel in the beautiful Las Vegas night, contemplating what I had just experienced, and how on Earth, the guy who wrote and sang "Daughters", the guy from this all-time Chappelle Show sketch,
that guy, was now fronting one of the most legendary bands in the world, and managed to win over its insanely devout and adoring fans.
It's pretty nuts when you think about it.
The best comparison I could come up with was a sports one. When Aaron Rodgers replaced Brett Favre. Follow along with me here.
In the world of music, the announcement of John Mayer joining Dead & Company to fill the irreplaceable void left by Jerry Garcia sent shockwaves through the music community. Much like when Aaron Rodgers took over for Brett Favre in Green Bay, Mayer was tasked with the monumental challenge of carrying on the legacy of a beloved icon while carving his own path.
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The comparisons between music and sports were undeniable in this instance. Both fields required immense talent, dedication, and the ability to perform under pressure. Just as Rodgers had to step onto the field with the weight of a franchise and its fans on his shoulders, Mayer had to stand on stage before a devoted fanbase who held Garcia's music and memory sacred.
The pressure to live up to such towering figures was immense. Packers fans, like Dead fans, some of the most die-hard and loyal on the planet, understandably, were quick to judge and compare. But it was essential to remember that each player, each musician, brought their own unique style and interpretation to the game or the music.
Mayer, a highly accomplished guitarist and singer-songwriter in his own right, demonstrated his deep respect for the Grateful Dead's music and his eagerness to honor Garcia's legacy. He understood the gravity of the situation and expressed his commitment to delivering performances that captured the spirit of the band while infusing his own musicality. Like I witnessed last night.
Rodgers, too, faced similar challenges. He had to earn the trust and respect of the Green Bay faithful while proving he could lead the team to victory. His journey was not without its ups and downs, but ultimately, he cemented his own legacy and led the Packers to a Super Bowl championship.
The key to success in both scenarios lay in finding the balance between honoring the past and embracing the present. It was about understanding the essence of what made the original so special while bringing something fresh and new to the table.
Just as Rodgers wasn't expected to be a carbon copy of Favre, Mayer wasn't a replica of Garcia. What fans could hope for was that Mayer, like Rodgers, brought his own talent and passion to the stage, creating a new chapter for Dead & Company that both honored the past and looked toward the future.
It was a tall order for both guys, but as both music and sports have showed us time and time again, the impossibleis actually possible. It was a testament to the enduring power of both art forms to inspire, to challenge, and to evolve.
One last thing I'll add about Mayer before I stop gushing about how incredible he is- is somebody needs to do a study or something on the faces he makes while he's playing guitar. I couldn't stop staring because of all the weird expressions he makes while he shreds away. I'm sure his hardcore fans are used to it by now but I wasn't expecting it. I just kept thinking of the guy from Office Space describing the "O-face".
As for the second half of the night, as Dan predicted to me via text during intermission, "they were going to unload the clip" in the second half. And they did. They came out flying.
Set 1 went like this -
Set 1:
1- Iko Iko
(Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters cover)
2- Eyes of the World
(Grateful Dead cover)
3- Mr. Charlie
(Grateful Dead cover)
4- Playing in the Band
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(Grateful Dead cover)
5- Brown-Eyed Women
(Grateful Dead cover)
6- Let It Grow
(Grateful Dead cover)
For me, "Brown Eyed Woman" stole the show for the first half. I was blown away. I couldn't believe the improvisation between Mayer, Weir, and Jeff Chimenti was astoudning. How these guys were just playing off of each other, in harmony, for what felt like an eternity, doesn't make any logical sense. Their chemistry is like that of bandmates who have been together for decades. They are just that fucking good at what they do.
After the intermission, the second half of the show went like this.
Set 2:
7- Passenger
(Grateful Dead cover) (first time since 2018)
8- St. Stephen
(Grateful Dead cover)
9- Uncle John's Band
(Grateful Dead cover)
10- Drums
(Grateful Dead cover)
11- Space
(Grateful Dead cover)
12- Black Peter
(Grateful Dead cover)
13- Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
([traditional] cover)
14- Throwing Stones
(Grateful Dead cover)
15- Old News Broadcast of the Grateful Dead
16- Casey Jones
(Grateful Dead cover)
There was so much about the 2nd half of the show that left me floored.
For starters, "Drums In Space" far exceeded my expetatctions. Going into the show, a bunch of people on twitter told me to make sure I stayed for it because they thought it would be my favorite part of the night. It wasn't but it was so fucking cool. Experiencing the sub bass rattle through the seats at The Sphere was a first and a feeling that I have never experienced before and can't even describe.
With each wail of the two drummers percussion instruments (apologies I couldn't figure out who the correct drummers were, if somebody can help out in the comments I will update- thank you!), against one of the dozens and dozens of drums, gongs, and cymbals they had arranged behind their standard drumsets, a giant reverberation was sent through the entire Sphere arena, shaking and rattling your seat straight through to your core. Bass in its purest form. It was unbelievable.
The song of the second set that left me speechless was "Black Peter". A song I was prior unfamilair with. It was as "blues" as blues music gets and caught me totally off guard. If I say a tear didn't come to my eye at one or two points of listening to it, I'd be a liar.
Luckily a fan got a video of the entire 18 MINUTE PERFORMANCE and uploaded it here.
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As the clock ticked past 11 pm local time I couldn't believe the songs, and the visuals, kept going. I was hoping the show went on forever and it honestly seemed like it might.
I have never been in an environment surrounded by so many people who were so happy. Everyone smiling, laughing, singing, dancing. 20,000 of them. People laugh at me when I talk about vibrations, but that feeling and energy in that place last night was unlike anything I have ever felt. I can see why people became hooked on attending these shows over and over and over.
After a very trippy sequence where images appeared to multiply out of the ceiling and march in a downward spiral towards the floor - something I was equally parts gratefful and sad that I wasn't high for- the wall took us a trip through the cosmos before returning back to the west coast of the United States, and descending slowly right down in front of Jerry Garcia's young adulthood home in San Fransisco.
After that, they played this hilarious news clip of some old school tv anchorman talking about "the hippie band" from San Fransisco and their "hallucinigenic fueled shows and cult following", right before Weir introduced the last song and launched into "Casey Jones".
Once again, Mayer's reverence and respect for the band was apparent. It felt like as great as he was that he was still holding back and never really went full throttle. Out of respect to the band and its members. I might be wrong, but it seemed at several times that he could have opened up and let it rip even more than he did and really blew the fucking roof off the place, (not that he didn't), but tapped the breaks or eased up off the gas a tad. Just my opinion.
I'm sitting on a flight back to Chicago writing this, regretting having to leave Las Vegas for the first time in possibly forever. This blog was really hard to write for me, and took a really long time because I didn't even know where to start.
As I walked back to my hotel thinking about the night, I knew it was something I was never going to forget. You know when you can feel yourself smiling ear to ear unconsciously without even trying? That was me the whole walk back down the strip.
But this morning when I woke up, it was a differet feeling.
I was off and I didn't know why. I had to fly back to Chicago to make a meeting, and work tonight, and other rat race stuff and as happy as my work life makes me and great as I have it, I still had this feeling of being depressed that I couldn't stay in Las Vegas and return to The Sphere again for tonight's show. I know that's wildly ungrateful and I shouldn't because I should be happy I was lucky enough to go last night, but that's the "funk" I'm talking about. It's bizarre.
All in all, it was a hell of an experience, and as late to the party as I was, I'm forever thankful I decided to finally show up. Because what a party it was.
p.s. - The band commissioned a really sick piece of art- one of a kind- that they are auctioning off for a fantastic cause.
KidSuper Studios and Dead & Company come together for a one-of-a-kind painting, showcasing the energy and history of Dead & Company through the eyes of KidSuper. This unique piece is currently on on auction via Artsy.com through August 16th and will be on display at the Dead Forever Experience at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas this weekend as part of Dead & Company’s “Dead Forever - Live at Sphere” residency in August.
Sale proceeds from the auction will benefit the Dead Family Organizations.
Dead & Company’s "Dead Forever - Live at Sphere" residency, a must-see event that celebrates the Grateful Dead's unparalleled legacy, combining their songbook with cutting-edge technology for an immersive experience, ends this weekend with three final shows – Thursday, August 8th, Friday, August 9th, and Saturday, August 10th.
Across the current residency and all previous tours, the Dead & Company community, through the band’s legendary Participation Row, raised $13+ million to support nonprofits and environmental and social causes, with more than $4 million donated through charity auctions and online raffles. All of the funds raised are split between HeadCount, REVERB, and the Dead Family non-profit organizations, as well as the non-profit ocean conservation organization Oceana and MusiCares among others.