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[photo by hiandlo]

It was exactly a year ago when all of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead played their last shows together in Chicago. “Fare Thee Well” was a goodbye of sorts, but it certainly wasn’t the end of their careers or the end of the music. Later that year, the formation of “Dead and Company” brought together Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart with pop star John Mayer. The combination appeared odd at first, but Mayer seems to have dedicated himself to not only learning the material but adapting to the ebb and flow of a traditional Dead show. The band’s second full tour came through Colorado on Saturday and NYCTaper veteran hiandlo was out in the region on vacation and caught the show.

Our readers who have followed our coverage of various “post-Dead” bands know that we have two pet peeves among the various good and bad aspects of these bands — we can’t stand the mindless aping of Jerry Garcia’s style by various guitarists employed to fill his shoes, and cringe at the simply unlistenable vocals of Phil Lesh. Fortunately, Dead and Company have neither of those two issues. John Mayer’s guitar playing borrows heavily from classic rock and blues oeuvres, but it has always been his own. Mayer isn’t copying Garcia when he plays Dead songs, he’s placing his own stamp on the music and that makes all the difference.  And vocally, although Bob Weir has aged quite a bit, the combination of his still-formidable vocals with Mayer and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti provides Dead and Company with solid singing that never reaches the cringworthiness of Lesh.

At this Boulder show, the band got off to a slow start, literally. Weir’s pacing is still painfully behind, so that “Stranger” was at times like playing a 45 record at 33. But fortunately the band kept it up after that and the tempo was never really an issue after the opener. The first set highlights included a sweet “Bird Song” with shared vocals, and Mayer’s take on “Speedway”, which allowed his blues roots to shine. The second set’s highlight was a really quite moving version of “He’s Gone” with “Smokestack” sandwiched in the middle. And although the band did offer a fairly truncated “Dark Star” out of “Space”, there were some out-there moments that made the trip worthwhile — reminding us that while this current incarnation isn’t ever going to be the Grateful Dead, Dead and Company is serving the music well and keeping the spirit alive.

Dead and Company continue to tour throughout this month, dates here.

hiandlo recorded this set from a prime front of board location with the “open card” Schoeps caps and the sound quality is simply superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show in FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE]

Stream the Complete Show:

Dead And Company
2016-07-03
Folsom Field
Boulder CO

Digital Audience Master
Recorded FOB Dead Center

Schoeps MK22 (STC-22) > KC5 > CMC6 > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wavs > Soundforge (post-production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by hiandlo
Produced by nyctaper

Set 1
[Total Time 1:08:20]
01 Feel Like A Stranger
02 Next Time You See Me
03 Samson and Delilah
04 West LA Fadeaway
05 Bird Song
06 New Speedway Boogie

Set 2
[Total Time 1:43:53]
07 China Cat Sunflower
08 I Know You Rider
09 He’s Gone
10 Smokestack Lightning
11 He’s Gone Reprise
12 Let It Grow
13 Drums – Space
14 Dark Star
15 Morning Dew
16 [encore break]
17 Brokedown Palace
18 US Blues

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