Dead & Company

Obviously fantastic music but the set list from Saturday doesn’t compare to Friday or Sunday. Also bummed that they had 0 crowd reaction but with dead & co you’re not going for a show you’re going to witness an experience 🤣

My last. Good not great. Slow again. Truckin et al. Thought Cumberland was highlight Great run. Bob and Mickey God bless ‘em. Part of me soul.

Unbelievable setlist and played with passion. Even with Mayer in a desk chair on pain meds for his back he brought it. And, Joey Russo sitting in for Drums. Don’t miss this final tour!

The band is back! I skipped last summer’s tour because I was fed up with how slow JM sings his parts. When I heard this was the last tour, I decided I needed to go even though JM was still there. I don’t know if it was because he didn’t sing as much during this show, or if he’s learned to pick up the pace, but I’m happy to say he didn’t ruin this show for me. Here’s another though about JM singing so slow. When he is on tour as JM and covers a Dead tune, he should be able to cover it however he likes. He can slow it down to a craw if he wants, but when he’s playing with the Dead, he should play it they way the Dead play it and not do it “his way.”

Amazing first set. Women Smarter into Shakedown Street ? Are you kidding me ?!?! They couldn't have sounded better. I was pretty tired by set 2 and left after Eyes of the World. Shakedown lot was so much fun. Great vibes and an overall beautiful experience. I shed tears multiple times.

The music was great but because Starlake Pavillion only has ONE ENTRANCE fir cars traffic eas backed up for 20 miles and it took 3 hours to get there (a one hour drive). It took my cousin who left later 4.5 hours for the 1 hour drive. They NEED to buy more land and set up more lots and have shuttle busses. Dead and Conpany was great though.

Dead & Co: 5/30/23 “Truckin’ into Charlotte on a Tuesday, the time was now, the day of the dead had come. I had not seen the Grateful Dead nor any of it’s members or spinoffs heretofore. I had not even seen John Mayer prior to and it was the 6th of the 29 show in ‘The Dead & Co’s ‘Final Tour/Summer 2023’. The closest I’d ever gotten was spending an overnight in downtown Hartford back in March of 1987, the Grateful Dead were playing that evening with their fans camped out in Bushnell Park. Hundreds of U2 fans along with myself at the same time were camping out at the Civic Center for U2 tickets. Talk about two diverse groups of individuals but we all got along, hail the power of rock ’n’ roll! Mayer 45 formed The Company back in 2015 ‘to keep the music of the dead alive’ and the evening’s line-up consisted of: Himself, Bobby Weir 75 on guitar and vocals (from GD’s conception in 1965), Mickey Hart 79 on drums (joined GD in 1967), Jeff Chimenti on keyboards (has been with Bobby since ’97 on every tour of Dead/Dead & Co), Oteil Burbridge on bass (Allman Brothers Band ’97-’14 and a founding member of Tedeschi), also on drums was Jay Lane. Back in April Dead & Co released a statement stating Bill Kreutzmann would not be performing on the final tour due to a "shift in creative direction.” Ironically Weir had had an ‘out-of-body vision’ in 2016 revealing a younger replacement of Bill who would continue the band for decades to come. Would it be? Not being familiar with much band material other than ‘American Beauty’ and ‘In The Dark’ my only agenda was to take in the experience. I allowed ample drive time purposing to arrive 3 hours early and visit Shakedown Street’s rows of vendors that had set up in Lot F. The Queen City took on the new name Tuesday to that of ‘CAR-LOT’ as the two mile line of vehicles I was in inched toward the venue at a half mile per hour’s pace. Let the reader take note that PNC is not prepared to handle full capacity volume to the dismay of ticket holders. The exact same thing happened at my Buffett show there. Arriving on the pavilion grounds with 20 minutes to spare I found my way to my rear reserved section seat. The stage immediately captured my attention, there was a lot going on up there from L to R. Surrounding where Jeff would play were keyboards to left and to the front with a piano to the right, next was a massive percussion section with two drum kits, the first with a tie dye design and the other with a ‘steal your face’ lightning bolt on the drum heads, John, Bobby and Oteil would be positioned in the forefront in that order. Instruments and amplifiers filled any open areas of the stage, an amp and an instrument, an amp and an instrument, and so on. Six giant lighting rigs were suspended designed to move all ways in order to create a visual light extravaganza. Oriental rugs on the stage floor and a giant video screen completed the set, it was a grand production. The 78° weather cooperated for the outdoor crowd of 19,500 as showers and storms circling the city dissipating to barely a sprinkle before ending at showtime’s commencement. At precisely 7:13 p.m. the band took the stage for a 3 hour and 50 minute / 18 song evening divided into two sets with a brief intermission. Kicking off with 1978’s faux-disco driven ‘Shakedown Street’ Ace’s (I.e. Weir’s) vocals were amazingly in top form! Capitalizing on the 14 minute extended jam of the 5 minute album cut dancers began to fill any open space including the entire concourse that separated the lawn from the reserved section. As fans let their freak flags fly, it was clear that staff could in no wise control the spontaneity of camaraderie that arose. That feeling that I lost out on of any people watching that may have occurred in the parking areas quickly subsided as I observed dance moves mimicking that of the Charlie Brown Christmas scene. It didn’t stop all night long, one particular gentleman was dressed in a lighted butterfly cape with wings, and another nearby threw herself onto a grassy area rolling and got up again and again with no lack of energy level. Speaking of grass, as you would imagine at any given point and at any given place, the scent of burning grass would fill the air during the entire evening’s event. It seems as if the band creatively chose the evening setlist as the next song up was ‘Cold Rain’ and after that ‘The Wheel’ “If the thunder don’t get ya then the lightning will”. ‘The Wheel’ was part of a trio of debut-to-the-tour songs that ensued, the others being ‘Dire Wolf’ and ‘Loose Lucy’. Diehard fans got their fill of special music as the evening topped off with five debut-to-the-tour songs in total, ‘Black Peter’ and ‘Let It Grow’ completed the remaining two. The humble Mayer playing with over the ear headphone monitors at no time acted the part of a superstar even though he himself can sell out arenas. Hawk’s multi-styled playing helped to fill the shoes of Garcia as I don’t think anybody else would have been able to. And just like set one was over as the band announcing a brief intermission, the only words any member of the band spoke the entire evening long. They let the music do the talking! Set two really took off as the video screen cycled through psychedelic and album themed imagery. Beginning with a trilogy from the ‘Blues For Allah’ album ‘Help On The Way’, ‘Slipknot’ and ‘Franklin’s Tower’ the band began took to showcasing their individual talents beginning with a 1970’s driven extended B3 solo featuring Jeff. Oteil took the vocals on ‘Shakedown Street’s ‘Fire On The Mountain’ to the delight of the fans. ‘Drum/Space’ treated as one song featured a three piece percussion section which included Oteil on the banjo bass with Micky on the balafon, a marimba type instrument before he switch over to an upright steel guitar for psychedelic effect. Oteil scatted along to the beat at one point. ‘Space’ a regular fixture during Grateful Dead shows since the late 70’s was likely constructed and included in their shows to correspond to a tripping audience, its music helping guide the listener. Hart showed the back of his T-shirt to the audience on the video screen revealing the words ‘Charlotte & Co’ and ended the piece by blowing a kiss out to the cheering crowd. The well-known ‘Sugar Magnolia’ picked the tempo back up with images on the screen of a flying eyeball and a turtle playing banjo. As 11 p.m quickly approached the band squeezed in one last number ‘U.S. Blues’ and broke the venues’s hard and fast 11 p.m. curfew by extending the song for one additional chorus. With bows, waves, and no words exchanged, the Dead exited the stage. As an uncharacteristically friendly crowd shuffled out politely for another hour plus long parking lot jam the loonies made their presence known with N2O hits for those daring to participate. With a ‘RIP Dead’ at least for now I drove home experientially-full knowing that I had been in the presence of truly legendary musicians who have left their mark in the grooves of time!” Review and photo by DAve (Concert #784)

Great show!! Glad I got to see them one last time. Loved hearing old Traffic cover in the set list. Good crowd and enjoyed dancing and the cool vibe. Best Drums and Space I’ve ever seen live. Really enjoyed Ripple as the encore!! Thanks Dead & Company!!

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Wow...just when you think you have seen it all, these guys continue to raise the bar...the whole weekend was not only nostalgic, but amazing musically!! Go Bobby...it's yer Birthday, its your Birthday!!!!!!!

Easy in and out of parking lot, 4 hours of much enjoyed tailgating, great venue, comfortable/convenient club level seating, awesome killer set list of a preferred tempo, and a loving concert mate, all of which adds up for a match made in heaven on a Saturday night. I couldn't have left happier...

The only thing bad was the Heavy rain and cold wind, but Man it was a fantastic night, so glad me and the brother were near the front for this great great show!

Outstanding show! Bob was on top of his game from the beginning. John &Oteil found some funky grooves & jams early. Loved 2nd set opening, The Weight. I hadn’t seen that played since Jerry & Brent rocked it out in Cincy, spring89. Alpine Valley is the greatest venue in this half of the U.S.... BUT NO Vending, No SHAKEDOWN!??!?! Supposedly it’s against the counties laws to protect artist& licensed merch. Absolutely BS! They should ask Dead & Co. if they are ok w/ a Shakedown St. Live Nation sucks! For them money is more important than customer/ fan experience! Anyway, great Drum>Space Jam. All Along the Watchtower what a crescendo! Perfect weather, great old venue of happy days gone by, always friendly crowd, smoking jams& a great night but definitely overshadowed by no vending! Who woulda thought the laws& cops in Chicago would be cooler that Alpine Valley

Really enjoyed the entire experience of being at a dead show. Everyone was mellow and happy, the band was tight and the tunes lyrical, melodic, and in the groove. Very cool concert.

Now that I have had time to reflect on last nights performance here is my opinion. Last night Dead & Company gave a hands down performance for the ages. It all started with a 70s style Dancin in the Streets to a rock solid Jack Straw. Though the great Garcia was missed deeply he was definitely there in spirit. The show was a rocker for sure. The highlight was Oteil stealing the show with Comes A Time which was sung perfectly. They rocked the city for their encore Touch of Grey with a live music light show over the city of the Empire State Building putting on a synchronized light show to the band. It was epic! I have seen many post Jerry Garcia shows since 1995 and last night was a top 5 post Garcia show for me. The music and energy were just like old times. Wish they would do a fall tour and play MSG. I will definitely go again.

One of the best dead shows I've ever seen. The boys always pull out something special for Fenway park. End of the first set acoustic friend of the devil, dark star>ripple was crazy.

Musically it was freaking awesome! John Mayer was ripping incredible licks while at the same time channeling Jerry. He just ripped and he had a great sense of Jerry's style and technique. Bob Weir just gets cooler with age. That signature voice just gets more refined and mellow with age. He is just amazing, vocally and on guitar!They played two very full sets with a slightly overly long intermission ~40min. They got such a great vibe going the second set that everyone was dancing and swaying. Many of the people around us in the pit were from places far away, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma. It was so part of the atmosphere that we were all brothers and sisters. By chance, we ran into a close friend in the pit at intermission. We were in the seats during the first set. It was great because standing that entire time would have been brutal!In summary, the musicianship of all the artists in the band was world class. What's great is that even with 3 new members, they were all in total sync, always! Sync is an essential feature of a jam band. Further, you just can't beat those classic Grateful Dead tunes and they must be performed exquisitely and these were!

I knew it was going to be awesome, it was epic. Opening with the same song as the Grateful Dead Pittsburgh show at 3 Rivers June 30th 1995! Absolutely loved it!

absolutely rocking show... Top k notch performance by top shelve talent... Bobby Weir has truly stood the test of time and shown us all what he's capable of still doing, a very well...

The band was amazing! 1stBank Center normally does a great job with security. This time, however, between the complete lack of ADA access, increased bag/personal checks and failure of the personnel to start their increased screening early, I give Argus a big FAIL.