Dead & Company at Barceló Maya Grand Resort, February 15, 2018

Dead & Company at Barceló Maya Grand Resort, February 15, 2018

CID Entertainment presents Playing in the Sand, featuring Dead & Company
Beach Stage at Barceló Maya Grand Resort
Carr. Federal Chetumal- Puerto Juárez Km. 266.3, Solidaridad, 77750 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico
7:30 PM, Thursday, February 15, 2018

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

Set One

[7:41 PM lights down, band out]

[7:42 PM] Playing in the Band
[8:00 PM] Me and My Uncle
[8:06 PM] He's Gone (JM/BW) »
[8:18 PM] Cassidy
[8:31 PM] Brown-Eyed Women (JM)
[8:41 PM] Bertha (JM) >
[8:52 PM] Good Lovin' » [8:57 PM] La Bamba verse » [8:58 PM] Good Lovin'
[set ends 9:00 PM]

Set Two

[9:49 PM lights down, band out]

[9:49 PM] Scarlet Begonias »
[10:01 PM] Fire on the Mountain (OB)
[10:14 PM] Althea (JM) >
[10:24 PM] (Get Up, Stand Up tease during the opening noodle jam) » Estimated Prophet » (Mayer & Chimenti tease licks from A Love Supreme)
[10:38 PM] Eyes of the World »
[10:58 PM] drums » [11:03 PM] beam, BK off after a minute or two » [11:09 PM] add BW; JM + JC at keys, MH playing trippy vocal samples from RAMU » [11:11 PM] Weir swaps to acoustic guitar » [11:12 PM] add OB, BK » [11:13 PM] add MH at keys with JC, JM » [11:15 PM] JM, MH back to regular spots »
[11:15 PM] Looks Like Rain
[11:23 PM] I Need a Miracle
[11:33 PM] Casey Jones
[set ends 11:43 PM]

Encore
[11:45 PM] the Weight (BW-JH-OB-JC-BW) (first time played by Dead & Co)
[show ends 11:54 PM]

Performers

Dead & Company

Oteil Burbridge: bass, lead and harmony vox;
Jeff Chimenti: piano, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, lead and harmony vox;
Mickey Hart: drums, piano (s2t06);
Bill Kreutzmann: drums;
John Mayer: guitar, piano (s2t06), lead and harmony vox;
Bob Weir: guitar, acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox. ## Notes

All told, I'd say that tonight was a damn fine show that reminded me why I agreed to head on this adventure in the first place. Twenty minutes of Playing in the Band to open? Yeah! That's the spirit! Simply exquisitely done, with the hivemind expertly dancing from space to space in the psychedelic firmament. Way to go!

Understandably, the energy and tempo flagged a little for Me and My Uncle, but the guys picked things back up again for He's Gone and Cassidy, both of which featured visual tributes to members of the extended Grateful Dead family who have joined the ancestors. Good to see the organization showing such love!

Bertha was another highlight, with Mayer spurring the jams on higher and higher until we arrived at the awkward left turn transition into Good Lovin'. Sandwiching in a verse or two of La Bamba was a great, venue-appropriate choice, but Bobby's voice seemed kind of gravely to me, and his delivery wasn't nearly as smooth as one could hope for. “More practice, less teleprompter,” that's what my granny always said to me.

Set Two fulfilled the promise of the show opener, talking us all back into the cosmos, and as long as you're willing to overlook the awkward transitions and full stops, I'd argue that it was a darn good set. Solid song selection, a few surprises here and there (Mickey playing piano??), and lots of smiling energy: works for me!

Casey Jones started out slow, like a heavily loaded steam train pulling out of the station, and as the boys kept stoking the engine, she gradually built up a nice head of steam. Midway through I figured they were just about done accelerating the pace, but instead, they piled on jam after jam, like so many shovels of coal, and the mighty engine of the Dead responded with a roar, flying down the tracks with the wheels spinning and the whistle screaming. Watch your speed? Not these hooligans, they were looking to gain escape velocity!

It was interesting to get the Weight for an encore: the boys did a good job! I was surprised to hear a gravel-voiced Jeff Chimenti take lead on the Crazy Chester verse – and even more surprising to hear Bobby sing falsetto on the following final verse. What kooks!

Care to review the show yourself? Check out one of the sources posted at the Live Music Archive, or go commercial and check out Nugs.net!