AXS presents Dead & Company
2017-06-09
Folsom Field
University of Colorado in Boulder, 2400 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
6:30 PM, Friday, June 9, 2017

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[6:59 PM band out]

1. [7:00 PM] Dancing in the Street »
2. [7:12 PM] Cold, Rain and Snow (J)
3. [7:20 PM] Hell in a Bucket
4. [7:30 PM] Big River >
5. [7:36 PM] Althea (J)
6. [7:47 PM] New Speedway Boogie
7. [7:56 PM] the Music Never Stopped (B/J)
   [OB, JM & BW all swap to acoustics]
8. [8:07 PM] Ripple (B/J)
   [set ends 8:12 PM]

[9:05 PM lights down, band out]

1. [9:06 PM] St. Stephen >
2. [9:17 PM] Estimated Prophet »
3. [9:30 PM] Eyes of the World » 9:41 PM bass solo » 9:43 PM jam »
4. [9:45 PM] Deal (J) >
5. [9:55 PM] Let it Grow »
6. [10:07 PM] Drums > 10:14 BK off, MH back to the beam »
7. [10:16 PM] Space » 10:21 A Love Supreme teases »
8. [10:24 PM] the Other One »
9. [10:31 PM] (Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew
   [set ends 10:43 PM, all of for a minute]
    
   Encore
10. [10:45 PM] Touch of Grey (B/J)
    [show ends 10:52 PM]

Dead & Company

• Oteil Burbridge: bass, acoustic bass guitar (s1t08), harmony vox;
• Jeff Chimenti: piano, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, harmony vox;
• Mickey Hart: drums, percussion;
• Bill Kreutzmann: drums, percussion;
• John Mayer: guitar, acoustic guitar (s1t08), lead & harmony vox;
• Bob Weir: guitar, acoustic guitar (s1t08), lead & harmony vox.

Got an Uber up to campus from Lafayette, walked about a half mile, then got into line about quarter past four. Might be 100-200 folks here, but it's a loose crowd, and we have shade, so I'm way psyched. The crush happens around 4:30, and after a bit more waiting, we get past search and up to ticketing/wrist banding, where we stand for over an hour. On the plus side, it's shady, and every now and then we hear a recognizable snippet of sound check: drums (duh!) and Not Fade Away, but most of the time it was just booms and bleeps 'cause we were exactly perpendicular to the PA.

5:40 out so, they begin ticket scanning, and very shortly thereafter we're speedwalking to our destination: past the back of the stands, up the steps to the bowl, down the steps to the field, back past the sound board and then forward to the promised land: about 12 square feet of blanket space 15' back from Oteil and John. Yay! Mission accomplished! Well worth the hassle, IMHO.

7 PM Time to rock. The band eases into a lethargic version of Dancin' in the Street. The arrangement is clearly based on that awesomely bouncy '76-'77 vibe, but there's just not enough life in it tonight. Maybe it's still too hot or something. Good try for a first attempt (for Dead & Co, anyway) … needs more oomph!

Cold, Rain and Snow is a slight improvement: John takes the reins from Bob, and the band is cooking at a faster tempo. Not really rockin' hard yet, but the energy level is a teensy notch higher.

Hell in a Bucket is another slow burn: it's like the band is telling us to dance with lead weights on our ankles or something. C'mon guys!

Big River is another trifle faster, and percolates along to a nice bouncy groove, courtesy of Oteil.

Althea is slow compared to Big River, but probably not far off the mark for the usual slow blues shuffle that we're all used to. John clearly relishes singing the tune, and the crowd is happy to help sing along.

Ripple might have ended the set in the same slow vein, but seeing and hearing it done on acoustics made the performance at least moderately interesting. And really, who's gonna complain about hearing Ripple, anyway?

Starting the second set with St. Stephen seemed like a good statement of purpose, and John led the band through a couple nice jams despite muffing the lyrics once or twice.

The Estimated » Eyes combo was pretty strong, especially if you're a fan of those lazy, languous '74 versions of Eyes of the World, and the incredible jam that tended to pop up late in the tune. Did tonight match those peaks set some 40+ years ago? Nah, not even close. But it was still pretty darn fun, and only a grouch would complain more about it.

A Lucha Libre rooster mask has been attached to the drum rig behind Mickey above the beam; which he hits (the beam, not the mask, silly) before Weir even takes off his guitar at the end of Let It Grow as the band transitions into drums.

Space » the Other One » Dew was a pretty nice way to run things out, and I'm pretty happy by encore time. Another terrifically fun evening with about 25k like minded kooks!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!