It was like night and day.
After opening its three-night stand at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park with a mostly pedestrian offering on Friday, Dead & Company did a complete 180 and delivered a truly triumphant performance in front of 50,000-plus fans on Saturday.
And that’s why we go see multiple shows in a single stand, since it’s not at all uncommon for this band to be so-so on one night and then absolutely superior on the next.
Dead & Company certainly ranked as the latter as it ran through two diversely appealing sets Saturday in San Francisco, consisting of 20 songs that stretched across some three hours.
There were many highlights from Night 2, but none bigger or better than when psychedelic-country-rock singer Sturgill Simpson (who had also performed an opening set under his “Johnny Blue Skies” moniker) joined Dead & Company for a moving take on the Grateful Dead favorite “Morning Dew.”
It was the best moment of the stand thus far — and it won’t be surprising if that holds up through the Sunday finale as well. (Although having Trey Anastasio of Phish — aka, the world’s greatest jam band — as the opener on Night 3 certainly opens up some incredibly tantalizing options.)
Following Simpson’s wildly enjoyable 75-minute opening set, Dead & Company took the stage and kicked off the second night of this Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebration with a by-the-numbers take on the Wilson Picket R&B classic “In the Midnight Hour.”
Based solely on that opener, which was akin to what you might hear from a random bar band during a Tuesday night half-price beer promotion, it seemed like the group might be on its way to its second consecutive ho-hum evening.
Instead, Dead & Company — the massively popular Grateful Dead offshoot featuring longtime Dead members Bob Weir on vocals and guitar and Mickey Hart on drums, as well as guitarist-vocalist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and drummer Jay Lane — would immediately crank up the intensity for a rip-roaring “Bertha,” one that delivered more energy, more enthusiasm and, most certainly, more excitement than the entire first set combined on Friday.
Mayer, the former pop idol turned jam-band icon, was at the heart of all of it, laying down one blistering run after another on his guitar and staying on the hunt for cool new ways to bring the music to life. He also sounded strong on the microphone, divvying up the vocal duties almost equally with Weir (who had handled the lion’s share during Friday’s first set).
Dead & Company continued to roll along at an incredibly high level with “Jack Straw,” which benefitted from some mesmerizing exchanges and leads from Mayer and Chimenti (the most consistently entertaining player in the band), before blowing thousands of minds with the psychedelic marriage of Traffic’s iconic “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and the Beatles’ legendary “Hey Jude.”
Weir took a turn at the microphone with “Passenger,” with Mayer to follow on lead vocals for a terrific version of “Brown-Eyed Women,” and then Dead & Company welcomed Simpson out for an absolutely stunning “Morning Dew.” His worn, hardscrabble vocals were perfect for the tune, while his meaty guitar work provided an excellent counterpoint to Mayer’s eloquent and ethereal notes, resulting in possibly the finest “Morning Dew” of the post-Jerry Garcia era.
The second set was nearly as entertaining as the first, although in mostly different ways. While the starter was all about power and energy, the nightcap more strongly focused on vibe and pure jam-band chops, as the band colored their regular repertoire with a variety of short musical teases — briefly touching upon Pink Floyd, Miles Davis and other sources of inspiration.
It was also a kind of “greatest hits” set — filled with a number of songs that even the most casual fan would probably know — as the band opened with “Uncle John’s Band” and then later included the equally popular “St. Stephen” (featuring Grahame Lesh, the son of the late GD co-founder Phil Lesh) and “Truckin’.”
The jams were intricate and intense, covering a plethora of styles, moods and tempos, stitching the tunes together in fascinating ways on the way to reaching the regular “Drums”/”Space” sonic exploration.
The show ended with a beautiful double shot of two of the Dead’s best — “Cold Rain and Snow” and “Brokedown Palace” — sending the tens of thousands of Deadheads home in heavy anticipation of the weekend finale on Sunday.
Dead & Company Aug. 2, 2025 setlist
1. “In the Midnight Hour”
2. “Bertha”
3. “Jack Straw”
4. “Dear Mr. Fantasy”
5. “Hey Jude”
6. “Passenger”
7. “Brown-Eyed Women”
8. “Morning Dew”
Set 2:
9. “Uncle John’s Band”
10. “Help on the Way”
11. “Slipknot!”
12. “Franklin’s Tower”
13. “St. Stephen”
14. “Drums”
15. “Space”
16. “Spanish Jam”
17. “Days Between”
18. “Truckin’”
19. “Cold Rain and Snow”
20. “Brokedown Palace”