Dead & Company opens fall tour

ALBANY, N.Y. – Dead & Company, the latest configuration of Grateful Dead members. opened its fall tour Thursday night in familiar digs.

The Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., formerly known as Knickerbocker Arena hosted 13 Grateful Dead concerts between 1990-1995, and was the site of the shows featured on the live album Dozin’ at the Knick.

I took a road trip from Baltimore to Albany to do some pure research and see how this new concoction of Grateful Dead alumni and guests was going to sound fresh out of the gate. The lineup included Dead alumni Bob Weir on lead vocals/guitar, drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, along with guest keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and guest bassist Oteil Burbridge.

Oh yeah, and some guitar player guy named John Mayer – insert boxing bell sound effect and manically blogging Deadhead typing noises.

There hasn’t been a debate over who could take the late Jerry Garcia’s spot this controversial since… well, since earlier this year when Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio joined the band for the 50^th anniversary shows in Santa Clara, Cal., and Chicago, which included original bassist Phil Lesh and sorta-kinda Dead member pianist Bruce Hornsby.  At least Anastasio had huge street cred in the jam band scene going for him. All I knew of Mayer was my 14-year-old daughter has him on her Ipod and he dated a lot of hot celebs.

Ok, there is my admitted old fogeyism showing through, and probably why I was not expecting much out this mashup.  But I’ve been a longtime fan of the Dead’s music so I figured we’ll see how it goes.  Several of the fans I spoke with outside the show seemed to be of a similar mindset, but many were quick to caution me there’s a lot more to Mayer than I give him credit for.

What I picked up from the show is simple: the guy’s a really good guitar player. He brings an energy to his playing that lit up much of the music. I could best describe it as playing with a sense of the “now” as compared to “we’re going there” that characterizes much of the Dead’s extended jamming sequences.  He doesn’t reinvent the songs, just brings more an immediacy to it.

The show had very Grateful Dead feel to it. Long bluesy jams, a generous dose of miscues to accentuate how really good the “on” parts were, and plenty of audience devotion, best highlighted on the second-set closer Not Fade Away.

If there was gripe on the show it would be the song selection. The setlist was mostly standard material, and I waited in vain for the nugget, that one song they put in that I’ve never heard live before or the familiar song that gets redone in a whole new tempo or style.  Perhaps it was just an opening night thing to get their feet wet with a few new members.

It’s not a Jerry show; he’s been gone since 1995. But the guys proved they can still bring the sound and Spirit of the Grateful Dead 50 years down the Golden Road.

Dead & Company will be performing in the area Nov. 5 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and the next night at Verizon Center in D.C. Tickets for both shows are still available.

SETLIST

SET 1: Playing in the Band, Cold Rain and Snow, Tennessee Jed, Feel like a Stranger, He’s Gone, Bird Song, The Music Never Stopped

SET 2: Lost Sailor, Saint Of Circumstance, Help on the Way, Slipknot!, Franklin’s Tower, Drums, Space, The Other One, Stella Blue, Not Fade Away

ENCORE: Touch of Grey