Dead and Company continued their summer 2017 tour in LA last night at the Hollywood Bowl—the first of two shows they are playing at the venue. The first two Dead & Co shows have gotten mixed reviews. Some think that the band sounds sluggish while others think that they are entering a new level of playing and starting to explore new territory on Dead tunes which have been around for decades. I’ll let you be the judge.

After a somewhat sloppy “Shakedown Street” opener, the boys hit a stride in the first set. A notable highlight was “Althea” which is the fateful Dead tune that was streaming over John Mayer’s Pandora station and changed the trajectory of his career.

The second set is where things got interesting. Bobby and the boys opened with “Truckin'” and went into “He’s Gone.” Halfway through the song, the band abruptly stopped and police with their dogs sweep the stage. After several minutes, Dead and Company came back out and picked up where they left off. It was definitely a strange and unsettling thing to happen at a show for sure, especially in the wake of the horrific bombing outside the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester last week.

Bobby and the rest of Dead and Company put everyone’s fears to bay quickly with a timely “Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower.” Aside from any kind of security threat at a concert being serious business nowadays, the commentary on Reddit also helped to lighten the mood for those streaming the show from afar:

“He’s Gone (feat. LAPD)”

“Oteil is dropping bombs!” … Cops: Whats that? Better check it out.”

“He’s Gone > Security Sweep > He’s Gone”

Another notable jam in the second set was “Stella” rising out of “Space.” Aside from Dead and Company shaking off some of the cobwebs to start the summer, Bobby is sounding better than ever. Looking forward to the boys start to gel more as the tour goes on.

Set 1
tuning
Shakedown Street
Cold Rain and Snow
Black-Throated Wind
Ramble On Rose
Cumberland Blues
Althea
Promised Land

Set 2
tuning
Truckin’
He’s Gone
end of He’s Gone
Help on the Way
Slipknot!
Franklin’s Tower
Drums
Space
Stella Blue
Sugar Magnolia > Sunshine Daydream

Encore
Ripple

Almost 7 minute break in He’s Gone due to bomb threat

Thanks to Jeff Frank for the recording!

One of my favorite parts of a Dead tour are the great posters they create for each gig. View the gallery of Dead and Company summer 2017 tour posters.