Grateful Dead Tour 2009

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist, Reviews and Tour Dates

Yes The Dead are touring again in 2009 ... The surviving members of one of the greatest psychedelic bands of all time, the band will tour for the first time in 5 years.

Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will all be playing, assisted by Jeff Chimenti and Warren Haynes.

Grateful Dead Tour Dates 2009

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Click on your location for ticket info:

5/9/2009 Saturday 7:00 PM The Forum in Inglewood, CA

5/10/2009 Sunday 7:00 PM Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA May 10, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist: May 1st

Set 1:

Help on the Way >
Slipknot! >
Franklin's Towe
Good Lovin
Cassidy
Bird Song
Uncle John's Band

Set 2:

Unbroken Chain >
The Other One >
Drums >
Space >
Sugaree >
Gimme Shelter >
Sugar Magnolia

Encore

St. Stephen >
The Eleven
Touch of Grey

Review: Costa Contra Times
by Paul Liberatore

A rejuvenated Grateful Dead winds up first tour in five years

Fourteen years after Jerry Garcia's death, the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead have finally come together again as a band.

And the 20,000 Deadheads who sold out the Shoreline Amphitheater Sunday night for the band's homecoming show couldn't be happier about it.

The Shoreline concert, the first of two at the airy Mountain View venue, came at the end of the Dead's first national tour in five years.

"It's everything I could have hoped for," said 49-year-old Scott Bucey of Corte Madera, a member of the Marin Symphony board and a Deadhead since 1978. "It brings us back to where we were before Jerry died in 1995. I only wish that they had done this sooner."

Wearing a tie-dye T-shirt, Bucey was at the concert with his wife, Jennifer.

"The people in the audience are saying, 'This is it, finally,'" she said. "'It's taken 14 years, but this is it.'"

After they lost Garcia, the Grateful Dead's lead guitarist and charismatic paterfamilias, the four other founding members - guitarist-singer Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann - feuded over business and personal issues. The only thing they seemed to agree on was dropping "Grateful" from their name in honor of their fallen bandmate.

That's why this 20-plus-concert reunion tour has become such a milestone in the 40-year history of the Marin-based band.

And even in the worst economy since the Great Depression, the Dead remain a highly attractive touring act, playing
major markets like New York and Washington D.C.

"We're selling 15,000 to 20,000 tickets every night," said Tim Jorstad of San Rafael, the Dead's business manager. "In this economy, that's really good. The guys are stoked."

Mickey Hart certainly was, standing backstage before the show with a lit cigar in one hand and a drumstick in the other.

"We really found each other on this tour," he said with his characteristic energy and enthusiasm. "We're renewing our friendship. We're starting to become a group again."

The man who has promised to reunite the country, President Barack Obama, also did his part in reuniting the Dead.

They came together for the first time at a Warfield fundraiser for Obama the night before the California primary. And a huge Obama benefit concert in Pennsylvania last year sealed the deal for this tour.

The president was so grateful for their support that he invited them to visit him in the Oval Office when the band played in Washington D.C.

Rolling Stone magazine ran a photo of him and the band under the headline "Deadhead in Chief."

And it turns out that several members of the president's staff, including senior advisers Pete Rouse and David Axelrod, are Dead fans. With other West Wingers, they were happily grooving at the band's April 15 show in D.C.

That same night Hart invited Tipper Gore, a longtime friend, to sit in on drums on "Sugar Magnolia."

At Shoreline, the Dead started 45 minutes late, waiting for the jubilant crowd to file in from the vast parking lots, and played past the amphitheater's 11:30 p.m. curfew. Bolstered by lead guitarist Warren Haynes of the Allman Bros. Band and Government Mule, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti from Weir's band Ratdog, the Dead played classics like "Sugaree," "Sugar Magnolia" and, to close the first set, an operatic rendition of "Uncle John's Band" with pipe organ harmonies.

The packed house seemed to move with the music like one giant undulating organism at a pot party. Balloons and beach balls floated above the crowd and occasionally bounced onto the stage.

The Dead, concentrating on their trademark improvisational rock, may disdain showmanship, but they know how to put on a show. During their traditional "Rhythm Devils" and "Space" numbers, a sexy group of five female fire dancers came out to add even more heat and light to the far-out proceedings.

The Dead seemed extra soulful on more introspective songs like "Unbroken Chain" and a 20-minute version of "Help on the Way." Because they are now among rock's senior citizens, choosing "Touch of Grey," their only Top 40 hit, as their final encore seemed symbolic.

Asked if they will tour again, Hart said, "We need to get through this tour first."

But the sense was that, as long as they remain healthy, this tour may be the beginning or a late career revival. Or not.

"Since Garcia died, everyone was unsettled musically and personally," said Hart's wife, Caryl. "It took a long time to find a new balance, and that's what you're seeing now."

The Dead play again at Shoreline on Thursday night. There's no telling when they may do that again. As someone close to the aging band said: "If you're a Deadhead, you don't want to sit this one out."

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review The Forum in Inglewood, CA May 9, 2009

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Setlist: May 1st

Set 1:

Viola Lee Blues >
Bertha >
Viola Lee Blues >
Caution >
Viola Lee Blues
Black Peter
Cosmic Charlie

Set 2:

Jam >
Shakedown Street >
New Speedway Boogie >
Scarlet Begonias >
Fire on the Mountain
Drums >
Space >
Dark Star >
Wharf Rat >
Dark Star >
Satisfaction

Encore

One More Saturday Night

Review: OC Register
by Kevin Flynn

The Dead return to glory in SoCal

The legends deliver one more Saturday night of jam joy at the Forum.

Imagine if you will, a "Lost"-y alternate universe where Jerry Garcia didn't pass away in 1995. Rest assured that in this parallel dimension, the 2009 incarnation of the Grateful Dead, now known simply as the Dead, would sound pretty much the same as it did Saturday night at the Forum, during the group's first Southern California performance in nearly five years.

That's not a knock against the continuing lineup. The four surviving members - drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzman, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist Bob Weir - have long since matured beyond the country ballads and R&B rave-ups that defined their first few decades of music.

Yet, while Garcia's absence is indisputable, the remaining band, which has toured on-and-off since 1998, has continued to evolve, both individually and together. This is very likely how they would sound even if they hadn't spent much of the post-Garcia years touring individually and bickering over the licensing of their extensive catalog.

Squabbles aside, the foursome, augmented by keyboardist Jeff Chimenti (of Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade and Ratdog, Weir's bluesy side project) and virtuoso guitarist Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band), has grown mellower, to be certain. With the exception of a few select faster-paced numbers ("Bertha," "One More Saturday Night"), the Forum set list veered more toward down-tempo songs like "Black Peter" in the first half and "Wharf Rat" towards the end of the show.

It's not just their laid-back attitude, though - they're more composed, more patient. They listen to each other better. That could be the result of lessons one could easily chalk up to age and experience, but at the Forum it became apparent that they've not just been listening to each other, they've been seeking out some of the bands they spawned in the '80s and '90s. (The catch-all term "jam band" applies to any number of like-minded groups that have flourished in the Dead's wake.)

This eagerness to seek out offspring isn't new: Lesh tapped half of Phish to play with him at a series of Bay Area shows in 1999; Ratdog has a number of co-headlining dates scheduled with moe. this summer. Yet it's clear by the inclusion of Haynes and Chimenti that the Dead are making a conscious effort to reinvigorate themselves with fresh blood. These guys aren't hanging out in their dressing rooms when they play Bonnaroo; they're either in the field soaking up the new generation or on stage sitting in with their successors.

Nowhere was this clearer than in the 10-minute jam that seamlessly connected the second verse of "Viola Lee Blues" to "Caution (Do Not Step on Tracks)" midway through the first set.

As Lesh piled on flanged effects, he led the band through a very jazzy, very Phish-y excursion - Weir added rhythmic arpeggio strums while Haynes channeled Garcia's swirling leads, building into a fierce cacophony the Dead of the '80s simply couldn't have mustered. Similarly, "New Speedway Boogie" took on heavier, groovier accents than the original, proving that although many of the night's songs were, well, old - everything in the first set was pre-1970 - the Dead aren't content to be a nostalgia act.

The new additions to the lineup definitely have musical chops, but while Chimenti is a solid, no-nonsense sideman in the mold of ex-Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick (or even Tom Constanten), Haynes is the showstopper. He's the fire-fingered axe-man previous Garcia stand-ins Steve Kimock and Mark Karan simply weren't, setting the tone early in the show-opening portion of "Viola Lee Blues" (from the Dead's eponymous 1967 debut) with bright, precise leads. He also aptly shares vocal duties with Weir, belting out many of Garcia's parts in his high, throaty growl.

While the Deadhead faithful these days lean more toward 401(k) than 420 (at least until the house lights go down), they were out in force Saturday, packing a sweaty, hazy Forum and still shouting the "Woo!" to a second-set-opening "Shakedown Street." They patiently sat through the indulgent-as-ever "Drums > Space" segment a half hour after that - but they leapt to their feet and roared again as the band tore through a gritty cover of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" to close that set.

And as Weir bellowed "That's right / Saturday night!" in the encore, Deadhead nation indeed seemed grateful for at least one more Saturday night with its heroes.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Pepsi Center in Denver, CO May 7, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Feel Like a Stranger
Casey Jones
Loser
Easy Wind
Crazy Fingers
Lost Sailor >
Saint of Circumstance

Set 2:

Deep Elem Blues
Me and My Uncle@, Whiskey in the Jar
The Weight
Space >
Ramble On Rose >
King Solomon's Marbles >
Space >
Drums >
China Doll >
Cumberland Blues >
Not Fade Away

Encore

Ripple

Review: Denver Post
by Jason Blevins

The Dead shows new vigor at The Can

Rest in peace, Jerry. You're covered.

The Dead crushed The Can on Thursday night, with guitarist Warren Haynes nimbly assuaging any mourning of the nine-years-gone band captain Jerry Garcia.

Minus the "Grateful" and minus their beloved skipper, remaining Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, birthday-boy Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart came together in a momentous collaboration Thursday at the Pepsi Center, giving soulful Haynes plenty of room to conjure the missing master.

Long fond of Colorado - the Grateful Dead played here 49 times, ending with a memorable three-night stand at the long-gone McNichols in November 1994 - the band's latest reincarnation revealed undeniable vigor, fully circa 1972.

A gentle "Feel Like A Stranger" opener rolled into a juke-joint-worthy "Casey Jones," with quietly hunkering Jeff Chimenti stepping into a particularly bubbly moment, a la Peanuts pianist Schroeder. Chimenti, a longtime member of Weir's RatDog, was perpetually poised to step up at a moment's notice and did just that whenever the jam door opened.

A regular tune in Haynes' vast quiver, "Loser," saw Weir and Haynes exchanging stanzas, with Haynes' soulful warbling culling wild yelps from the easily tickled crowd.

It was somewhere in "Loser" that Haynes really flexed his ability to mirror Garcia's emotional, lyrical guitar work.

Rocketing into "Easy Wind," a dusty, glorious relic in the band's 30-plus-year-old vault, Haynes demolished any doubt concerning his worthiness in filling the most gaping hole in all of guitar. It wasn't just his work on the six strings either. Haynes nailed Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - the Grateful Dead's supremely funky founding keyboardist - with his guttural growling in "Easy Wind."

With the ambling "Lazy River," Haynes gently stole the show and massaged the masses with a warbling rendition that wilted even the more stoic Jerry fans.

Weir, awkwardly donning long pants instead of his regular

From left, members of The Dead rock group Warren Haynes, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh pause for a photograph after singing the national anthem before the San Francisco Giants played the Colorado Rockies in a baseball game in Denver on Thursday, May 7, 2009. The group was scheduled to play a concert later Thursday in Denver. (AP | David Zalubowski)gone-jogging shorts, swiftly secreted the show back into his pocket with a stellar "Lost Sailor" that stormed into a joyously ripping "Saint of Circumstance."
The first set saw few moments of the Dead's trademark self-indulgence, with the band working so tightly, as if purposely serving bliss.

The second set's acoustic display pulled out a rare "Deep Ellum Blues." The anticipated "Me and My Uncle," rousted all with Weir's surge-inducing line "and I'm as honest as a Denver man can be." Chimenti had a brief spin in the spotlight with "Whiskey in a Jar." Lesh, Weir and Haynes culled unheard of Dead harmony in a heavy cover of The Band's "The Weight."

Following an extra-spacey and certainly not terrestrial "Space," the boys poured into a "Ramble On Rose," with everyone in the near-capacity Can singing with all they had.

Haynes' tearfully intense and tender "China Doll" had the singing squelched with reverence and head-hanging memories of the original Fat Man.

A giddy energy blanketed the crowd Thursday, with each arms-raised dancer remembering the days when Garcia was the burning star around which the band and fans revolved. But it wasn't a mournful remembrance.

With Haynes inspiring a renewed focus from the formerly squabbling founders of the Grateful Dead, the boogie Thursday was all about the new journey. And of course, celebrating the long, strange trip it's been.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Allstate Arena Rosemont IL May 5, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

1. China Cat Sunflower
2. Born Cross-Eyed
3. Built to Last
4. Pride of Cucamonga
5. I Need a Miracle
6. Wang Dang Doodle (Howlin' Wolf/Willie Dixon)
7. West L.A. Fadeaway
8. Liberty
9. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)

Set 2:

10. Mexicali Blues (acoustic)
11. Into the Mystic (acoustic, Van Morrison)
12. Pretty Peggy-O (acoustic, traditional)
13. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (acoustic, Bob Dylan)
14. Drums/Space
15. Iko Iko (New Orleans traditional)
16. Standing on the Moon
17. Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad (traditional)

Encore

18. Imagine (John Lennon)
19. Box of Rain

Review: Chicago Tribune
by Greg Kot

Concert review: The Dead at Allstate Arena

The Grateful Dead has been buried and resurrected many times over the last 15 years. Still reeling from the death of its spiritual force and lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia in 1995, the band has never really gone away, but it has never really been the same.

Yet on Monday, in the first of two concerts at the Allstate Arena, the reconstituted (and no longer Grateful) Dead - with four surviving members from its legendary '60s incarnation - sounded surprisingly spry before a near-capacity audience.

The night did not get off to a flying start. On the contrary, the band sounded like it was still waking up as it meandered through "China Cat Sunflower" and "Born Cross-Eyed." But things perked up considerably when guitarist Warren Haynes salted "Built to Last" with soul inflections, abetted by sharp three-part harmonies.

The band was locked in after that, drawing heavily on rarities ("Pride of Cucamonga") and covers (Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, the traditional "Peggy-O") to create an adventuresome set high on energy and steeped in a sense of occasion.

There was Bob Weir's robust take on "Wang Dang Doodle," in tribute to Chicago blues giants Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon. And there was an encore of "Box of Rain," the same song with which the Dead closed its July 9, 1995, concert at Soldier Field, Garcia's final performance.

At its worst, the Dead can sound woozy and incoherent. And nobody self-indulges like this band. Its nightly 20-minute descent into "Drums and Space" is a tedious tradition that needs to die.

But at its best, the sextet presents an unconventional democracy, where there is no instrumental hierarchy. Drums and bass can float on top of the mix, guitars below, and then trade places. Often there is a sense of weightlessness about the songs, no ballast, the notes floating in free space. At other times, Phil Lesh's six-string bass can drop A-bombs that shake sternums in the back rows.

As the parts interlocked and then came apart again, the band's unique sonic architecture became a point of detailed fascination. At times drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart puttered around, barely audible. But then they played "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" with such exultant force that the song jumped.

Even at this late stage, the band still has the ability to surprise. Instead of relying on concert staples, it focused on some of the more obscure corners of its catalogue. Haynes brought a haunting beauty to Garcia's "Standing on the Moon." And Weir, spurred on by Hart's vicious cymbal accents, turned "Liberty" into an unexpected anthem, easily the best version of the song I've heard the band perform.

The band members looked glad to be doing their jobs, and the audience responded in kind. It was only fitting that Weir turned over a section of the New Orleans party standard "Iko Iko" to the fans. Rattling his tambourine, the singer looked to the audience to sing a verse, and thousands of voices came through in passable Creole. Then Weir cued the band back in, and the song finished with musicians and fans in sync, reveling in the moment and in their shared history.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA May 1/2, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist: May 1st

Set 1:

Playin in the Band >
Mississippi Half-Step >
New Speedway Boogie
Shakedown Street
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Hard to Handle
Friend of the Devil >
Playin in the Band (reprise)

Set 2:

Jack Straw
Alligator >
Caution >
Drums >
Space >
Loose Lucy
Comes a Time >
Cold Rain and Snow >
Sugar Magnolia

Encore

Box of Rain

Setlist: May 2nd

Set 1:

One More Saturday Night
Brown-Eyed Women
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Althea
He's Gone >
Uncle John's Band >
Mason's Children

Set 2:

Good Lovin
Cumberland Blues
Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One >
Drums >
Space >
Morning Dew
St. Stephen
Revolution >

Encore

Review: to follow

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ Apr 28/29, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:Apr 28th

Set 1:

U.S. Blues
Scarlet Begonias >
Fire on the Mountain*
Bird Song*
Feel Like a Stranger*
High Time
Turn On Your Lovelight

Set 2:

New Potato Caboose >
Estimated Prophet* >
Milestones* >
Drums >
Space >
Dear Mr. Fantasy* >
Dark Star* >
Eyes of the World*

Encore

Franklin's Tower

*with Branford Marsalis

Setlist:Apr 29th

Set 1:

Touch of Grey
Pride of Cucamonga
Crazy Fingers*
The Music Never Stopped*
Deal*
Days Between* >
Casey Jones*

Set 2:

Sittin on Top of the World
Doin That Rag*
Ramble On Rose*
Lady with a Fan* >
Drums* >
Space* >
The Wheel* >
Terrapin* >
I Know You Rider*

Encore:

Women are Smarter*

*with Branford Marsalis

Review: NY Times
by Nate Chinen

Swirling in and Out of Focus as Past and Present Tangle

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - At any gathering of the Dead - which is to say, the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now all in their 60s - the weight of history competes with the magic of the moment. For the band and its fans, reunion means remembrance: an unavoidable thing, given the depth of documented history, the persistence of nostalgia and the absence of Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

That temporal pull felt especially strong at the Izod Center here Tuesday night, a dozen shows into the Dead's current tour. There was a featured guest, the saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and even this fact came with its own special benchmarks. It couldn't have been an accident that the set list called to mind a Nassau Coliseum show on March 29, 1990, probably the most highly regarded of Mr. Marsalis's previous forays with the band.

Some flashes of re-enactment were more rewarding than others. Mr. Marsalis played his tenor bracingly, with clipped emphasis, on "Turn On Your Love Light," which brought the first half to a lively close. He played soprano on "Bird Song," marking its spacious canvas with long tones and quick arpeggios. The Dead's two drummers, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, kept up a light churn of cymbals and toms, and the guitarists Bob Weir and Warren Haynes shared vocal duties. (Mr. Haynes, not an original member of the band, functions as a dutiful Garcian surrogate.)

By contrast, "Eyes of the World," which preceded the encore, was a disappointment: Mr. Marsalis, again on tenor, provided the only clear hint of momentum. "Estimated Prophet," with its reggae undertow, similarly began strong but turned vaporous. As for "Dark Star," a bounteous highlight of 3/29/90, it registered here as an obligatory mess: swirling about without a center, it never developed much direction or purpose.

Whether the crucial difference rests with Mr. Garcia is eternally open to debate. Yet it did often feel like the core members of the Dead - Mr. Weir, Mr. Kreutzmann, Mr. Hart and the bassist Phil Lesh - were waiting for someone to take the reins. Mr. Haynes hung back too: his guitar playing, which can reach volcanic intensity in other bands, felt terse and muted here, for better and for worse.

None of this affected the more focused songs, like "Scarlet Begonias," which rode the sort of feathery locomotive groove that the Dead could almost claim as proprietary. "High Time," with its country-waltz cadence, offered a stark respite, while "Franklin's Tower," with Mr. Lesh singing, made for a deliriously busy encore: at one point Mr. Marsalis and Mr. Haynes traded barbs in the same high register, both sounding limber.

The band made one attempt to meet Mr. Marsalis on his turf, with an abominable version of "Milestones," the Miles Davis tune. It was infinitely better to hear the inverse: Mr. Marsalis on soprano, austerely aerating the percussive "Drums" and "Space" portion of the show, alert and engaged in a very present tense.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review XL Center in Hartford, CT Apr 26, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Bertha
Till the Morning Comes
Little Red Rooster
Row Jimmy
All Along the Watchtower
Glory Road
West L.A. Fadeaway
Cumberland Blues

Set 2:

The Weight
Tomorrow Never Knows >
Black Peter >
Greatest Story Ever Told >
Drums >
Space >
King Solomon's Marbles >
Viola Lee Blues >
Samson and Delilah

Encore

Ripple

Review: to follow

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Madison Square Garden in New York, NY Apr 25, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Cosmic Charlie
China Cat Sunflower >
Shakedown Street
Ship of Fools
He's Gone
Cassidy
Sugaree

Set 2:

Drums >
Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One >
Born Cross-Eyed >
St. Stephen >
The Eleven >
Uncle John's Band >
Unbroken Chain >
Gimme Shelter >
One More Saturday Night

Encore

Brokedown Palace

Review: to follow

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY Apr 24, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Jack Straw
Brown-Eyed Women
Baby Blue
Easy Wind
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Don't Ease
Lost Sailor >
Saint of Circumstance

Set 2:

When I Paint My Masterpiece
Peggy-O
Looks Like Rain
Alabama Getaway >
Dark Star >
Drums >
Space >
Knockin on Heaven's Door >
Goin Down The Road Feelin Bad

Encore

Touch of Grey

Review: Celeb Stoner

The Dead Truck Into New York

Kicking off four New York-area shows, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead - plus Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti - brought what is now known as The Dead to Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on Apr. 24. They sang with precision and evoked the spirit of late guitarist Jerry Garcia in a nearly four-hour show.

Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann reunited to raise money and support for Barack Obama during the presidential campaign. The Dead tour began in Greensboro, North Carolina on Apr. 12 and runs through May 16 for a total of 22 dates.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Wachovia Arena Wilkes Barre, PA Apr 21, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Jam >
Mr. Charlie
Stagger Lee
Liberty
Candyman
Me and My Uncle
Built to Last
Tennessee Jed
Dire Wolf

Set 2:

Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion >
Revolution
Weather Report Suite Prelude/Part 1 >
Aiko Aiko >
Drums >
Caution >
Jam
So Many Roads >
In the Midnight Hour

Encore

Box of Rain
Only ''Revolution''

Review: Times Leader
by Brad Patton

Still Grateful after all these years

Back on the road for the first time in five years, The Dead made its way to the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza on Wednesday night.

And for three glorious hours, all seemed right with the world once again.

Now consisting of Grateful Dead survivors Bob Weir (guitar and vocals), Phil Lesh (bass and vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (drums) and Mickey Hart (drums and percussion) along with Warren Haynes (guitar and vocals) and Jeff Chimenti (keyboards and vocals), the band played an eclectic mix of old favorites and interesting covers as the sizable crowd cheered, danced and sang along.

The show started like they always did back in the old days as each band member nonchalantly made his way to the stage, noodled around for a few moments and then magically became part of a cohesive unit as the band launched into its opening number.

Haynes, the guitarist from the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule with the unenviable task of trying to fill in the Jerry Garcia parts both vocally and musically, got the first lead vocal of the evening as the group started with "Mr. Charlie."

Weir quickly followed with a rocking version of "Stagger Lee."

As is the norm with these musicians, nearly every song on Wednesday took on new shadings as the band used the recorded versions as mere starting points, expanding and enhancing each selection with added layers and textures, making numerous songs last into double digits.

In marked contrast, "Me & My Uncle" was the most compact song of the evening, adorned with only one guitar solo and completed within four minutes.

The first set ended with a trio of crowd pleasers as the band rambled through "Built To Last," "Tennessee Jed" and "Dire Wolf." read full review

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY Apr 21, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Promised Land
They Love Each Other
Mama Tried
Loser
Smokestack Lightnin
Stella Blue
It's All Over Now
Big River

Set 2:

Playin in the Band >
Me and Bobby McGee >
Loose Lucy >
Ramble On Rose >
Drums >
Space >
Maggie's Farm >
Eyes of the World >
Playin in the Band (reprise)

Encore

Truckin

Review: The Buffalo News
by Jeff Miers

Dead's music remains timeless

In his career-defining masterwork "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas," the late Hunter S. Thompson offers a eulogy for the American Dream as the hopeful utopianism of the 1960s gives way to the far less forgiving '70s. He writes of the "sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil," which nearly gave way to an energy that would "simply prevail."

"We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave."

Thompson concludes that, with "the right kind of eyes," one could see the "high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

That "rolling back" is now widely accepted as indisputable fact. But not in the world of the Grateful Dead. In that microcosm, a state of graceful suspended animation is the playground of band and fan alike, a space where the crest of the "high and beautiful wave" is forever in view, perpetually about to break.

On Tuesday, the bus once piloted by Neal Cassady and lorded over by Ken Kesey pulled up outside of HSBC Arena, long enough for the surviving members of the Grateful Dead-Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, now operating in the absence of the late Jerry Garcia as simply the Dead - to hop out. So much has changed since the GD entered the world that marking that change seems pointless and arbitrary. But the music of the Dead remains timeless, more outside of the concerns of the times than behind them.

Tuesday's show confirmed as much. Opening with "Promised Land," and proceeding through a first set that was unusually centered on songs with no segues, The Dead tore it up, running without a pause through a Jerry Garcia classic, "They Love Each Other," then letting Weir hold the microphone through "Mama Tried."

That the set featured a healthy portion of blues tunes suited guitarist Warren Haynes well. He took expansive solos during Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now," and urging everyone assembled heaven-ward with his solo during the jazz-based "Stella Blue."

It felt good to stand and watch the wave crest yet again.

New Dates Added U2 360 Degree Tour
U2 Tickets 2009
U2 Tickets North America 2009

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review The Centrum Worcester, MA Apr 19, 2009

photo: Rich Dugas for The Boston Globe

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Here Comes Sunshine
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Alligator
Deal
Hell In A Bucket
Cream Puff War>
Good Lovin'

Set 2:

Scarlet Begonias>
Fire On The Mountain (Warren vocals)>
Rhythm Devils>
Space>
Satisfaction>
Born Cross-Eyed>
Slipknot!>
Let It Grow>
Uncle John's Band>
The Wheel>
Lovelight

Encore

Samson and Delilah

Review: Boston Globe *based on Saturday show
by Scott McLennan

The Dead gets in a jam

The band that found fame with "Truckin' " is sort of back, but more prone to meanderin'.

The Dead opened its two-night stand Saturday at the DCU Center with a pair of lengthy sets, each peppered with bits of exotica from the group's 45-year legacy, though both were weighted with plodding jams that too often led to dead ends.

With four original Grateful Dead members - guitarist Bob Weir, bass player Phil Lesh, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann - and two longtime acquaintances - guitarist Warren Haynes and keyboard player Jeff Chimenti - the Dead is splendidly reviving a musical community. The atmosphere at the DCU Center resembled all those Grateful Dead shows that overtook the building in the '80s. And there was palpable warmth in the reception the sold-out house gave the band.

Alas, the music itself rarely hit the peaks the Grateful Dead achieved when Jerry Garcia drove the band, and too often the Dead validated an old stereotype of being long-winded and dull.

An amorphous jam evolved into the sinewy groove of "Feel Like a Stranger" to launch the show. In trying to set itself apart from the ways of the Grateful days, the Dead is quicker to unleash long improvisations, and the result was too often like hearing someone who likes to talk simply to hear the sound of his own voice.

The Dead is looking more deeply into the catalog, and on Saturday yanked out the rarely played "Mountains of the Moon." Yet the band grew tentative with "Mountains," letting the song fall apart before getting back its footing with staples such as "Althea," "Birdsong," "China Cat Sunflower," and "I Know You Rider." Haynes provided ample lead guitar firepower and nicely bolstered the vocals department.

The second set was even looser with spacey renditions of "Dancing in the Streets" and "Milestones" generating few sparks. The band recovered though with a stunning take on "Terrapin Station" that relied more on the arrangement than jamming to be exciting.

The haze of the second set lifted for the finale, rocking versions of "One More Saturday Night" and "Johnny B. Goode," proving that it's OK to play the songs without blowing them out of proportion.

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The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review The Centrum Worcester, MA Apr 18, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Feel Like A Stranger>
Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
Mountains of the Moon>
Dupree's Diamond Blues
Althea
Bird Song>
China Cat Sunflower>
I Know You Rider

Set 2:

Dancing In The Street>
Milestones>
Terrapin Station>
Rhythm Devils>
Space>
Days Between>
Bird Song>
One More Saturday Night

Encore

Johnny B. Goode

Review: Worchester Telegram & Gazette
by Craig S. Semon

Nostalgia rises with Dead
Diehard fans boogie to familiar sounds

The DCU Center was turned into the Deadhead Center Saturday night with the return of the seemingly indestructible Dead. And the diehard Dead fans that were packed to the rafters were ever so grateful.

With more than a touch of grey, guitarist Bob Weir led three surviving members of the original band (bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart) and two honorary members (keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Allman Brothers Band/Gov't Mule guitarist Warren Haynes) through a three-hour-plus, jam-filled evening of memories, nuggets, music and nostalgia.

Almost 40 years to the day after the Grateful Dead played their first song in Worcester (April 20, 1969, at Clark University for you Dead archivists), these granddaddies of epic live jams delivered a delectable smorgasbord of rock, folk, country, bluegrass, jazz and the blues with a song structure that could be best described as a hearty jam sandwich (a lengthy jam on top, a few tasty vocals in the middle and a lengthy jam on the bottom).

While the bulk of today's audience members are more likely to drop a chalupa than drop acid, the devoted, tie-dyed-wearing Deadheads digested plenty to give them visions of bears, lighting bolt skulls, blooming roses and skeletons dancing in their heads.

Although the Dead kicked off the 90-minute-long, eight-song opening set with the slow-burning "Feels Like a Stranger," everything felt so right and familiar. It didn't take long for the Deadheads to be dancing in aisles and clouds of hemp to permeate from the audience after the initial strains of the first, free-form jam.full review

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Times Union Center Albany, NY Apr 17, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

Casey Jones
Cold Rain and Snow
New Minglewood Blues
Into The Mystic
West LA Fadeaway
Brown Eyed Women
Cumberland Blues

Set 2:

Viola Lee Blues>
Sugaree>
The Other One>
Drums>
Space>
Comes A Time>
Unbroken Chain>
Throwing Stones

Encore

Not Fade Away

Review: Albany Times Union
by Michael Eck

The Dead are alive

The reconstituted (Grateful) Dead, sans departed spiritual leader Jerry Garcia, returned to the Times Union Center Friday night for a truly epic concert that pleased a nearly full house of fans old and new.

It was the group's 14th visit to the downtown venue, its first since Garcia died in 1995. The trip also marks the band's first tour in five years.

With Allman Brothers/Gov't Mule axeman Warren Haynes in Garcia's stead, The Dead was in fine fettle, and ready to jam.

These guys virtually sired the "jam Band" movement and it seemed on Friday as if they were trying to prove they still own it.

The second set, for example, was well over two hours, but only featured six songs.

The sextet - with original members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann joined by keyboardist Jeff Chimenti - kicked off the long show with "Casey Jones" before launching into "Cold Rain and Snow," which featured lovely organ work from Chimenti.

Haynes is an admirable guitarist and for much of the evening he echoed Garcia's sinewy, loping style, yet without ever losing sight of his own signature.

Occasionally he moved over completely to his bluesier side of the line and in those moments he seemed to fuse the best of the Allmans and the Dead. "Sugaree," for example, featured an electrifying solo excursion that married Duane Allman's stinging slide, Dickey Betts' climbing pentatonic riffs and Garcia's funky, twitching cadences into a glorious whole.

The entire room was with Haynes in that moment and little else in the show came to that kind of urgent climax.

Haynes also shone on vocals on "Sugaree" and with a nice first set take of Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic."

The band hasn't repeated a song in almost half a dozen shows, so Friday's set list - featuring "West L.A. Fadeaway," "Comes A Time," "Cumberland Blues" and "Viola Lee Blues" among others - was unique.

The second set gathered "Jam," "Drums" and "Space" around the frame of "The Other One." It was a sequence that lasted over an hour and frankly had to tax even the most ardent Deadhead.

Weir suffered through some minor complaints with his guitar rig, but he stood right up to Haynes, even playing dual slide with him on the classic "New Minglewood Blues," and driving the band with his trademark pulse.

Lesh drew wild applause every time he sang a line, but "Unbroken Circle," near the end of the night, sounded pale and thin, especially in light of Haynes' mighty pipes.

The band closed the second set proper with "Throwing Stones" and the noodle dancers caught a bit of a frenzy, knowing their time at the Times Union Center would soon be coming to a close.

But they thought in '95, too.

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA Apr 15, 2009

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1:

New Speedway Boogie
Bertha
High Time
Mason's Children
Big Boss Man
Doin' That Rag
Standing On The Moon

Set 2:

Playing In The Band>
Crazy Fingers>
Drums>
Space>
St. Stephen>
The Eleven>
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo>
Playing In The Band>
Foolish Heart

Encore

G-L-O-R-I-A

Review: Richmond Times Dispatch
by Melissa Ruggieri

In Charlottesville, The Dead maintain their mellow edge

It began in typical shambolic fashion -- the disheveled-looking band ambled onstage, noodled around with instruments for a few minutes as if at sound check and then, with a few foot taps from Phil Lesh, launched into the first song of a three-hour night.

But what was atypical about last night's show from The Dead at John Paul Jones Arena -- only the third stop on a 22-date tour -- were some of the song selections and arrangements.

Obviously, once The Dead stopped being Grateful after the 1995 death of leader Jerry Garcia, the rest of the band -- guitarist Bob Weir, drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bassist Lesh and newer recruits, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and guitarist Warren Haynes, on loan again from the Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule -- would always have to distance themselves from Garcia's iconic memory.

That meant a rare appearance of "New Speedway Boogie," which featured Hart hammering away at his tom-toms like Gepetto in his workshop, leaving Kreutzmann to hold down the steady beat. Likewise the Lesh-heavy "Mason's Children," which introduced the first sprawling jam of the concert and included some outstanding bass work from Lesh, whose instrument glowed from a blue-lighted fret board.

But when Weir handled lead duties, his voice was often overpowered by the live instrumentation, a hiccup that hardly mattered much to the 12,000-plus assembled, many of them older folks wrapped in tie-dye, but also plenty of Deadheads: The Next Generation.

Any generational gaps were insignificant, especially during the first notes of the peppy "Bertha," which spurred grown men and teens to start skipping in place, play air guitar and stretch their hands skyward, as if trying to summon the spirit of Garcia.

It's a different Dead, to be sure, but one that hasn't lost its mellow edge.

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Verizon Center Washington, DC Apr 14, 2009

Great Tickets ... All Shows

The Dead Tickets 2009

Setlist:

Set 1

Cassidy
Passenger
Pride Of Cucamonga
Easy Wind (Warren vocals)
Lazy River Road
Alabama Getaway (Warren vocals)
Big Railroad Blue

Set 2

Peggy-O (acoustic)
Glory Road (acoustic)
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (acoustic)
Jam>
Dark Star>
King Solomon's Marbles>
Drums>
Space>
Come Together>
Dark Star>
Sugar Magnolia (Tipper Gore percussion)

Encore

Uncle John's Band>
Ripple

Review: Washington Post
by Mary Ann Akers

The Dead in D.C., a Stirring, Smoky Bipartisan Show

Last night's Dead show in Washington was like hanging out with a long lost, dear friend after many years. We just picked up where we left off.

Clearly Tipper Gore felt the same way. She boogied down on stage, just off Warren Haynes's left shoulder, to "Sugar Magnolia," "Uncle John's Band," and the rousing closer, "Ripple."

The teeming masses of nostalgic (and newbie) Deadheads obliged when bassist Phil Lesh shouted, "Give a big hand for Tipper Gore!" (Lesh, a liver transplant survivor, also urged his fans to become organ donors.)

The former vice president's wife, who was not accompanied by Al, wasn't the only political celebrity digging the four-hour long reunion concert, the second of the band's Spring 2009 tour.

Also there were Obama senior aides David Axelrod, Pete Rouse and Jim Messina, who met with all the surviving members of the Grateful Dead - plus Haynes and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti - at the White House on Monday evening after President Obama hosted the band for a private meeting in the Oval Office.

Last night's crowd was predictably loaded with lefty "Deadheads for Obama" as well as the usual pot-smoking and tripping Deadheads of no political persuasion whatsoever, other than the Party of Jerry. (And yes, plenty - we dare say lots - of people were smoking some sort of sweet green stuff inside the Verizon Center. Note to editors: the Sleuth was horrified.)

But we also spotted plenty of conservatives digging the show. Hardcore conservatives.

As Tipper was on stage swaying her hips, on the other side of the stage, in a suite just off Bob Weir's right shoulder, was Barry Jackson, the longtime deputy to Karl Rove who worked all eight years, right up to the bitter end, in the Bush White House.

Barry was boogeying like nobody's business - through the hour-long rendition of "Dark Star" into the encore.

There were other conservatives there, too, including two senior aides to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor: the whip's chief of staff, Rob Collins. and Matt Lira, director of new media. (Their boss wasn't there; the congressman much prefers Britney Spears to The Dead.)

Last night was nostalgic, and some moments were magical. The opener, "Cassidy," was terrific and a bit of a tearjerker given that it was the first time any of us had seen the entire band together in over a decade.

Aside from covering the fundraisers that Bobby and Mickey Hart have played over the past several years for Congress' preeminent Deadhead, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Sleuth hadn't seen a real Dead show since 1995 at RFK stadium, the last time Jerry Garcia performed in Washington.

It was great catching up with our old friends again. Hopefully, you will get a chance, too, during the rest of their '09 tour.

Greensboro Photos

The Dead Tour 2009 Setlist & Review Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, NC Apr 12, 2009

Setlist:

Set 1

Music Never Stopped
Jack Straw>
Estimated Prophet >
He's Gone >
Touch of Gray
I Need a Miracle >
Truckin'

Set 2

Shakedown Street
All Aong The Watchtower
Caution
Jam
Drums
Space
Cosmic Charlie
New Potato Caboose
Help on the Way >
Slipknot! >
Franklin's Tower

Donor Rap

Encore:

Samson and Delilah

Review: Greensboro News & Record
by Parke Puterbaugh

The Dead: A valid reincarnation

Concert Review

It's Easter Sunday, and the Dead have risen.

Yes, the cultural institution known as the Grateful Dead - and now simply "The Dead" - kicked off their first tour in five years at the Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday night. It was a virtual sellout, with every corner of the arena filled with dancing, delirious Deadheads. A total of 17,500 tickets were sold, making this the 13th-largest concert crowd in the coliseum's history.

The Dead's lineup includes four original members - bassist Phil Lesh, guitarist Bob Weir and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart - along with longtime confederates Jeff Chimenti and Warren Haynes on keyboards and guitar, respectively.

Although Jerry Garcia, the group's late guitarist and the broader counterculture's reluctant guru, is fundamentally irreplaceable, The Dead is a valid reincarnation. They played for close to four hours and seemed intent on re-establishing the experimental side of the group's legacy.

They began with "The Music Never Stopped" - a choice that made a subtly implicit point about endurance.

Later in the first set, they performed "He's Gone" and "Touch of Grey" back-to-back, again alluding to their own history - both Garcia's death ("Nothing's gonna bring him back") and their own will to persevere ("We will survive").

Throughout the evening, the songs themselves were well-played, although the jams that ended or connected them sometimes lacked focus and coherence. "I Need a Miracle" and "Truckin'%u2009" were rousing and tight, but the tricky, reggae-accented 7/4 time of "Estimated Prophet" seemed to throw the band into disarray. A cover of "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix by way of Bob Dylan - elicited a fiery reading from Haynes.

Phil Lesh played a nifty bass with glowing blue LEDs embossed into the neck. The graying, laconic Bob Weir stood front and center, and though he appeared expressionless, he seemed to relish the opportunity to step out more than usual on guitar. Weir and Haynes didn't mesh particularly well as guitarists, but perhaps their chemistry will evolve as the tour progresses.

Haynes brought a gritty, bluesy energy to the band, but he also nailed Garcia's lighter touch in places, especially the unique duck-quack tone Garcia got from the wah-wah pedal.

On the other hand, Haynes isn't Garcia, and he's ultimately better-suited to the earthier Allman Brothers Band, which he joined back in 1989, than the Dead.

That's no knock on Haynes' fabulous musicianship but an acknowledgement that the era-specific nuances of vintage psychedelia and the ability to play in a free-form "outside" style are not his strong suit.

This was especially clear in a second-set segue from a techno-style long jam that followed "Caution: Do Not Stop on Tracks" into a painfully long "Drums"-"Space" interlude. The whole sequence had a meandering, amorphous quality, and it chewed up a huge amount of time.

Once the Dead exited that train wreck, they redeemed themselves by exhuming the trippy oldies "Cosmic Charlie" and "Born Cross Eyed," to the delight of hard-core Deadheads.

They ended the second set with a spirited "Help Is On the Way," "Slipknot!" and "Franklin's Tower" trifecta, highlighted by tight parallel climbs from Lesh on bass and Haynes on guitar.

The deafening screams and applause that greeted the Dead when they returned for an encore was enthusiastic and heartfelt, and this outpouring didn't go unnoticed by Lesh.

"It's good to be back with you folks," he said. "The hair is standing on the back of my neck."