Dead and Company Kick Off Fare-well Tour

The farewell tour of Dead & Company kicked off over the weekend with a pair of consecutive shows in Inglewood, California.

In their 18-track setlist, the band paid homage to various periods of the Grateful Dead’s career. Notably, drummer Jay Lane filled in for Bill Kreutzmann, who recently disclosed that he would be unable to participate in the final tour due to a heart condition.

Earlier this year Dead & Company confirmed that they would be concluding their musical endeavors with the 29-date road trip, which ends on July 15.  Guitarist Bob Weir stated, “Well, it looks like that’s it for this outfit…But don’t worry, we will all be out there in one form or another until we drop.”

However, during a pre-recorded interview aired as part of the band’s official concert livestream, guitarist John Mayer said: “It doesn’t mean ‘goodbye’ in the sense that you see any one, two, three, four people together on a stage at a given moment. I just think this band has done so well and has created something against so many odds, that the ending of it will have a bearing on the memory of the entirety of it.”

He added: “The way a song ends has everything to do with how you feel about the beginning and the middle of that song. … Everything rests with the power of the ending.”

Dead & Company, Kia Forum, Inglewood, 5/19/23
1. “Shakedown Street”
2. “Cold Rain and Snow”
3. “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”
4. “They Love Each Other”
5. “St. Stephen”
6. “William Tell Bridge”
7. “The Eleven”
8. “Deal”
9. “Sugaree”
10. “New Speedway Boogie”
11. “Eyes of the World”
12. “Estimated Prophet”
13. “Drums”
14. “Space”
15. “The Wheel”
16. “Wharf Rat”
17. “Sugar Magnolia”
Encore:
18. “Black Muddy River”