Dead & Company Fans Share Trippy Footage From Vegas Sphere Kickoff
Dead & Company kicked off the first performances of the band's residency at the Sphere venue in Las Vegas over the weekend, about a month after fellow jam icons Phish wrapped up their own sold-out four-show residency. And given the footage that has since surfaced online from the first weekend, it seems safe to say that fans were definitely treated to an experience they won't soon forget.
The spin-off jam band, which was formed by original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann; along with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti, first announced the six-week, 24-show residency back in January. Each night will have a different setlist with different visuals for each song (except for the opening and closing) and given the trippy animations seen from the first stint of shows it really becomes apparent what an undertaking that is.
As Variety described in an opening night review, one of the standout animations from the night featured the Grateful Dead’s "Steal Your Face" skeleton, which could be seen "rising from the grave, doing a little jig and grinningly mounting a motorcycle to go journeying through a psychedelic landscape."
Although videos captured with a smartphone hardly do the venue's 160,000-square-foot wraparound LED screen justice, many fans posted footage to social media, as you can see below.
Nice Little Trip on night one of Dead & Company at the Sphere. #deadforever #deadandco pic.twitter.com/SXzsdR9SQS
— Beaker (@Beakerlives) May 17, 2024
Dead & Company at the Sphere was amazing! pic.twitter.com/IZToJcqIOM
— matty (@phlspecial) May 17, 2024
I had a weekend. Thank you @deadandcompany & @SphereVegas ! pic.twitter.com/vDyQpxSf6U
— Jon Weiner ???? (@Stugotz790) May 19, 2024
Another moment from the opening weekend that got people talking was the animation set to the Dead song "Mississippi Half-Step." The footage initially showed visuals of San Francisco row homes before panning out over the neighborhood, the city, the west coast, and eventually the earth. The photorealism was apparently convincing enough that Variety writes "you could probably talk either a kid or a stoner into believing that it was the world’s most technically advanced drone shot."
The Sphere "takes off" from San Francisco during the Dead & Company concert, giving everyone the trip of their lives pic.twitter.com/M0zEKvU0j2
— Las Vegas Locally ???? (@LasVegasLocally) May 21, 2024
Scenes from Dead & Company's opening night at the Sphere in Las Vegas
— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) May 17, 2024
Photo credit: Rich Fury / Alive Coverage pic.twitter.com/2VoRXPdlwf
The band likewise shared footage from the residency kickoff, writing: "Scenes from opening weekend ... let the good times roll!"
The Dead & Company residency at the Sphere will run through the weekend of July 11-13, for those lucky enough to score a ticket.