Second set from tonight, and then some thoughts.
St. Stephen
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Hey Jude (not the whole song)
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of the World
Drums
Space
Cumberland Blues
Stella Blue
One More Saturday Night (duh)
Encore
Ripple
Ok so wow. The first set was solid, and it was just fun seeing them again. Wynonna joining them for Ramble on Rose was neat, but also distracting. Her and Bobby didn't duet together well. Like at all, lol. It would have been better if she just did the vocals solo. And like I said, she comes out, and a tech hands her a guitar, which she starts to play, but then it's just an accessory for the rest of the song. Of course she's standing in between John Mayer and Bob Weir, so I can see how one might feel useless strumming a six string.
The second set was just amazing. St. Stephen was a great opener, and I'm happy that D&C has been playing it. The Grateful Dead flat out quit on it, which is why it was rather rare after the mid 70s. There's a quote from Bobby somewhere that goes "Don't ask, we don't even know how to play it anymore."
For some reason, Mickey left at the start of Dear Mr. Fantasy, and was replaced by Jay Lane. Maybe he had to pee, no idea, because within a minute he was back, but I swear the only thing Mickey was playing on his return was a cow bell. (We can all use more, right?) Jay was literally jumping in his seat jamming on Mickey's drum set.
Eyes had a GREAT extended solo from Oteil on bass. No drums, no keyboard, no guitars. Just the other guys watching him work some very melodic magic.
Then Drums kicked in, and OMG. Mickey is up there, and he's waving a "Come on" motion to offstage. Three other guys climb the stairs, including Jay Lane again. So there are FIVE drummers pounding the skins. And then as usual, Oteil takes the stage (on Bill's kit) so there are SIX drummers. I've never seen that before and it was so much fun.
As most of those folks wrapped it up, Mickey kicked off Space on the beam.
Cumberland Blues brought the music back, and it was literally one of the most rocking versions I've heard. If I were there, I'da broken my back dancing.
Stella was very nice, and everyone of course knew Saturday Night would be the closer. Knowing Ripple was coming was obvious too, as the first thing that John and Bob did when they retook the stage was pick up their acoustics.
I can't wait to see the guys live and in person later this summer. This was the only Playing in the Sand show that I'm streaming, but it was a very nice holdover until the end of May.
Oh..last thought. Music started a little after 7:30, and they wrapped up around 11:45. That's A Show!
Double PS, you can watch St. Stephen from tonight here. Music starts at around the 39 minute mark. (There's an interview with Oteil before it.)
https://fb.watch/i3g_kNw2HN/