#sugaree

Song Review(s): Dead & Company - “Shakedown Street” & “Sugaree” (Live, May 19, 2023)

With Bill Kreutzmann having opted out on the eve of its Final Tour to be replaced by Jay Lane, Dead & Company in 2023 might be more accurately called RatDog & Company.

In any event, the streaming teasers from the first show of the band’s last tour seem to indicate things are going to be pretty similar to 2022 with tempos a bit quicker than they were in the band’s pre-pandemic years; poor background vocals; & an onstage relationship between John Mayer & Jeff Chimenti based on that of Jerry Garcia & Brent Mydland.

“Shakedown Street,” at one point a lethargic dud for D&C, is destined to be forever saddled with the shake-it-down-down bridge Weir is so fond up along with his other vocal quirks. Yet the May 19 version in California was brisk & featured some innovative playing from Mayer, Chimenti & Oteil Burbridge, who seemed intent on getting some lead bass into the equation. It had no proper ending.

Mayer has grown into his ability to inhabit “Sugaree.” He no longer oversings (but Sound Bites does not like his voice) & his guitar playing is, of course, up to the high standards this music requires even as Weir insists on the abrasive tone he’s embraced over the band’s run. Yet it is songs like “Sugaree” that sound more like a cover band than anything even tangentially related to the Gratefuls that first spawned Dead & Company in 2015.

These previews indicate Dead & Company has no intention of simply going through the motions on this last outing. But this group is more RatDog (Weir, Lane & Chimenti) than Dead (Weir & Hart) at this point.

Grade card: Dead & Company - “Shakedown Street” & “Sugaree” (Live - 5/19/23) - B+/B-

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