On Monday night, Dead & Company played a concert at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts — AKA the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival. To celebrate the occasion, the group played the entirety of the Grateful Dead’s setlist from that iconic moment in history. Check out some footage from their performance below.
As usual, the surviving members of the band were joined by John Mayer for last night’s gig, which is part of their ongoing 2021 tour. After opening with a few Grateful Dead covers like “Hell in a Bucket” and “Easy Wind,” they broke out six other songs before Bob Weir grabbed the microphone to update audience members about the band’s plan for the evening. “Fifty years ago, right here, we tried this little sequence,” he said. “And it didn’t work so well for us, so we’re going to try again.”
The Grateful Dead originally played Woodstock on August 16th, 1969 following sets by the Incredible String Band, Canned Heat, and Mountain. The way Weir remembers the event, it was constantly raining, so much so that the stage was wet and he got a shock every time he touched his guitar. While Grateful Dead still delivered a set for the history books, it wasn’t as comfortable to play or fun to hear as the band hoped it would be.
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As such, Dead & Company wanted to recreate that iconic set without any of the dramatic downsides, and watching footage from last night, it looks like they succeeded in that. They opened with “St. Stephen,” segued into a Merle Haggard cover, bust out the classic “Dark Star,” and switched into “High Time.” From there, Dead & Company covered Bobby Bland’s “Turn on Your Love Light” to complete the throwback set.
However, they didn’t stop there. Dead & Company kept the night rolling by jamming out versions of “Drums,” “Space,” and “Deal” before reprising “Turn on Your Love Light.” As a bonus treat, fans got an encore of “Ripple,” too. Check out the complete setlist from their Bethel show after the jump.
Dead & Company will stay on the road for two more months before wrapping up this tour at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California on Halloween. As previously announced, they’re enforcing strict COVID-19 guidelines at their concerts, requiring ticket holders to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours of entry. “Requiring vaccinations & testing is one of the best ways to protect the health and safety of our band, crew, and fans,” Dead & Company wrote in a statement. “There are no exceptions to these policies.”
Setlist:
Hell in a Bucket
Easy Wind
Loser
Brown-Eyed Women
Throwing Stones
Row Jimmy
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance
St. Stephen
Mama Tried
Dark Star
High Time
Turn On Your Love Light
Drums
Space
Deal
Standing on the Moon
Encore:
Ripple