# Dead & Company at the Forum, December 28, 2019

[the Forum](https://www.msg.com/calendar/the-forum-december-2019-dead-company) presents [Dead & Company](http://www.deadandcompany.com/)  
[the Forum](http://www.fabulousforum.com/)  
[3900 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=3900+W+Manchester+Blvd,+Inglewood,+CA+90305+USA&hl=en)  
7:00 PM, Saturday, December 28, 2019

[[2019-12-27|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2019|Up to the 2019 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2019#December_events|Up to the 2019 event list!]] ☸ [[2019-12-29|On to the next event!]]

[{{:2019:2019-12:2019-Dead+Co-Fun-Run-Tour-Logo.jpg?300|Fun Run 2019 Tour Logo}}]

## Set One

[7:29 PM lights down, band out]

01. [7:30 PM] _Viola Lee Blues_ » first verse » [7:32 PM] jam » [7:35 PM] second verse » jam » [7:40 PM] JM swap from Travis Bean guitar to ?tiger maple? >
02. [7:41 PM] _Bertha_ (JM) >
03. [7:49 PM] _Viola Lee Blues_, jam > 7:52 PM Weir-wreck segue >
04. [7:53 PM] _Jack Straw_ (BW/JM) slow, off-kilter.  
[Full stop at end. No flourish from JM. Silent strum from Weir; strange body language]
05. [8:05 PM] _Big Boss Man_ (JM)
06. [8:12 PM] _Friend of the Devil_ (BW)
07. [8:20 PM] _West LA Fadeaway_ (BW)
08. [8:30 PM] _Lost Sailor_ (BW) »
09. [8:38 PM] _Saint of Circumstance_ (BW)  
[set ends 8:47 PM]

## Set Two

[9:31 PM lights down, band out]

01. [9:32 PM] _Viola Lee Blues_, third verse » jam »
02. [9:33 PM] _China Cat Sunflower_ (BW) »
03. [9:40 PM] _I Know You Rider_ > (another Weir-ed segue)
04. [9:52 PM] _Dark Star_ (BW) » [10:00] PM first verse » jam » [10:04 PM] demented jam » [10:07 PM] second verse » abbreviated jam >
05. [10:09 PM] _He's Gone_ (BW) » jam » [10:21PM] Bobby repeats the "nightfall of diamonds" line from _Dark Star_; front line off, BK off too!? »
06. [10:21 PM] _Drumspace_ » [10:22 PM] +OB, BK » [10:26 PM] drop OB, then BK; MH bowing at the beam » [10:29 PM] drop MH; add front line, BW, then JM, then OB & JC » [10:30 PM] BK back on his throne » [10:32 PM] MH joining on the other side, grinning and starting to add fills » left turn transition led by Mayer
07. [10:34 PM] _Althea_ (JM)
08. [10:44 PM] _(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew_ (BW)
09. [10:54 PM] _One More Saturday Night_ (BW)  
[set ends 10:59 PM; of for a minute or so]  
   
**Encore**
10. [11:02 PM] _the Weight_ (BW/JM/OB/JC/BW)  
[show ends 11:10 PM; now and wave then all off, Bob last again]

[{{:2019:2019-12:2019-12-28-setlist.jpg?300|setlist_photo}}]

## Performers

[Dead & Company](http://www.deadandcompany.com/)

* [Oteil Burbridge](http://oteilburbridge.com/): bass, vox;
* Jeff Chimenti: piano, Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, harmony vox;
* [Mickey Hart](http://mickeyhart.net/): drums, lead and harmony vox;
* [Bill Kreutzmann](http://www.ocean-spirit.net/): drums;
* [John Mayer](http://johnmayer.com/): guitar, vox;
* [Bob Weir](http://bobweir.net/): guitar, acoustic guitar, vox.

[{{:2019:2019-12:2019-12-27+28-poster.jpg?300|Forum diptych}}]

[{{:2019:2019-12:2019-12-28-poster.jpg?300|28th poster detail}}]

## Notes

5:30 PM sitting at the front of line, exactly like yesterday. Strangely, there are far fewer people hanging out today than yesterday. I guess they're all busy whooping it up somewhere else right now. Works ok for me!

7:18 just about time for the band to get on stage, eh? The crowd is pressing in closer and closer. We're about 3-4 heads back from stage, straight out from Chimenti... So slightly off center from last night, but closer.

First set starts off promising (yay! _Viola Lee Blues_!), But overall, I'm slightly dissatisfied at set break. Nothing is really bad, but odd choices, like the dirge-like pace of _Jack Straw_, accumulate to outweigh the positives. Ah well, sometimes it's a bumpy ride.

Second set resumes with the odd choices (Opening on the final verse of _Viola_, then crash-segueing into _Bertha_ without any proper transition?), but I'm much happier with the song selection, and if the segues are grating, at least the jamming within the tunes is pretty interesting. The Chimenti-led "demented jam", for example, offered a fresh take on _Dark Star_: not quite bitonal, but simultaneously logical and discordant. And from the reaction of Mayer and Oteil, rehearsed!

Sadly, Mayer seems to be adopting Weir's approach to segues, and the transition from space into Althea was laughably bad. Sort of a "slip on a banana peel" transition from shuffling down the street to lying flat on the ground and looking up at the sky. Knocked down, like a bowling pin...

I'll stop griping because I was glad to be there nonetheless.

## Photos

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

{{gallery>:2019:2019-12?20191228-*.jpg}}

{{tag>music Dead_&_Company the_Forum Oteil_Burbridge Jeff_Chimenti Mickey_Hart Bill_Kreutzmann John_Mayer Bob_Weir}}

[[2019-12-27|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2019|Up to the 2019 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2019#December_events|Up to the 2019 event list!]] ☸ [[2019-12-29|On to the next event!]]