Culver City Observer -

It was "One More Saturday Night" for Bob Weir and his Dead & Company band as they brought their magical, creative, blissful music to their fleet of "Dead-Heads" at Dodger Stadium...the kick-off to their summer tour.

As usual, the sound engineers created a perfect sound mix to contribute to the chemistry of the band members, which continue to be three originals - Bob Weir (vocals, rhythm guitar), Mickey Hart (drums), Bill Kreutzmann (drums), and then John Mayer (vocals, lead guitar), Oteil Burbridge (vocals, bass) and Jeff Chimenti (vocals, keyboards).

The lighting and graphics designers also helped to rocket the performance to the next dimension with dancing bears and skeletons on all three stage screens - one behind the stage and two on either side.

Mother Nature also made her contribution to the affair with perfect weather...warm to start the show at 7pm and then cooling off a bit as the three-hour show progressed.

Here are a few highlights.

One of Weir's signature pieces, "Playing in the Band," got everybody in the mood near the beginning of the first set. He also treated his adoring fans with "Casey Jones" and "Jack Straw," all sung by the 74-year-old in his usual gruffy way with his "Moses-like" white hair and beard.

Mayer did his very capable jazzy, bluesy version of Jerry Garcia's "Brown-Eyed Women."

In the second set, one of the bright spots was Burbridge presenting his special version of another Garcia tune, "Fire on the Mountain."

Bob Weir John Mayer Bill Kreutzmann

Then a unique combination of Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" which bled into the Beatles' "Hey Jude" (instrumental).

A staple of every Dead show is Hart and Kreutzmann with their drum and space jam solo. When Brubridge joined in, things became very transcendent.

Since the day of the week was Saturday, they ended the second set with another Weir signature piece, "One More Saturday Night." Weir lit up during this number.

The encore was a very entertaining version of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London," which helped to end the night on a positive, upbeat note.

As the "Dead-heads" danced out of the stadium at the conclusion and looked up at the almost full moon in the clear night sky, they most likely felt the spirit of Jerry Garcia smiling down upon his partner who is continuing to carry the torch.