Dead & Company Deal With Bomb Threat at Hollywood Bowl on Night One
Dead & Company rolled into LA on Wednesday night for stop 3 and 4 on their Summer 2017 Tour which kicked off on Saturday night in Las Vegas, NV. Mixed emotions and reactions were spreading around about the first two shows but I wanted to form my own opinion so, off to the Hollywood Bowl we did go.
Dead & Co
Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA
5/31/17
Set one opened with a personal favorite, Shakedown Street, setting the tone for the night…or so I thought it would. They followed that up with the relatively mellow Cold Rain & Snow and Black Throated Wind. If I remember correctly, CR&S was the opener at Irvine Meadows last year and it was met with similar response…meh. Redemption came with another personal favorite, Ramble on Rose. The Promise Land hat tip to Los Angeles came to end the first set which, by enlarge, was a sit and watch it set without much WOW factor.
Second set’s WOW factor, or rather the HOLY SHIT WHAT’S GOING ON factor, came early in the second set. After getting Truckin’ out of the way early, the boys rolled into a tasty He’s Gone and were deep into it when all of a sudden, stage lights go off, band is rushed off stage and police with, what was surmised as, bomb dogs, appeared on stage. For what seemed like an eternity, but was more likely around 10 minutes, the band returned to stage and with an “All is clear…kind of” from Bob Weir over the PA, they kicked right back into He’s Gone Reprise leaving a few thousand curious looks on the faces staring back at them. No additional information was provided from anyone I spoke to including a few police officers and venue security folks. Following the tragic events in Manchester, England recently at the Ariana Grande concert, I, for one, am glad they take extra time to address any kind of threat. And, dude back stage who informed me “it was a technical difficulty.” I’m not buying your bullshit. Dog’s can’t fix a tech problem.
Nevertheless, they snapped everyone back into it with a Help>Slip>Frank followed by Drums>Space before making everyone settle down nice and safe with Stella Blue. Sugar Magnolia finished it all off nicely. Encore of Ripple with John Mayer on acoustic guitar closed it out very nicely. Not my best show, by far, but certainly one of the most unusual happenings at a show.
Dead & Co.
Hollywood Bowl
Set 1
Shakedown>
Cold Rain & Snow
Black Throated Wind
Ramble on Rose
Cumberland Blues
Althea
Promise Land
Set 2
Truckin’
He’s Gone
Weird Break w/ bomb dogs
He’ Gone Rreprise
Help On The Way>
Slipknkot>
Franklin’s Tower
Drums
Stella Blue
Sugar Magnolia
Encore
Ripple (John Mayer on acoustic)
