Dead & Company – Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12-30-2019 (Live) (2020) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

One of the longest enduring traditions in the Grateful Dead world, going all the way back to 1966, has been the coming together of the tribe at the end of December, to say goodbye to one year and usher in another in the most celebratory fashion humanly possible. Needless to say, Dead & Company weren’t about to mess with that cherished ritual. And so, just as they were gearing up for their Fall Fun Run on the East Coast, the band announced that they would wrap up 2019 with an exclamation point, beginning with a pair of shows in Los Angeles and then bringing it all back home to the Bay Area for two nights, concluding with the customary New Year’s Eve revelry.

Over the course of five-plus decades, the Grateful Dead – as well as various projects featuring core band members – have played various venues of escalating size to observe the turning of the year, from intimate rooms like the original Fillmore Auditorium (and, in the case of Jerry Garcia in a couple of years the Dead took the big night off, Keystone Berkeley) all the way up to large arenas such as the Cow Palace and Oakland Coliseum, with intermediate steps during that ascent at hallowed spots including Winterland and Oakland Auditorium (later redubbed the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center).

But in 2019, Dead & Company enjoyed a unique distinction – presiding over the very first New Year’s festivities at a brand-spankin’-new venue: Chase Center, a state-of-the-art multi-purpose arena on the San Francisco waterfront that had opened just a few months earlier, primarily to serve as home court for local hoop heroes the Golden State Warriors, lured across the Bay from Oakland by the promise of such snazzy new digs, but also well-designed with musical events in mind, offering excellent sightlines, cushy seating (not that sitting would be a high priority on these particular nights) and plenty of room to roam (and dance). The shiny new building generated an appropriate degree of oohing-and-ahhing from Dead Heads checking out the deluxe amenities on opening night of the two-show stand.

Tracklist

01. Dead & Company – Shakedown Street (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
02. Dead & Company – Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
03. Dead & Company – Cumberland Blues (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
04. Dead & Company – It Hurts Me Too (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
05. Dead & Company – High Time (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
06. Dead & Company – Cold Rain and Snow (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
07. Dead & Company – Bird Song (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
08. Dead & Company – The Music Never Stopped (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
09. Dead & Company – Deal (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
10. Dead & Company – St. Stephen (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
11. Dead & Company – William Tell Bridge (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
12. Dead & Company – The Eleven (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
13. Dead & Company – Turn on Your Lovelight (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
14. Dead & Company – Drums (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
15. Dead & Company – Space (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
16. Dead & Company – The Wheel (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
17. Dead & Company – Stella Blue (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
18. Dead & Company – Casey Jones (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)
19. Dead & Company – Quinn the Eskimo (Live at Chase Center, San Francisco, CA, 12_30_2019)