Last Sunday (July 16), Dead & Company – the Grateful Dead offshoot led by electric guitar heroes John Mayer and Bob Weir – played their final show at Oracle Park in the Dead's hometown of San Francisco.
It was quite the spectacle, with a massive crowd – reportedly over 40,000 people – taking in the epic, 22-song set.
Thankfully, a few folks in the enormous crowd had the foresight to capture parts of the historic set, particularly the band's three-song encore – made up of the Dead classics Truckin' and Brokedown Palace, and a spirited cover of Buddy Holly's early rock and roll classic, Not Fade Away.
You can see fan-filmed footage of the first two songs below, and the entire encore further down.
As he has for years with Dead & Co., Mayer demonstrates his versatility on Truckin', lending slinky lead lines that – in the vein of late Dead frontman and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia – incorporate blues, country, jazz, and folk stylings.
Mayer then helps close out the band's stately, emotional version of Brokedown Palace with an absolute stunner of a slow-burning solo.
Finally, the band rolls into a loose, appropriately jam-y take on Not Fade Away – the song with which they opened their tour-closing three-night stand at Oracle Park – with ample assistance from the devoted crowd.
It's not the first time on the tour that Dead & Company closed out proceedings with Not Fade Away, though. Earlier this month, the band ended their third and final show at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado with a version of Not Fade Away that featured some acoustic assistance from none other than Dave Matthews.
Though Dead & Company's arc has seemingly run its course, Mayer will almost certainly find ways to keep himself busy. This year alone, he's already embarked on an acoustic tour, and reunited onstage with his blues power trio for the first time in six years.
