Shelter From The Scroll V8: We went to the Sphere and rode in a Venetian Gondola!
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Curated by Pwelbs
Kickin’ It Off: Went to Vegas this past weekend to see Dead & Co. at The Sphere! My brackets are looking good. 1st and 3rd in my leagues. After 6 flights in the 3 weeks, I’m happy to have a great warm Chicago weekend ahead. Trying the much hyped Pizz’amici on Saturday night!
Totally crushing White Lotus S3 and can’t wait for the final two episodes.
PS: The Chipp Inn is no longer cash only! 🚨
THE WEEKLY RUNDOWN:
Underrated: The Sphere, Photobooths, Taxi Over Uber @ O’Hare, Gondola rides, Pumptinis, Goat Cheese Balls, Souvenir Magnets, Opening Day, Beer Bats, JJ McCarthy
Overrated: Edible Gold Foil on Food, Too tall martini glasses, LeBron on Pat McAfee, Oversized Menus, Chicago River Hot Tub Boats
RANDOM THOUGHTS & THINGS:
Dead & Co. @ The Sphere (March 21st, 2025):
Intro: In the Summer of 2023, Dead & Co. were playing their “final shows” and it appeared that this part of the long strange trip had ended. I caught my final two shows at the holy grounds of Wrigley Field and had come to peace that my final two shows would be with Maddie (who had never seen them) and one of best friends Kevin, whom I consider my best-Dead friend whom we share all our discoveries, curiosities and Dead gossip with. What better way for the curtain to fall on my time with Dead & Co. Well, the Sphere rumors were not far behind and again – at peace – I found myself trying to ignore any and all desire of seeing the Dead’s 2024 Sphere run. It ended and again I found peace. Sure enough the opportunity was back again. Maddie, the incredibly generous and aware person that she is – could tell I was itching to not miss this second and maybe final chance? She gave me tickets for Christmas and we were off to the races!
The Set: Beyond the mind boggling nature of The Sphere’s visuals, honestly my first impression was how close I was to the Dead. As I mentioned, most of my shows have been baseball stadium shows so to be that close to the guys in what felt like an intimate small venue given its scale. I was pretty surprised when I looked up that the Sphere had 20,000 capacity post show. I found myself to be more present to the music than ever to past shows, which probably comes the more and more I become a student of their sets. During our pre-show dinner, we were small talking with a local who mentioned she worked in the music business and her advice was “don’t waste your time trying to take any photos or videos, you’ll enjoy it that much more if you're just present.” I took that too heart and really just tried to take it all in. Thanks for that lady! Overall we had a really solid set, I definitely peaked the night before and assumed we wouldn’t get any repeats. Was grateful to have “Sugaree”, “Shakedown Street”, “St. Stephen”, “Throwing Stones” and a live debut of Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton. “Eyes of the World” and “U.S. Blues” were probably my favorite visually. I found it fun that Maddie got a kick out of “Casey Jones” as the closer. John Mayer is as polished as ever. Drums/Space is of course even more tripped out when you have The Sphere as your canvas. I’m not sure I’m really able to speak further to the whole experience. It really is just one of those “you have to see it” type experiences. I do felt like I consumed so much content ahead of time on social that it was fun to see some of the “hits” visually that have gone viral alongside plenty of new visuals for this run. During some of the visuals it was absolutely overwhelming, you truly felt like you were moving (a couple of beers on top of it) and some moments where you found yourself truly lost in each and every corner of the Sphere. Long story short, it made me feel even closer to the music and the community it brings together. The pilgrimage itself was as fun as the show itself. One of my favorite parts of the whole show was chatting up a father and teenage son sitting next to us who spontaneously drove down to Vegas from Idaho and bought tickets last minute. My Dad took me to my first Dead show when I was 12 years old. It felt like a poetic moment only the Dead could deliver and I felt pretty emotional that I could have someone I cared so much about there next to me. I watched The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir on the flight there. It had somehow escaped all my Dead content intake over the years. It was a nice precursor to the weekend and a lot of Bob’s commentary about the band and the community they’ve created resonated with me especially over the weekend and very much during the show as I watched Bob perform live with John Mayer absolutely shredding next to him. As Phil Lesh said in the doc, it’s Bob’s super power that he does not let his ego get in the way of Garcia’s playing and in this case John’s. On that note, the Lesh tribute got an emotional roar from the crowd. Overall, I’d love to go back and see another set but I’m not ever sure time or money will allow – it’s an expensive trip. I’m curious what other band or act would motivate me to get there. The Eagles, Backstreet Boys, Kenny Chesney and a dance music inspired show called UNITY appear to be taking up the rest of the year.
Outro: In closing, one of my biggest takeaways as a music and event dork was The Sphere itself. It was unbelievably easy to get in and out of the venue. The concourse areas were massive, spacious and easy to navigate. Bar lines were short each time I popped out. Bathrooms are massive. I never felt like I was waiting for anything. There was also this super interesting sound barrier sonically as you went through a hallway between the main amphitheater space and the concourse areas.
The Merch: It was so clutch that Dead/Sphere had a merch store open from 10AM-6PM in The Venetian with 95% exact same merch available at the show itself. Merch hoarders like myself, this was a huge anxiety relief to go get my poster and merch ahead of time and safely drop it all back in my room hours ahead of showtime. We ended up missing out on the limited run of posters specific to the night we were going but we were satisfied with the poster that represented the full run of dates at Sphere.
March 21st, 2025 Setlist:
Set 1:
Cold Rain and Snow ([traditional] cover)
Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead cover)
Cumberland Blues (Grateful Dead cover)
Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton cover) (Live debut by D&C)
Tennessee Jed (Grateful Dead cover)
Sugaree (Jerry Garcia cover)
Set 2:
Uncle John's Band (Grateful Dead cover)
Estimated Prophet (Grateful Dead cover) (>)
Eyes of the World (Grateful Dead cover)
St. Stephen (Grateful Dead cover) (>)
Drums (Grateful Dead cover) (>) Play Video
Space (Grateful Dead cover) (>)
Wharf Rat (Grateful Dead cover)
U.S. Blues (Grateful Dead cover)
Throwing Stones (Grateful Dead cover)
Dead Forever Video Clip
Casey Jones (Grateful Dead cover)
Vegas Notes: I hadn’t been to Vegas since pre-COVID (2019) after going there 4-5 years in a row for a work conference. It was always in November and the weekend of the Las Vegas marathon so it was always fun to see runners taking it all in as they ran down the strip. They run the marathon at night too which is just so Vegas and of course is helpful to the runners given the desert climate. I used to stay at the Hard Rock very regularly which since then has become the Virgin Hotel & Casino. Maddie and I ended up selecting the Virgin to get Hilton points, it was pretty cost effective given Dead & Co. at The Sphere and it was kick-off weekend for March Madness. Gambling sports nuts and Dead hippies were quite the combo to flood Vegas but it ended up being a very fun collision of communities everywhere we went. I don’t know who was more fascinated by who. Morally, I took a pause before booking at the Virgin, the last few times I had stayed at this property when it was Hard Rock, the world lost two of my personal heroes. Both Prince AND David Bowie. I vividly remember coming through the lobby the morning of Bowie’s passing and there were all these maintenance workers taking down David Bowie portraits and memorabilia off the wall. Puzzled I went and asked a couple staff members what was going on, why take this stuff down when he had just passed? It seemed odd. The guy looked at me kindly through a smile and said “...some guy just bought it all off the wall.” WOW! The Virgin ended up being a pretty decent hotel, as it was .8 miles from The Sphere but anyway who has walked around Vegas, you realize the distance the crow flies or in a car is much, much different than walking. Sure, it would be fun to stay at The Venetian, as it’s more formally attached to Sphere but the cost savings were much more fun spent elsewhere. Anyway, Vegas was awesome and good god clearly the economy seems fine. The strip, every casino, every restaurant was packed and lively. I was super proud of Maddie and I’s mature decision to fly in Thursday and leave on a redeye Saturday night. No one needs more than 72 hours in Vegas and it gave us all of Sunday to recover, not to mention Saturday night United Club was quite the scene!
Some final Vegas thoughts…
Gondola Rides @ The Venetian: This is so cheesy. So fun. Worth every penny for the gimmick, the photo and I found myself oddly emotional and present when Maddie and I found ourselves in the back of a gondola in 3FT deep water being sung “That’s Amore” by a guy with a man bun in a full costume named Bruno. Maddie has done “the real” gondolas in Venice and I was tickled by her internal debate of which was more memorable - ha!
March Madness: It was absolutely insane being in Vegas for the kick-off of the tournament. Games all day, TVs everywhere, passionate fans packed into each and every casino bar, sports book and restaurant. We found ourselves with a quick 30 mins to kill time and had the chance to catch the end of Arkansas upsetting St. Johns at some random outdoor bar patio that had a bunch of Arkansas fans losing their minds. We got lucky and happened to find a space chair to huddle around at the bar and ended up making conversation with a fellow Dead Head who was in town to catch his first Sphere show and first Dead & Co. show. He had seen the Grateful Dead a dozen times in the 70s & 80s. This was the fun and magic of fans coming in from all over the World to one place vs. catching a show in your home city. The truest of the true fans who made the pilgrimage to Sphere. To have it all while tens of thousands made their way to Vegas during one of the biggest sports moments of the year? Such a blast of a combination of people.
ONE Steakhouse: Inside Virgin Hotel @ Casino, from The Morton Steakhouse family. This is a must stop. Super great bar to sit at. Good people watching and bartender/server that totally had me on my toes the whole meal in a battle of wits. So much fun!
Other fun meals we had were: The Mayfair Supper Club, Pinky’s by Vanderpump (we had to do it!), Sushi Samba @ The Venetian (we loved the vibe and people watching their so much we went twice), Buddy V’s (great service, clutch meal and I finally got to try the Dogfish Head x Grateful Dead collab Juicy Pale Ale – a nice bonus!)
Dayneeia Thrash and Cat Sanchez; Creative agency 3V helps independent artists build sustainable futures via Chicago Reader: I have the opportunity to work with my colleague Cat Sanchez daily out over at Groundswell. People lovingly call us “Catrick” – as we’re often working together and sharing the same brain. With all the love and respect I have for Cat as a human, creative, marketer and industry guru – the honor is all mine that I get to be a part of that nickname! Well as if Cat couldn’t be more impressive, she has an entire life outside of Groundswell with her agency 3V alongside her co-founder Dayneeia Thrash (much love to you Day!). Check out this feature about the two of them in the Chicago Reader. You’ll leave the piece inspired, just like I do every time I have the chance to connect with Cat and Day. Congrats to you both! Some much deserved recognition and I’m grateful to be in a position where I get to learn from you both all the time. Cheers!
Building Outside • Groundswell Experiential Documentary (Outside Festival 2024): Honored to contribute a few sound bites here! Longstory short, a behind the scenes documentary our agency produced to show all the hard work behind Outside Festival 2024. I’ll leave with what I shared on Linked: Grateful for the people, the experience and the memories. Life is short and it’s beautiful when days like this are long. Showing up for work. Many of us day after day for month after month. Projects like this take years! Hundreds if not thousands of people coming together to partner so tens of thousands of people can take a few days, relax, learn, enjoy the music, watch the films, leave with new ideas, be with friends & family and get outside. Events and the community it brings together are truly a special slice of life.…and we get to do it all again! Can’t wait to see you for year two in just over 60 days! See ya there. Special thanks to Joe Lucchese, Mike Raspatello and Cat Sanchez! It’s a blast to do it all with ya!
The Beer Bat Is Evolving via Beer Cruncher by Doug Veliky: Doug is the CMO over at Revolution Brewing and is an absolutely incredible thoughtleader and voice in the beer industry. I love his Substack and I absolutely love his history of the beer bat he dropped in honor of Opening Day. Such a fun read. We had some banter back and forth and I noted: “One thing I noticed was how efficient and fast the bartenders at Wrigley have gotten pouring them. I see some of them pouring two at once now! No surprise. Bartenders rock and figure out those types of churn and burn best practices. Every at bat counts!” If you like beer and find anything about the behind the scene of the industry interesting at all, Doug is a must follow on LinkedIn and Substack.
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EYES BEYOND THE FEED: A collection of articles, news, blogs, social posts or other ramblings I’ve found interesting this week.
The World’s 100 Greatest Places of 2025: I wrote about the Populous hotel the other week and this past week it was featured on this prestigious list from Time Magazine!
It’s Boulder! Sundance Exits Utah For 2027 Move To Blue State Colorado
Spotify debuts ‘Concerts Near You’ playlists for discovering nearby shows
ESPN+ Getting Into Live Car Auctions With Mecum: FOS has learned ESPN+ is expected to stream more than 180 hours of car auctions per year as part of the deal: This is is my favorite thing to have on TV 2 in my apartment after 11:00PM CST
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BLOWIN’ IN THE WINDY CITY: All things Chicago. Happenings, openings, news, announcements, music, food, drink and more. A weekly and endless celebration to the city that I love so much.
Josh Giddey’s Half Court Buzzer Beater to Beat Lakers: This is apparently the longest game winner tracked in Bull’s history (46.5FT). Wow, what a shot and insane way to end the game (3 lead changes in final 12 seconds)! This brief clip of the full 4th quarter is worth watching. To have it be right in LeBron’s face and to get this home win over the Lakers? Nobody wants to play the red hot Bulls right now.
Doug Bruno steps down as DePaul coach after 39 seasons: Respect to the legend! From ESPN: “Bruno led DePaul to 25 NCAA tournament berths and 19 conference titles. The Blue Demons reached the Sweet 16 four times and were ranked in the AP Top 25 for 221 weeks during his tenure.”
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PLAYLIST PAT:
A collection of new music curated by genre, theme and/or mood curated and updated weekly-ish.
Pyramidion: The capstone, the apex, the tip, the top of the sonic pyramid. The best that 2025 music of all genres has to offer so far, updated weekly-ish. Full playlist linked here.
My favorite songs I added this week:
YUPPEE-KI-YAY by Kesha ft. T-Pain: So nostalgic and so now at the same time. Kesh and T-Pain as best friends is one of the best things in pop.
Face by Joan: I love that this type of pop music is coming out of Little Rock, AK
Coyote by Mt. Joy: The guys doing their best Radiohead!
All Along The Stream: A jukebox of Jam, Funk, Bluegrass, Psychedelic, Rock, Blues, Americana, Retro Soul. All songs released in 2025. Full playlist linked here.
My favorite songs I added this week:
Country City: Cold beer. Warm nights. Neon lights. Whiskey wrongs. A collection of country songs. All from 2025 and lassoed together by this here, urban cowboy. I promise I have the boots and hats to match. From the flash of pop to the dust of red dirt. It’s all here! Full playlist linked here.
My favorite songs I added this week:
Casino by Tucker Wetmore: This dude just gets better and better with each release. Such strong pop sensibility and effortless delivery.
Oh, Appalachia by Jonas Conner: I say this lovingly and as a compliment, is this get the Justin Bieber of country with a heck of a career on the horizon? I feel like many have tried at this age (he’s 15!) but this kid feels like he has star power.
She Hurts Like Tequila by Cody Johnson & Carin Leon: A unique crossover collab that delivers!
Hot Coffee, Speeding Tickets, Good Donuts & Dank Weed by Joshua Quimby: The song title speaks for itself. It’s everything you could want.
Hands Of Time by Eric Church: So ready for new music from The Chief!
My 5 TouchTunes Songs of the Week: Typically pulling from my Forever Relevant Spotify playlist that features over 1,800+ of my favorite songs and growing. Mind you, these are typically played in empty dive bars.
Venmo @Pwelbs to tip me in TouchTunes credits!
8 credits $4.99, 31 credits $14.99, 55 credits $24.99
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PATTY PILS:
Tangled Up In Brews: My weekly thoughts on beer, alcohol and beverage industry. Related articles or maybe just a cheers to a beer or three I had this week.
JuneShine and Willie Nelson’s Social Tonic Duet: Willie’s Remedy+
Infinium Spirits acquires Howler Head whiskey - The Spirits Business
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BEYOND THE ALGORITHM: Content from creators I love alongside social channels for new creators I’ve discovered.
@UmpScorecards: This is obviously nerdy shit but it’s oddly satisfying if you watch your baseball team get boned by umpires. This essentially reports on the ump’s accuracy and how it affected the game.
CLIENT BIAS: My favorite videos from Number Six With Cheese (fast food), Eat Local (Chicago food scene) and Corey & Sean’s solo channels this week. Full transparency, I manage these guys! If you’d like to work together, email me at patrick[at]numbersixwithcheese.com
Eat Local: Eating Chicago's Second Best Tavern Style Pizza In The City | Pizz'amici 🍕
Corey Wagner: A Day in San Francisco: Food, Culture & Hidden Gems
Sean Ely: I filmed my FULL DAY OF EATING In Downtown Chicago—Hidden Gems & Must-Trys! 🍔🍨
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MUSIC HANGER: Covering merch drops while highlighting the music artists and related news. Might slip in other merch from bars, booze and other fashion lines too.
Follow along at @MusicHangerHQ on IG. Updated when I can.
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NEVEVER ENDING HAT & MERCH WISHLIST:
Venmo @Pwelbs to gift me a hat or piece of merch!
“Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm”