Hall & Oates compared to the Grateful Dead

“We’re a tight band, a great band,” said John Oates in the Weekly Dig. “We have a huge repertoire, so we can start with a set list but then leave it when we need to and go where the audience takes us. It’s not too dissimilar to what the Grateful Dead used to do. We’re kind of like the R&B Grateful Dead.”

Don't laugh. Oates actually knows a little about the Dead. He and his band were guests at a benefit show in 1988:

09-24-88 Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y. (Sat)
1: Iko Iko, Stranger, West L. A., Rooster, Box Of Rain, Ramble On, Masterpiece>
Don't Ease
2: Chinese Bones, Neighborhood Girls, Crazy Fingers> Woman Smarter, Every Time You Go Away*, What's Going On*> Drumz> Wheel> Throwing Stones> NFA E: Good Lovin*, Heaven's Door*

Benefit for the rainforests: Cultural Survival, Greenpeace & Rainforest Action Network

"Every Time?" and "What's Going On" with Daryl Hall: guitar, lead vocals; John Oates: guitar; Tom "T-Bone" Wolk: acoustic guitar, then accordion, then bass; Mark Rivera: saxophone - Both encores with Hall: vocals & Oates: guitar & vocals; Jack Casady: bass; Bruce Hornsby: vocals & electric piano, then accordion - only "Every Time You Go Away" - only "What's Going On"