The Dead at the Tweeter Center MA, July 31 2004

[CTC Command]

Last night I went to go see The Dead, the band formerly known as The Grateful Dead before the death of singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1995, and also known as The Other Ones in the late '90's.

:strumma:

Set One

Jam->Jack Straw

Dark Star

Keep On Moving

Little Red Rooster

Stagger Lee

Cosmic Charlie

She Said

Althea

Cassidy

Set Two

Looks Like Rain

Lost Sailor/St. Of Circumstance

Strange Remain

Drums/Space

Stella Blue

Mason's Children

Standing On The Moon

Dark Star (Reprise)

Jam->St. Of Circumstance (Reprise)

Encore: One More Saturday Night

Johnny B. Goode

Like Dead of in the "good old days" this show consisted of two long sets; the last time I saw them it was as The Other Ones, and they only played one fairly long set.

Overall the tempo of the show was on the slow side, but that's the thing with The Dead--from one night to the next their energy levels will vary. I overheard several people comparing the Friday night show with the one I saw last night, and apparently the energy levels were higher Friday. However, the tempo of every song never droppped to the precipitious levels it often could and did when Garcia was still playing in the band.

Personally, I thought they put on a good performance. Some of the songs, like Dark Star, Cosmic Charlie, and Mason's Children were never part of the set list back when I was seeing the Dead all the time in the early and mid 80's, though we used to speak of the possibilites... Dark Star was very good, but nothing compared to THE definitive version on the 1970 recording Live Dead. Stagger Lee started off almost unsure and watered down, but soon it turned into a most blistering rendition, up there with the best I've ever heard. The Beatles cover was well done, and Althea was good though perhaps just a little slow compared to more intense versions I've witnessed with Garcia at the helm, but as it is of my all-time favorite Dead tunes I was glad to hear it.

The intermission seemed a bit long, and I guess I'll never get used to the ubiquitousness of cell phones at shows, where people are calling each other up the whole time. It seemed everyone was on their cell phones between the sets, though I shouldn't talk perhaps as I used the opportunity to send text message back and forth to my girlfriend who was visiting relatives in Oneida NY last night while I was at the show. And beer is like $8 a pop...how could anyone afford to get drunk there I don't know--glad I didn't have to. And speaking of that, the other thing I looked for but couldn't find was the Wharf Rats, the 12 step recovery group that used to follow the Grateful Dead and hold AA / NA meetings during the intermission back in the day. They used to have yellow balloons so you could find them, but either I didn't look in the right place or they just weren't there. I should have grabbed this guy walking by during the first set who had a "One Show At A Time" sticker on his ear and asked him, but I was too busy dancing, lol. :D ANd even though there was no official taper section and it seemed like the gatekeepers were strictly enforcing the no backpacks rule, I did see a few mike booms poking up over the heads of the audience up on the lawn--have to see if this show pops up on a p2p network near me!

The Bobby series at the beginning of Set Two was pretty cool; Weir never got to do two of his prog-styled tunes in row with Garcia standing by, to my knowledge. Then Mickey Hart singing Strange Remain was an interesting novelty to me, as I never heard him do more than banter from time to time. Drums was good, and almost got into a panic pound on the timpanis but Kreutzman and Hart pulled it back, it seemed, before it got too wild. The stage backdrop was this interesting metallic shimmering/seething thing that was cool enough to watch without any psychedelic enhancements...no doubt a few concert-goers found them a bit overwhelming (I used to see shit like that WITHOUT any backdrop, lol). And while chatting with the guys helping me keep my water bottle safe in the seats in front of where i parked myself, for some reason it never occured to any of us that it was Saturday night--the encore was pretty much a given. I had never been hasseled over setting a water bottle down in a seating area before, but the seat/ticket checker guy where I was watching the show was Mr. Johnny-On-The-Spot, let me tell you. Despite that I was able to borrow a pen and get at my water often enough to note the entire show and not die of thirst, lol. And somehow I lucked out getting there later than the tailgaters I was at the far end of the parking lot and I was out of there in less than 10 minutes from when I sat in my car, an unheard of thing for that place.

On a scale of 1-10, I would rate last night's show at an 8. Pretty good. I recommend The Dead to any oldtimers out there that used to go, and for any newcomers who missed out on the whole long strange trip thing before Captain Trips checked himself out 9 years ago. Seeing the Grateful Dead was a rite of passage for us, and its good to know that a reasonable facsimile is still keeping the oddball flame burning for the youth of today.

Edited August 2, 2004 by CTC Command

[joeyz]

Thanks for the review CTC. I'd really like to check these guys out sometime. Unfortunately, I never got to see them before Jerry passed. There's an awesome Greatful Dead cover band called the "Darkstar Orchestra" that comes through Athens,GA ever so often... they're great... but I am sure it's nothing compared to the real thing. It's a shame I missed out...but maybe I can catch of glipse of the magic whenever I get a chance to see The Dead. :good job:

[DudeAsInCool]

Being a deadhead, this is good news that they are touring again...

[Warflower]

Being a deadhead, this is good news that they are touring again...

I love the Dead too Dude.. I went to see the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden right before Jerry passed...ironic I said to my husband YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME BEFORE THE GUY DIEEESS... (I was only half kidding...Jerry always looked so beat up) :(

Anyway, we were at a Rat Dog concert in Central Park the night we heard the news about Jerry..my Goodness...it was a horrible night and needless to say they cut the set short.

Went to see the Dead last year at Jones Beach when Joan Osbourne was singing with them. She did Sugaree and MADE IT HER OWN! :good job: Let me tell ya...WOW!

We have tix again for this year's show at the beach and I just can't wait. :)

Thanks for the review CTC and the post! Excellent. :bigsmile: