I arrived about 7PM and headed to the Phil Zone. Highlights for me started with a great opener, Aiko Aiko with so much energy. I had been on the east coast after catching Shoreline/Bridge, Hartford, Philly, and NYC MSG, I had a feeling for what to expect. They seem to have more energy back in the promised land here. Scarlet relit my fire, then a big yummie prize for me was Fire on the Mountain. Outside of the acoustic show at the Bridge concert, this gave me new respect for Jimmy Herring. I was getting the impression he was trying not to sound like Jerry while on the east coast. Sure he jams, but I felt he changed the way the songs sounded in many instances. But after Fire, I know he's got it in him. Problem was the left channel of the PA was popping in and out and the whole band lost vocals several times during Fire, and the problems continued throughout Midnight Hour. (I was also watching Phil, as in the past I've seen him flip the sound crew "the Bird" in such situations, he was patient this time.) Too bad as we could see Bobby was singing a lot on both songs the way he often will improvise in those songs. I was watching him as it was a bummer for me, he kept looking at us up front, as if to see if we were hearing, or not hearing, the same thing he was not hearing. I felt as though I could almost see the energy and momentum drain from the band, there were not a lot of smiles, except for the PA would pop back on for a few words, everybody would cheer, only to drop back down as the left channel and vocals dropped again. It was time for a set break. I left the Phil Zone at break for my ritual Wharf Rats meeting, to return and see one of my show friends missing. The Tahoe City girl Trisha(?) and the substitute teacher from Hollister, John, were happy to see me though. I also entered the Set List pool, and basically wasted $2, but I'm sure to a worthy cause. I only got one song, Fire. Sooo, Strawberry Fields was blissful, Cryptical was intense; I don't see how the boys can concentrate and play with everything moving so fast. It was like a feeding frenzy, energy flying off in all directions, and man was I hot... and sweaty... (eeeww) as the crowd density had pretty much doubled at the break. Great drums, actually out of the 5 shows I saw of this tour, this was the 'smokinest' drum solo. I sure do like that tiny little drum thingy that Billy has off to the side. When he bounces it off the floor, one can see ripples spread across the arena, with the waves which could not escape the walls deflecting back to make strange cross hatch patterns of sound and feeling on their way back to the source. Kinda like the way the building in the movie The Matrix rippled when the helicopter crashed into it... only real. So where were we, oh yea cool space. I bet the boys thought they were pretty sneaky going into Slipknot>The Other One>sliming back into Slipknot. I'm tellin ya, You gotta watch these guys, they'll pull shit like that on you. Franklin's was cool and by the way, there were no more sound anomolies in the second set, whatever it was the sound crew had it fixed during break. Now Phil, we love you very much, we're all going to become Organ donors.... Of course, but don't you ever get tired of virtually identical speeches night after night? I mean, with Robert Hunter on tour, maybe you guys could work a deal, and he could help you with your Organ Donor plea. I could not imagine a better way for a tired, hot, sore semi-retired Deadhead to cool down at the end of a smokin second set than Box of Rain. That was wonderful, Myself and many around me seemed to enjoy immensley what this song did to our merged auras. When my eyes were open, I noticed a great many heads in the Phil Zone hands in the air and close in holding and stroking the subtle boxes of energy so aptly described by the Philster. A great way to end an evening in the Phil Zone. You all know where I'll be tonight! See you in the Zone!
Mark Jacoby, Tahoe City, CA