For a show that almost wasn't comes a setlist and performance that are going to be very tough to top for this Dead afficiando. Having taken in the Milwaukee Summerfest Show that can only be described as well-played and very mellow comes a most welcome other-end-of-the-spectrum show in the unlikely venue in Joliet, Illinois.
There are several things that could be considered catalysts for this show: 1. The fact that it was almost canceled due to the stage collapse during load-in. This alone merits an INCREDIBLE kudos to the road crew and management for a successful solution to a rigging nightmare. Three well-placed cranes held up the sound and light sets. Thankfully, it was a solution that worked for everyone's comfort and safety levels. 2. Garcia's birthday on August 1. Can the band actually take a step back and come to terms with the "Pink Elephant" of Garcia's death? YES, THEY CAN and DID... Great tip of the hat to all of them. 3. Chicago. A location that merits some type of special status as it was the location of Mydland's last show, Garcia's last show, and the Grateful Dead's last show. 4. It's a new venue and a RACEWAY venue at that. Add that to the smoldering pre-show kettle. If we're looking for reasons as to why this show was SPECTACULAR those should be on the list. Now, on to the show.
What a first set. LTGTR, Wheel, BTL, GDTRFB, Senor, Around and Around, Throwing Stones. Unreal. When LTGTR came out, it already had tons of energy that was lacking throughout Milwaukee. Seamless, fluid, driven, beautiful. Pages could be written about how great a first set it was. I'll leave it to your imagination.
Set Two: The danger of the blistering first set would be how to top it in the second set. They did it in style, all over the musical map in terms of energy, suppleness, and emotion. St. Stephen was the opening salvo through a blistering Bridge and Born Cross-Eyed into a mellowing Sugaree. Great jams, tear-creating Fennario then right into Cryptical. Wow! Great Drums and Space. Really. The second set then lands with the second verse of Dark Star then Stella Blue. Needless to say, Joan delivers everything. She's great.
What could be an encore worthy of the previously mentioned gem? Not Fade Away works, but not before a great Phil organ donor message where he claimed, "Hey, you might save someone's life who's weirder than me...." Funny. Also, somewhere in the middle of a transition Bobby commented that the band was running like a Swiss watch or similar. I can't remember if something fell apart on him then, but it seemed like the Dead machine was easily jumping through every musical hoop they could find.
In the end, I was nothing short of impressed. Just when I had doubts where this whole Dead thing was going and I was beginning to look at the past as the moments of where it's "at," lo, and behold, the genie came out of the bottle and blew my mind away.
Folks, this show proved to me the The Dead are still a force to be reckoned with. No jokes, no fooling. Pay your money, see a show, and be thankful that the music hasn't stopped yet.
I've seen some great shows, but I never thought that I'd ever see a show this complete, this well played, this varied, in person, in this lifetime. It's obvious that playing still means something to the band and the quality of what I heard sure means something to me. Still.
Mr. Kotter, Arlington Heights, IL
The Dead's return to the Chicago area could not be any more dramatic. A storm the night before practically destroyed the stage setup and the Dead and venue crews had to work overtime to piece together a stage in order to put on the show. The result was that moe.'s opening set was cancelled in order to provide the crew more time to construct the stage, etc. Rumours in the parking lot said Hunter's set was cancelled as well; these proved false but led to a lot of people missing out on his performance.
Dylan came on at 6pm, with the stadium filling up with excited Deadheads. Despite all the naysayers, Dylan is a don't-miss act. He and his crack band performed smoking versions of recent Dylan tunes like Cold Irons Bound and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The highlight of the set was a blistering hot performance of Summer Days, which closed his set.
By the time the Dead came out after 8pm, the huge drag racing track was slightly more then half full, which is saying a lot. The joint must seat nearly 80,000. They opened with a brief jam that hinted at a number of possibilites before becoming Let The Good Times Roll, a fun, classic set opener. This was followed by Wheel, which began rather shaky. Joan jumped the gun after the first verse and began singing the chorus way too soon, much to her obvious embarrassment. The band quickly got its legs and the ship quickly righted itself and the playing out of the song was stellar, seguing into a well done Built To Last. Bobby then introduced Dylan to the stage by saying, "look out, here comes the law," or something close.
Dylan joined the band on vocals and keyboards for GDTRFB, Seno,r and Around and Around. His piano playing really shined on the GDTRFB, at one point leading the way on a rocking jam midsong. His vocals sounded fine handling the material, which can't be said for the version of his beautiful Senor. For whatever reason his vocals degenerated during the song and were almost a self parody. The playing and backing vocals were excellent and I would love to see the Dead tackle it again some time down the road. Dylan redeemed himself on Around and Around, alternating lines with Bobby and sounding like he was having the time of his life. Both Bobs were obviously enjoying themselves and it affected everybody else in the house, making Around and Around the highlight of the first set. After Dylan left the stage, Hart led the way on Self Defense. The new song seems full of potential and provided a vehicle for Jimmy Herring to do some real guitar pyrotechnics. A rousing Throwing Stones, with new lyrics pertaining to our government's interest in the middle east provided by Bobby, closed the set on a high note.
Second set opened with a proficient St. Stephen that went into a jam that seemed destined to become The Eleven but instead morphed into the William Tell Bridge. William Tell led into another jam that seemed about to become The Eleven, but somewhere in there the band lost the thread and seemed to be moving in two separate directions. The jam nearly fell apart completely before being taking back into a kind of St. Stephen jam. Following the recovery Bobby quiped, "Like a swiss watch," which relieved the tension in the audience over such an obvious breakdown of on-stage communication between the players. The jam then slammed into a smoking Born Cross-Eyed that erased all thoughts of the previous misstep. This led the way into a sweet Sugaree, led by Joan, which seemed to build and build as she strutted and flirted her way across the stage. A spacy jam followed, which became Dark Star. The new vocal arrangement on the song was interesting, though at first a little off putting. Dark Star went into outer space, with what seemed like drums bound to follow. Instead, Bobby put on the acoustic and the highlight, at least for me, of the show followed, Peggy-O. The new vocals, with Phil singing the part of the narrator, Bobby as William, and Joan as Peggy was very effective and the playing on it was sublime. With the clock nearing the usual 11:30pm cut off time for a concert, it seemed that the show was just about over, but Phil led everyone into Cryptical that led into a huge drums. At one point the aluminum bleachers were humming from the drum vibrations, very cool, very spooky stuff. The space jam out of drums included Joan on vocals. The delicate, beautiful jamming combined with her vocalizing worked to create one of the musical highlights of the evening. The jam out of space slowly rose to reveal The Other One which boomed to life and got everybody back on their feet. Bobby flubbed a line in the second verse, but that's the price you pay for flying at the seat of your pants. The Other One slowly became Dark Star, which ended in a vocal jam based on the "transitive nightfall of diamonds" lyric. Stella Blue followed to close the set, and though beautifully played, many people, including myself, wanted a more upbeat tune to close out such a huge second set (over 2 hours long)! After Phil's donor rap, where he reminded the audience that "you might save the life of somebody even weirder then me," the band tore into Not Fade Away, ending with another vocal jam and leaving the audience clapping and singing out into the parking lot. In summary, while not a perfect show, it was a damned good one. The second set was a demonstration of why we love this band and their music. It was filled with incredible highs and a couple misfires. Of course the highs outnumbered and outshined the misfires and that's what everyone leaving Route 66 Raceway that evening will carry with them for years to come.
Kass Stone, Lake Station, IN
