HOLY CIRCUS HAS COME TO TOWN, BATMAN!!! The energry was beyond ANYTHING I have witnessed in the years since 1995.. SHIT, since 1985!!!! It's impossible to review the energy.. But you could basically SEE the air on stage it was so electric. I just kept thinking what it must be like for Joan to be standiing in the middle of that energy storm... And then be asked to step up to the mike & deliver.. OH AND DELIVER SHE DELIVER TONIGHT.. As for the crowd & venue.... CHILL!! The venue is in a league of it's own & the crowd was your typical N.W./West coast laid back-family affair vibe crowd.
SET 1:
DARK STAR JAM>
(This was basically Dark Star. I can't believe anyone else has commented on that. I seriously thought they were gonna sing a verse. Killer Dark Star Jam!!)
TRUCKIN'>
(BIG energy from band & crowd. Jimmy is on Fire. Yipee, I called it)
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS>
(Very slow trippy intro!! Really caught me off guard.. VERY psychedelic!)
CRYPTICAL ENVELOPMENT>
(These transitions were amazing. So fluid. Jimmy was really off the charts. Just blazing.)
LOSER
(Wow, Cryptical>Loser.. Now there's a transition that must be heard again..VERY nice!! This is seriously the best verion i've ever heard..Dare I say EVER. Easily best post-Jerry ever...I'm just completely blown away)
ALLIGATOR>
( Phil lets it fly!!!! Huge energy. Very bouncy. Vocal shakey at first, but the playing is blazin'!! At this point i'm pinching myself.. Is this really 1st set!?!?!?!?. Everything is jammed out BIG!)
CAUTION (do not step on tracks)
(Boom, into Caution. Are you f#&%ing kidding me!?? Joan has her Gypsy Woman Skat. They are have a BLAST on stage. Joan picks on Bobby first & he steps up with a sweet Mojo slide solo!! Goddamn, I haven't seen'm party like this since the mid-80's. Joan then tell's Jimmy to give us some Mojo Hand, and he obliges by turning the entire Gorge on it's face with a jaw dropping guitar meltdown!!!!
MUST'VE BEEN THE ROSES
(Got a bit choked up on this astonishingly beautiful rendition. Never heard it sound better. I'm blown away by thier harmonizing)
WEST LA FADEAWAY >
(The band is IN the grooooove. Jimmy's got it down & they lay it down East LA style)
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
( I remind you this is still 1st set. The crowd steped up the energy for this!! Mickey kept it simple & let more of his drumming do the
singing. Not as annoying, vocally, as others i've heard.. The band RIPS it
1980 funky style!!!)
SET 2:
LOOSE LUCY
( Great way to get the crowd up & singing. Straight up rocking version)
BROWN-EYED WOMAN
( This is where I lost it in the energy & didn't come down til drums. They've put alot of the 60's flavor back into this one.. The crowd is right with'm!!! Big sing-a-long!! BIG smiles!!)
EYES OF THE WORLD>
(Eyes through drums is not even near possible to desribe. I'll just say it's the madest, badest, flipped out jamming i've heard from this band. Far & away the best jamming & transitions yet)
JAM>
NIGHT OF 1000 STARS>
JAM>
(Holy shit, what just happened. Perfect song for the venue!!)
ESTIMATED PROPHET>
(FiInally they get one 1977 style. Jimmy had his gooey, liquid, funky monkey guitar working for this one. Easily the best played Estimated yet. I kept thinking "They finally nailed it." Very 1977 sounding. Slow & funky as HELL!!!)
JAM>
DRUMS>
(seemed a bit short.. I was so into it, it may haved just seemed that way. My first REAL post Dead drums)
"Pretty Angel Voice Mini-Space (Joan)" JAM>
( wow, total wierdness)
STANDING ON THE MOON>
( I was hoping Joan would sing this..but.. Bobby nailed it!! He NAILED EVERYTHING last night!!!!)
JAM>
( such a beautiful spacey jam. I just kept thinking "Damn, this is just so beautiful")
CASSIDY
(I was hoping they would pick the energy up after all the beautiful mellow jamming. This was perfectly played though)
SUGAREE
(Joan SHINES!!!.. Full crowd participation.. She did such a great job & sang her brains out!! This song is back to its intended glory)
Encore:
SAMPSON & DELILAH
(started just vox & drums like the OLD days. HUGE energy!!! My new favorite version)
BROKEDOWN PALACE
(as beautiful as it gets people. Jimmy shows his touch)
Overall feeling. This was my first seeing them this year. I have many tapes from summer(6/15,17,20,28,29, 7/4, 8,9,10,11, 31) and this has the biggest energy.. Then again seeing it live vs. tapes might explain that...but... Each song was the best i've heard it played.. They really let it all hang out. It felt like the Jimmy & Bobby show. Joan had two songs to let it rip & I LOVED IT.. I really don't get any of the complaints.. This is a new band, a new day, new time, new place. GET OVER IT!!!! Step aside, cause this band means business.. Jimmy & Bobby really RIPPED the roof off.. Jimmy. Jimmy, Jimmy!
The tightest, leanest, meanest shit i've heard yet.. Liquid transitions & thick heavy grooves.. Get the tapes, NO SHIT!
Finally thought.. JERRY WOULD LOVE THIS SHIT. I can see him gigglin, shaking his head "Yea, man, YEA!!!!"
Johnny, Kingston, WA
I had ordered tickets to this show after I'd told myself that I would not be going due to personal finances and the ticket cost being $60.00. However, I went online and found the presale was going on when I had logged on and just out of curiosity checked on three tickets for seating assignment. Come to find out there were tickets in the 38th row, not great but too good to turn down, so before I knew it I had them ordered. I spoke with a friend from Dallas who had seen the Willie Nelson birthday show and he informed me that I would not regret it. I had seen the Alpine Other Ones reunion shows last year and while happy to see the boys back together, was not entirely pumped after either of the two shows there. Lets face it; there was no denying, no matter what the band does, that Jerry is gone. What we do with this hard realization is up to us however, and I was willing to give the band another chance to provide me with a moving experience.
After I had purchased the tickets did I realize just how far the Gorge was from Portland (250 miles to be exact) and while this wouldn't be so bad if we were able to stay overnight, the reality of having to work on Monday morning could not be avoided. This here was the most dissapointing aspect of the show as there was another pavilion just over the bridge into Vancouver Washington that held the same amount of people as the Gorge. Please look into this guys. Anyhow, after 5 hours of driving we had arrived and no doubt about it the Gorge is a beautiful serene location with great acoustics for any show. The show however did not begin until 7 pm which is when sunset was which at this point made it completely dark by 7:30 which at that point made no difference where we were or that we drove 250 miles. The show should have started at 5 to truly enjoy the Gorge experience.
The band took the stage at 7 with a nice jazzy opener hinting at Dark Star and then welcomely landed into Truckin, a fitting opener for the last show of the tour and considering that we all trucked out there went well. A nice jam out into a surprising Tomorrow Never Knows which caught my ears a bit off at first, but then coaxed me into it. The Cryptical went down real nice and Phil sounded great on this one, a real bouncy, jazzy feel reminiscent of some '68 Crypticals. Loser came out of this one and sounded nice, but unfortunately Bobs vocals didn't sound as strong as I hoped they would. Alligator came out of this one which could have been passed over; it just sounded off and out of place. The Caution jam out of this one was great with Joan showing her stuff and going on a tangent for all the women out there; real Pigpen like. From here a real nice rendition of Roses with Joan on lead beautifully sung, followed by West LA. This one started nice, and was well played but the change in the vocal tempo didn't work for me; a little too choppy as well as Mickey's vocal on the Fire. I hate saying bad things about anyone in the band as I truly love these guys for all the joy they have brought me in my life, but Fire is not what it used to be with Mickey on vocals here. Sorry Mickey.
The second set opener I was hoping for something more than a Loose Lucy which was never a favorite of mine even when Jerry was around so without him really was a letdown. The Brown Eyed Women which followed was real nice with some contributing vocals from everyone. The churning notes into Eyes made my heart jump as it once did and carried through real well here and the Night of a Thousand Stars which was the first time I'd heard this one sounded nice as well. Couldn't make out all the lyrics, but nice sound on it. The Estimated I found to be an odd choice with all the crap currently going on in California that it almost seemed comical, which was real unfortunate considering how much I enjoy this song most of the time. Here is where the show hit its peak was the jam following the Estimated. Between the visual impact of the screen onstage and the intense psychedelic jam session that happened here, I was truly blown away. This is where they proved to me that they weren't just going through any motions and that the innovative spirit within these great musicians is still alive and well. Drums is always a real treat seeing Bill and Mickey playing together after all these years, and Space was out there without being obnoxious. Standing on the Moon pulled out and looking at the cliffs that were lit up around looked as though we could have been in a crater on the moon ourselves. Cassidy was nicely follwed as we made our way up the hill to get a jump start on the traffic heading out and caught the Sugaree closer from above with Joan nicely again on vocals. Was really hoping for the Sugar Magnolia here but no luck. The encore, being it was Sunday and we hadn't heard it yet was a calm first verse on the Samson, but took off in the second verse. The big surprise, the double encore with a beautiful Brokedown Palace which I hadn't caught since '91 at Pine Knob in Michigan. As we drove home, the feelings I had were that there still never be a show like the days when Jerry and Brent were still around, but none the less, the band is still an inspiration and can pull out a few surprises every now and again. Thanks for a great time guys and Joan. P.S. Bobby, please play with Ratdog this fall in Portland!!!
Glenn Blanchard, Portland, OR