corrections - Bobby did sing watch tower, i have listed that Warren did. My bad, it was a long fuckin set.
Heya guys! Just got home from my first jaunt down to Red Rocks since i moved to colorado! all i have to say is fuckin wow! I've gotta catch some Zs soon because i'm tired as shit and i gotta be at work in the morning, but i thought i'd give you atleast a brief song by song run down of what el Cookie thought of the show.
Get to the show, grab some veggie chili, wait in the long ass red rocks line, and finally get up to the bleachers having missed half warrens set :(. But all the stuff was familiar, i wasn't too upset. wait awhile, than the lights dim, the sky threatens rain, and the boys come on stage.
Set I:
Jam > Feel Like A Stranger > - Excellent jam at the beginning. This was my pick for opener in the daily dose, which made me happy. Excellently played, even if the energy was still a little loose, everything went off pretty well without a hitch.
Mississippi 1/2 Step > - Excellent as well. A little slow for Miss1/2Step until the chorus, than they picked it up nicely. Jean couldn't handle the echo, but it sounded good to me and you could barely hear phil repeating the lines.
No More Do I > - Amazing! God do i love this song. They kicked it out very well, and while it definately shaped up to be a Warren night on vox, it was a jimmy night on guitar. He blazed one phat solo during No More Do I that almost made me weep. Needless to say, the crowd was in a state of awe, hehe.
Alligator > - I can't remember if the first spacey jam was comming in or going out of alligator, but this was definately one big surprise on tonight's list. Well played by all members, felt good with no Phil on vox.
Lazy River Road > - Oh, alright, the trip jam was into this. excellent jam into this song, very well played, though standard. the trading off lines thing works great for phil bob and warren, and though the song wasn't too off it's usual beaten path, it was enjoyable and nice to have such a lazy song after a rousing alligator.
After Midnight > - God, do i even have to explain how awesome this was? Warren really shined on this and watch tower. Excellent job fielding the vox as well. The energy was bouncing from one red rock to another. Though we were wondering why there were playing it at 9pm; we were also wondering where "the midnight hour" had disappeared too....
Watchtower > - Awful jam into watchtower. started out excellent, and just fell apart in the middle. No one could keep it together. That being said, they tried hard as they could to organize themselves out the of the jam, and they went into an excellent watchtower, with Warren rocking the hell out of the lead on this one.
Just A Little Light - I am so fucking impressed with this tune. It's a little bit heavier than "typical dead"; but it's still so fucking awesome. Jimmy Herring brings his A Game to this song, and his liquid fast butter fingers were described by one after the song as "quick as penguin shit on an ice block heading down hill" (don't ask me what the fuck that means - lol)
After an Extremely long setbreak....
Set 2:
spacey jam > cortez the killer > - amazing. much tighter space jam than the ones in the first set. the cortez was sound and would have made neil proud. once again, Warren on the vox, but i still believe herring carried his guitar better on this tune. Warren was going for that traditional Neil sound and it just wasn't working in this incarnation of the song, while Jimmy was able to work with Warren's neil style to bring it up to a whole special level.
night of 1000 stars > - i've heard complaints that the dead are forcing the segues this tour. not this one. the cortez > night jam fell right into place. every time i hear this song i love it more and more. amazing style, Warren really rocked this one out. perfect to bring us into...
Scarlet Begonias > - another song i called on my daily dose (yay me!) It was, after all, Red Rocks where the Dead have laid down many monstrous Scarlet > Fires, why should tonight be any different? and it wasn't. The two guitar masters dueled while bobby kicked and phil grinned ear to ear. the two drummers worked masterfully with each others and Jeff has fallen into place nicely, working to make this song different, trippy, dancey and amazing. Jeff really helped tie the segue together as well, bringing these evil sounding keys into the mix right before....
Fire On The Mountain > - surprise surprise! the gangs all here. excellent that they stuck with leaving the scarlet go right into fire. the energy was intense on and off stage, the the audience was definately dancing their asses off for this one.
Drums/Space > - Amazing as usual. What i loved about this crowd is how receptive they were. this was the night for The Dead to bust out a few obscurities (ie. Night of 1000 Stars, No More Do I, A Little Light) and the crowd was willing to listen. Prolly why most people stood and watched Mickey and Billy play off each other in excellent form. Spaces keep getting better too. Oh, and Mickey on the beam...
The Other One > - Short but sweet. A nice jumper. Everyone was back on their feet with hands in the air.
Dead Don't Have No Mercy > - If you have the rehersals, you know they rock this tune out. They did. Warren and Jimmy kept trying to take each other up a notch, one great solo after another, with Warren keeping the vocals sweet, deep and excellently done.
Jam > - "Okay...so what the fuck song is this...is it going to be?! holy shit...it's..."
Golden Road > - Alright, i hadn't even considered this tune when going over fantasy picks. Last time i heard it was 12/2/02 back at allstate, and it was amazng to hear. A favorite of mine when i first got my little hands on "Best of Skeletons from the Closet"; it was excellent to hear everyone sing along and dance. The energy second set stayed at a pretty high level despite all the spacey jams, prolly due to how well the jams were constructed. This helped leave room for the jumpy golden road.
Lucy In The Sky > - Extended jam into a standard yet welcomed Lucy, got the whole crowd singing. Once again, people will complain about covers. but when one looks at the amount of dead tunes that the dead didn't write...i mean common people. we all know that when the dead play a song well, it's their's. Tonight, they owned Lucy.
Midnight Hour - Oh! there you are! thank you for comming out, cause you rawked you midnight hour you. prolly, like, bobby's only set up to the microphone the whole second set. excellent version, reminiscent of 12/31/02's midnight hour in the first set.
Encore: GDTRFB - Standard, but it was the encore, and Warren had a pretty sweet little solo in the middle.
So, overall:
1st Set: B+
2nd Set: A
Overall Score: A-
definately brought their A-Game to the table, just not A+. I'll discuss more later and i'll do this again after the weekend shows! until than, night brothers and sisters, and sleep tight!
Cookie Supahstah, Fort Collins, CO
Dead On The Rocks
By Nick Hutchinson
As one of many longtime fans of the Greatest Band in the Land, it's no small
challenge to sever off a tiny slice of an ongoing musical-cum-social
experiment and hold it up for definitive evaluation. The much-heralded jam-based
continuum has been evolving for almost 35 years in various manifestations and
at
this point the mystic ritual of live Dead music has been etched into our dreams
and minds if not our collective DNA. One might wonder if a review of the Dead
even matters. It's in our heads and hearts what counts, wherein rattle the
images and rhythms of the years.
No matter what the year though, celebrating the advent of the summer in an
ancient and musically-enshrined sandstone alcove with nine thousand like-minded
souls and THE band is as close to "it" as jamheads can get on this planet.
Gazing out over the stage at Denver and beyond to the rolling prairie as the
first notes of the music hit the air and a lazy loop of lightning zig-zagged
across the horizon it hardly seemed arrogant to think: It Doesn't Get Much
Better
Than This!
And so it was as I checked in on the second night of the Red Rocks run. The
buzz going around was that the band had been a little stiff the previous
evening. So my hunch was that the guys would be looser on night two. This hunch
proved
correct. After a limbering-of-the-fingers jam the boys came off the line with
a solid "Feel Like a Stranger." Next followed a well-received "Mississippi
Half-Step" that included a vocal twist at the song's finale with Bobby,
now seemingly the on-stage conductor, staggering the refrain (by about a
half-step) and signaling the crowd to do the same: "Uptown Mississippi Half Step
(Pause) Toodeloo. (Repeat) Uptown Mississppi Half Step . . . Toodeloo." A fresh
take on a classic, infusing the old with a refreshing interactive twist.
Perhaps some of the spirit of Ratdog creeping in.
In fact, the Dead is now an amalgamation of side projects that includes members of
Ratdog (Bob and Chimenti) and Phil and Friends (Phil, Warren and Jimmy) all
backed by the rhythm aces of the Grateful Dead -- Mickey and Billy. It felt
like fractals of band split from the mother pod and spliced back together minus
Jerome but with new travelers.
The cool overcast night provided fresh misty air and the crowd took in big gulps
of the high-altitude ether as the band continued with "No More Do I" and
"Alligator," a pair of soul-drenched ditties led vocally by Mr. Warren Haynes,
who
proved himself to be a valuable addition to the sound: a new and colorful
tentacle of the pulsing Dead amoeba. Warren isn't Jerry, nor is he Duane or
Dickey, but he is an extension of the spirit of those players while remaining
very
much himself: a stylish rocker with lots of rootsy power stuffed deep under
his his jam log - like a sleepy alligator come up from the swampy Southland. And
he can he make that slide sing!
Throw the purple light switch to mellow the vibe and give Bob an
acoustic and it's down the "Lazy River Road" to conjure the pleasant pastoral
memories of Garcia. Bob still is psychically attached to Jerry. The oversoul
appears to connect the two and we can sense the pervasive spirit of Jer in the
interstices of the sound, of the air, creeping out of the rocks after a long
winter. What next? What a shuffle! Is it "Hand Jive?" Is it back to Bob's
Kingfish roots? No! It's, even better, a nod to the King of the Crossroads:
"After
Midnight!" Who woulda thunk it? And it's tight and rockin' and everyone is
really going now. This bled into a crowd-pleasing "Watchtower," followed by a
personal favorite "Just A Little Light." It's Warren on vocals again and he's
leading the group like a sparrow in the armies of the night to wrap up a
well-rendered first set.
Ah, summer is a comin' in and I'm at Red Rocks. Who's that giant towering
over the audience dead center? His massive limbs stab the air and his large
frame
sway as the music builds. It's none other than good ol' Grateful Red, aka
Bill Walton. He's here for the whole run! It's good to see one of the old posse
groovin' and playin' the band. Standing in front of me is an acquaintance from
my college days who I haven't seen in 14 years. The music pulls us back
together and conjures memories while new experiences are forged in the moment
and
new friends are made in the unfolding present.
The boys are back on stage and whazzis bubbling out of the jam but Neil
Young's tale of opressive empire, "Cortez the Killer." It's a Dead first for the
tune and we listen with hushed appreciation. Warren paints a picture of
galleons, guns, coca leaves and pearls and then the guitars take us away into a
Phil
and Friends rocker, "Night of a 1,000 Stars." The music folds neatly into
"Scarlet Begonias," Walton's lengthy arms pumping the beat, followed by "Fire on
the Mountain," as sung by Mr. Hart. Mickey's no crooner, but it's good to know
this is still a democratic outfit in which even the drummer gets a go. This is
starting to feel like a Dead show!
Drums and space are nice and weird crackling into a hefty linkage of "The
Other One">"Death Don't Have No Mercy">"Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion">
"Lucy
In The Sky With Diamonds" and "Midnight Hour" to finish the set. Some
well-chosen classics and a hint of a Beatles motif that will continue over the
next
few days. For the encore it's a slightly bumpy version of "Goin' Down The Road
Feeling Bad" followed by a very soulful a cappella "We Bid You Goodnight,"
that saw Warren, Bobby, Phil and company harmonizing sweetly.
Sunday. The last night of what has been a great stand. The gorgeous new
Visitor Center at Red Rocks features an art show that includes the work of Bill
Kreutzman and other Dead-related photographers and visual artists (visit
www.walnutst.com) . The center features interactive media, photos of all the
greats
who have played the Rocks, including the Grateful Dead, and lots more.
The weather is mild this evening and Rober Hunter opens the show as a solo
acoustic act. He looks older and wiser. His words, which have loaned sense and
color to the music over five decades, are still as powerful and full of life as
ever. He closes with his a cappella "Boys in the Barroom," resonating with
the plaintiff line, "Do Lord deliver our kind!"
Sunday night was mellower than Wednesday. The Friday and Saturday shows were
said to have been tight and rocking. But on this fair Sunday it was simply a
pleasure to be out at the Rocks listening to the band as they prepared to wheel
on down the road to Arizona and beyond. Sunday highlights included a festive
"Truckin'" opener, "Loose Lucy," "Til the Morning Comes," "Foolish Heart,"
"Candyman," with Bob throwing down some emotiveWeir-style vocals, "Come
Together," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Viola Lee Blues," and a "China>Rider"
to end
the set, with the crowed going berserk and singing along passionately "I'll
shine my light through the cool Colorado rain." "Brokedown Palace" capped the
show and fortunately the wet stuff didn't start falling until most of the
audience was long gone.
©2004 Nick Hutchinson
Nick Hutchinson, Denver