Furthur / The Dead / The Other Ones | OtherOnes.Net

After hearing great reviews of the show at Bonnaroo, I was quite excited to see this version of the Dead, having missed last years Joan accompanied sets. As a general statement, I was disappointed by the overall show. In a nutshell the pacing and song choice was just not a cohesive "show", it was more like rehearsal. Seeing a rehearsal show isn't neccesarily a bad thing as we all love this band and it is part of the process to watch the changes and be a part of transitions musically and personnel wise, but it can also be a frustrating experience as a fan, and I am sure the frustration is felt on stage by band members (all or some ?!). Nothing wrong with opening with Crazy Fingers, in fact it was a nice jam into it. Fresh life is often breathed into songs that get this set placement shake-up. Bobby was feeling bluesy this night as he raved up a Big Boss Man, but then the pacing troubles started with Warren's singing You Remind Me. And herein is the problem for me: Warren is very talented, the core Dead guys should be applauded for bringing into the fold a new muscian and new songs, but the fit just isn't that great. I find myself wondering, why is a 3rd guitarist needed? Warren adds some to vocals, and maybe Bobby doesn't want to sing the entire show (it works for Ratdog), but Warren's songs are just not a good fit and his covers are so wide ranging it is like a he's trying (and therefore the band) to figure out what we want to hear. The other Warren songs of the night, The Real Thing and Madman Across The Water felt the same way, not really part of a show, more a casting about for something to play that will get applause. I think Warren's best contribution is the revival of Brent's songs and some of Brent's covers, I think Warren should focus more on that. Althea and Passenger both made for a nice end to the 1st set, but just a real spotty set.
This statement will probably offend some, but Doin' That Rag is just not a good song. Old or otherwise, it is not worth resurecting and as soon as it started, I felt not too excited about the 2nd set. Overall though it was a fun set, the St. Stephen>Born Cross-Eyed was very cool and there was plenty of spark and life to show the band was alive and creative and Warren and Bobby sharing vocals on Lovelight is a great freshening of the song. Iko Iko encore? Fun and surprising but indicative of the strange pacing of the show. The light show was the best I have seen since starting my shows in 1988, bar none. The sound quality was fantastic. The half sold seats was less than inspiring. This won't make me any friends but, ditch Warren and stick with Jimmy and let Bobby handle the majority of the vocals. Change is good, but change for the sake of change is not. I hope this was just an off night.

One thing to note about the show is that I took a lady friend of mine to see it. It was her first show (she's seen Ratdog once), and while she likes the GD alright, she's never been a huge concert kinda person. But we've known each other for nearly 2 years and she's blown off two NYE shows and Irvine last Fall - so since the band was in our backyard, she finally decided to check it out. I wanted to be a good host, so I didn't socialize or try to track down some kind heads like I intended (Sundog, Matty for two).

We stayed in the lot too long, just hanging out and talking, so we only got in near the end of Warren's set, which was kind of a drag. But I didn't want to seem like a hyperactive Deadhead, so I just swung with it. We cruised around, looked at stuff found our seats, and just got settled when the Dead hit the stage. Bit of tuning, short jam, and Crazy Fingers. Really nice opener. Bobby got almost all the words right, and the sound was dialed in quite nicely - I'll say this up front, the mix was vastly better than either at Irvine last Fall or the two NYE shows. Bobby was clear, Phil had depth, vocals were resonant. Very nice. I hadn't seen a live Crazy Fingers since Jerry died and so was quite happy - plus Bobby pulled it of well.

Nice jam after CF that spiraled down to an almost stop, then Big Boss Man. Another surprise, magnified by the fact that I was expecting Warren to sing it, but Bobby took the lead on that one as well. Very solid, not a whole lot of filler or pointless jamming afterwards - just straight ahead blues. You Remind Me came next and, while it seemed pleasant enough, I spent half the song trying to figure out what it was - so no major impact. Then came another little "Ratdog" twofer: Brown-Eyed Women and Schoolgirl. Nice and concise - BE Women was really pretty, nice Jimmy fills, and Schoolgirl got a nice crunch, aided by Warren's intuitive knowledge of the blues. Then Warren stepped back up to the plate with a smoking, piercing version of The Real Thing - haunting words and vocals, and excellent solos by both Jeff and Jimmy.

Then came Althea. I've heard a couple versions of this on cd - one from last year and one from 2/9/04 - both of which I enjoyed. But nothing prepared me for hearing it live for the first time since 1985. It definitely struck a strong emotional chord for me, got inside deep - my lady friend really felt it too. Then a brief pause and they came raging out with Passenger. Another first for me since Jerry's passing - hell, first time live since the Dead quit doing it in the 80's. Yes, I know PLQ does it - but I've only caught a couple of their shows since 2000, and hearing it live, with Mickey and Billy laying down that fat pounding beat was too cool.

Then came the set break - which was cool with me. Decent length first set - no totally outrageous song selections or jamming, but solid - and *concise.* It had more of that Good Old Grateful Dead feeling that anything I've seen since '95. And that's a good thing. They seemed balanced, focused, and probably recouping both from five nights at the Rocks, but also the reverse altitude (and climate!) change. But even with that, I really enjoyed myself, and found myself thinking of the last time I saw the boys at Cricket (aka Desert Sky Pavilion) ten years ago, back in 1994. It was another first show-date with a lady friend (who I later married), and while it was fun to be there, Jerry was already clearly in his precipitous decline. The difference between that sad event - where the band was trying to compensate for Jerry's lapses - and Tuesday night was like night and day. Even in their post-RR burn out, they were way more fresh and alive than at any time during the 1994 Phoenix run.

For some reason the break didn't seem that long. But in typical fashion, I was drafted for a beverage run just before the second set started and got to my seat just in time for Doin' That Rag. Second time for me (first time was PLQ, 10/27/00 in Vegas) - very pleasant surprise. Warren pulled it off with aplomb and it made me smile (now about Rosemary...). After that there was a pause and I could tell they were working on something, but when I heard the opening chords of Lazy Lightning I was still blown away. Yes, I know they've been doing again for awhile now - but the last time I saw it live was on Halloween in 1984 (an advantage, I suppose, to "only" seeing 3-8 shows a year - lol). Great version - nice and crispy - good vocals, excellent mix, fine jam. As a quick point of information, Bobby never sang Supplication - they just did the jam which finally wound down, almost to a halt, when Warren hit that sharp guitar riff and they went into Madman Across the Water.

Some folks dissed this when they played it at the Warfield in February, but I really liked it - crisp, crunchy, they had the changes down tight, and some very nice jamming - both melodic and powerful - in the middle. Jeff again shone on this one. When it was over they brought it to a complete stop (have they been reading our bitching about ">"s on this board???) before going into Saint Stephen. Another good, strong version there, with a nice Eleven jam before the final verses. Excellent Eleven jam - focused, flowing, powerful, with great Jimmy leads. To my surprise they didn't do High Green Chilly Winds and instead broke straight into Born Cross-Eyed. Now again, I know some folks were bitching and moaning about hearing BCE too many times. Well let me tell you something. When I was a college deadhead, Anthem was one of my favorite albums, and I loved BCE but thought I'd never in my life get to hear it live. This was my second time (first being 12/31/03) and I really dug it. Once again, they nailed the changes and then afterwards went into a nice spacey little jam that went on for a few minutes. I thought it was going to glide into drums, but instead out of the space arose

Like a Rolling Stone. Another first for me (I like seeing songs I've only heard on cd live - I'm like a kid that way) - great tune - audience was singing along - Phil got all the words right and sang with emotion. Then finally it went into some very nice drums and beam work. My lady friend took notice of that and was very impressed. We were at this point up on the lawn enjoying a lovely mellow breeze and watching the stars overhead. Damn near a perfect evening. Finally space began to coalesce into form and He's Gone emerged. Very nice, solid version - made me smile and just stand there swaying side to side, feeling very connected with the band and the crowd - a very singular moment. Finally they wrapped things up with a nice juicy Lovelight, with Bobby and Warren trading lines about halfway through and egging each other on. Very nice, screaming finale.

Lights went up and we decided to start heading out so I could pick up my little boy from the sitter. The Iko was nice and fun - nothing transcendental - but a good way to bounce out of the show and off to our car.

Overall impression - this band is much tighter and more focused than any other model I've seen, including 1998. I felt *much* better about them than I did at any of the 2003 shows I saw. No real amazing jamming, but no trainwrecks either - Just a good solid B-grade Dead show (and unlike a lot of B-grade GD shows I saw in the last few years, I didn't walk out feeling deprived, depressed or pissed - just really nice). The only thing I would change in this lineup (assuming they are happy with the Warren/Jimmy axis) is to add a female vocalist. Warren's got the mojo, but it's a tad dark (sort of a Brent/Pigpen/Jerry mix) and masculine. Even in the Brent days, Jerry had a slightly feminine side that soothed the beast and helped make it more gentle and pretty and purr at times. Quite frankly, I'd love to see Donna Jean back in action (with the caveat that she never, ever to the PITB Wail again ), just to lighten things up a bit and purtify the vibe. Other than that, all I can say is....

THANK YOU....FOR A *REAL* GOOD TIME!!!!!