Reviews
Well, they're a band again.
Since the '98 Other Ones tour, each variation they've gone through has sounded like just a collection of musicians rather than a real band. Last year especially felt like nothing more than a nostalgia act to me, and I spent my ticket money on Ratdog instead.
But this year at the Gorge...
From the opening Shakedown they laid down a consistent dirty white man's funk that proved to be the motif for the whole first set. Even 1/2 Step had the same feel. And here's the kicker: I don't think I've ever heard anything quite like it before. Fresh and innovative. Cohesive. The whole band was so on, from Chimenti to the Vulcan.
Second set was even better--the Egyptian flavoring of the Playin' jam served the same role as Shakedown, providing a basic theme with which to paint the rest of the set. Once again the jams were fresh and new. The strange operatic jam in the middle of Other One was my favorite and made me laugh aloud with astonishment. Beautiful jams during and after Terrapin as well.
Drums->Space was mostly atmospheric soundscape stuff that fit with the rest of the set well. Derek Trucks looked a little uncomfortable at first and seemed to have some tuning issues, but soon found the groove and added lots of flavor to the Playin' Reprise and energetic Lovelight. After Midnight rocked hard, and Bobby and Warren went back to Egypt for a brief jamlet at the end, perfectly closing a near-perfect set.
For my money, I hope they keep this current lineup for a while. Jimmy is much better when he's playing second lead rather than first, and the dynamic between Warren and Bobby is what makes this version of the band work so well. They were playing off of each other all night long and providing much-needed direction in the jams. Only a couple ended in train-wrecks, and even those were interesting.
On a side note, Warren quotes anything and everything throughout this show. Check out the super-cool 'Get Up, Stand Up' quote going into Hard to Handle.
J. Allison, Missoula
It has been a week since I saw the Dead, Dead/Allman Brothers in St. Helens and the Gorge so it's time for a review.
July 2, 2004
The St. Helens, Oregon show was fun and well played, but the songlist wasn't the best. The scene was very mellow and layed back. Typical Oregon / Washington crowd you are familiar with. Me and Izzy sat in the 6th row with my brother Dale and his wife Kate, right in front of the speakers on Jimmy's side of the stage. The first set was an hour long and had some good moments, but nothing in the realm I am always looking for. It was fun watching Bill Walton wave his arms and sing the words to Aiko Aiko. The second set started out with lots of songs that were well played but again not in the realm I am looking for. The jam after Corrina finally did reach that special place and was great. Very spacey and well played. Next was the drums and they were great also. The jam after the drums was mellow and went into a very beautiful Stella Blue. Warren sang it with lots of emotion, and the transition into Help On The Way was quick and made me smile. Slipknot seemed to be a search for a direction that never happened. The transition into Franklin's Tower was very good and Franklin's rocked. We walked to the back of the field during Unbroken Chain so we could get out of there quick and avoid the traffic jam. Well we spent 45 minutes looking for my car. We over shot where we thought we were parked and ended up walking up and down the isles until we finally found the car. Oh well, since we were going north to our motel in Longview there wasn't traffic anyway as most people headed south towards Portland. Overall the show was well played but lacked a powerhouse setlist. My hopes were that the Gorge was going to be better and this was just another night with a new band trying new combinations and flavors each tour stop. Little did I know that the entire concert experience of Saturday July 3, 2004 would turn out to be one of the top concert experiences of my life..............................................
It feels weird to say that, but after talking to a bunch of 40 something friends this week who were also at the Gorge and expressed the same opinion as me or better, I don't feel so strange......................It's an incredibly good feeling when the magic of a transcendental show occurs at home..............
July 3, 2004
We left Longview around 10:00am after eating breakfast and decided to take highway 12 over the mountains to get to Yakima and then go north on 97 until we reach I-90 and go east until we get to George 4 hours latter. The drive started out overcast and gray with drizzle in Longview. Once we excited I-5 onto highway 12 towards Mt. St Helens / Mt Rainer the sky's gradually got clearer. Highway 12 is a very beautiful drive over the Cascades. Me and Izzy just BS'd and listened to music or the radio. As we approached the summit of White Pass a car was flashing its lights at me. I thought they wanted to pass me so I waited until there was a slow lane and moved over to the right. As the car passed me they rolled down there window and made a gesture for me to do the same. They said that my car was smoking. I then thought....oh shit the Izzy curse of July 3rd is here. My friend Izzy's dad and brother both died on this date in different years and now my car is going to die 2 hours from the gorge at a ski area in the summer. We stopped the car and checked out the engine. Izzy checked the fluids and everything was OK. It seemed to be a gasket or seal that had a leak and it was dropping oil onto the exhaust manifold or something. We decided to keep on going and I hoped at the very least we could reach Yakima and there I could rent a car if we had to. As it turned out we were able to make the drive to the motel in Quincy in my 207,000 mile Chevy Blazer OK. We did stop a couple of times to check the fluids and everything was fine.I Need A Miracle everyday!
We got to the motel and the gang was there. We hung out for an hour or so and began the party of July 3rd, before heading over to the Gorge. We car caravanned over to the VIP lot we always park at and hung out for a half hour or so drinking beers and enjoying the 85 degree summer sunshine.We got into the venue with no problem. All of our supplies made it in just fine. I had a couple of small bottles of some premium tequila
and my Digital camera amongst my supplies. As we walked down the path towards the venue we were accosted by the Dead CD people, so I went up to the booth and asked what it would cost to get the entire show. They said $60 for Hunter, The Allman's and The Dead, but there was no guarantee the Allman's would release the show. They had to first approve of the mix and their performance. If they don't release the Allman's then I would get $25 back. I made the purchase and we headed off to the Cliff House to party. My friend Steve had bought some tickets from somebody who had Cliff House passes. I went to the John Fogerty concert on Wednesday June 30th with Steve and borrowed one to make some copies for all of us. As it turned out me and Kinko's did a fine job, and we all got into the Cliff House so we could throw away our hard earned cash on $7 domestic beers. Oh well....what the hell.....the view is awesome and the bathroom line is short.
After relieving myself I went to the our 15th row center seats to watch the Allman Brothers. The Allman Brothers were awesome. They played a 2 hour and 15 minute set that in itself was a very satisfying concert experience. The energy they projected was killer ! As good as any of the Allman Brother shows I have seen in the past. The crowd was up and dancin' and the sound was great. Everybody in the band seemed to be very happy and maybe playing a show again with members of the Grateful Dead (The Dead) was going to turn out to be a 2004 battle of the bands. After all it had been 31 years since they had last shared a concert bill together.My friend Izzy was at the RFK Allman Brothers / Grateful Dead shows in 1973 and shared some of his experiences with me on the drive over. My favorite Allman Brother songs are Dreams and Whipping Post. They do have lots of other songs that I truly love, but those two are at the top of my list. As the show goes on, the Allman's are playing with great energy and they play some of our old favorites along with some newer songs that all sound great. When they go into Dreams I do my Joe Montana TD jump with my arms stretched towards the sky. The version they played at the Gorge was as good as any I have ever heard live or on tape or CD. After Dreams was "Mountain Jam" and it was special. I was thinking about the mountain jam that almost happened earlier in the day but didn't with my car. As Mountain Jam ended in a slow fade, the opening bass rift from Whipping Post sent my arms skyward again. Another TD scored at the Gorge. The version played this Saturday afternoon was hot. Derek and Warren ripped it up. The incredible rhythm section pounded my brain and Greg's vocals were as good as ever. Layla was a surprise as an encore and it was well played. What an incredible show ! My mind was now thinking and hoping that this Allman Brother performance was going to inspire and motivate the Dead. As it turned out, perhaps it did................
We headed over to the Cliff House to relax and party on.......The Dead were next..........
The first set was around 90 minutes of a continuous song into song transistion first set. From the opening jam in Shakedown Street to the accelerated crescendos of Casey Jones, the 90 minute first set rocked. While they did not go into my favorite realm, the set was great.Hearing songs like Strange World was great. One more trip to the Cliff House........After some good times I headed to my seat for the 2nd set. I will turn 48 years of age in early August. I guess I have seen 1000 or so concerts in my life. The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and Phish along with many other artists have provided me with many years of great incredible experiences. These bands have led me on a journey that has crossed oceans onto differrent continents to experience their magic.I have met and made life long friends on the journey.
After a 45 minute or so set break the Dead came back out on stage. As they were tuning up I heard the familiar chords of my favorite Grateful Dead song Playing in the Band. My anticipation was peaking. I was filled with the hopeful energy that this was a song they were going to play in the 2nd set .I told Kate that I think I hear Playing in the Band. After a three minute jam Bob Weir did the familiar count off of 3,5,7,8,9,10 and Playing in the Band had begun. Playing had a great jam that segued into Night Of 1000 Stars. Again I did my Joe Montana TD jump. The jam was awesome and the transistion into Night Of 1000 Stars was great. As 1000 Stars ended they jamed into He's Gone. This made me really think of Jerry. Though it has been 9 years since Jerry moved on, the memories are still there. The vocal harmonies were perfect and the spacey jam was great. The transition into Cryptical Envelopment was great. I had heard "other one" riffs in the He's Gone jam and now hearing Cryptical was filling my mind with thoughts of "the other one". The warp factor 10 transition into " The Other One", again resulted in the Joe Montana TD jump. Wow......this show was turning out to be my fantasy lottery winner setlist. The Other One ripped. Warren and Jimmy did a great job. In my opinion, a healthy Jerry Garcia was the best improvisational electric guitar player ever. Jerry was special and all of us who have seen him live and listenned to the vast archive he left behind know, you CAN NOT REPLACE JERRY EVER !!! But The Grateful Dead was more then Jerry Garcia. From the incredible bass of Phil Lesh, to the amazing rhythm guitar of Bob Weir, to the unbelievable percusussion of Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, these guys provide the best rhythm section ever in rock and roll history. The Other One was quickly followed by Terrapin. 45 minutes into the set and these guys are ripping my head off. What a set list! Terrapin was powerful and led into the rhythm Devils. Mickey and Bill again pounded our consciousness into another dimension.Whatever any Dead Head might say about this band.......the drums are as good as ever ! Those guys create magic. The drums led into a jam with guest Derek Trucks from the Allman Brothers. The jam into The Wheel was great. The wheel is turning and you can't slow down.............. you can't stand still.................you can't hold on..........The Wheel jammed into a great Playing In The Band reprise which went into Turn On Your Lovelight. I must be in heaven, what an amazing Dead set. The encore was After Midnight. At 12:25am Sunday July 4th one of the most amazing concerts of my life ended.
As I get older it seems like "it all melts into a dream" or something like that.This concert was special and as I get older, I truly value those special moments live music brings us all. I am not going on tour again because of this concert, and I may never experience these guys playing this well again.Pairing The Allman Brothers and The Dead on the same bill may also not happen again.You just never know what is going to happen live. Hopefully next summer they will be back in the pacific northwest again, and I will have lots more fun.We always make the Gorge experience into something more then a concert, it's a time to have fun and party in the summer sunshine.This show was very fun and hopefully The Dead will continue to grow as a band. All in all it was one fun hell of a Saturday night, and weekend !
Mark, Seattle
It has been a week since I saw the Dead, Dead/Allman Brothers in St. Helens and the Gorge so it's time for a review.
July 2, 2004
The St. Helens, Oregon show was fun and well played, but the songlist wasn't the best. The scene was very mellow and layed back. Typical Oregon / Washington crowd you are familiar with. Me and Izzy sat in the 6th row with my brother Dale and his wife Kate, right in front of the speakers on Jimmy's side of the stage. The first set was an hour long and had some good moments, but nothing in the realm I am always looking for. It was fun watching Bill Walton wave his arms and sing the words to Aiko Aiko. The second set started out with lots of songs that were well played but again not in the realm I am looking for. The jam after Corrina finally did reach that special place and was great. Very spacey and well played. Next was the drums and they were great also. The jam after the drums was mellow and went into a very beautiful Stella Blue. Warren sang it with lots of emotion, and the transition into Help On The Way was quick and made me smile. Slipknot seemed to be a search for a direction that never happened. The transition into Franklin's Tower was very good and Franklin's rocked. We walked to the back of the field during Unbroken Chain so we could get out of there quick and avoid the traffic jam. Well we spent 45 minutes looking for my car. We over shot where we thought we were parked and ended up walking up and down the isles until we finally found the car. Oh well, since we were going north to our motel in Longview there wasn't traffic anyway as most people headed south towards Portland. Overall the show was well played but lacked a powerhouse setlist. My hopes were that the Gorge was going to be better and this was just another night with a new band trying new combinations and flavors each tour stop. Little did I know that the entire concert experience of Saturday July 3, 2004 would turn out to be one of the top concert experiences of my life..............................................
It feels weird to say that, but after talking to a bunch of 40 something friends this week who were also at the Gorge and expressed the same opinion as me or better, I don't feel so strange......................It's an incredibly good feeling when the magic of a transcendental show occurs at home..............
July 3, 2004
We left Longview around 10:00am after eating breakfast and decided to take highway 12 over the mountains to get to Yakima and then go north on 97 until we reach I-90 and go east until we get to George 4 hours latter. The drive started out overcast and gray with drizzle in Longview. Once we excited I-5 onto highway 12 towards Mt. St Helens / Mt Rainer the sky's gradually got clearer. Highway 12 is a very beautiful drive over the Cascades. Me and Izzy just BS'd and listened to music or the radio. As we approached the summit of White Pass a car was flashing its lights at me. I thought they wanted to pass me so I waited until there was a slow lane and moved over to the right. As the car passed me they rolled down there window and made a gesture for me to do the same. They said that my car was smoking. I then thought....oh shit the Izzy curse of July 3rd is here. My friend Izzy's dad and brother both died on this date in different years and now my car is going to die 2 hours from the gorge at a ski area in the summer. We stopped the car and checked out the engine. Izzy checked the fluids and everything was OK. It seemed to be a gasket or seal that had a leak and it was dropping oil onto the exhaust manifold or something. We decided to keep on going and I hoped at the very least we could reach Yakima and there I could rent a car if we had to. As it turned out we were able to make the drive to the motel in Quincy in my 207,000 mile Chevy Blazer OK. We did stop a couple of times to check the fluids and everything was fine.I Need A Miracle everyday!
We got to the motel and the gang was there. We hung out for an hour or so and began the party of July 3rd, before heading over to the Gorge. We car caravanned over to the VIP lot we always park at and hung out for a half hour or so drinking beers and enjoying the 85 degree summer sunshine.We got into the venue with no problem. All of our supplies made it in just fine. I had a couple of small bottles of some premium tequila
and my Digital camera amongst my supplies. As we walked down the path towards the venue we were accosted by the Dead CD people, so I went up to the booth and asked what it would cost to get the entire show. They said $60 for Hunter, The Allman's and The Dead, but there was no guarantee the Allman's would release the show. They had to first approve of the mix and their performance. If they don't release the Allman's then I would get $25 back. I made the purchase and we headed off to the Cliff House to party. My friend Steve had bought some tickets from somebody who had Cliff House passes. I went to the John Fogerty concert on Wednesday June 30th with Steve and borrowed one to make some copies for all of us. As it turned out me and Kinko's did a fine job, and we all got into the Cliff House so we could throw away our hard earned cash on $7 domestic beers. Oh well....what the hell.....the view is awesome and the bathroom line is short.
After relieving myself I went to the our 15th row center seats to watch the Allman Brothers. The Allman Brothers were awesome. They played a 2 hour and 15 minute set that in itself was a very satisfying concert experience. The energy they projected was killer ! As good as any of the Allman Brother shows I have seen in the past. The crowd was up and dancin' and the sound was great. Everybody in the band seemed to be very happy and maybe playing a show again with members of the Grateful Dead (The Dead) was going to turn out to be a 2004 battle of the bands. After all it had been 31 years since they had last shared a concert bill together.My friend Izzy was at the RFK Allman Brothers / Grateful Dead shows in 1973 and shared some of his experiences with me on the drive over. My favorite Allman Brother songs are Dreams and Whipping Post. They do have lots of other songs that I truly love, but those two are at the top of my list. As the show goes on, the Allman's are playing with great energy and they play some of our old favorites along with some newer songs that all sound great. When they go into Dreams I do my Joe Montana TD jump with my arms stretched towards the sky. The version they played at the Gorge was as good as any I have ever heard live or on tape or CD. After Dreams was "Mountain Jam" and it was special. I was thinking about the mountain jam that almost happened earlier in the day but didn't with my car. As Mountain Jam ended in a slow fade, the opening bass rift from Whipping Post sent my arms skyward again. Another TD scored at the Gorge. The version played this Saturday afternoon was hot. Derek and Warren ripped it up. The incredible rhythm section pounded my brain and Greg's vocals were as good as ever. Layla was a surprise as an encore and it was well played. What an incredible show ! My mind was now thinking and hoping that this Allman Brother performance was going to inspire and motivate the Dead. As it turned out, perhaps it did................
We headed over to the Cliff House to relax and party on.......The Dead were next..........
The first set was around 90 minutes of a continuous song into song transistion first set. From the opening jam in Shakedown Street to the accelerated crescendos of Casey Jones, the 90 minute first set rocked. While they did not go into my favorite realm, the set was great.Hearing songs like Strange World was great. One more trip to the Cliff House........After some good times I headed to my seat for the 2nd set. I will turn 48 years of age in early August. I guess I have seen 1000 or so concerts in my life. The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and Phish along with many other artists have provided me with many years of great incredible experiences. These bands have led me on a journey that has crossed oceans onto differrent continents to experience their magic.I have met and made life long friends on the journey.
After a 45 minute or so set break the Dead came back out on stage. As they were tuning up I heard the familiar chords of my favorite Grateful Dead song Playing in the Band. My anticipation was peaking. I was filled with the hopeful energy that this was a song they were going to play in the 2nd set .I told Kate that I think I hear Playing in the Band. After a three minute jam Bob Weir did the familiar count off of 3,5,7,8,9,10 and Playing in the Band had begun. Playing had a great jam that segued into Night Of 1000 Stars. Again I did my Joe Montana TD jump. The jam was awesome and the transistion into Night Of 1000 Stars was great. As 1000 Stars ended they jamed into He's Gone. This made me really think of Jerry. Though it has been 9 years since Jerry moved on, the memories are still there. The vocal harmonies were perfect and the spacey jam was great. The transition into Cryptical Envelopment was great. I had heard "other one" riffs in the He's Gone jam and now hearing Cryptical was filling my mind with thoughts of "the other one". The warp factor 10 transition into " The Other One", again resulted in the Joe Montana TD jump. Wow......this show was turning out to be my fantasy lottery winner setlist. The Other One ripped. Warren and Jimmy did a great job. In my opinion, a healthy Jerry Garcia was the best improvisational electric guitar player ever. Jerry was special and all of us who have seen him live and listenned to the vast archive he left behind know, you CAN NOT REPLACE JERRY EVER !!! But The Grateful Dead was more then Jerry Garcia. From the incredible bass of Phil Lesh, to the amazing rhythm guitar of Bob Weir, to the unbelievable percusussion of Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, these guys provide the best rhythm section ever in rock and roll history. The Other One was quickly followed by Terrapin. 45 minutes into the set and these guys are ripping my head off. What a set list! Terrapin was powerful and led into the rhythm Devils. Mickey and Bill again pounded our consciousness into another dimension.Whatever any Dead Head might say about this band.......the drums are as good as ever ! Those guys create magic. The drums led into a jam with guest Derek Trucks from the Allman Brothers. The jam into The Wheel was great. The wheel is turning and you can't slow down.............. you can't stand still.................you can't hold on..........The Wheel jammed into a great Playing In The Band reprise which went into Turn On Your Lovelight. I must be in heaven, what an amazing Dead set. The encore was After Midnight. At 12:25am Sunday July 4th one of the most amazing concerts of my life ended.
As I get older it seems like "it all melts into a dream" or something like that.This concert was special and as I get older, I truly value those special moments live music brings us all. I am not going on tour again because of this concert, and I may never experience these guys playing this well again.Pairing The Allman Brothers and The Dead on the same bill may also not happen again.You just never know what is going to happen live. Hopefully next summer they will be back in the pacific northwest again, and I will have lots more fun.We always make the Gorge experience into something more then a concert, it's a time to have fun and party in the summer sunshine.This show was very fun and hopefully The Dead will continue to grow as a band. All in all it was one fun hell of a Saturday night, and weekend !
Mark, Seattle