not one of my favorite further shows, i thought the crowd was very sleepy and the band didn't seem to be flying on all cylinders. The highlights for me was the direwolf in the 1st set and the 2nd set "passenger" opener. Overall it wasn't that bad but nothing out of the ordinary. Still lovin' it!
jeff bovee, saugerties,ny
As a veteran of many a Grateful Dead show, I always look forward to P&F/OO/Furthur shows as a way of recapturing some of the old moments, especially as they are more likely to pull out some of the old songs. In reading set lists leading up to this show, I was pretty psyched as it's just not like the old days, numerous shows at a single arena, going on tour, etc...you just gotta go see them when you can, even if it means a Tuesday night in Albany...
Show started off well, 'Sunshine->Jimmy' was good, solid, but then a real letdown with 'BB Blues' and 'Magnolia Mountain', it lost the crowd...the rest of the set was solid, 'Minglewood' was OK, 'Dire Wolf' was very good, and solid 'Lucy' and 'Cosmic Charlie' to end the first set. One of the things my friend and I noticed was the sound in the first set was really 'tinny' and distant - fortunately, the sound crew addressed that in the second set.
Second set sounded 100x better - much clearer, louder, you could really hear the band play. 'Passenger' was a good start - I always liked that song as I saw it in '78 at an early age...'Here Comes the Sun' was a real highlight - my friend observed after the show that he'd pay good money just to have them do a show of Beatles tunes, and I agree...
Then it went late '80's - early '90's with the 'Estimated', "Other One', 'Watchtower', 'Stella Blue'...OK, the 'Cryptical Envelopment' beginning and end to 'Other One' is always a nice touch..again, well played, sounded good, was just hoping for a better song selection and maybe a gem or two...'Uncle John's' was a nice ending to the second set, but again, predictable...
The encore was solid, high-energy 'NFA' into 'Brokedown'...
A couple of observations...first, Bobby's voice at times sounds 'different', I don't know if it's the sound system, but on certain songs, it just didn't sound like him...that might be just me, I dunno...he sounded fine and the ole Bobby on 'NFA'...second, I really miss the two drummers as there is always a interplay between two drummers, a depth that was missing...don't get me wrong, Russo played his heart out, but it just seems at times the whole complexion of a song changed without two drummers. A perfect example is the 'NFA' - listen to a Grateful Dead 'NFA', to the way Bill and Mickey rolled into that song, playing off one another to build the song up and up, it just seemed Russo was having to drum as hard as he could to make it sound solid...
Overall, it was fun, maybe I expect too much not being able to see many shows like I used to, but musically solid and, boy, I wish the first set sound was as good as the second set as it would have probably energized the crowd a bit more...
JMHO...
Chris, Baltimore (presently Glenville