After seeing this show, I realize that I was too generous in my review of last night's show (November 12th). I feel like the last review was like a man that has been starving who then gets a McDonald's hamburger; it may be low grade dog meat but it tastes like fillet to him. While the 12th wasnt exactly low grade dog meat, this show was filet mnigon....it was on fire!!! One of the best Grateful Dead type shows that I have seen in over 15 years; this includes Jerry Garcia's last show at Soldier Field. The audience was on fire and we lit the band on fire
1st Set
To open up, we got to hear the familiar sounds New Minglewood Blues. While this standard can be routine at times, tonight Furthur was far from just going through the motions. This was the beginning of a great first set. On to a classic Dire Wolf, Mama Tried and rounding out this tour of Americana Doin' That Rag. Dipping deep into "hippiedom" with Mason's Children (not a favorite of mine but a classic none the less). For the first but not last time of the night Bobby gave us a taste of one of my favorite tunes with Passenger. Back to the '60s and into Caution which they have been playing as of recently. While I was listening to the music I realized that this night has not been as much about what they played but how they played it. During that realization, I start hearing the familiar sound of the Beatles; they decided to end the set with fantastic cover of Get Back. Then they are off to "think it over"
2nd Set
We are back into one of my favorite periods of Grateful Dead's history, the late '70s and early '80s with a Lost Sailor-> Saint of Circumstance opener......"SURE DONT KNOW WHAT I'M GOING FOR....BUT I'M GONNA GO FOR IT FOR SURE" that sums it all up. Sometimes these guys are just on!!! They then moved on to a new quasi original song called Mountain Song, written and arranged, through time, by different members of The Airplane, Robert Hunter, CSN and Y, Phil Lesh, Brian Lesh. David Crosby seems to get the most credit for this song but the most recent arrangement seems to be the work of Phil and Brian Lesh. Mountain Song was great with the band making some beautiful harmonies to the refrain of "Gonna make the mountains be my home!" They then cut back to the familiar and high energy I Know You Rider. Coming out of Rider they went into a solid Morning Dew. With this Dew, I now have gained new respect for John Kaldecik.....he made that song his bitch! A favorite of mine has always been Unbroken Chain and the first time that I got to hear the Grateful Dead play it was horrible (and it was their last concert ever) Tonight Unbroken Chain was solid. Into Terrapin Suite.... not just Terrapin Station but the second part as well which I have only heard on the album. While they were on this phychedelic kick they moved into the Eleven and then after some circular jamming, they big bass line comes and we go into The Other One, to close the show. This being Saturday night, they encored with One More Saturday Night.
The set list was not as important as the quality of the music. This show was high quality and left me wanting more. There are tighter bands, faster musicians and prettier voices but that is not what a band like this is about. This was an exchange of energy that used music as it's medium. It left me feeling electric and ready for the next one.
Eric
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