Grateful Dead live, Dick's Picks etc - S&D

my wife shamed me into two Dead and Co shows. First was on a very nice summer night last year, outdoor show, excellent seats way up front. much more fun than I expected.

second was in a big indoor hockey arena and the sound sucked. that said, they had tightened things up, esp the second set, which made for a better product in some ways.

in both cases, the music was incredibly slow even by their standards. bertha in particular was a slog. can't see how an uninitiated could have stayed awake. loved hearing bobby's guitar high in the mix and he seemed to be rising to the occasion. mayer provided the energy and adequate guitar playing and the bass guy helped alot. keyboard guy seemed a little too dead-cover-band for the role.

protip: get there an hour late and skip a big chunk of the first set. makes the night go by much faster

justin vernon did some songs with them which incensed the online deadheads for days, which i found hilarious because it makes just about as much sense to have him up there as it does to have john fucking mayer

ok I'm no Mayer fan but this is completely, laughably false

only ppl with signature guitars allowed?

how so paul

yeah what is the difference

Mayer is unapologetic about being a bro asshole, Vernon is a shy violet with no spine. Mayer's milquetoast brand isn't that much more 'straight' or normcore or whatever than whatever Bon Iver is up to.

vernon is way more of a sconnie dude than people think from what i hear

"sconnie"?

Someone from Wisconsin

The only time I've spent any time around Vernon he was mostly yelling at a Green Bay Packers game

....wistfully yelling at a green bay packers game through autotune

Bon Packer

how so paul

― global tetrahedron, Thursday, June 28, 2018 2:11 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah what is the difference

― flappy bird, Thursday, June 28, 2018 2:28 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

virtuoso (like it or not) guitar hero / dreamboat with at least some credibility (or at least name recognition) with the kinda festival attending bros who dig Panic, Phish, Mule, etc vs. sensitive cornball indie rocker not especially known for protracted guitar solos (or solos of any kind for that matter)

i do want to read that new book about the post-Jerry years that just came out, should have some juicy stuff in it.
The Rolling Stone mention, not really a review, that I saw (may have been more coverage later) cited the shocking tale of how Lesh and Weir cruelly went Furthur, leaving the other Dead behind. I had previewed a Furthur show in Columbus OH, did a little background, seemed like just another GD sidetrip, like all of 'em have done at one time or another. They had the Garcia clone from Deep Banana Blackout, a couple relatively young but experienced hands on drums and hopefully non-toxic keys, plus the possibility of unlisted guests, as at earlier gigs, non-outrageous ticket prices etc., whole thing seemed okay. Apparently ended when Weir fell down onstage, but that was furthur down the road.
A thing on the Phil Zone site in late 90s where he announced that he was disgusted with at least some of the other Dead, the ones who wanted to use the Vault as collateral in a venture with Microsoft, according to him---suppose there might be *some* lasting fallout from the Phil Zone over this, and maybe that's in the book as well.

Oh no, sorry, he wasn't from DBB; this was the crew we got with Lesh and Weir:
The original lineup also included John Kadlecik of the Dark Star Orchestra on lead guitar, Jeff Chimenti of RatDog on keyboards, Jay Lane of RatDog on percussion, and Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo on drums.

Although Lane may have already split? I didn't actually attend, so no idea (assigned a preview, not a review).

Furthur retained much of the characteristic style and texture of the Dead. In addition to performing many of the songs regularly played in concert by the Dead, Furthur tried to "keep it fresh" by routinely adding new material to their setlists. This included many songs resurrected from the Grateful Dead's extensive songbook, including several rarely or never performed live, like "Alice D. Millionaire", as well as several cover songs from bands including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Ryan Adams, Van Morrison and the Clash. They also regularly performed some new, original material. Now I wish I'd gone!

Deep Dark Banana Star Blackout Orchestra. (It's hard to keep all them jambands straight...) xxp

was there always a vague affinity from jam bands towards the talking heads? it's something i've noticed lately. there's even a band called 'pink talking phish' which i'm sure is just... something

Post-Jerry: The Dead > Dead & Co >>> Furthur in my experience. Phil was great but he's nowhere near the player he used to be and Otiel in dead & co is an upgrade with a sweet voice for ballads and having a DSO's Jerry impersonator up front was creepy. My advice is don't let Mayer scare you away, he takes a backseat to Bob and deeply respects the music.

xp well yeah: http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/watch_phish_play_the_entirety_of_the_talking_heads_iremain_in_lighti_1996.html

How was Trey w Dead & Co. or whatever they were called then?

i was driving lyft the night byrne played mpls and i picked up a carload of jam band dudes from colorado

thanks for picking us up dawg, though we weren't loving the tunes -- did you say it was some band called Loutallica?

Vernon is a shy violet with no spine.

this is really misinformed, vernon can actually belt when he wants to & is an outstanding, very well-rounded musician

The Dead w/ Warren Hayes >> The Dead w/ Trey. Trey's not bluesy enough to stand in Jerry's shoes.

xxxp
In the times I tried (and failed) to get into Phish, it flummoxed me how they loved stuff right in my zone like the Dead, Talking Heads, and VU's Loaded -- yet I could find no way into their own music (including their covers of that stuff).

this is really misinformed, vernon can actually belt when he wants to & is an outstanding, very well-rounded musician

― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, June 28, 2018 5:33 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're right, I'm only familiar with For Emma, Forever Ago (which I loved), and his wishy-washy Grammy's speech, which was 6 or 7 years ago. I haven't kept up with him.

i was a mayer skeptic for a long time but saw them at citi and thought he did a great job of largely taking a backseat while injecting some (relative) youth and energy into the lineup. he really killed the guitar on help -> slip -> franklin and his voice works pretty well on bluesier stuff like hurts me too. it's taken them some time to find their groove together but i'm feeling this tour a lot.

god dicks picks 8 is good, the acoustic set and the other one -> cryptical envelopment -> cosmic charlie -> casey jones -> good lovin (with a really wild driving jam on a track i normally can skip) stretch is insane. trying to make it through every dp on spotify. what a great time to be a dead fan.

i was a mayer skeptic for a long time but saw them at citi and thought he did a great job of largely taking a backseat while injecting some (relative) youth and energy into the lineup. he really killed the guitar on help -> slip -> franklin and his voice works pretty well on bluesier stuff like hurts me too. it's taken them some time to find their groove together but i'm feeling this tour a lot.

i think that now i'm easing closer to middle age i'm gonna get super into the dead, just feels right imo

i found my two favorite dick's picks at the record shoppe, vols 3 and 4 just sitting there right next to each other :)

i think that now i'm easing closer to middle age i'm gonna get super into the dead, just feels right imo

this has been me over the last 2 weeks. 45 was the magic number as it turns out.

Dicks Picks 3 has been in constant rotation

i...don't understand why they ever had two drummers. it makes sense on occasion, certain eras (earlier, especially), and different songs where they play in a complimentary way. but for the most part, whenever i have the chance to watch a grateful dead clip and both billy and mickey are playing, they're pretty much playing the exact same thing. it is weird.

in 68/69 i feel the duo drumming did have good effect, when mickey rejoined after the hiatus i fail to hear anything interesting coming from the pair. they were certainly more dynamic and got into some of my favorite stuff with just bill. that said, i do appreciate that mickey is and was a really far out spacey dude and kept a lot of weirdness present as they got bigger and lamer. this read on the beam is pretty cool even if a lot of it is over my head:

https://www.mickeyhart.net/news/all-about-the-beam-baby-5211

and he seems the most curious and restless member even into the current day-

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2018/01/09/dead-notes-15-the-mickey-hart-interview/

Thanks for linking that interview... I skimmed over some chunks of it, but it’s really interesting. Mickey is cool.

holy shit, the beam

i didn't know about ANY of that.

i also have no idea what the beam is about, for the most part, but it strikes me as something where only mickey hart thinks he understands and everyone else is like "well either we're friends with mickey or paid by him to work on this beam, so fuck yeah the beam"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcRkeN0lmA4

He should have kicked Mayer in that clip, jfc

https://cmga360arts.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ellen-p1000430.jpg

it strikes me as something where only mickey hart thinks he understands

this is why it’s cool btw

What band title is that Hart beam thing from. Not being paying attention to what they are going out under these days.

is the amazon series worth watching, btw

anyone

see discussion starting here: should i give the grateful dead a chance?

yeah it's good!

XXP - It's a treat, definitely!

and yeah, i've listened to a fair amount of post 74 Dead and it seems to me that Hart is usually at his best when you forget he's even there. the main argument you could make for him is that he kept the band's experimental edge in the mix on the drums > space situations (which can be the most interesting parts of 80s/90s shows). but in a lot of cases he keeps things in a weird rhythmic zone — too bad, because between 72-74, Kreutzmann was proving himself to be a pretty incredible drummer. After that he's a little bit checked out. But I can only assume he wanted Hart there ...

Anyone else think about this commercial all the time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IllSfSNZFSM