I have been strangely ambivalent about the upcoming Dead tour. As a vet of hundreds of Grateful Dead and assorted line-up shows; my interest should be higher than it is.
Initially, when The Dead announced that tickets (except for behind stage) would be in the environs of $100 a pop, I was disgusted. $100? When did Jerry and Pigpen re-join? I understand that the boys are getting older, and their 401K's probably tanked like the rest of ours did, but jeez... a hundred clams for what was being passed off as The Dead? No thanks. Funny thing is... if tickets were half that, I probably would have bought tickets for all four local shows!
The other aspect is the arena experience. Weir and Lesh have been touring on their own for years, usually in small theaters, where getting up close was easy. To sit in the enormo-dome and hear crappy sound and deal with all of the other hassles of arena shows seems to be a little over the top for The Dead these days.
I wasn't surprised that the 4 NYC area shows sold out. But, I am wondering what percentage of people going are doing it of nostalgia, how many are doing it for the music (and possibly weren't old enough to see Garcia) and how many are just going to get wasted.
Based on early reports, the band is playing well and Warren Haynes can certainly be considered on the short list of guitar players who are capable of getting a Jerry vibe. There appears to be a "scene" as morons of every age are doing the "whippit/lsd/mushroom/miracle" shtick. Not to disparage the "Phish-Dead-heads", but yecch, put some shoes on, take a shower and grow up already.
One of the shows is literally in walking distance to my house. However, I have other plans. There was a time that NOTHING would have kept me from a Dead show. I am going to one NY show (free tickets for the Missus and I) and depending on how I like it and how cheap I can find a ticket, I might go to one of the NJ shows. Times are tough, and throwin' down so much money is a tough call. Especially how there are other old time bands I wanna see (The Damned & X).
It'll be fun to see what passes as The Dead again, but I just don't have that spark anymore. Of course, the day of show I will probably be bouncing all over the place. At least I hope!!!!!!
The Dead - Charlottesburg, Va April 2009
Toonage:
Grateful Dead - Alice D Millionaire
Grateful Dead - Promised Land (9-3-77)
Grateful Dead - It's All Over Now (9-16-78)
Sham 69 - Rip Off
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9 comments:
Any idea who else was short listed to play Jerry? Jorma Kaukonen perhaps? I alway dug Henry Kaiser's quip about Tom Verlaine being "nothing but a Garcia imitator".
in the past they have had steve kimock, jimmy herring and derek trucks in the role of pseudo-jerry.
i like the idea of haynes taking it. he has the chops, the voice and he's fat and bearded.
Either the music is good or it ain't. The rest is just window dressing.
Last Friday in Albany the music was great. They sounded more like a combination of where they're at now than the good old Grateful dead - think Phil & the Gov't Ratdog. That's a mighty nice thing indeed.
agreed. I have been to many Ratdog/Phil & Friends/Other Ones shows that blew the Grateful Dead (post Jerry coma) away.
Couldn't have said it better myself....$100, really? At least the Allman Brothers brought out Eric Clapton, Boz Scaggs, Buddy Guy,and Robert Randolph so you felt like you got your $ worth.
hi nazz.glad you liked the postings over at muebles towers.ive added a link to here as well.cheers mate
saw them in albany. thought they were pretty good. there were some moments when they weren't. but , am I glad I went to the show? hell yeah.
I caved... now I am going to the Mad Sq Garden show and one of the New Jersey shows.
And I have been listening to the Dead all day.
The flesh is weak...
Hey man, been way too long since I've been over here.
I was ambivalent, too. I was happy they were gonna get together for a tour but I was also disgusted at the ticket prices. After the tour started, I was excited to catch them on Dave but I never once went to the Internet Archive to download a show to listen to. I knew I would someday but had no immediate plans.
Then I got my hands on soundboards (which I didn't pay for.) I've now listened to the first two shows and holy fucking shit -- this is some sweet music!!!!! I'm gonna try to collect (and post) the tour. Next stop Charlottesville (Show #3.) What I'm mostly looking forward to is the former Brendan Byrne Arena shows with Branford. Holy crap, the soundboards of that will be in mucho demand! Can't wait!!!!
Now I wish I was going to a show... but not at those ticket prices. Glad you got to see MSG!
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