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Grateful Dead reunion concert back on at Alpine Valley

By TOM HELD

of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: June 28, 2002

The Grateful Dead family reunion at the Alpine Valley Music Theater is back on for two shows in August after promoters won a permit Friday from a Walworth County Board committee.

The action reverses a previous decision denying a permit for Terrapin Station - A Grateful Dead Family Reunion Show, scheduled for Aug. 3 and 4.

Fans cheered the news, along with the announcement that the Other Ones, the four surviving members of the Grateful Dead, will tour in the fall. Billy Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh will perform an undetermined number of shows together, said Jonathan Levine, a booking agent with Monterery Peninsula Artists.

Information on tickets sales for the tour will be released before the Aug. 3 and 4 Alpine Valley dates, Levine said.

The surviving Dead members have played and toured in various incarnations following the death of band leader and Deadhead guru Jerry Garcia in 1995, but not with all four on stage, except for a New Year's Eve show in Oakland, Ca. The Terrapin Station event at Alpine Valley shows has been billed as the first official reunion of the Other Ones.

That billing worried Walworth County officials, who feared hordes of Deadheads would descend on the theater near East Troy and overwhelm the sheriff's department and other emergency response teams. Neighbors also complained that the masses of Grateful Dead fans would sprawl through their yards, damage property and create a dangerous weekend.

Based on those fears, the Walworth County Highway Committee denied a required permit for the show at a meeting earlier this month.

The County Board Executive Committe reversed that decision on Friday, after receiving a laundry list of assurances from promoter Clear Channel Entertainment.

The media behemoth promised to turn away anyone without a ticket to the show and work on a massive campaign to keep people without tickets from coming to Alpine Valley. In addition, they will have a medical helicopter stationed at the East Troy Airport and cover all expenses incurred by the county sheriff's department and other local police.

Clear Channel also promised to put up a $100,000 bond to cover any damage to neighboring properties, provide security guards for neighbors and put 40 tow trucks on hand to help deal with the expected traffic jam.

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yes, i'm kinda bothered about all this "Grateful Dead" reunion stuff. The band isn't calling themselves the Grateful Dead, neither should all the articles. The Grateful Dead are not reuniting, not with an amazing act of God, in which case, i'm gonna be there with my dancin' shoes on.

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It is pretty crazy what the tickets are selling for now. Selling them as reunion tickets and selling them for sheetloads of moolah is just plain retarded!

I am curious on how the tunes will be played, however. Are they gonna be the Phil and Friend arrangements?

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This has been addressed, though i'm not sure by whom.

Phil will NOT be playing his noodley 20 minute everything's, rather the boys will be playing a mixture of the cookie cutter Ratdog style, and the loooooooooooong drawn out Phil stuff. I mean do we really need an 18 minute, go nowhere, cumberland blues.

I'm looking forward to it. After seeing Ratdog a few times and Phil a few times, i betting its gonna be A LOT less twangy southern rock sounding, which Phil is.

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This is what I LOVE about this board. We can get into discussions, and not have flames a flyin'.

After re-reading my phil comments, some of them may be too harsh. I LOVE PHIL. I LOVE BOBBY. It's just that sometimes Phil sounds like the Allmans, with Phil. Which is cool, but, when i hear Bobby belting out, well, anything, i melt.

So, which ever, i'm not gonna complain over a 15 minute cumberland, i'm not gonna complain over a 5 minute hell in a bucket either!

I'm gonna dance for ya'll this summer!

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I appreciate what Phil's doing, taking the music out there.....but his vocals are just SO brutal, and Barraco is not a whole lot better....

A good test is to play music for someone who is not into our scene, their reactions to Phil's vocals are always interesting.....

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Let's not get nuts and start comparing Neil Young's vocals to Phil Lesh's.

To say that Phil's vocals are an "acquired taste" is - IMO - being rather polite.

Warren, on the other hand, is a more than capable singer.

BTW, please consider my criticisms in the light they are intended: Phil Lesh played bass guitar for the Grateful Dead for 30 years; therefore, he can sing whatever and whenever he wants and play with whomever is lucky enough to play with him. And if he ever asks you to kiss his ass, you better pucker up! It would be my great honour.... [Embarrassed]

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quote:

Originally posted by bouche:

Would someone like to address the question posed by secondtube?

"I mean do we really need an 18 minute, go nowhere, cumberland blues."

He may have a point. I gotta say, I have a handful of P+F shows, and I *never* listen to 'em. I put them on, and generally get bored, and move on to something more engaging to me. And believe me, I could listen to the Dead all day long (and often do). Had a good time at Deer Creek in 2000, catching P+F, but have never really developed a fondness for what they're up to. Although, I am glad they're doing it.

I know you're not supposed to say things like this around here, but I for one am not too excited with the Herring/Haynes line-up. But then, I've never been a big Allman Bros fan either. I respect 'em, but never really want to hear them.

Just my $0.02.

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