The Dead - Spring 2009

[backbacon]

As your lawyer' date=' I advise you to take waaaaaaaaaay more drugs......preferably ones that force you to stay seated.

Seriously though that is a killer setlist. Too bad about everything else.[/quote']

Agreed. By the time I realised I needed to be way higher it was tough scoring, though I did try.

Worcester was way better for me. I had a great time on mini-tour!

Why even chance it?

[Steve0]

fingers crossed for an eyes in Buffalo

[phorbesie]

i enjoyed both shows i saw this tour, but can understand the "snoozefest" reviews i've heard. i almost fell asleep in albany and i saw no need for a 20 min. Mountains of the moon early in the first set in worcester!

[Kanada Kev]

The Dead Live at DCU Center on 2009-04-18

Set 1 (90:43)

01. intro

02. Feel Like A Stranger>

03. Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad

04. Mountains of the Moon>

05. Dupree’s Diamond Blues

06. Althea

07. Bird Song>

08. China Cat Sunflower>

09. I Know You Rider

Set 2: (107:16)

01. Dancing In The Street>

02. Milestones>

03. Terrapin Station>

04. Rhythm Devils>

05. Space>

06. Days Between>

07. Bird Song>

08. One More Saturday Night

09. encore break/crowd

10. donor rap

11. Johnny B. Goode

[Kanada Kev]

http://www.archive.org/details/thedead2009-04-18.csb-flac16

[Kanada Kev]

Today is frackng beautiful out. I've got some Dead cranking on the stereo while hanging out in the back yard with the kids. They're pumped hearing what Mom and Dad got to hear in Buffalo the other night and they had to stay home (thanks otherones90210). Wishing I could be hitting a sunny Shakedown Street this afternoon

[Booche]

You can totally see Schwa at the 1:26 section of the first video.

Confirmed.

[peipunk]

You can totally see Schwa at the 1:26 section of the first video.

Confirmed.

You said it! That (INSERT:GENERIC JOLLY PERSON) is everywhere!

[Kanada Kev]

WOW! Killer setlist, IMHO

(Set 1)

Cosmic Charlie

China Cat Sunflower>

Shakedown Street

Ship Of Fools

He's Gone

Cassidy

Sugaree

(Set 2)

Drums>

Cryptical Envelopment>

Other One>

Born Cross Eyed>

St Stephen>

The Eleven>

Uncle John's Band>

Unbroken Chain>

One More Saturday Night

Donor Rap

(Encore)

Brokedown Palace

Set 1

In and out of the Garden he goes… This place has always been such an important venue for the Grateful, where they played more than 50 concerts. I only saw two there, in 1987, but I do recall the energy in the building was unlike any other place I’d seen the Grateful Dead. As Jerry said, the place is juiced. And speaking of Jerry, the show tonight opened with five Garcia tunes in row, Cosmic Charlie, China Cat>Rider, Shakedown, Ship of Fools, He’s Gone. Pretty cool. The only non-repeat of the tour amongst this batch of songs is Ship of Fools. After these Jerry tunes comes a Weir-Barlow classic, Cassidy, always such a fine first set tune. Capping everything off with Sugaree seems like a nice launching point for the break, as this is one of those tunes the post-1995 bands have consistently nailed.

Set 2

Well, that’s quite a second set opening sequence, all music written in 1969 or earlier. That is the type of setlist we used to write down as a fantasy setlist. Very cool. Opening with Mickey and Bill doing Drums (aka Rhythm Devils, which can be used in lieu of Drums anytime Mickey and Bill are involved) is a great way to start the set. I recall seeing The Other Ones on 7/5/98 at Darien Lake, NY, a show at which Mickey and John Molo opened the show with Drums for about 5 minute before the band joined in for Samson and Delilah (it was Sunday, after all). At MSG on this night, though, they barreled into Cryptical>Other One>Born Cross-Eyed>St. Stephen (no surprise here, a reminder of 10/11/83)>The Eleven>Uncle John’s Band. And then comes the first foray of the set into the 1970s, Unbroken Chain. This is followed by not only another early 1970s song, but a perfectly appropriate song for the night: One More Saturday Night. And sending the masses out the door with Brokedown Palace is the perfect capper to what was evidently a fun night of music. On to Hartford!

[phishtaper]

Today is frackng beautiful out. I've got some Dead cranking on the stereo while hanging out in the back yard with the kids.

sounds great Kev. we've had Dead playing all weekend too. it's totally a Dead Spring weekend. Will have to search out all the rain songs for today's second set. It's all good.

[MoMack]

Anyone know if they did the William Tell Bridge between St. Stephen and Eleven? In Wisco 2002 that was a mindfuck. Awesome!

And more importantly, anyone know if there will be a fall tour? Or want to fly me to the Gorge?

ps. how cool would it be if they did a "sound check" the night before the Gorge... people are camping there all weekend...

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

just got back. no time for long review right now. but HOLY SHIT! these two shows were the best post-Jerry shows that I have seen, and better than most latter day GD shows. got my dark star the first night, and then MSG was insane. Don't know what David Lemieux was on, cause he somehow missed on song from the MSG setlist - GIMME SHELTER. right after unbroken chain. I heard the familiar opening rift, but the context wasn't right. totally unexpected. a little rough around the edges, but damn cool.

[Kanada Kev]

WOW ... did you check out the setlist from last night? Best "looking" one of the tour so far, IMHO. Go Branford Go!!!

(Set 1)

U.S. Blues

Scarlet Begonias>

Fire On The Mountain*

Birdsong*

Feel Like A Stranger*

High Time

Turn On Your Love Light*

(Set 2)

New Potato Caboose>

Estimated Prophet>*

Milestones>*

Drums>*

Space*

Dear Mr. Fantasy>*

Dark Star>*

Eyes Of The World*

Donor Rap

(Encore)

Franklin's Tower*

*With Branford Marsalis

Edited April 29, 2009 by Guest

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

poor Hartford. not great looking set list on paper. NJ looked like a continuation of the NY show vibe. I had heard that Branford was supposed to be at MSG as well, and had expected them to finish of the dark star, that had begun in Nassua, at MSG with Branford. Gotta here this one as well. will be hard to rival MSG. but then again...Branford...

[Kanada Kev]

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1900037/27739831/

[Kanada Kev]

FIRST SET:

01.Touch of Grey

02.Pride of Cucamonga

03.Crazy Fingers*

04.Music Never Stopped*

05.Deal*

06.Days Between*

07.casey Jones *

SECOND SET:

01.Sitting On Top Of The World

02.Doin' That Rag*

03.Ramble On Rose *

04.Lady With A Fan* > Jam*

05.Drums/ Space*

06.The Wheel*

07.Terrapin Station*

08.I know You Rider*

09.Woman are Smarter*

* = with Branford Marsalis

Edited April 30, 2009 by Guest
Branford was left out :(

[MoMack]

I've been waiting for The Wheel since the Saturday Worcester show - could have sworn we heard it coming out of space there...

[Kanada Kev]

New vid (backstage at Letterman):

Edited May 3, 2009 by Guest

[Kanada Kev]

(Set 1)

Playing In The Band>

Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo>

New Speedway Boogie

Shakedown Street

Dupree's Diamond Blues

Hard To Handle

Friend Of The Devil>

Playing (Reprise)

(Set 2)

Jack Straw

Alligator>

Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)>

Drums>

Space>

Loose Lucy

Comes A Time>

Cold Rain And Snow>

Sugar Magnolia

(Encore)

Donor Rap

Box Of Rain

Set 1

A Playing In The Band opener is a great way to loudly welcome everyone back to the Spectrum, site of loads of great shows going back about 40 years. It certainly wasn’t a common opener for the Grateful Dead, with a only a few common to mind immediately, 4/29/72, 9/21/82 and 7/2/89. And those were all good shows. And as many of you know, Playing In The Band is one of my favourite tunes by the Grateful Dead. Next up is Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, played here for the second time on the tour. Then comes New Speedway Boogie, always a good number to hear played by anyone. With the first three tune tonight coming from 1970-1973, the show then jumps forward a few years to 1978, with a mid-set Shakedown Street. There was always something very Philadelphia-esque about Shakedown Street, so this seems an appropriate song for the venue. The one played by the Grateful Dead in this very same venue on 4/6/82 is a favourite of many people, me included. Then as if to say “enough of this recent stuff,†they dive back into the late 1960s with Dupree’s and Hard To Handle, the latter being another tour debut. About the only song they haven’t pulled out on this tour is Day Job! Then the show goes back to the land of New Speedway, 1970 (ok, Speedway was debuted in late 1969) with Friend of the Devil. Then to wrap it all up with Playing In The Band bodes well for a great second set of music.

Set 2

A couple of very cool things to note about the pre-Drums sequence, and one is the fact that it contained both Jack Straw and Caution, which I recall seeing this band play as a pairing on 7/4/03 in Austin, TX, at the weirdest gig I ever saw (The Dead, Toby Keith, Leon Russell, Willie Nelson; yes, Toby Keith!), although on this night the two songs were separated by Alligator. Which brings me to the second cool thing, Alligator>Caution! Very cool. There have been plenty of Alligators and Cautions played by these guys in various bands since 1995, but not too many full-blown Alligator>Caution jams, really since about 1970. Up next was Rhythm Devils (aka Drums), which by all accounts have been phenomenal on this tour. This then led into an rare choice to come out of Space, Loose Lucy. This was followed by a batch of really great Grateful Dead songs, Comes a Time, Cold Rain and Snow (Alligator and Cold Rain in the same jam, sounds familiar…) and Sugar Magnolia, with a Box of Rain encore. All in all, a very good looking setlist tonight.

(Set 1)

On More Saturday Night

Brown Eyed Women

Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl

Althea

He's Gone>

Uncle John's Band>

Mason's Children

(Set 2)

Good Lovin'

Cumberland Blues

Cryptical Envelopment>

The Other One>

Drums>

Space>

Morning Dew

St. Stephen

Revolution

Help On The Way>

Slipknot!>

Franklin's Tower

(Encore)

Samson And Delilah

Set 1

What could be more appropriate to open the big Saturday night bash in Philly than a rocking One More Saturday Night. I believe the only time I saw the Grateful Dead open a show with OMSN was on 8/5/89 at Cal Expo, and it was a rocking way top open a show. Next up is Brown Eyed Women, and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, in a slightly different arrangement than it was played two weeks ago in Worcester. Then comes a couple of great Garcia-Hunter tunes, Althea and He’s Gone. He’s Gone was played the first night of the tour and I recall the entire building singing along. This then went into two Workingman’s Dead tunes, Uncle John’s Band and Mason’s Children. The latter, of course, was omitted from the album, but was included on the So Many Roads boxed set, as well as other live versions that have been more recently released. The jam out of Uncle John’s was particularly fine, as were he harmony vocals on Mason’s Children.

Set 2

After hearing the second set on Sirius tonight, my friend JM said “they sure are going out with a bang!†and I’ve got to agree, a really great night of music. And kudos to Sirius XM for bringing the show to so many of you, and kudos to the great sound mix that started with Derek Featherstone’s amazing PA mix, enhanced by Peter A. with just the right amount of audience and bottom end blended in to really give you the live album experience. This, of course, is the same audio mix that appears on the CDs available at the shows or later via download. Great work, guys. They pulled out all the stops, as you can see by the setlist, and played a few things people were really hoping for, including the long-awaited (first on the tour) Morning Dew, and the Samson encore, not to mention slipping in classic including Help>Slip>Franklin’s and St. Stephen, to say nothing of The Other One and Revolution. Pretty freaking cool. So, the band really said goodbye to Spectrum in style. Although the Grateful Dead played a load of shows at the Madison Square Garden, the Spectrum was really their east coast home, and it will be missed. Inspired by tonight’s goodbye to Spectrum, I think I’ll pop in 9/21/72, my favourite Spectrum show, and dig some good old Grateful Dead. Onward to Chicago…

Edited May 3, 2009 by Guest

[MoMack]

We listened as it happened last night and it was sick. just plain sick.

[Basher]

Gotta agree with MoMack, that was a pretty solid show for sure.

[Kanada Kev]

May 4, 2009

The Dead 2009 Spring Tour [sBD]

http://jollyjoke.blogspot.com/2009/05/dead-2009-spring-tour-sbd.html

* 2009-04-12 Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

* 2009-04-14 Washington, DC

* 2009-04-15 Charlottesville VA

* 2009-04-18 Worcester MA

* 2009-04-19 Worcester MA

* 2009-04-21 HSBC Arena Buffalo NY

* 2009-04-22 Wachovia Arena Wilkes-Barre PA

* 2009-04-24 Nassau Coliseum Uniondale NY

* 2009-04-25 Madison Square Garden New York NY

* 2009-04-26 XL Center - Hartford CT

* 2009-04-28 iZOD Center E. Rutherford NJ

* 2009-04-29 iZOD Center E. Rutherford NJ

[Kanada Kev]

(Set 1)

China Cat Sunflower

Born Cross-Eyed

Built To Last

Pride Of Cucamonga

I Need A Miracle

Wang Dang Doodle

West LA Fadeaway

Liberty

All Along The Watchtower

(Set 2)

Mexicali Blues (acoustic)

Into The Mystic (acoustic)

Peggy-O (acoustic)

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

Space>

Drums

Iko Iko

Standing On The Moon

Going Down The Road Feeling Bad

(Encore)

Imagine

Box Of Rain

Chicago - Set 1

Back to Chicago, site of many great shows, as well as the last ever Grateful Dead show and Brent Mydland’s last show. Regardless of those sad events, it’s still a great place for these guys to be for a couple of days, and looking at the first set’s list, it looks like it’s going to be one of those shows. As promised, here’s a recap of the show as it relates to the Grateful Dead’s history. A mix of old and not-quite-as-old, with a lot of cool stuff mixed in. A China Cat opener, always a nice way to ease into the show, then doesn’t go into Rider, similar to what happened a week ago on the tour (when they finished the combination at a later show…), which was followed by an even older song, Born Cross-Eyed. Then came the first “new†song of the night, Built To Last. Then comes the tour’s third Pride of Cucamonga, always great to hear Phil sing this quirky tune from Mars Hotel. His vocal delivery hasn’t changed in the 35 years since he recorded it in March, 1974. An always-rocking I Need A is followed by my favourite of Weir’s bluesy numbers, Wang Dang Doodle (although I also love Minglewood, Rooster, CC Rider and Walkin’ Blues…), and then a ladies’ choice, West LA Fadeaway. And then along comes a REALLY new song, Liberty. I just heard that great version from 1994 on the So Many Roads boxed and remember how much I love this great Garcia-Hunter song. And then another Watchtower, which has been played extremely well this tour! A great looking set indeed.

Set 2

Back to acoustic Dead! If I remember correctly (THAT’s what IIRC means! I just got it…), this is the first acoustic segment since the second set opening of Nassau, the third overall on the tour after the one in DC on 4/14. This one had Mexicali Blues, Into The Mystic (played electrically in Albany) and Peggy-O, pretty darn cool. Bobby has made a habit of playing a little acoustic sets at RatDog shows, and it’s wonderful to hear him play the acoustic guitar. I used to love seeing Weir & Wasserman play those great acoustic sets 1989-1992, during which I saw them a lot in very cool places (Merriweather, Burlington, the super-cool spinning stage in Toronto, Scranton, etc). Then comes A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, the second of the tour after the DC acoustic version, and then somewhat surprisingly, the acoustic set slips into Drums, followed by the obligatory Space. But then comes the perfect out-of-Space song, Iko Iko, always a smooth jam out of Space. This and Not Fade Away were always such great way to get everybody back up and dancing. Then comes Standing On The Moon, always great in the Grateful Dead days in the post-Drums ballad slot. And just like the pacing of a Grateful Dead show, this Garcia-Hunter ballad rips into GDTRFB, which have been exceptional on this tour, really blow-the-roof-off-the-place kind of stuff. Then a double dose of an encore, with Imagine and Box of Rain (the last Grateful Dead song ever played, in this very city) wrap up night one in Chicago during what’s shaping up to be one of the finest tours any of these guys have done since 1995.

[MoMack]

I used to love seeing Weir & Wasserman play those great acoustic sets 1989-1992, during which I saw them a lot in very cool places (Merriweather, Burlington, the super-cool spinning stage in Toronto, Scranton, etc).

The "super-cool spinning stage in Toronto" was my first Dead related concert and second concert period. Oh to be eleven again!

[Kanada Kev]

Yup, i was there too. Joe Ely and then Bruce Cockburn opened

I miss those shows at the old Ontario Place Forum.