Not a cloud in sky, what a way to start what's going to be a terrific day! Hoping for a rumour to come true!

WAKE UP EVERYONE, IT'S TIME TO GO TO THE SHOW!

what rumor? help a brotha out with the inside west coast info, thanks a million peace have a good show yall

Hey what time did Phil Start yesterday?? I'm trying to get an idea for today??

First set, anyone? thanks, hil

Set 1: Jam> H.C. Sunshine> Jam> China> Jam> Forrest| UJB

So far.....

Jam> H.C. Sunshine> Jam>China Cat>Jam> Forrest| UJB > Celebration ends the first set.

This is today's show? Knew it would be HCSS on Philday!

Can anyone give me some feedback on montains of the moon last night who sings and how does it compare to to the earlier versions?

Eagerly anticipating word of the second set. I am going to Eugene, live in Portland, and can't wait to get Philled up on Tuesday!!

Second set may be full of surprises on Phil day! Hope to find out soon, I'll sleep better knowing! LOL!! :*)

This was a MONSTER of a show.

Some recollections: HC Sunshine -> Jam -> China Cat...there was lots of other stuff in there as well...single-handedly the BEST Lovelight to end the 1st Set I've ever heard...

Nice Berkeley City Council honoring Phil at set break....

I'm sure others wrote down the setlist...it was a wonderful show.

Can't recall the entire list at the moment, but the Lovelight was smokin'. Second set ended with a Viola>Doin that Rag>Viola>Bertha>Viola double decker club sandwich. Opened with Here comes Sunshine. Uncle John's was played. Sugaree as well. Lay of the Sunflower, Celebration, Rock N' Roll Blues, and Night of 1000 stars (encore) were all played tonight. After the encore, Phil came out and said how great it was to be writing with Hunter and had the crowd aplaud RH. I'm sure someone with a more clear head will be in tomorrow to give a more precise review. I'm still glowing;).

Can't wait till the Snoqualmie Washington show!! Beautiful place with the Cascade Mountains in the background. It is supposed to be a great sunny day.Phil and the boys are gonna be SMOKIN!!!Got those US BLUES!!!!

Oh yeah...Just rembered..LOW SPARK!!!

I don't know where to start - so how about INCREDIBLE, ASS-SHAKIN ROCK-N-ROLL. But I'm jumping ahead of myself. Rewind back to the start of the day. Not a cloud in the sky and warm weather at the "Berkeley Beach" (aka Greek Theater). I sat again 10 feet stage right of the tapers. And less I forget, the sound quality is INCREDIBLE inside the ampitheater.

Set 1: Jam > HCS > China > Forest (pause) UJB > Celebration > Lovelight.
Review: Since the day was bright and sunny and hot, as I looked out you would see the wafts of smoke interspersed with mist bottle spray - bowls passing down the rows with sun screen bottles. The opening jam was jazzy and rocky and had a lot of nice work by Rob. Whenever the jam starts out this way they usually are in for some dance music. HCS followed and being a sunny day afternoon concert it was well received and well played - both verses with nice get up and dance jams in between. Without letting up the pace they segue into China and everyone is now bouncing and jiving with that crazy China Cat tempo. The isles are starting to get filled up with people dancing. I then saw an amazing thing. The ushers were also dancing and grovin and doing these snakes with themseleves through the isles to keep the isles opened. And the usher at the very front (there was a gap between the stage and the crowd where photographers had access) was playing air guitar, mouthing all the words, moving up and down his patrol area nodding his head and grovin out! You could tell that EVERYONE was in THE ZONE. I mean when the whole staff is dancing I can't remember seeing that happen. Forest followed and was good. A brief pause then UJB starts up again paced perfectly for dancing and twirling. Celebration followed with strong singing and playing. It then went into the MOTHER-OF-ALL-LOVELIGHT's. You want to kill to get this version. All I can say is Warren had the whole place (except for one person in my section who partied too much the night before) up and dancing. As I looked into the light booth there were all kinds of people dancing there. It had that great Live Dead style of build-up and throttle back over and over and over and over until the final minute of strumming jamming mind splitting creshendo. And like on that show you want to say "and leave it on"! I repeat, you must here this at all costs.

At the break I went and visted leshphan just to see that I hadn't dreamed what just happened. He was floored as well. Really, really, incredibly well played. We chatted for a bit and they also pointed out that this women next to them decided to come back again today after we gave her some cds at the Saturday show. I also saw one nude man walking around the throne area - hey its Berkeley!

July 1 was Phil Lesh Day in Berkeley so there was a presentation of a plaque, some flowers and a group of children let ballons go. He then gave a little speech saying that when he was in the high school band dreaming about playing opera or symphonies at the Greek little did he know how it would come true in a twisted sort of way. No one said it but "What a long strange trip its been" indeed.

(end of part 1)

Set 2 had "everybody must get stoned teases" in several places (I guess they liked it in Charlotte). Jam > Cumberland > (I don't remember name but its one of the new Hunter songs I think) Short break. Sugaree > Viola > Spark > Viola > Doin' that Rag > Bertha > Viola. Encore was Night of 1000 stars.

Second set was top notch, and everyone in the crowd had a unbelievably great time.

Phil also thanked Robert Hunter for writing the new songs after the encore.

No guest artists named Weir appeared.

Did I mention that Lovelight was good?

Summary of the 3 shows I saw (this is highly objective and reflects my taste in songs so see my previous reviews) as well my assessment of how floored the audience is when they leave the show. If the average Phil show gets an "A" grade (after all we are in the age of grade inflation), then Friday was a B, Saturday was an A and Sunday an A+ summa-cum-laude.

I handed out 9 more shows today to the people around me. This time I would start to talk with them, ask where they are from, how long into Phil/Dead etc. I met some interesting people. In front of me were two couples (late 30 ish). The woman was an elementary school teacher so I had to give them the 4/20/01 show with the Tapecat covers and the Charloote's Web theme. She couldn't believe how clever it was. For about the next 30 minutes she would look at me and grin and starting laughing. The women from the other couple of this group then asked me if she could get one because they didn't live with their friends. She was very outgoing and friendly so I asked what Phil music do you like. She asked me if I had the Phil/Phish shows from 4/99 and I said I did have one. She then tells me a little story about how she worked at the Warfield and Trey told her that he loved the Dead songs was a Dead head from back when etc etc. When I gave her the show she took it as some sort of cosmic meaning. She then started to tell me about her recent messy divorce ... so I guess Phil's music will mean something special for her. The next guy looked about 55 and we started talking and he used to work at The Avalon ballroom! I mean how primal Dead can you get! So I gave him a show and enjoyed hearing all kinds of fun stories, probably embellished by the passage of time but fun nonetheless. I gave one show to a Mother and her 10-12 year old son. I gave one to a couple who told me they met at an 80's Dead show and got married and are still married today. I can't remember everyone but they all had intersting stories and you got to know them as people. I also observed an interesting change happen in this area where the cd's were given out. Initially people had laid blankets or scarves or whatever to claim territory. There are the usual border disputes. But after I talked with everyone and gave them some music and everybody got to know each other they would offer places to sit on their padding, food, drink, smoke whatever. Kindness does work I guess.

I am glad that I saw all 3 three shows. But my day job means that I will have to await until they return to the Bay Area again. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the tour as much as I enjoyed Berkeley.

Excellent review Matt. I too saw many of the ushers dancing around. I'm pretty sure that the new Hunter song that you forgot the name of was rock and Roll Blues. Gotta love the Greek.

Way to go Matt!

Matt:

Only a B for Friday nite? Do I have to bring up the nearly 20 minute Just a Little Light, or the smokin' last third of the first set? (Mason->Speedway->Charlie)...that alone deserves an A.

And...and...and...the Eyes on Friday nite was pure genius...and let's not forget how HARD they rock Stephen->11 each time they play it.

I actually thought Saturday was the 'weakest' of all 3 nites (don't get me wrong, though: it was an excellent show, just sort of 'quiet' and 'introspective'....It was the first time I've seen them do the Cryptical->Other One...that blew my mind)

Yesterday tore my mind apart. I have NEVER seen a lovelight like that. What a spectacular band.

Therealib - Thanks for your comments on the shows. I know P&F's music effects everyone differently. For myself, Friday's segues were too abrupt or too fast in pace changes (see my review on 6/29). But don't let my comments detract in any way from your or other's enjoyment of the music. I agree that the Friday set 2 opener with Eyes was P&F hitting on all cylinders. But I also felt the placement of P Quilt where it was in St Stephen and the 11 threw me off balance. I rated Friday a B because some shows HAVE to be below average by defintion (unless we live in Lake Wobegon) and of the shows I have heard live or on cd from this year, from my memory, I thought Friday was below average. But remember, below average Phil is still some of the best live music out there.
I liked Saturday for the reason that you rated it as weak. Interesting how we have different preferences. The music on Saturday was more mental (that's how I would describe what you call introspective) but it hit me as very psychedelic - Mountains on the Moon being a prime example. But as you and everyone else has noted here, if Sunday's Lovelight didn't touch you then you are legally dead IMO. When I arrived home Sunday evening, I couldn't listen to any music period. I needed an evening of quiet to recover from that Sunday show. Boy was that fun! I won't mention the "almost as good as sex" analogy but you know what I mean when the goosebumps and shivers are going through your body - you have a real physical response to the music.

The take home message to me was that the each night had a different tone to it although it was all unmistakeably P&F. If I had gone to just one of the shows I may have come away totally pumped or only midly pumped. My suggestion is to see a run of consecutive shows if you can so you can sample from the P&F buffet - you never know what "specials" will be served up on any one night. And that's the beauty and risk of jamming live music - sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't but when it clicks (and did I mention that the Lovelight on Sunday clicked?) it clicks big time.

How was Les Claypool band? Worth getting there early for?

I enjoyed reading your reviews Matt! Can you do the rest of tour so you can keep writing for us?!
Ushers dancin!(huge difference between the terms, ushers & security) Wish I were at that one! Goes to show, that crowd participation can influence the quality of the music.
Thanks again for ALL of your *Random Acts of Kindness* Matthew Vernon. Just think of the lasting impressions your good deed will have created for so many. That should make you feel very good!!!!!

Les Claypool was tons o' fun...great band, great attitude.

Matt: totally understood. Last nite, I had to go home and watch the baseball recap on SportsCenter ... I needed some different 'brain input', lest my brain explode from the last 3 days.

What time does Phil and friends usually start thier set? Does anybody have a setlist from les claypools frog brigade? thanks

Oh no, not another post from this guy! But this is my therapy after getting totally zapped by P&F. I'm at work quasi-useless and not because I over indulged, on the contrary, I was totally straight and I still got buzzed down to the cuticles on my toes! Hopefully these are my last observations otherwise maybe I should go home saying I have a "headache".

Sunday visuals I left out in previous posts:
a). The guy in the wizard outfit - pointed black hat with stars and robes very Merlinesque.
b). The 3 women on the ledges about 1/2 up oriented at 4 - 5 oclock as you look out from the stage. They had really LONG hair and one would "dance" by swinging her hair around - pretty neat huh?
c). Question - why are the women so much better dancers than the guys at these shows? All you women, do the guys look like good dancers to you when they are dancin' or kind of clunky? (I'm a sway in place guy)

My only regret on Sunday (and its probably good it didn't happen because I would have had a coronary on the spot) was if they would have opened set 2 with Shakedown Street. My reasons are mostly selfish. a) I have never seen the GD or P&F do this song, and b) I would have loved to see the Greek crowd after that incredible Lovelight of set 1 (did I mention this before??) start off with Shakedown to resume the intense crowd/band interaction that occurred during Lovelight. In my mind I can see the crowd on their feet joining in the Shakedown refrain.

Matthew:

I was sitting two rows down from those women. One of them was wailing like a bird who just got run over by a 4x4 every few seconds...screaming like she was having an orgasm. The guy right behind me, who's been to every greek show since 84, said that he recognized this chick from back in the day, and said she'd been wailing like that for the past 20 years.

Absolutely incredible. The band}audience}band connection a total psychic blast of free flowing magical energy. Cosmic dancing everywhere. From the left side of the Greek Theatre upper seats, where several hippy shamen and shawomen were contacting the inner gods and goddesses of tribal deadercizing. During China Cat the emotions in the crowd were palpable.

Kudos to the sound guys. Down in the center of the floor area to the upper rafters you could just feel the bass.

Also dug the way Phil and Friends wove the Viola Lee Blues thru the second set. People in my section (me included) were coming out of their skin. My mind is still blown. I came right home and played the Dead's first album all the way thru. Man, this band has the vocals down. Built on Phil's bass to baritone voice, up to the upper registers, I'm sure all Jerry can do now is smile, smile, smile...knowing his legacy and contributions are still living thru his most talented of bandmates.

PHIL LESH DAY!!!!!

I will always remember this most incredible of phil/dead music festivals. Can't wait for Fall tour.

I missed Shakedown too by the way. Next time.

Great show, but I gotta put this out for discussion. Why two "Night of 1000 Stars?" I saw a lot of people get up an leave the show Sunday when they started that as the encore. All in all, I'd say that the encores were the weakest part of the run. Tom Thumb's was fun enough, but Box of Rain took the wind out of my sails on Saturday and Sunday was HUGE letdown after such an amazing show. Thoughts?

With Regards to Bird Lady...

This lady may have been "from the old school..." but I know that anyone within 25 rows of this chick was really annoyed by the end of the show. Her high pitched orgasmic chirping was like finger nails on a chalkboard after a while...

I always thought of the encore as gravy, the show's basically over. With the Dead that was more so than with Phil. Phil's done some great encore's like St Stephen, Wheel > Other One > Wheel & Blue Sky. Still, an encore is too late to make or break a show IMHO.
Unless Phil does 4 - 6 songs like The Who.

Great review Matt!!! I won't be able to pick up the tour until Camden. Can't Wait. Have not seen a show since 4/24 & I'm DTing. Sounds like the boys are only getting better each tour. I also loved your cd givaway idea, it really inspired me. Hope you don't mind but I'm going to continue your kindness on the last leg of the tour. I had someone do that to me last year @ The Beacon in NYC and it really touched me. I have a pretty good collection so I immediatly gave the disc away to a less fortunate individual. Hope to see you all on the road.
Rob

>>>With Regards to Bird Lady...

Maybe she's married to The Whistler......

I was ready to take action after a while, as bird lady was making it rather impossible to focus on the music...though it did make for some good show comedy.

Tapecat gave me the idea for handing out the cd's -> credit goes to him.

Does anybody know what Les Claypools Frog Brigade played??? Please post a setlist if you know one. How long has Phil's shows been lasting?

thanks

>>> They had really LONG hair and one would "dance" by swinging her hair around - pretty
neat huh?

Sounds like a girl we used to call 'Cave Woman'.
It didn't matter if everyone else was standing shoulder to shoulder, she'd still swing her 4 foot hair around like a guitar player in a heavy metal band.

Phil has been (typically) playing 2 90 minute sets. On at 7:15 or so, show over at 11. 30-40 min break.

Great show, LOVELIGHT! Man did that one smoke all the way through. Was I the only one that heard a Mountain Jam towards the end of set 1? China Cat caught me totally off guard. Everything was well played and really fun to dance to. It was a well paced show on the whole, I too was kinda dissapointed in the encore, especially seeing that they had played it the night before. I cannot wait to see these guys again. LOVELIGHT!

One more highlight from Sunday; Warren singing Sugaree. No need to glance at the lyric sheet now. The words were coming from deep down inside. He played one hell of a gutar solo as well.
That was indeed the Lovelight of this, or any other millinium.
Night Of 1000 Stars is a great tune. Just need to hear it a few more times to be able to really appriciate it.
I agree with J Broady, the Mason's, New Speedway, Cosmic Charlie to end Friday's first set was as good as anything I heard this weekend.

Re: Frog Brigade
I just love Les, but I am not familiar with titles. What I can say is that he covered "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," and "10,000 Lightyears from Home" with a "Walking on the Moon" sandwhiched in between. Great stuff - cool outfits and great rhythms and a fun musing by Les on the differences between OZZFEST and P&F shows:Basically it boils down to a given note on the bass that invokes the "dark side." Really funny shit.

>>>That was indeed the Lovelight of this, or any other millinium.

Are you saying it was better than the Dead's in '69 or '70 with Pigpen?

First Saturday still takes the cake for me. I am sitting at the computer at Cal trying to complete an essay, but I am distracted - my bones have not been this sore from boogie damage in a long time! The Wheel was so heartfelt, and who knew Passenger could ROCK like that?
As for yesterday - Lovelight. Viola for days on end!? I saw people weathering the heat to boogie themselves senseless, and I was in the wheelchair section!!
Enjoy the ride and the summer
Aric

Les Claypool was worth showing up for. They played some cool, that's for sure. Uhhhh, the songs I can remember include Shine on You Crazy Diamond, stretched, and framing some other tunes as Viola Lee did in the second Phil set. And 2000 Light Years from Home. Les mentioned Ozzy, and I was kinda hoping he'd show up and sing something (discuss amongst yourselves... if Ozzy showed up at a Phil show and wanted to sing something, what would you have him sing?), but it just led to a light side -darker side jam/rap (the light side... it's a nice sunny day, the dark side... it's really hot out here, and I don't have enough sunscreen).

A good opener... with the caveat that I was rather high at the time. The openers seemed to get about two hours, then Phil takes four.

Personally, I think the Saturday show was the best of the three, largely due to the extended, complete, Other One, but the first set rocked too. The biggest disappointment was that Phil didn't get Les Claypool out there for a little competitive bass noodling.

Tears of a Clown licks showed up in all three shows, both sets. You Can't Always Get What You Want was teased Saturday and Sunday.

Well

Mule does a War Pigs cover


how about The Wizard?

PS We kinda thought Jack Straw would be an interesting thing to hear Ozzy sing :).

And by saying "Saturday was my favorite", I don't mean to bag on Friday or Sunday in any way. There's a case to be made for each of them.

Bucky - I can comment from experience regarding your PigPen Lovelight question. My first show was 4/17/71 Princeton one of the all time Pigfests (Hard to Handle, Big Boss Man, Good Lovin, King Bee, and Lovelight). I love the Pig. I don't consider Warren a substitute but after you hear Sunday's 7/1 show you can tell me your impression. There's more than one way to get to heaven and I was in heaven during Lovelight on Sunday.

How about the Eleanor Rigby tease on Sunday...? Heard that for sure...(amazing that this was possible over the chirping lady...)

Where to start....

I didnt hear the "Bird Lady," but if in fact she's been doing that for 20 years around these parts, her name may be Allison. Thats the name of the girl whose high pitched shriek appears on many late 70s-early 80s west coast audience tapes. Some friends of mine knew her.

I caught Saturday and Sunday, and prefered the former. Partially because it was at night, part because of song selection, and part because of my...ummm..."state of mind."
Saturday was a very introspective show. Unbroken and the Whell got off to a very nice start before slamming into Passenger. Passenger may well have rocked, but the volume was not near loud enough for me. (Having spent 4 days in the Maritime may have spoiled me for life). I liked Warren's new song and the NFA was excellent. I like the "new" deemphasis of the last word of each line. Copped from the Dylan version from the fall 99 tour I believe. Bird Song was fantastic (my 1st P&F version). For a song whose structure and feel is much like Dark Star, I was suprised at how incredible the treatment was, since I find their version of Dark Star to be one of their least successful tunes. I had goosebumbs all over when Phil changed the lyrics after the jam to, "All I know is something like a bird within HIM sang/All I know HE sang a little while and then flew off." Very touching.
When they opened the 2nd set with She Said, She Said, the evening's "motif/theme/journey" became apparent: tonight was about death. (BTW, as far as Im concerned they could play any Beatles tune any time and Id be happy. Well, maybe Phil singing Michelle would be a little much.... ;)
After the goodbye that NFA represented for so many years, we were flooded with death references: Bird Song (then for Janis, now for Jerry), She Said (I know what its like to be dead), Cryptical, I know you Rider. It was so overwhelming that Im suprised Black Peter failed to make an appearance. And it was all very well played. Certainly not the typical Saturday night rocker at the ol Greek, but a very deep, introspective experience. Highlights were the reggae jam>Cant always get jam out of She Said and the absolutely blistering solos in Rider. Barraco even thru in some of the China>Rider "fanfare" just as they went into the Rider. Before the encore, I tunrned to my companions and said the only question was whether we would be born again then or the next day. Given the nights journey, I guessed either Into the Mystic or Box of Rain, or both ;), would have been appropriate. How could someone not like Box (dont answer that Bucky), and Ive always had a particular penchant for some of the slower encores (Box, Baby Blue, Weight).

Saturday was indeed immediate rebirth with HC Sunshine to lead off. China cat was very good as well and Im a fan of Lay of the Sunflower as well (any time these 3 sing harmonies is a good time). Though the UJB continued the rebirth theme, I deceided to go "hatch" a Heineken in the Beer Garden. Im not that into the calypso style of this one. Got back in time for Celebration. Seems a nice enough groove, but maybe a little wordy and sappy for my tastes. "Sing it out with love" makes me cringe a bit (not that Im anyone to critisize one of the 20th c. greatest poets....). As for Lovelight, nothing short of incredible. To answer Bucky's question, it had neither Garcia's wailing, Weir's "shine one me"'s, nor Pigpen playing matchmaker, so I couldnt imagine it was BETTER than a 69-70 Dead version (I never actually witnessed a Pigpen Lovelight), but who's to say? The music was certainly more intense than virtually any post-pigpen version (10/16/81 excluded perhaps), but, my bottom line is that since Garcia wasnt there, id be hard pressed to call it 'better.' Of course if someone likes P&F better than the Dead, then you probably would say it was better (and someone who was never "touched" by Garcia might find it technically better as well). Anyway, it fucking rocked. End of Story (and of set).
2nd set was a bit of a disappointment to me. Cumberland started things off nicely enough (though nowhere near the version from the Beacon last fall). Rock and Blues had a very familiar feel. Not only was the music a well done cross between Deal and Ramble On, but the lyrics referenced about 14 other dead tunes. BTW, can these guys get to a blues shuffle from anywhere or what? Sugaree's fine and Warren does a great job, but it wasnt exactly the 2nd set Sunday I was hpoing for. Until...
Viola Lee is back where it was 33 years ago: the show stopper of all show stoppers. Im sure its no coincidence that 3 of the last 4 runs Ive seen have featured this on the closing night. This tune was made for this band and even got Les Claypool swaying a bit (he was backstage on and off for the whole show, mostly standing still with hims arms behind his back). The ending run was fantastic with each Viola Jam more intense than the last and each inter-Viola tune more rocking than the last (Low Spark to Doin That Rag to Bertha). Excellent way to end the show. (I was also disappointed with the 1000 Stars encore(hey, Im a deadhead, I dont tolerate repeats)). All in all a good show. Id put it on par with Friday/Saturday of the Maritime, suffering only from some low points in the middle of both sets. Ive now seen 8 shows with this line-up and both shows fall squarely in the middle of those 8 with Saturday edging out Sunday.
Of course, Sunday did have some other fine moments: Les Claypool was great, the tribute to Phil between sets, the nice touch by Phil having us give props to RH, and of course the beautiful weather and people of Northern California. Now if only any restraunt in Berkeley could learn how to make and serve dinner in less than an hour....

I missed the beginning of Les' set, but what I did catch was the afore mentioned Shine on You Crazy Diamond, and 10,000 Lightyears from Home with Walking on the Moon plus a lot of material from Les' Highball with the Devil album: Precipitation, Hendershot, Cohibas Esplenditos, Holy Mackerel...

I just got back to Tucson from Berkeley, and am surprised that no one seemed to acknowledge that the Berkeley shows seemed to be the first of Phil's themed shows that he talked about on the official site. Sunday was clearly a sunshine/light theme show Set1:(Here comes, China Cat SUNflower, Forest.. or Lay of the SUNflower, Uncle John's (references the sun), Celebration (mentions the sun), LoveLIGHT). Set II, the references are not so clear, but the set started with Cumberland (sun reference) and the encore was night of 1000 STARS.

I also believe that Friday and Saturday were theme shows. Friday is iffy, but there were a slew of mountain references. The only thing that doesn't quite fit is that they played Mountains of the moon on Saturday. Saturday was a clear theme of oneness and connectedness and journey--Unbroken Chain,Wheel, Other One (comin' around in a CIRCLE) , as well as Passenger and Rider for the journey aspect.

What do you folks think???

Sorry I didn't read all the posts all the way through when I made my previous post. It does seem that others saw some themes as well.
I like scalia's death and rebirth twist on saturday night. It fits well with the journey/circle theme.

Nammy

I heard Eleanor Rigby riffs both Saturday and Sunday...have they ever done a full blown ER jam?

Oh god, I remember sitting there disecting dead shows afterword, CERTAIN that Jerry was sending us messages (when, of course, Jerry was thinking "why do stupid people think I have messages to send?")....now we know there ARE messages!! That may be more than I can deal with.

Very funny BOTB. Glad most of my acid days are behind me....lol.
I dont think theyve ever played a full blown Elanor Rigby jam (ala JGB 79-81), but Warren's teased in 6 or 7 of the 8 shows I've seen. Sat was the fullest expression Ive heard yet.

Who said anything about acid? Jerry would send messages ("Hope"...."Be cool, security sucks here" "Get beer now" "It's cool to be alive" "I wish Bob wouldn't do that") when I was sober. Wait, that must be him now......Chet jam Jer?

Well, I gotta say that Phil rocked the house on both Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately I didn't attend Friday's show, so I can't say which is the best out of the three. But, the difference between Sat. & Sun. was only a matter of a day. I loved them both and didn't want them to end. Also, I felt like both days were compliments to each other.

As far as the Frog Brigade, I love this band. Les is a crazy man that truely loves what he does. I'm happy for him and his bandmates, and I can't wait until I get the chance to see him play once again. Until then...here's the setlist from yesterday's show:

Thela Hun Ginjeet
Highball with the Devil
Hendershot
Precipitation
Holy Mackeral
Cohibas Esplenditos
Shine on you Crazy Diamond
10,000 Light Years From Home > Walking on the Moon > 10,000 Light Years From Home

Yes, it's Allison.
Yeah she's the chick on the tapes.
She's been doin' that with her friend for years.
It used to be, in Winterland, that she'd be out in the middle of the floor, orgasming away, with nothin' but guys for about 20 feet around her. Man there were some weird people at Winterland. Weird lookin alien/Krisna/hippie/nonverbal/space people. Never saw em in town. ONLY at shows. No idea what/where they were in between.

Used to see Allison and friends at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz when Jerry played. Back then, she had a real thing for Jerry. That's who she would direct all that energy of the muse at.

The way we dealt with her was to move away. Hard to do at the Greek when you have nice seats, though. I know, I was just down from her for a while.

The Greek is one of the great, sacred power venues. Like Red Rocks. It is built to focus...everything. Music, sound, spirit, energy...I have had some of the highest highs at GD family shows at the Greek. A timeless venue built with the transcendent in mind. A bit different from Oakland Arena, wouldn't you say?

Standout moment, deepest moment, ancestor moment of all three days was the Headlight/Jerry verse in 'Rider'. Did you notice? When the band sang that verse a capella, it got real quite...you coulda heard a pin drop. Left me in tears...days gone by...loved ones gone before...miss me when I'm gone...ancestors/friends/bandmates smilin' down in the moonlight...

nice words on the Greek, Jeff. very true. a dream factory vision quest family funhouse with amazing sound...that acapella line in Rider is such a cool touch..

..and that sure does sound like Alison, who is known to get extra loud and topless in the Greek with all that energy in there. Many called her The Horse Lady because her orgasmic utterings were sort like a whinney but perhaps its developed into a bird chirp..shes the one person you make sure you're not behind at a show (besides Bill Walton and Tex the Roadie). One time Jerry played an afternoon show at SF State and there was a lady there with a kissing booth. Alison bought a bunch of tickets and smooched her for quite awhile..yep, some real characters at those bay area shows...anyone see the dancing bear guy?

thanks for the reviews, nice takes on the themes..it'd interesting to see if the mood of the jams fit any themes people pick up on..

backonthebus:

"Get beer now" That's been Jerry sending me that message for all these years? Is he also responsible for "Have another smoke"? Hold on, I think I've got one coming in now. Back later.

....I knew it! The bird thing threw me, but I had a hunch that this was the "horse" chick...she would cup her breasts with both hands and whinney and neigh while stomping a foot and throwing her head back...at Winterland she wouldn't stay in any one spot for too long, so it was entertaining.
She must be getting a wee bit old for this..but it goes to show, ya' don't ever know...
thanks for the memory!

The amazing thing is, she looks great!!!

I was thinking about this one Jerry show at the Catalyst in about '81 or so. It was in the days of lots of powder use.

Jerry, of course, comes on stage at least a half hour after showtime announced on the marquee. No problem...this is Dead time...

As he is walking on stage, he trips over a cable and goes down HARD!! He is pretty shaken up and has to go backstage to chill for a while. And kill the pain, heh heh.

I felt for him, but it was a pretty funny pratfall, sorta 3 Stooges-like.

Anyway, after a pretty long time, he comes back on and starts playing. That's when Allison, the Horse Goddess, starts up with the orgasms...she kept it up the whole time, and the band turned it up just a little. The Catalyst is pretty small, so there was no getting away from her. She kept her eyes on Jer the whole time. I had more fun watching him try not to watch her. :-)
What a great show!!! I just had to shake my head and smile. What a crew we all were.

Without a Net, Indeed.

Cheers!

Bird Lady deserves a spot in the Grateful Dead Hall of Fame! Everyone seems to know who she is. Sounds like she's from the old school. Bet all the former G/D members remember that woman. How many of you think you're remembered because you're you? :*)

Ok - I was in the Bay Area from 77 - 83 but never encountered Allison. At the Greek on Sunday I saw 3 women with long hair together in that area. There was a younger women I'd say 20-30ish that would throw her head around and really swing her hair but that was it, she wouldn't really move the rest of her body very much. Then there were 2 older women next to her (more my age say late 40's to 50's). One to the left of the younger one and one maybe one row down. None of these seemed to be moving around that much either. Is Allison one of the older women?

Travelogue

or On The Hunt for the Crytical Development.
PART 1

You people who live in the bay area are so lucky.
Some of us have to travel to get to the truth.

My quest started Friday morning in Phoenix.
110 degrees in the shade.
My shuttle driver asked, "Gettin out of town to beat the heat?"
I told him "yeah..."
(the truth would problably fry his synapses.New immigrants really don't have the tools yet to handle the higher nuuances of Amerikan Kulture.)

At the airport I got my E-ticket. On the road in the jet age. Got my ticket, but forgot my drivers license. I did not yet realize this however.
Sat for a half hour in the bar communing with the spirit of Sam Adams, patriot-brewer.
He was sending me hidden messages, but I couldn't understand a word he was sayin'.
So I went to the gate, where the skycap, patiently waitng for me to show up, tapped me on the shoulder. He said "I was gonna take your license home and mail it to you, but I thought you'd need it."
Jesus Christ was sending me hidden messages but I wasnt receiving. I tipped the skycap 5 bucks and felt gulty for 5 days for not giving him more. He said I'd see him later. I hope he's right.

The Golden Bear Inn in Berkely is a preserved 50s style motel with 60s style preserved TV and 90s prices. Howard Johnson was sending me secret messages. Never stay in a motel without an orange roof.
Other than the non stop party going on all weekend at the house next door, It was a good place to crash. Don't trust yahoo maps, tho. It showed the motel being a fes blocks from the Greek.
It isnt. The ONLY bad thing about the Greek is getting there.

Ah the Greek! It s been almost 15 years since I saw the Dead there, on another pilgrimage. they opened, by the way with Shakedown Street. It was adisappoitning performance then, but I too was hoping to hear it this weekend. it would turn out to be the only musical disappointment.
While I havent been to RedRocks, I have been to the Gorge in Washington and the Ampitheater in Waikiki and the Greek is better than both those venues. Add to that the cooolest security on the planet and the best audiences in the world.

Had to be there. Found an easy parking space at the Optemtry parking lot behind the sports field. A short walk to the theatre. parked there Fri and Sat til my luck ran out sunday.
Berkely is great, but those hills!! I am REALLY out of shope!
And that beer garden!!! What a joke..climpt to the top of the theatre. Wait in line to get carded then wait in line for one of two taps serving thousands of people.
Aristotle was sending me greek messages....."Don't drink beer at the concert this weekend" This time I got the message.

Luckily, I met a nice fellow from Tucson, who elevated my shakra for the second set Friday.
What a blur.

(OK cut the crap...what about the SHOW REVIEW!!!!!

Friday
I felt that Warren was distracted by something during the first set Friday. I feared disinteret, but it looked more like equipment troubles as the night worke on.
Still , the Quintet, as Phil introduced them at least once, is tigher, stronger and more daring than when I last saw them \on New Years.
I thought they had brought Jimmy up in the mix, and Rob's keyboards too.
Jimmy seems more and more willing to stip out and make his statement, and Warren was his usual incredible self.
I especially enjoyed the moments , few though they were, when Warren would allow Jerry to speak through him.
The Dead songs just get tighter and tighter. Speedway and Charlie really got tings moving. The Eyes was the best I have heard them do yet and Saint Stephen...whew....
Patchwork Quilt is a wonderful song, but everytime Ive heard them do it, Warren's mike is buried in the mix. I heard he wrote that song aa a private song , and never intended to perform it.
I would be remiss not to mention the excellent Midnight Hour that closed the show.....
Wilson Pickett was sending me secret messages, but my legs were so tired, I refused to try to dance the funky chicken.


We'll be back with the review of the show after this message from our sponsor....
PYRAMID ALEHOUSE...910 Gilman in Berkeley! I been drinkin Pyramid for half a decade now, so a pilgrimage to their brewery was in order. I never got to the tour, because before each show, I sampled some of the finest, freshest ales on tap.
good food too.... I hghly recommend their DPA brew and their hefeweizen is excellent.

CONTINUED

Travelogue

or On The Hunt for the Crytical Development.

PART2
Saturday
So a good buzz at the Greek on Saturday. Beautiful day. After my legs collapsed Friday from all the climbing, I lay on my back for the Disco Biscuits set. NIce droning and a version of Pink floyds Run Like Hell.....set a nice mood for what i considered the show of the weekend.
Unbroken Chain is one of my faves. The dead never performed it until it was too late. I always thought the jam possiblities were endless, and of course, The Phil Quintet explores them all.
I still dont think they quite have the handle on The Wheel, but like some of the other Dead tunes, I feel sure it will get there.
Not Fade Away is a perfect example. the band seemed to be pleasantly surprised when the crowd started clapping out the beat in the middle of the song...
The guitarists seem to be more willing to play the themes and hooks of the songs than they were. Just because you play the same melody as Garcia, doesnt mean you are copying him. I think this band has been way too sensitive to that issue, but seem to be getting over it.
Thougth it was great that Pil Introduced and acknowledged Candace for the lights....anyon who saw saturday Nights show with Birds circling the trees behind the ampitheatre and the laser/holgrams of shredded paper being tossed and fluttering to earth. absolutely stunning!
Her use of the architecture behind the stage was inspired. Owsley was sending me secret messages about light and sound. I have no idea what he was talking about.

That's the main difficulty in the post-Dead era. Ratdog, Otherones, P&F....nobody seems to want to stip up and challenge Jerry's Ghost.
Fortunately, I think they are receiving Garcia's hidden message...."Just *$!** play the Songs, man!"

On Friday morning I was dubbbing a copy of 10-09-00 as filler on disk 3 of the Crusader Rabbit show, and thought Bird Song sounded great. It sounded even better here.
For me, Cryptical was the show stopper, although I also felt a little uncomfortable with the death theme. I too expcted Black Peter after "HE sang a song, a little while...." and "You know he had to die"

Once again, the band seemed to Shift gears after the sun went down, so I was a little concerned about Sundays show... Not to worry

Sunday
Les Claypool snapped my little brain with 2000 Light years from home.
Sat and watched a howk or eagle circle the arena and fly off into the hills...tried to sit up in the stands, but was lured down to the floor by the Here Comes Sunshine/ China Cat combo. Glad I did, cause what they've been saying about Lovelight is TRUE!!
A real show stopper, and while I never saw Pig sing it, I have heard tapes and there aint nothing like a PigPen Lovelight. I saw the Dead do it 15 years ago at the Greek and bless Bobby, he cant touch Warren on this tune. It owuld be a good one for them to do together this summer...
Pig was sending me messages during the song. He said he wished he could come back to sing with this band, but that he'd probably just sit there listning to Warren Haynes wail. He also said it's OK for the band to do Hard to Handle....really.....

Had to lay down again, after channeling Pig. he really wanted me to go for a beer, but I said I was not climbing that mountain for a little cup of overpriced brew. Settle for a CoKE and $2.00 bottle pints of water.
Pig left, but now John Coltrane was sending me messages....no that was just the music between sets....Blue Train and more....

By now I was seriously disoriented. All these hidden messages, were taking their toll. Miles Davis wanted to know if they really played Bitches Brew on Friday. I wasn't sure, I said, but it sure sounded like it.
John Lennon wanted to know if I could get tickets to the RedRocks show, I told him he was dead. He said no, he'd been recieving hidden messages from Jerry.

It always comes back to Garcia. The Holy Fu**ing Church of the Missing Digit had taken over the afterlife too. I didnt want to, but I had to get to the heart of the matter.
So I sat down, just as the band chugged into Viola. Concentrating deeply, I called on the spirit of Captain Trips. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to ...well whatever minutes turn to.
Low Spark sparkled and my trance deepened. Still , no word from Jerry. Doin that Rag...surely he'd come through during this one...then I remembered he pretty much abandoned it after 1970...fool....
that did it....Suddenly I was receiving...The message from jerry was coming thorough Loud and clear.

He said "Man, if you don't leave soon, your gonna miss your flight" Looking at my watch, I saw he was(of course) right.
I tried to ask him about Lennon, Miles, Coltrane and about whether Bob or Phil does The Eleven better. But he was gone.
And so was I...Walked out to the strains of the second Night of a Thousand Stars, with all those guitars ringin in my ears...
The stars were coming out...or would be soon...on this night....

good to hear Alison was looking healthy at the Greek..sounds like maybe she was teaching a young prodigy? that's amazing you never saw-heard Alison, Matt, she sure stood out..

DMama, you'd be surprised..last year, during one of those times when a forum like this has a bunch of people posting at once and it turns into a chat room i was in the Latvala section in DNC and a # of us SF "old schoolers" as you say were in there talking about Alison, The Dancing Bear guy, Ben Friedman of the Postermat, other Dead legends. many of us remembered each other for various reasons..strange trip, small world

snarky...LOL....that's freakin hilarious..i saw Jer cross busy traffic on Broadway to get to The Stone once and wondered "how the hell is he still alive?"..he just sort of ran out there, like "go for it man, it'll work out"..kind of jerry in a nutshell..without a net, fer sure

About the repeat of Night Of 1000 stars. During the first set on sunday, a friend of mine came by my spot and clued me into the fact that Robert Hunter was sitting in the isle behind the soundboard with his wife,(about 15 feet from where I was sitting) So, Im sure thats why we got the repeat. Twas a true pleasure to watch his reactions to the new songs and the old one's! He sang along with all the new one's, and looked as though he aproved BIG TIME. When they went into the Viola Lee, he goes with a huge smile 'WOW' he looked like a kid in a candy store! At the end of the Dewin That Rag when they do the barbershop ending, he friggin loved it, again, giggle'n with pleasure. Was wonderful to see him love'n the music come'n from the stage, I also got to say as he was passing us after night of 1000, 'Great songs Sir!' to witch I recieved a huge smile with a tip of the hat! His wife was beaming at me. Can you say HIGHLIGHT! anyway, that made the repeat much easyer to take for this kid. Peace, Dave

P.S. was great to meet Matt Vernon, and witness his random acts of kindness. And yes siree matt, that 'Lovelight' was what 'it's' all about. 'IT' was there in full force during that lovelight on sunday. so much so that my lovelight is still shine'n BRIGHTLY 3 daze later!! ;P

Hey hypnug420 or hypnugs420, had fun at the last Greek show. Hope you had fun at the eugene show. Thanks for sharing your Portland kind.

Well, I have gone to my forst Phil & Friends show...had over 400 journeys with the Dead, but had been missing Jerry so much that I didn't attend...BUT...MY BATTERIES are charged for the first time in sooo long...Am off to Sandstone for the show there for my BD...THANKS PHIL for all your efforts...you have many people smiling and being kind again...

Great show! Looking forward to the return of the PLQ to the Bay Area

won't you try try trrrrryyyahhahigh!
tryyyyiah!!!
wentti nsee the Deaed mo' lately,
went to stead and seeeeee

went to stead me be my baby
almost fell
Off a cliff

went to stead to seeeeee
went to stead just to Free my baby

Wento bed and seeeeeeeeee

won't you try try trrrrryyyahhahigh!
tryyyyiah!!!
wentti nsee the Deaed mo' lately,
went to stead and seeeeee

went to stead me be my baby
almost fell
Off a cliff

went to stead to seeeeee
went to stead just to Free my baby

Wento bed and seeeeeeeeee

Wow, leshphan's post about Hunter brought a tear to my eye. Glad to hear he's diggin' it too.

And iris, I am waiting for the bear guy (as we called him) to dust off his light-up honeycomb and chest hair thing(pretty much all he was using by the time I retired from the scene) and make it out. If anyone sees him, shout out!! It will mean that the circle is truly complete.

BOTB-The elctro-bear guy was at the Kaiser on NYE...
shows where his allegiance lies.

Glad to hear that he rides again

BOTB, he was also at the Maritime. I was at all 4, but only saw him the last night.

We've all slown down a little, I geuss.