Fare Thee Well - Show #5 - Chicago, July 5 - Live Thread

PPV catching band members coming off stage and interviewing.... cool

 

Best after-show obviously.

 

Nothing left to do but smile smile smile

 

Mickey you nutter I love you man.

 

Unless they choose the wrong songs on a highlights set. It comes down to personal faves, and if they got included or not. If they missed my top two picks I'd be bummed enough.

 

Thanks for the endless memories.

 

Great times!!!!! Good night Y'all!!!

 

They will have to finish Playing at some point down the road...

 

Great Run everyone. Thanks for making it memorable.

 

Nice Black Muddy now. I have said it twenty times now but killer production. Total pro stuff and a quite proper send off.

 

It looked (at Attics) like they were showing the departed on the screens - the cameras caught Brent, Vince, and Keith. I'm sure the loud cheers we didn't see were Pigpen and Jerry.

I hope they include the Attics stage projections as a bonus feature

 

Ha, I like the way you think! I'm refusing to believe the core 4 will never perform again. Looked like they were having fun to me (wasn't sure about the first set Friday, but by the second set they were all smiling).

This post-show photo slideshow on PPV is really nice.

I agree that the whole production was top-notch - sound, lights, camera work, ppv filler. Very nicely done.

 

Wow! I Can't say i have ever felt this emotional at the end of a concert before.

 

Been a blast, y'all! Off to bed and up bright and early tomorrow...

 

The Grateful G*****n Dead!

 

Yeah, very emotional and bittersweet.

Thanks to the Grateful Dead, and thanks to all of you - it was cool sharing these last 2 shows with you on the best music forum around ; )

Time to let it all sink in..

 

Gah; I hope you all enjoyed this. I can't give it more than C+ at best. If you don't mind, a few points:

1. Jeff and Trey get the gold stars, but Trey's playing is extremely repetitive. He's landing on the same chord tones or color notes for transition almost every tune. And his style is choppy, not fluid.
2. Billy seems completely unamused, but cracked a single smile at the beginning of drums
3. Drums was better than much of the remainder of the show, and drums is typically my pee break
4. I adore Phil; even worship him. His lines have become too linear; too scalar. He used to herky jerk and that was his strength. He's abandoned that approach to his playing and it suffers for it. I like busy bass players; he's too busy now. And he can't sing, but he does.
5. I realize that they have a finite number of slots, but Not Fade Away--> Going Down the Road was a natural choice to bring some energy
6. At the end of Truckin', I heard or felt Cassidy coming, and I jumped out of my seat. However, the jam was a train wreck. Stay tuned for the 80-disc forthcoming release, 10/21/83, Worcester Centrum for a Cassidy jam that will blow your knickers straight into the laundry chute. I was front row for that one and I still yammer about it to this day to people who don't even know who the GOGD are.
7. I'm still glad I PPVed it. I couldn't miss this.

Thanks for indulging my whims.

 

I did not know the Grateful Dead was still so important to me until this weekend. I have been reminiscing for months now but I was not prepared to miss something so much that I had pretty long ago forced myself to stop missing.

I mean that I had put it away in a box of my heart only to stop missing it, never to stop loving it; but every joy came up this run, so thank you to that band and every acolyte who served its purpose for their talents in still knowing how to dream and execute that thing they do that only they do. And thank you for this band of forum-ers who created my virtual parking-lot, and became fellow campers and touring companions for this the final tour I never expected. I will always have the Grateful Dead with me; both you and the band just made that abundantly clear.

 

That ending was very emotional. Tears streaming down my face. I bid you goodnight. Thanks, everyone. The past five shows over the last week or so with all of you has been joyful, triumphant, and bittersweet. Let it shine. Keep listening to the music play.

 

You gotta listen with your heart to this music.....even if the musicianship isn't at the peak of when the real Grateful Dead was active, it was emotionally satisfying, and more than nostalgia.

 

I'm glad that they once more performed together as the GD and did these Dead Sets. Some real closure for the band and fans. Looks like it got recorded really well too.

 

Why is the Sirius/XM on such a delay? I just tuned in to see what they had going on for a post-show, and they're at Days Between?

 

Amazing. Beautiful. I'm so glad that I was able to experience the shows from afar.

 

Watched the PPV webstream on my buddy's 60-something inch TV. Thought "Touch Of Grey" and "Attics" were perfect endings. Thought the first set was great. I'd probably never in my life actually thought about "Built To Last," but oddly it was the highlight of the set for me: fitting, tight, and a nice way to showcase a good song on an album that otherwise really doesn't have much going for it.

The second set started promisingly, but then meandered into drums, then space, then two dirge-like lengthy tunes, one of which had the added bonus of some awful Phil vocals (and this was after he butchered "Terrapin"). I was really looking forward to "Terrapin Station," especially since Hornsby included an absolutely stunning version on one of his live albums years ago...I was genuinely shocked when Phil ended up singing it (badly), and the whole performance of that one never really came close to coming together. "Not Fade Away" was great all around, but where was that energy during the previous hour? I don't know what the vibe was like in the stadium, but that definitely didn't seem like a set made to be performed in that kind of a venue.

Enjoyed watching the PPV despite the absurd price (at least I split the $30 with my friend), it was very well filmed, lingering on camera angles longer than most modern concert videos do, and doing a good job of switching to the member in focus at most times. Got my $15 worth (and a good hang), but aside from its historical significance, I don't feel like I missed much by not spending hundreds of dollars to take someone's extra ticket and attend (which I considered for a few days before declining).

 

It's not such a bad thing if someone missed it and wants to hear the this to the end. But if you were here in the forum with this crowd - you would be out of step.