Dead & Company: The Grateful Dead Is Resurrected (Again), This Time With John Mayer *

My last show was in 80's, I've just listened to Burgettstown (Cold Rain and Snow) and (St. Stephen) Fenway.
I'm really impressed by John Mayer..

 

For the record, here's the setlist for Fenway night two:

1. Truckin'
2. Big River
3. They Love Each Other
4. Deal
5. Bird Song
6. Passenger
7. Going Down the Road Feeling Bad

Intermission

8. Playing in the Band >
9. Estimated Prophet
10. He's Gone
11. Sugaree
12. Fire on the Mountain
13. Drums / Space >
14. Days Between
15. Not Fade Away

Encore

16. One More Saturday Night

* Donna on everything except "Truckin," "Big River," and "Days Between".

 

Slightly wrong on the setlist. It was:
Drums
Space
Terrapin Reprise
Morning Dew.


One of THE BEST Dead shows I ever saw. I saw the Dead from 82-91 hardcore, and only a few shows from 92-95.

The 2nd set was sublime. To close the first set with H>S>F was a gift from above. The energy in that place was fueled by smiles

 

Dark Star went into a GDTRFB or NFA kind of vibe at the 11:30 mark or so, it was like a country rock beat before the lyric "Mirror shatters...."

I saw 5 shows this summer and was happy with every one. 2 Citifield, Hartford and both Fenway. Boston is a nice looking city but closes too early.

The Verb Hotel in Boston is a blast. Heads hanging and playing music well into the night after the show.

John Mayer is the best guitarist post Jerry, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

 

Looks like you were near me. Section 19

 

Listening to Fenway Park Show 1 (I should have leaned my head out of my window last weekend to try to catch some of it ). As I posted above, Mayer is just fine; I've got 0 issues with his playing. His singing is meh and his wardrobe choice is horrible, so he's a natural fit. Nice to see Donna groovin' and singing, and while OB is a fantastic player and someone I respect very much (and he's rippin' it up during the end of TMNS), this band screams for Phil. Literally screams for him. Unfortunately, they didn't even figuratively scream for him, or so it seems.

Check out Mayer at 59:37-59:42 here:



That's gettin' it done. And yes, I just Archtopped John Mayer.

 

Whoa... Second Fenway show is there too! Wondering where Voodoonola is getting all these pro-shot Dead & Co shows from?

 

Gotta give some credit to Weir despite the slow tempos. In the St. Stephen from the link I posted, they rip it out and at 1:25:34, Weir gives the "let's get back to it sign" but at 1:25:40, he waves it off in favor of more improv.

I'd like to add this as well, regarding Mayer. Most folks think that playing in the lower register (meaning the first few frets) on guitar is easy, and to some extent, that is correct. It's where you start. But once you've mastered the fretboard, playing down there is a challenge. Mainly because when you're ripping it up on top, things like string bends and hammer-ons/pull-offs are more easily executed. Doing those things down in positions 1 and 2 require much more physicality and dexterity. And Mayer is doing quite a bit of that to great effect.

 

Saw the Dead & Company in Pittsburgh last week. They blew my socks off. Much more than I ever anticipated. Mayer was easily the star of the show. Row Jimmy was the highlight for me.

 

Does anyone think we will see a studio album from Dead & Company with Mayer on vocals?

 

Anyone know why Donna Jean wasn't involved with the Fare Thee Well shows?

 

The Illustrated Trip is great. I got it for Christmas when it came out. I haven't looked at that book in years and should.

Say it isn't so! Oh, the humanity!

 

Good question. She's appeared with both Phil's and Bobby's bands in the past, so she should have been on good terms with everybody. I'd say it was probably because she would technically have been a guest (since she would have sat out the '80s and '90s material), and the band did seem to have a no-guest policy for all five shows.

 

I saw her with Dark Star Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall once. She was very good.

In fact, I saw Weir with DSO also, but it wasn't the same show, I don't think. Rob Eaton had to take a breather since he's Weir.

 

I can't "like" your post, due to my misgivings about Mayer, but goddamn I respect it!

 

Fair enough. But let's just take this opportunity to point out that a certain guy sometimes known as "hey you" but also "Captain Trips" was a master of holding down the fort at those positions.

 

The cool thing about Mayer at Fenway is that his outfit doubled as both a chessboard and a picnic tablecloth during intermission

 

I see Weir never got my memo about his tempos over the last 15 years

 

Don't take my liking of Mayer as any kind of disrespect of Jerry. The two are not mutually exclusive. Given a choice, it's Jerry 1001% of the time. But we are where we are, and what we have doesn't suffer due to Mayer; rather, it suffers due to Weir's tempos and OB's sideman mentality (and again, I respect his playing and musicianship very much). I'm almost convinced that someone told OB, in no uncertain terms, to lay off the Phil thing. Maybe that's my inherent paranoia; maybe not. I get the sense that Phil would be able to go back to his less-structured approach to playing with Mayer so in control. That could only be a good thing.

 

Oh, these are the shows that were webcast, right... got it.

 

I was reading he was staying with Katy Perry, was really late for the show, and grabbed one of her outfits by mistake.

This issue has enough posts here for its own thread.

 

Interesting interview with Oteil a couple of days ago, perhaps especially so for Archtop, since he explicitly talks about "stay[ing] out of the way" with his playing. I also liked this part:

Another advantage for Burbridge is that he has the blessing of original Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In playing songs by the Dead, Burbridge strives to strike a balance between forging his own musical path and having reverence for what Lesh played before him. The caveat, of course, is that Lesh — like the Dead itself — never played any song the same way twice.

“It’s definitely both approaches, because Phil’s philosophy gives you carte blanche,” Burbridge said. “What am I going to do? Because there’s nothing I can do that’s too weird!. I was just talking with Phil a couple of days ago, and he quoted Beethoven: ‘Its’ an artist’s duty to confound expectations, even your own.’

There's also a semi-interesting bit at the end for Allmans fans, about a possible reunion, but it sounds like the kind of thing we always hear from that camp: "Yeah, we've been talking about it!"

Oteil Burbridge rocks from the Allmans to the Dead »

 

Thousands of the Psychedelicized had that optical seared into their memories for life.
100% Prankster approval.

 

I liked Mayer starting with that Trio. He seemed like a cross between Lindsay Buckingham and SRV.
Getting into Garcia makes for a nice hat trick.

 

I can't tell you how much I like this post. I suspected something was afoot in terms of how OB was serving the music. I do feel a bit better, although I still wish I'd gotten this gig.