Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: StephenR on March 03, 2018, 12:09:10 PM
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Watched a stream of the second set last night. Today found the whole show (music starts about 34 minutes in). Not sure if the youtube link will be taken down but while it is available it is an excellent way to get a good listen to Phil's new bass Dream Fyre.
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I watched the show last night, and I thought it was great! I enjoyed hearing Bobby and Phil playing in that stripped-down format.
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Fantastic with headphones! :)
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Nice, Thanks!
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First; nice bass! :)
I was wondering how they would pull this off; but it works. With just Bobby's rhythm and Phil's lines, it's somewhat akin to avant garde jazz. Even without lead and keyboards and drums, they know where they are; and they're much more keyed in to each other.
There are places where Phil moves the downbeat to somewhere other than one, and it doesn't faze Boddy a bit; he's heard it a million times before.
All in all, it's just plain wonderful. Thanks for posting the link!
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Dead Tuna!
Bill, tgo
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Dead Tuna!
Bill, tgo
That is exactly what I was thinking, Bill! Probably because I have been cramming all the Jack & Jorma that would fit between my ears lately. ;D
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Reminds me of Weir/Wasserman or Garcia/Kahn... now Weir/Lesh joins this fine tradition :)
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2nd set, second night, with Trey. Much more cohesive, and some really fine jamming.. Phil is really driving things. Love the way he seems to be blissful about where things are going... great closeups on a really nice sounding bass, too.
this line is a link, not sure why it shows like this. [fixed]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTt7QzIu2XU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTt7QzIu2XU)
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That set with Trey was wonderful! Thanks!
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This set with Trey is fantastic. Love the dimension that he adds.
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I'm going to the Chicago Theater to see the boys on Saturday, and been purposely ignoring the online recordings so I can "go in fresh" like Frank Costanza! 8)
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I hadn't found out about it until this thread, alas, and the only tickets available for the Chicago Theater are from scalpers (oh, excuse me - "ticket brokers") starting at $173 a throw.
I went to Alpine Valley the day of the show, threw down $12, and got John Cippolina & Zakir Hussain sitting in in the bargain; sorry, just can't pay the freight for this one.......
Peter (Who wishes you kids would off his lawn!)
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"Going in fresh" sounds like a good plan. Let us know your impressions.
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Here goes Dave.
I hadn't been to the Chicago Theater since the early 90's, it's a beautiful venue that opened in 1921 and very intimate. It has a very ornate interior which added to the special feelings of the night.
They started off late, but opened with an amazing Box of Rain with Bobby and Phil, with a percussionist I'm not familiar with (Wally Ingram). Throughout the set the percussionist would appear and disappear like smoke. Other than that just Bob and Phil. It was very sweet, but very much like a bluegrass band show. The audience would start to sing and you couldn't hear Bob or Phil sing at some points. being a respectful knowing audience however, it the sing-along was tempered after the first few times (we wanted to hear them sing!) and didn't reach the same level. The boys totally knew what was happening, and realized we were out of their control so they just played along with it. The whole first set was very nice, and Bob and Phil really took the jamming to some "other" places I haven't heard in a long time. Super cool! Ended first set with Register to Vote speech, and their were desks to register in a couple places in the venue. Bobby: "So register to vote...unless you're happy with how things are going then don't bother!" that was it for any government talk.
Second set the percussionist was out the entire time, Jeff from Ratdog/Dead and Company on keys and...Charlie Sexton Larry Campbell on guitar! That really surprised me in a good way. They brought the PA up to more of a concert level.
They played many Grateful Dead songs, along with some superior jams!!! Dark Star was a highlight, and gorgeous rendition of Hard Rain's Gonna Fall late in the set. All in the true Grateful Dead style with no holding back! Phil did an excellent Bird Song with a Jerry reference (something like a bird withing in HIM sang) and again, a super sweet jam in it. They were opening up the flower several times this show, it was not canned for audience enjoyment it was truly them playing their hearts. Charlie and Jeff did a fine job of filling those parts. Charlie played Mandolin and Mandola/Lute during some of the songs which was cool sometimes, but harsh others. Closed with Phil's organ donation speech (thank you Coty) and then closing with a rousing US Blues.
The interesting thing was the percussionist had no Kick drum. If you heard low tones (and we did often :) ) it was coming from Phil and no place else. Dream Fyre is an excellent sounding instrument! Case Closed! The show was very Grateful Dead, the Phil and Bob connection is still very apparent.
Last, I was in line to buy a shirt and when I got to the counter they had few shirts and pins with any dates on it. It was nice to realize this was a very very short tour, and I was finally here to see one. I missed all the Jerry and Bob tours back in the day, so it was great to catch a short one!
In closing, ticket scalpers suck. My tickets were overtly expensive after fees and whatnot. Seeing this show made it worth it, as I know these events are in limited supply at this point.
Now, on to Dead and Company at Alpine in June!!! Hope this review is taken with a grain of salt, and a tab of....
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Hey Roger, thanks for the detailed review of night one of the Chicago run. Glad to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed the show. Been fun watching the streams on youtube but nothing beats being at the show and experiencing the full effect of the music, audience and venue interacting.
One major correction though, Charlie Sexton was not the guitar player. The always awesome (at least IMO) multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm Band, Phil and Friends) and his wife Teresa Williams, on background vocals, joined Bob and Phil along with Jeff Chimenti for the two Chicago shows. Wally Ingram was the percussionist and he played all six shows with them. Larry and Teresa also played at the Boston shows. I always associate Wally with David Lindley but if you check out Wally's website he has played with a ton of A-list acts over the years and is a cancer survivor to boot. I found his playing to be the perfect foil for the music during this run of shows. I thought some of the jams Saturday went deep and the interplay between the musicians was nuanced and amazing. Larry seemed to have a great connection with Jeff. Link to the first night of the Chicago run below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7dNho8Q0bc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7dNho8Q0bc)
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Roger; thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed the show.
And Stephen; thanks for the link, and the correction.
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Guys, I edited with the correction, thanks for indicating that. I had gone out "fresh" also and did no research previous to my post. Shows what listening to a fellow "affected" concert goer can do for ya. And somehow I forgot Theresa Williams was there. She was amazing as the female voice!
I saw Larry play with Bob Dylan about 15 years ago when they opened for the "Dead" back when Joan was still singing for them. There was one Dylan tune where Larry burned it down, I was blown away.
It would be nice if the boys do something like this again, Phil is still very much on his game.
And...thanks for that link! It'll be interesting to see if being there was any different than seeing/hearing it later.
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Saw Dylan before "The Dead" at the Chicago show on that tour (Joliet Motor Speedway?), and yeah, Larry - and Bob's whole band - just smoked!!
Peter
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I really enjoyed "Girl from the North Country" on the 3/8 show. I like that tune anyway, but had never heard it quite this way.
*Phil's bass part here, while thoroughly freakin' brilliant, would confuse the living daylights out of the bluegrass and oldtyme circles I usually play this tune in... can't wait to try it. ;D
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Peter, that was the show I was at. Almost cancelled if I remember due to the wind blowing down the stage/seating or something. We may have crossed paths...too cool.
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Cool indeed.
My favorite memory of that show (even with the amazing music):
We went with our middle son & his now-wife; he (in his standard buzz cut, ball cap, and white t-shirt) threw a fit & almost refused to go when I put on my dashiki; he was afraid I would seem weird & everyone would look at me..........
Peter
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Cool indeed.
My favorite memory of that show (even with the amazing music):
We went with our middle son & his now-wife; he (in his standard buzz cut, ball cap, and white t-shirt) threw a fit & almost refused to go when I put on my dashiki; he was afraid I would seem weird & everyone would look at me..........
Peter
LOL. Man, imagine what he would have though of an actual Grateful Dead concert.
A dashiki wouldn't even have gotten a second look back in the day.
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I wore my wool Moroccan Djellaba at the 85 Hershey Park GD show since it was cold and rainy and I was especially sensitive to the elements after attempting to sleep in a puddle in my tent after the SPAC show the night before. I didn't think there was anything you could wear to a Dead show that would be too weird but the Djellaba definitely had a lot of heads turning and staring, especially when the hood was up. I didn't care since I was warm and toasty.