Furthur / The Dead / The Other Ones | OtherOnes.Net

This has to be absolutely the worst show I've ever been to. Put aside that Bobby should avoid the song "Memphis Blues" at all costs. I've never heard that song botched so badly before. Then there was a terrible vibe going around. Phil was supposed to sing Birdsong but Bobby tried to hijack it when he stole the first verse from Phil. Phil was shooting daggers at good old Bobby. Then what is it with Bobby and his fucking amp? I have yet to go to a concert when he is not tweaking around with his sound. He abandoned the rhythm guitar on Deal for most of the song. Phil got so pissed a couple of times that he exited the jam and got back to the song while Bobby was still on his knees playing around with his amp. When Tuesday night's first set ended it was so together that Phil gave out a fist bump to Bobby. Tonight, after the first set, they left the stage separately, Phil loitering around until Bobby was out of his presence.

My girlfriend texted me between sets and asked how tonight's show was. My response "Tonight's show blows chow!" I'd be shocked if anyone thought any differently,

They picked it up a bit in the second set, but even Phil's "Unbroken Chain" which was indeed the highlight of the night, was not enough to keep me around. Especially when it was followed by a rather unremarkable "Satisfaction". At that point the only option was to say "Sayonara" to the boys and exit the Hammerstein for the streets of NYC.

Kadlecik and Russo are tremendous players. Jay is wasting his talent, imitating Mickey, with the percussion library of instruments at his disposal. I'd rather see two drum sets going at once. Jeff, of course, is always solid. Phil has played inspiringly and appeared to be enjoying himself until tonight, Bobby, oh Bobby, has reverted to childishness. He had better become accustomed to being a co-leader of this group, otherwise the demise of RatDog is premature.

ted is right on, the show was pretty miserable, despite a decent attempt at a slightly creative setlist, the show went no where. the first set stranger deal was nice as heck but after that only the mississippi was inspired. the memphis blues was pathetic, the birdsong a train wreck, and the good lovin closer lame. second set was a mishmash of stuff, but with no real flow, no real direction, and evolved into very little after a rousing jack straw, best song of the night by far. UJB- unbroken is good on paper but not played that well, just okay to be honest, never hitting any hight notes. the venue was packed and an eerie black fog existed bw the tons of asshole security and the lack of oxygen.

I thought the show was amazing...went to my first show in 1978 and this was an amazing show despite Jerry not being there..Jack Straw was awesome as always...the only gripe I had was the encore (Johnny B Goode) which I always hated...they have so much material, why play that, why not the Music never stopped or Franklys Tower or Terrapin...all in all very tight excellent show but the venue was the pits!

I loved this show!
Sorry to the nay sayers cuz despite the moments when they stumbled (and yea they did a lot) they rocked me , R & R, Bird, and the whole rail crew. The Satisfaction was so good (4,000 voices calling it out...I can't get no) I missed all kind of camera shots and didn't care. I/we were so caught up in the musical energy the boys were dosing us with. As an old Deadhead it means something to me when Bobby and Phil sing a Jack Straw together. And to see Phil smile and Bobby be so, well Bobby. at one point he had to sing Jon's line when Jon forgot. That was old days Bobby shining.

Why not have Kadlecik singing all of Jerry's tunes?

Show had its moments, but was uneven IMO. Biggest complaints were that they did not let John sing. He sang only Deal and Crazy Fingers. Phil should stick to singing his songs and Bobby needs to take a step back. Bobby totally butchered Memphis Blues and did all he could to fuck up Birdsong, which went from pleasant to train wreck pretty quickly. He also has NO business singing Miss 1/2 step and most other Jerry tunes. Welcome to the Dance was dreadful. Setlist is wrong - they did not play Black Throated Wind. Despite the adventurous play list, there was never any real flow. That being said, looking forward to CT!

I really enjoyed the show, but it was probably because I was near the rail and it was the first time I was so close to Phil and Bobby. Jack Straw was awesome. Birdsong was a treat because its a personal fav., but it was sung poorly. I agree that Bobby sang way too much. His voice is average on a good night, and John has a beautiful voice and should be singing all the Jerry songs. Went to 4 Dark Star shows in the last month and the last 2 of those were better than last night. That said, they are definitely still figuring themselves out--so just "let it grow".

Single worst venue I have ever seen for a Dead/Bobby/Ratdog/Furthur/Other Ones related show. Amazingly, the upstairs scene for the Ratdog shows in October was AWESOME. Just a whole different and bad vibe in that room. Security people were dicks. Too crowded. Telling people to stop smoking. Never see a show at Hammerstein. Don't know if that impacted the band in any way. Having seen 3 Rat Dog shows and one Furthur show this fall, I'm stunned by how much more enjoyable the Rat Dog shows were. Really a 10-1 gap.

Before accusing me of bashing whatever is offered, please see my constructive review of Tuesday's show.

Both of Wednesday's sets started strong - the Stranger>Deal may have been the highlight of both nights. Crowd vibe was a bit more raucous than Tuesday's and were greeted with three nice picks (Crazy Fingers gave everyone a breather). Likewise, set two came with a punchy Jack Straw and flowing Wheel.

Unfortunately, both sets careened downward after those high points. An up-tempo number was clearly appropriate following Fingers, but Bobby whiffs with a Memphis call that sucked the energy right out of the room. Mississippi was nice, but the Birdsong > Lovin' dragged.

Same pattern for set 2. Welcome to the Dance was wholly unwelcomed by the crowd, setting the tone for the rest of the set. To me, Satisfaction > Let It Grow was an inexplicable pick when there are plenty of show-stopping numbers to choose from (Help>Frankin's, Dark Star, Terrapin, Eyes, Throwing Stones> NFA). Come to think of it, its difficult to think of a worse pairing for late in a second set.

Aside from song choice on this particular night and the inevitable gaffs that come with limited playing time together (I think they actually had to restart the Unbroken Chain jam from scratch after missing the re-entry), I have trouble with the lack of space they leave themselves for true explorational instrumentals. Even recognizing the band is playing from a setlist, it seems they snuffed any worthwhile in-between grooves just as they took shape in order to reach the next tune. Indeed, the lengthy playing of Tuesday second set (Marbles, He's Gone, Other One) made it the best of the bunch.

They can't all be great shows, but at this age the band needs to give themselves every opportunity to succeed. For me, this translates to longer jams and better song selection.

Long live Bobby & Phil! Thank you!!!

So bummed. The Stranger > Deal was so good I turned to Will and said I thought I’d just seen a complete show. These first two tunes carried momentum from Tuesday night and even built on it. I was ready to go home very satisfied. I should have.

Bobby was frantic. I have never seen him f with his gear so much; changed guitars like 12 times – seriously, like I think he switched during a song once. He knew he was out of sorts and was pulling every trick out of the bag to get back – equipment and phrasing. I think he had so much going through his head musically and wanted to do so much that he just kept losing it. Maybe he was distracted by something else, maybe over confident from Tuesday? I couldn’t tell whether Memphis Blues was Memphis Blues or Queen Jane or Desolation Row or Masterpiece during one jam, and I don’t think Bobby knew either. Happened during Birdsong, UJB and Unbroken Chain too. “What song am I playing? What DAY is it?” Wo.

The hallmarks of this Furthur have been no Dylan tunes, no cowboy songs and no covers of anything; stay with a really well-rehearsed Grateful Dead songbook repertoire. Man what a bad omen to see Dylan numbers creep back in and have the wheels come off, never to return.

To be fair, Weir was trying mightily, but it never worked out. And train wrecks have always been part of the deal and the charm. Phil was patient, but did end up getting upset too I think, and who knows what John thought. In the end, choosing to play Satisfaction was a pretty appropriate metaphor/mea culpa if they hadn't planned on the song in that spot.

basically....this show sucked. i thought they unplugged bobby from the 1st set because it looked like he was "not all there". his guitar and mike were silent for the entire set. then it seemed as if he tried to get back into the music second set but the vibe was bad...and well the show doesnt even deserve comentary on the songs themselves because this was as bad as it gets!!! for those who felt otherwise..cudoos to you....glad you enjoyed yourselves!

I am convinced that something was wrong with Johns voice, otherwise there is no explanation for the move to basically all Bobby songs after Crazy Fingers. That is simply not the case with any of the previous set lists for these guys. I would tend to agree that there were many many problems. The sets both started great, and unlike many, I thought Let It Grow was terrific. But how can you lay both Satisfaction and Johny B Goode. Hopefully someone with knowledge of the matter will clarify if this was the case

Wow. One of the best post-Jerry shows, and I've been to many. So much better then most of "The Dead" shows last spring. Almost everysong was full of creativity. The crowd clearly was blown away by the excellent playing. Cant wait till my next shows in February. Excellent, excellent show. Only negative is they do oversell the floor at the Hammerstein. Packed in like sardines. But very happy sardines.

Ted got it right in his review above. No need for me to simply repeat his points.

I saw 50+ grateful dead shows and have seen all the incarnations since jerry passed. I also have seen 30+ DSO shows. To say I am completely dissapointed with last nights performance would be a massive understatement.

This show totally sucked. Anyone who thought otherwise was either on great drugs, never really saw a great show or just plain sees the world in the complete opposite lens as me. (This is intended to be a bit sarcastic, not mean spirited).

BOBBY NEEDS TO RETIRE!

I have no idea what this show was like. There is the hugest dichotomy between reviews that I have ever read on this site.

Kahnja, you may be right that the show sucked. But your "Bob must retire" comment is nuts. I saw Bob with Scaring the Children in Brooklyn earlier in the year. He killed it. Ripping lead guitar rifts, singing his heart out, and he is back in shape.

I was at night 1, and it sucked, the venue blows, the band had high points, but not a worthy show. I am sure the second night disappointed, but take it easy with the capital letter bob bashing.

I am sitting here in the office reflecting on the last 2 nights and trying to stay awake as I am completely exhausted and clearly getting old. Fortunately, I have a day to recover before heading to AC for a weekend of gambling at the Borgata and the Saturday Asbury Park show. So while my memories are still fresh, I thought I would throw in my $.02.

Let’s deal with the venue issues first. I had posted a month or so ago my thoughts on the Hammerstein in some thread asking questions about the venues. For those that thought I was exaggerating, I won’t say “I told you so”. The Hammer is a disaster. It is way oversold (as the fire marshals that were there both nights can tell you) and I cannot think of a more uncomfortable place to be then the floor. I was so happy when RatDog started playing the Beacon instead. I will only go to a show at the Hammer if I have lower Mezz tix which fortunately I was able to get for these shows. The mezz has its own bar, bathroom, and seats so you can breathe. Having said that, the rows are so close together that when you are dancing, your legs are constantly bumping into the seats directly in front and behind you. The sound is also a bit muted up there, but this is a trade off I am more than willing to make. By the way, with Bob & Phil playing together, this venue is clearly too small for them in the NYC area (pumped for Radio City in February) as tix were going for $200+ outside.

As for the shows, I’m not going to go song by song but I do have some quick thoughts. I thought last night was much stronger than the first night but I really enjoyed both shows. From my perspective, I thought John was much more assertive the 2nd night and really took off on a couple of tunes (Jack Straw, Half step, Let It Grow in particular). He is clearly trying to find his way and playing with your idols is not easy. I think he will get more comfortable each show and will be flying by the winter tour. Jeff C is just amazing. There is a reason why he is in every post Jerry band. The guy just has “it” and you can see Bob, Phil and John looking over at him during solos and smiling. I love Russo too. As much as I miss Billy the K, having a young, powerful drummer back there pushes the tempo which is a good thing. Bobby and Phil are both playing extremely well and are clearly having a blast. Yes, Bobby blew Memphis Blues horribly last night but what else is new? He was in full rock star mode during Jack Straw and the ending sequence of the show last night and I fuckin’ loved it as did everyone around me. As much as I love RatDog, hearing Phil’s bass pounding away just feels right for this music and I actually enjoyed his singing last night as they were the right tunes for his voice (UBC, Birdsong, the Jerry part on Jack Straw) vs. him butchering a Morning Dew or Franklin’s Tower. Overall highlights from night 1: Ramble On Rose->Reuben->LLR->Comsic, The Other One, Scarlet and CRS. Night 2: Deal, Half Step, and really the whole 2nd set particularly Jack Straw->The Wheel and Let it Grow.

Final thoughts. All of this negativity and nit picking is really annoying. As someone said to me last night, all the music from these guys post 1995 is basically like overtime of a football game. It’s bonus material that you did not expect to get and you need to enjoy it while you can because it is a “sudden death” situation and can all end at any time. Enough with comparing everything to Cornell 77. This is what we have left and it is a good as it is going to get so enjoy it while you can. If you can’t enjoy it, move on. Given how much tix were going for outside the Hammer last night, there will be plenty of people to take your place.

I mean no disrespect to Bob. Sorry for putting that in all caps, although almost every bad show I have seen over the last few years usually has weir driving the bus off the cliff.

I fully understand and know that some shows are better than others but I have a hard time believing that the Hammerstein show was that terrible give me a break.

A lot of the reviews are just plain mean with the sole intention of getting people riled up. If you really want Bobby and Phil to retire why are you even bothering to take the time to come onto this site?? I guess they could have had a bad day. Maybe its just an east coast thing (come on now I have heard about the cranky east coast). I don't understand what you all are expecting or looking for.

Well luckily they can work out the kinks before they head west kind of like what happened with the Dead spring tour.

I will agree that Bobby's weakness is that he tries to do too much. He needs to rely on the abilities and talents of his band mates more.

Open your mind a little bit more, be a little more positive and you may not get so upset.

Thanks Kahnja, Weir does look awful at times, and I am sure there are some control battles on stage btw him and Phil. I just think he looked like awful throughout the spring Dead tour, and he is back on top. Ratdog at the Beacon were solid shows. I am a Bob guy at heart, never saw Jerry. 60-70 shows post Jerry I feel I am entitled to an opinion.

Lookin forward to tomorrow night, how come the Hammer setlists couldnt hold a stick to any of the 3 September shows?

The show was definitley not as bad as the reviews. Sure Bobby screwed up Memphis Blues, whatever, there are like 15 verses to that song. So you didnt hear Terrapin or Help-Slip-Frank, Boo-Freakin-Hoo......
Jack Straw rocked, let it grow rocked, etc.
By the way, Ive been to over 200 shows, the Hammerstein nights had the most wasted older crowd ever. If you are in your 50's and still getting that wasted and hi, stay home. Saw three heart attacks on tuesday night.
Hammerstein does suck big time!!!!!
And enough bashing bobby. NYC shows are full of FLIDS....

i just READ A REVIEW FROM LAST NIGT SOME ONE NAMED MARK SAID BOBBY SHOULD STP BACK AND LET SOME ONE ELSE BE IN CHARGE OF THE SOND YES MAY BE IF IT WAS 1980 AND DAN HEALY WAS STILL DOING MAGIC ON THE SOUND BORAD AND ALSO SAID PHILL SHOLD HAVE LRET ONE OF THE GUYS FROM RAT DOG SING DOIN THAT RAG THATIS PHILLS SONG EVEEN WHEEN JERRY WAS ALIVE COME ON IF YOU WANT BOBBY ANND PHILL TO STEP BACK YOU SHOUL BE GOING TO A COVER BAND AND HAD THE BALLS TO SAY DURMERS WEAR AS GOOD AS MICKEY & BILLY MAYBE I AM GETTING TO OLD AND NEED TO PASS THE TOURCH PLEASE DONT INSULT THEREAL BOYS THE SHOW WAS PRETTY GOOD SOUND WAS GOOD VENU SUCKED SEEN THE DEAD IN ALOT SMALLER PLACES AND THER WAS MORE ROOM TO ENJOY YOUR SELF THAT PLCE WAS A DISGRASE ONLY WENT THE FIRST NIGHT GAVE MY TICKETS AWAY FOR THE 9 I KNOW THE TORCH NEEDS TO BE PASSED ON BUT SOME OF THESE KIDS NEED TO KNOW WHAT DEAD IS ABOUT NOT ONLY TO MAKE TOP DOLLAR BECAUSE YOU CAN IT ABOUT CARMA BEEN GOING TO SHOWS AND DOING FULL TOURS IN 1974 JUST KEEP SIMPLE AND ENJOY THE RIDE

Looks like Bob has lost a bit of weight since i saw him last spring....anyone there agree or know of anything that might be of issue?

Went Wed night with great expectations...Have been seeing the Boys since 1970,including Barton Hall, etc....Set one opened like gangbusters with stranger-Deal, but plummeted quickly with lack luster,directionless Bobby songs with no energy and lots of bad vibes....Venue sucks....I love the boys and pray at the Lesh-Weir Altar, but I hope that the obvious bad karma between the players on stage might subside....Still Further is as Dead as u can get under any circumstances...Just hoping they play more up tempo Bobby Cosmic cowboy stuff in the future.....Song selection could have been better...and John K. should have sang more....but Further is the only game in town and we should cherish it and enjoy Phil's bass runs and Bobbys neurotic rhthyem guitar while we can..I remain an elitist DeadHead who does not take seriously and shows after 1977...Further is the leftovers of a great meal!

I saw 3 shows this spring. For the record I saw the Grateful Dead 50 times. We all know at the end, they played "The Show" maybe 4 times a year. The band in the Spring had their moments.

The boys were getting old and tired in 1995. Phil isn't Phil and Bobby isn't Bobby like we remembered. Regardless of Jerry being gone.

I enjoyed the Spring tour and I am going to enjoy the winter tour coming up. I know this band isn't capable of a 35 min Scarlet>Fire like 10/14/04. These guys are senior citizens and not as good as they once were. With that being said, I still like hearing the tunes live.

greg ITS BOBBYS & PHILS BUS TO DRIVE AND THEY DROVE IT VERY WELL FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS NO DISRESPECT WHO WOULD HAVE TAKE THERE BUS I REMEMBER IN &) THEY FUCKED UP A LOT OF SONGS AND JERRY DID TO KEITH&DONNA JERRY WOULD CROSS UP WITH HER A LOT BUT IT IS THE BEST MEMORYS SO WHEN ITS BAD NIGT WHAT CAN YOU SAY ITS HELL IN ABUCKET AS LONG AS YOU INJOY THE RIDE ONE LAST THING AND YOU WONT HERE FOM ME JUST THINK THEY ARE IN 60s TO the young kids do you think your grandfater could DO WHAT PHIL CAN DO AFTER HAVEING LIVER TRASPLANT MAY KEEP UP ON TILL THEY CANT

Bobby was Dosed.

He'll get over it.

See you at the 20 degree Oakdale tomorrow nite.

one point - this is a new band. sure, they are playing old songs; songs they all (well maybe not joe russo?) know very well but still a new band nonetheless. ratdog was very tight; phil and friends - not so much bc that was more a constellation of players in a space in time and not a continuous band. this sounds new and different and some things take flight and other jams just crash and burn. i think we are responsible , almost as much as the band, for how this thing evolves, though. with the dead shows, we weren't only there to get ourselves off but to help co-create something cool - remember that? so, bring your good energy and your dancin shoes and let's give it a whirl, folks. it's the icing on the cake...eat up! ;-)

Good shows, will only get better. Bob bashers, keep in mind, he's the straw that stirs the drink. It's his band, that's just the way he is.

It's good to have the negative reviews in here to give everyone a more balanced picture of what's actually happening.

I mean, I've been fooled a bunch of times with reviews of some of The Dead incarnations. I'd hear on the boards how they were playing so great and the setlists looked sick, so I would get totally psyched to see them new lineup. But then I'd go to a show, and they'd be terrible, so I would be really let down and vow not to come back. I started getting really psyched again with the reviews of the first Further shows, but at least now I know it's not going to be a sure thing.

But hey, neither was the GD with Jerry, so that makes getting a good show all that more special. Kind of sucks to pay $45 for a shitty show, though. LET JOHN SING!

Just listened to the show. It was pretty flat. I agree, why is Phil singing so much. Just let John sing the Jerry songs. The 2009 Dead tour had some inspired playing, even if it was the fat hill billy. Hope the get the energy back.

Fun times and good heads allaround our section. Sorry your concert goers and fans tear you guys up like this. Bad deal guys but you find rotten people out there all over, there like flies around this place. Furthur rocks.

I was not in attendance at any of these two shows. But, I did listen to the soundboards of both of them and I must say, NOT BAD AT ALL. All the people here on this site who are pissing and moaning need to take a step back and look at things from another perspective. First, any offshoot (the other ones, the dead, furthur etc...), is not going to be anywhere near the expierence of shows we saw with Jerry. Im sorry to say it, but JG is not replacable. Granted Im very young and only had the chance to see few shows with Jerry Garcia, I have thousands of hours of tapes in my home of shows dating all the way back from the early 70's up until 7-9-95. I dont care who Bobby and Phil try to bring in to sit in for Garcia, let it be Warren Haynes or John Kadelick or any one else for that matter whom has sat in for Jerry for dead, ratdog or phil and friends shows, It's obviously not going to be nowhere near comparable to seeing the Dead with Jerry. Secondly, Its awesome that Bobby and Phil have been keeping this thing going since Jerry past on. I saw plenty of post jerry shows and they did have plenty of high points and obviously there were downpoints as well. But all in all i am happy that they have still toured after jerry passed away. I will say that i truly wish that they still had mickey and billy in the band this tour, but still i do like russo and lane.Its obviously not the same as Mickey and Billy, but Ruso and Lane are still really good drummers. And my final point to all the people whining is their getting up there in age. Bobby is gonna turn 63 in 2010 and Phil will turn 70. They are never going to play as amazing as they did in their 30' 40's and 50's, but hell, i think they are still pretty damn good for their age. Alot of people complain about Weir's voice. I will admit his voice has changed over the last decade drastically. But can you really blame him, He's getting old. I guess the point i am trying to make is be GRATEFUL that Bobby and Phil are still keeping this amazing music going. I cant wait for the February and March shows!!!! And even possibly........ FURTHUR @ ROTHBURY 2010?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to agree with those who said that this show was an abomination. I have seen a ton of shows since the 70's. Every band is allowed a night off and they redeemed themselves on Saturday. People who say that JK is the weak link are mistaken. Bobby is the culprit. He was completely shitfaced and dragging the whole band down. I was embarrassed for him.

Totally different band on Saturday. Worth seeing again.

This goes out to you punks who want to rant on about these guys age, Bob's "childishness" etc. been listening since 68, following these guys since 70, seen more shows than I can count. SOMETIMES THEY'RE GREAT, SOMETIMES THEY'RE GOOD,SOMETIMES THEY HAVE AN OFF NIGHT. The difference is that we loved em no matter. No lynch mob if Bobby forgot the words, or Jerry was a little uninspired
(yeah that happened) or the venue sucked (ditto)
If you want to see canned music, go see Barry Manilow.
These guys fly off the cliff night after night, sometimes you sprout wings, sometimes you crash & burn. And mentioning a cover/tribute band, GFY, these are the guys who WROTE the songs. As far as getting old, the alternative is death.Just like the great blues players, these guys are gonna keep on til they drop.So save your self righteous noise, or don't come to the shows. We'ed all appreciate the breathing room, on more than one level.

In my opinion the east coast is just too spoiled. They get so many Dead, Ratdog, Phil and Friends and Furthur shows that they are just plain spoiled. Most people in other parts of the U.S would do anything for a fraction of the shows the east coast gets. We're just so happy to have a show to go see when they do come around that we don't spend the time to pick apart every single little aspect.

Bobby and Phil - Just spend more time in the middle of the country. I guarantee those folks will just be grateful for having a chance to see you and not bitch and moan about stupid stuff like how many times Bobby dinked around with his guitar or who sang what etc etc

For all who are complaining about an "off" night, or their age, or not letting John sing every Jerry song, chill out. Remember, through the 30 years of GD touring there were plenty of "off" nights, but that is due to these guys historically taking musical chances that sometimes don't work. Wouldn't it be nice if more bands were willing to take those kinds of chances. John sings and plays beautifully, best in Jerry's slot since his passing, but these are Phil and Bobby's songs now that Jerry is gone, and if they want to sing them, I think that is their decision and we should all respect it and be grateful they are still doing this. Why have so many people abandoned the Grateful part of the Dead? Just because it was retired from the name doesn't mean it should leave the community as well. Stay home and listen to old shows if you absolutely need that exact Jerry sound every time, it sure would free up tickets for the rest of us and help that magic in the air that so many seem to miss.