9/12/2000 Reviews

September 12 On Center, Syracuse, NY
The Music Never Stopped >
Shakedown Street > (Bobby) (Terrapin tease >)
Tennessee Jed (Bruce)
Only the Strange Remain >
Music Jam >
Minglewood Blues
El Paso (Bobby, Mark, and Alphonso acoustic, Bruce on accordian)
Friend of the Devil (Bobby, Mark, and Alphonso acoustic, Bruce on accordian)
The Way It Is >
Drumz/Jam > (Slip tease >)
Help on the Way > (Bobby and Bruce)
Slipknot! >
Franklin's Tower > (Bruce) (Shakedown tease >)
Corrina >
Music Jam >
Take Me to the River (Bobby singing one verse over "Music" theme)
E: Ripple (Bobby, Mark, Steve, and Alphonso acoustic, Bruce accordian)

Here we go....... Where was everybody?? I'm from the area..... only show I could catch... veteran from '79 on. First off I prefer this type of configuration as opposed to TOO '98. If Phil was in it would be NICE.......... I've read all the reviews sinced the tour started, I thought this show started VERY strong wonderful Shakedown (I knew it)... good Tennesse....... GREAT to see Billy again. Don't get me wrong... I like Molo... but the driving gears seemed much stronger than '98... Energy level fell pretty good for "strange"... but picked up well going to Drumz... Help>Slip>Franklin... very good. All in all this is the first show since '90 that I felt the tingles for a few moments (this includes the '98 shows)... Don't know if this is a "hometown" factor or what, but these can't be the same guys that people were bitching about out west???.... This music is fine..  better than the last 20 Dead shows I saw in the '90's... Might be conjecture, but I would bet that if you gave these boys 3 years together they would be tight as shit.......
SEE THESE GUYS IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE.

--smitty

* * *

What a show!! This show totally renewed my faith in the band!

First of all, I was at both the Meadowlands and Syracuse shows, and in comparsion, Syracuse was light years better!! As I was leaving the Meadowlands, I heard people say that this one was one of the best shows they've ever seen!?! They must have been smokin' something fierce, because IMHO the Meadowlands was extremely weak.

Syracuse on the other hand was so intense and wonderful and sweet and amazing and full of energy. The rest day between the Meadowlands and Syracuse must have been what they needed becuase from the first note in Syracuse, the band was magical!!!!!!!!!!!

MUSIC - very nice, great jams. Good way to start the show and the crowd really got into it.

SHAKEDOWN - yeah!! Great transition from Music and the crowd went nuts! Superb energy flowing from the stage and everybody was having such a great time. VERY GOOD SHAKEDOWN!!

TENNESSEE JED - again, nice transition. I thought the vocals were a bit low at times during Jed, but the music was outstanding.

STRANGE REMAINS - Vocals were really low; it was almost impossible to hear Mickey. Probably the low point of the night.

MINGLEWOOD - Usually not one of my favorite songs, but Bobby played it really well. The music was tight and the jams were outstanding.

EL PASO - Vocals were a bit hard to hear sometimes, but its been a long time since i seen an El Paso. REALLY NICE!

FOTD - REALLY, REALLY NICE!

WAY IT IS - Seemed like bobby had a problem with his equipment, so the band slowly began to noodle away waiting for Bobby. Great version (and so much better than Long Tall Cool One at Meadowlands)!!

DRUMS - its so great to see Bill and Mickey in rhythm again. Great energy and the place was so electric during drums. Definitely one of the highlights of the show for me.

HELP>SLIP - very nice, the crowd was expecting and the band delivered. Great jams into Slip.

FRANKLINS - Do i really need to say anything here? It was superb, the transition was a bit soft, but the energy was just so high. The band really seemed to be having fun and the crowd really fed off the band, and it was such a fabulous expression of energy!!!!!!!

CORRINA - the last time i saw this was Hamilton in 1992, so it was a welcome surprise. The energy was so high from H-S-Frank, and it carried over into Corrina. Way to go Bobby!!!

VARIOUS MUSIC JAMS - Really neat to have a Music Never Stopped theme throughout the entire show. Great creavitity.

RIPPLE - Again, need i say more. Wonderfully sweet!!

As you can probably infer from my notes, I thought Syracuse was so much better than the Meadowlands show. the main difference in my book was the amount of jams between the two shows. Meadowlands sounded like the band rehearsed too much, the jams were minimal and they had no energy. Also like listening to an album. Syracuse was just the opposite. So much energy, great long jams and superb song selection!

It was also my first show with my brother in years, and it was also his birthday, so it was such a great evening. I would definitely recommend everyone to go see TOOs, but try to catch them after a rest day!!

I WOULD LOVE A COPY OF THIS SHOW ON CDR!! can anybody hook me up?

--Brian Cook

* * *

Sorry folks, but I have a hard time saying these guys are good. They look like a bunch of people who really need jobs, to earn money. The crowd seemed to be mostly folks that missed the Deadyears. Please don't try and tell me that this edition of Further is better than the '98, or worse yet, better than the Dead in the 90's - any Dead show, even if Jer was asleep, is/was better than a Further show. Phil was sorely missed and from where we sat 12th row, Alphonso was almost nonexsistent, in the mix. He's a good player but certainly no bombs, and his acoustic bass sounded better than his electric.

They opened with a lackluster Music, Kimock seemed like he was gonna take off during the B mixylidian jam, but never really did. He took some nice solos during the evening, the nicest was probably in Franklin's, there he ripped. I must say the segue into Shakedown was kinda of a surprise, with more less-than-stellar jamming, the way Alphonso played the tune, just didn't really work. You could tell Bruce was trying to sing 10SC Jed with different vocal inflections and syncopations than Jerry would've, then back into Music, nice idea, but it's not really workin' boys. Only the Strange Remain is a joke, you can hardly hear Mickey, who has no business singing, or whatever it is that he does; the jam peaks out, but the howling is ridiculous. The acoustic stuff was sweet, but the bass player doesn't know the songs that well. He's got charts on the floor, and doesn't know where some of the tunes are going - to the point where the whole band was missing some of Bob's cues (most of the night). The Way It Is gives way to drums, and Mickey is summoning every demon from the pits of hell he can get (read his book, you'll understand) with his rhythms and then Help>Slip... the transition in and out of slipknot was horrendous, it looked like everyone was mostly following Kimock (was he ever in the Dead?). Once we got to Franklin's, they finally play something rippin', as I said before, nice solo from Steve. Then... my worst nightmare... Corrina. I grabbed my wife, who sat for almost the entire show, and said, "We're leaving, I have absolutely no desire to see them play this." So, we left. They're awful. And boring.

If you never saw the Dead, you may like them. It's nice that there's a band that can remind people of what the Dead used to be like, but to see so many (young) people losing it over this second-rate resurrection of the Dead made me sick- even the local newpaper reporter raved about them. For someone who saw the Dead more than a few times (66), it caused me to realize that this season of my life has ended. Good bye Further, you wont see me again.

--Eric Wise

* * *

Hey... I've read most of the reviews of this tour, and it seems as most fans have thoroughly enjoyed-with the exception of a few negative reviews. I guess some people believe that they are music critics. Let's not loose sight that these are just opinions. As far as any certain show goes...  a lot depends on many things, i.e.: the specific venue, the weather, the stage (lighting&sound), security, and the mood of the performers (are they tired, is everything else OK in their lives?), etc. It's easy to see that these guys are truly deadicated to their music,can't you tell?

Now for my opinion... This was a SPECTACULAR show here in Syracuse!!! This was my first time in seeing a TOO show, and I was not disappointed in the least! Having been to a few Dead shows in the late '70"s, I just knew these guys would still be rockin!! I am a " Hornsbyhead " since '86, and try to see Bruce as often as possible!!! I must say, what an excellent addition he makes to the band, (was there any doubt? ). His down home and soulful, articulate and intelligent personality... and ingenious musical capabilities, definitely enhance this band!

This night was special... the enthusiasm ran deep amongst fellow concert goers!!! We sampled the many vendors in the parking lot, just after a torrential downpour, and then on inside to the War Memorial Coliseum. We didn't want to miss any of Ziggy. He and his family of Melody Makers were great-awesome percussion!!! They really pumped up the fans, and it was a good taste of things to come.

From the moment TOO came out onto the stage, everyone was ready in anticipation. Standing 7th row, left of center stage, (not far at all from my man Bruce) I had a good view of all on stage!!! Everyone was shaking and grooving, the energy alive, the whole house was ROCKING. People were polite, (there was no pushing or shoving) allowing each other to groove in their own personal space. It was very intense!!!!

Was looking forward to hearing Terrapin, but I guess not tonight. However, to me, the highlights were: Shakedown Street>Tennessee Jed, The Way It Is, and Corrina-unbelievable jams... these guys were right on target for the entirity of the show!!! I could feel Jerry's spirit amongst us, couldn't you?

No doubt, these guys just get better with age. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND seeing this tour. I believe that most fans will not be dissappointed, (except for the few "picky" ones).

I would like to say THANK YOU to the musicians of TOO: Bruce, Bob, Mickey, Billy, Steve, Mark and Alphonso... and to everyone else that helped put this show together. Excellent!!!!!!!

--Karen