9/23/2000 Reviews

September 23 Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak, FL
Not Fade Away >
Hey Bo Diddley > (Bruce)
Mona >
Not Fade Away >
Dark Star > (Bobby and Bruce)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Bruce)
Big Railroad Blues (Bobby)
Down the Road >
On the Road Again > (Willie Nelson cover; Bruce vocals)
Down the Road >
Tennessee Jed (Bruce)
Lost Sailor >
Saint of Circumstance >
Drumz/Jam > (Jam w/ Bruce and Steve)
The Way It Is > (w/ "Suwannee River" teases)
Dark Star Jam > (w/ "Suwannee River" teases)
Truckin > (w/ "Other One" jam)
He's Gone > (Bobby, Bruce, and Mark)
Dark Star >
One More Saturday Night
E: Ripple@ (Bobby, Mark, and Alphonso acoustic; Bruce on accordian; Steve, Billy, and Mickey)

This was an interesting/scary show! Not Fade Away with jamming pushed to a few different levels. I don't know what to say about Dark Star. The highlight of Dear Mr. Fantasy was some interesting piano fills in Bruce's solo. Down... On the Road Again lightened things up. Very trippy Tennessee jed, I think this song caused some time/space distortions. I thought the tropical island part of the Drumz/jam was nice. What ensued after this was (in my experience) a unique example of powerful vocal jamming!!! It seemed like the band and the crowd merged into one undeniable group consciousness. At one point the audience was put on a loop this was very creative. This, I think, really promoted, and some what refined the seemingly perpetual vocal jam. I don't know what could be said about the rest of this show. except this: Don't look for too much direction from the audience, Bobby!

--Virgina Shirk

* * *

Live Oak is the most wonderful venue in the world! Friday nights pre-Further jam set the perfect mood for the entire weekend, with the Glass Camels stealing the limelight for a 90-minute set of grateful goodies. If there is a more laid-back place to see a show, I've yet to find it in 16 years of touring. After a long night (Saturday morning) of impromptu campsite jams, drum circles and unabated craziness, Saturday night's show was undoubtedly off to a great start. The Melody Makers did what they do, like it not. The NFA > Hey Bo Diddley was the perfect jumpstart to a Dark Star filled evening. Sailor > Saint was a pleasent stand-out, as was the soulful He's Gone. Hornsby pulls it off wonderfully. Along with Suwannee River teases, the band seem to constantly be flirting with Wharf Rat (although not listed here) but skirted the issue reverting back to the Dark Star instead. Who can complain? After the forseeable "Saturday Night," we were treated to a sweet "Ripple" and were sent on our way.... with nothing left to do but SMILE! If Furthur goes further in 2000 and beyond, I hope they keep Suwannee River Music Park as a mainstay venue. Overall it was kickass show and a kickass weekend.

--Al and Maggie

* * *

Alright guys, so i hate to bitch, but this show was probably the worst post-Dead show i've ever been to. To start off with, there were waaay to many drunks (I don't have a problem with gettin' a little goofy, but it seemed like there were a lot of people who came more for that purpose than for the show). There were problems with the sound system from the get-go (the mix was awful at first and there was a lot of hissing and popping). No one seemed to know where they were going with the jamming. The Dark Stars were pretty nice, but not great, as was Lost Sailor. then came drums. This was one of those moments that made my hairs stand on end and shivers run up and down my spine... At first, I though that it would be an anomoly in an otherwise humdrum show, but it turned out to be a real turning point. Truckin' just smoked (the first song to get me off my ass and into a dancin' mood). He's Gone was the real highlight of this show. It's always been one of my favorite songs and the vocal jamming at the end was incredible, to say the least. The ripple encore was nice, but it was too bad that they ended the show so soon after they started to get going. I was delighted by the cyclic nature of the show too. They brought it around full circle musically with the third Dark Star and technically with the hissing and popping in the middle of it. And did anyone else notice the syncronicity between the weather and the music? Overall, this was a pretty disappointing show, but not without some great moments. I am pleased to report, though, that they more than made up for it the next night....

--sigismund

* * *

Suwannee is a wonderful place to see a show, loved it!!! I enjoyed Ziggy Marley and it looked as if many other people in the audience did as well. TOO looked like they were enjoying themselves. It was interesting to hear vocals from Bruce and Mickey and not just Bobby. I did enjoy the songs that Bobby sang. Ripple was a big crowd pleaser. Dear Mr. Fantasy was an unexpected treat. TOO version of The Way It Is, and On the Road Again were great. Looking forward to FURTHUR 2001 and Ratdog's Fall Tour.

--Wendy Hessinger

* * *

No one's noticed but the bands all packed and gone--were they ever here at all? That pretty much sums it up. Great weekend at a great venue, but the show itself was a total disappointment. Awful sound, but even when we got in position to hear there wasn't much to listen to. Except for a few nice things from Bruce--weaving Suwannee River in with The Way It Is, singing Willie Nelson, right down to the phrasing--this band wasn't even as good as the Dead cover band who played the night before. I know they can rock out, but with three guitars you couldn't even hear a lead or Bob's rhythm, which used to be one of my favorite things at Dead shows. We headed for the gate during Ripple and the band still beat us out the door--did they not want to be there or what? I wasn't expecting the Dead, but I certainly expected more than I got. Dark Star without a lead guitar--they sounded like they weren't into it, which means maybe they shouldn't have played it. I liked Big Railroad, but it wasn't anything special, even Truckin lacked punch. And the slow songs really dragged--this from someone who loved Black Peter. I'm not the only one who found the show empty--that was pretty much the consensus from the 20 or so hopefuls that we were hanging with. I hope it was just a bad night, and it was a lot of fun just to be there, but unless they play that venue I wouldn't ever go back. In one word--tired. Not that they should quit playing, but unless I hear tapes of some very tasty jams, its not my thing.

--Richard Kiley

* * *

There is one word that comes to mind when I think about Suwannee Music Park...... BEAUTIFUL !! From the large oaks covered in moss to the vibes buzzing in the air. Having seen a few festivals there in the past I knew that having Furthur there would be truly magical. The park was more crowded than I have ever seen as vendors offered whatever you could desire from veggie burritos, to artwork, to wonderful tapestries, to glass, to shirts, to necessities for the evening, and kind souls wandered around as a thunderstorm threatened and passed with only a drop or two of rain. I made it into the concert grounds a little late and was only able to catch the last half of Ziggy Marley, but from what I did see I wished I could've seen more. But I knew what was coming and all I could do was smile as I waited for the main dish of the evening.

The show opened up with Not Fade Away and got the crowd going as it segued into several other songs before returning back to Not Fade Away. As the jam progressed I heard the opening notes of Dark Star work their way in. DARK STAR! Weeks before the show all I could talk about was how all I wanted to see was Dark Star and I would be happy. Well, I was ecstatic! The first glimpse of Dark Star faded into Dear Mr. Fantasy and from there Big Railroad Blues, a nice Down the Road, which sugued into On The Road Again, and back to Down The Road. That led into an excellent Tenessee Jed which provided some interesting momments for the psychedelically inclined. I don't really recall that much about Lost Salior > Saint of Circumstance. The drums jam that followed was truly mind blowin. Mickey Hart was doing some pretty amazing things up there and Steve Kimock had his guitar sounding like a sitar sprinkling eastern melodies here and there. That jam led into The Way It Is (a Hornsby song that i had never really dug that much but hearing it truly changed my perception of it.) The jamming in the song teased Suwannee River, a folk classic by Stephen Foster, several times bringing a smile to my face, and then progressed into some nice funk. Then i was on cloud nine as I heard Dark Star worked back in. DARK STAR! That jam had several more Suwannee River teases worked into it. 'Wow!! what an evening,' was all I could think . The looks on the faces of all the beautiful people around me confirmed that notion. Then the jam progressed into Truckin. That drove the place nuts! The energy level in the park rose to new heights "WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN !" The Other One was teased briefly (I was hoping to hear more than the tease, but oh well). That progressed into a wonderful, yet melocholy He's Gone. Thoughts of Jerry could be felt radiating from all around. But the moments of meloncholy made you feel that being there and hearing the music brought Jerry back, if only for a momment. "NOTHING LEFT TO DO BUT SMILE,SMILE,SMILE!" Then once again Dark Star showed it's face. DARK STAR! Maybe I just love Dark Star too much, if that's possible, but Kimock was playing lines and laying down textures that I'm sure Jerry was smiling down upon. The jam led into One More Saturday Night which brought forth the same energy level from the crowd, if not more, that Truckin had earlier. For the encore the boys brought out their acoustic instruments and played a wonderful Ripple to the crowd's delight. Then as quickly as anticipation for the evening had come, it was over, and the band exited in their buses moments after the crowd had begun exiting the concert grounds. The night, as I had earlier assumed it would, was truly magical, and as the crowd wandered around the lot and camp sites after the show, I'm sure that all anyone could think of was how lucky they were to have been there as The Other Ones were able to bring back some of the magic that the Dead had brought to so many people. Thanks guys, and let's reach FURTHUR @ SUWANNEE IN 2001 !

--C.A. Lawson

* * *

After reading all the mixed reviews of the tour, I still felt like I needed to see more than one show, so we loaded up and headed to Florida Saturday morning. It was well worth the drive. Hit a few showers on the way down and even heard it was gonna be a wet weekend, but the skies cleared up and the show was amazing. I liked the NFA opening. It got the crowd ready to dance all nite. Dark Star was very tight. These guys really had their crap together at Suwannee. It must be something about the park, because Spring Fest and Magnolia Fest are always fun. Anyways, I was not disappointed at all. Truckin rocked. One More Saturday Night was just awesome. It got the whole crowd up and wanting more. I was hoping for another set instead of just an encore, but like I said earlier, it was well worth the drive to Live Oak.

--Kevin

* * *

What a great weekend at a great venue. Musically, the show was everything I had hoped for. TOO was very tight from the get-go, coming out with a knock-your-socks-off, IN-YOUR-FACE Not Fade Away. That morphed into Dark Star which morphed into Dear Mr. Fantasy, which Bruce nailed. The energy in those first 20 minutes was absolutely awesome, especially from where I stood in the 3rd row dancing my ass off! This may have been the tightest part of the show.

Other highlights for me included Tennessee Jed, which started with minor chords then reverted back to the major key as it is normally played. The effect was very weird and intriguing (the "time/space distortions" that an earlier reviewer mentioned); I thought it was really cool, but some people thought it was just weird. Leave it to the Dead to always try something different. The bridge that leads into the end of this song was nailed better than I have EVER heard it live or on tape, complete with punch-you-in-the-gut bass bombs by Alphonso.

DRUMZ unbelievable, 12 minutes long. A major treat to have the guys back together.

Another highlight was seeing the boys laugh and have fun. It was very funny when Bruce started singing 'On the Road Again' during the end of Mickey's Down the Road; Mickey was looking over at him with this grin like "what are you doing to my song Bruce? have you gone nuts?" Also, when singing the first two verses of Dark Star there was a funny little moment where Bobby messed up; he sang the first verse and was supposed to let Bruce sing the 2nd verse, but he didn't remember until he had already sang the first couple words of the 2nd verse. Bob stopped singing and shook his head with an embarrassed grin like "woops! sorry man!"

The other jam that hit another level was the Truckin' > He's Gone. After Truckin' Bobby and Mark were really going at it back and forth with the guitars. Although left out on the setlist above, they threw in several solos from Little Feat's 'Dixie Chicken" here and it worked perfectly. I enjoyed seeing how much fun Mark was having all night.

Now for the downside: Steve Kimock has the personality of an eggplant. This guy skulked around the far right side of the stage looking like he wished he was somewhere else. He stepped up only once (during a very beautiful musical jam with Bruce after the Drumz), and the rest of the night his vacuous expression and bland energy was a downer. If I have one suggestion for TOO it would be to leave him at home next time. If you're not having fun, then you just spoil it for everybody else. Put someone else in his chair who really wants to be there!!!

The only other downside I saw was the absence of the Wall of Sound. Although the sound was good, it was not up to par with the sound system that the Dead used to have. I know that used to be a behemoth of an operation, but please pretty please can we have the Wall of Sound back?

For the whiners and grumblers: As Phil used to sing, "believe it if you need it, if you don't just pass it on." TOO is always changing and that's the way it should be. I was standing <25 feet away from Alphonso and I could see and hear the "bombs" he laid down. IMO, the reason he didn't blow us away in the same way that Phil used to is because of the absence of the Wall of Sound.

TOO obviously care and it shows. Taking chances, teasing us with weird things, the good vibe was definitely there. I can't wait til next year! Thank you for a real good time!

--Karlos