2000 Reviews
Kickoff: 8/21-8/24

Heads, go to the shows and decide for yourselves.
I've made my decision, and here it is:

I was front and center for the TOO taping for Kilborn (PLEASE don't let that awkward Ripple be a barometer, fuck, I was there, I knew it was bad, it is NOT representative of TOO 2000), Chula Vista, and the Universal. I am shocked by some of these negative comments people are making about the shows (mainly on RMGD). This is some of the best stuff my ears have heard in a long time, and I go back to the seventies in my dead experience. There is spontaneity again, improvisation, weaving in and out of songs, some of that sense of formlessness that turned me on in the first place. Wondering, ok, wow, where are they going now??? Stretching out songs in differntly sweet, nutty, and zany ways. That gospel ending to GDTRFB, or what I will call the Holy Roller Revival ending to Down the Road. Or the slow, drumless, in like a marshmallow opening to Truckin' that later exploded full bore. Crazy teases galore! They were keeping me on my toes trying to keep the setlist straight. 90's Dead shows got so redundant I didn't even need a pen and paper for setlists. Man, I even liked what they did with Strange Remain at Chula Vista, and I never thught I'd say that. Kimock, Karan, and Weir have some really sweet chemistry building, and there was some counterpoint  betwen K and K last night that was a delight to hear. Their combined strengths remind me of Garcia before he burned out.. they each have "grateful dead" tones, but their own phrasings, they are not Jerry clones. Get the tapes, check out the Ramblin Rose from last night, ignore Bruce's lyric mistakes, and focus on the guitar work and you will see what I mean. Or what Kimock did at the end of Long Tall Cool One, Karan on GDTRFB. What Art (agitators band) said in a recent post on RMGD about Kimock being great at impro stuff and work on pieces like Other One, but Karan being more adept at soloing over changes is exactly what I saw and heard last night. These guys both need to be there.

And I don't even want to get started on Alphonso Johnson (but I will!) I love and miss Phil and hope against hope they can patch things up someday, but I'm really liking what Al is bringing to the mix. And as far as not "dropping the bomb" on The Other One, I think it may actually be out of respect, I am sure he could do it if he chose to, the man is a professional.

Man, I don't know what people must want anymore. Stagnant, predictable, businessman's special dead shows with the same first set songs , China Rider or ScarFire to open set 2, two more songs, drumz, space, jam, ballad, rocker tune, encore, and goodnight? You know, that nineties thing.

Not me. I am a child of seventies dead, and I like what I am hearing now. Some of the shit they are doing now is more grateful dead than the grateful dead were doing for a long time. And I am really diggin' it.
peace

--Daniel Hartman