2000 Reviews
Down the Stretch: 9/17-9/24

Well, after seeing these shows, "Wow" is pretty much what my thoughts come down to.  I caught Shoreline at the beginning of the tour--a great show but rough and it was clear the players weren't yet totally comfortable with each other.  It was like a different band on the east coast.  Confident, focused, and headed somewhere.  And pretty damn tight for a band that had been playing together for all of a month.  Alphonso who'd never played in this setting, Mark and Steve who hadn't played together in two years, Kreutzmann who was out of the mix for five years.  And all of a sudden, here they are playing together like it'd been years and Billy together with Mickey as if they were never apart.

So different from '98.  Aside from the obvious--different players--the band had a totally different aim.  '98 was rockin--The Grateful Dead on crack--greatly based on solos and strong strong playing of Dead tunes.  This year was different.  They explored.  They experimented.   And as a result they excelled, jamming to places not seen before, with grins being passed around from Billy to Bruce to Steve to Mickey to Alphonso to Bobby to Mark and back to Billy.

The Fleet Center was quite a way to start the east coast run.  I had the opportunity to see what was going on backstage.  Kimock and Karan walking around chattin with folks, Alphonso studious as ever looking over the music while greeting and entertaining his friends, Bobby with his wife, daughter, and nanny relaxing (side note: Hornsby is one tall sonuvabitch).  Everyone doing what makes them comfortable before it's time to jump into the whirlpool. And they were whirlin n twirlin from the beginning... Dark Star/Terrapin/Other One Jam... errr, monumental Other One Jam.  Helluva way to start and they rarely let up between then and September 24's curfew.  The scene outside the Fleet was nice... little vending but a drum circle on the side of the road going strong for hours.  There's not much room outside the Fleet so it was wall-to-wall heads, takin over Boston!  Just a great atmosphere to settle your mind a bit after such a nutty show.

I thought Camden was a great show.  Not Boston mind you, but solid, down to the second encore.  Security at the E Centre was disgraceful; constantly screaming at people to get out of the aisles.  Not asking; screaming.   Stereotypical Jersey punks.  Not until Black Muddy did they let it be (they even screamed through the He's Gone vocal jam).   Now, again, I thought this was a great show, but Dennis McNally said the next night that the band wasn't too happy with the show and figured to make up for it.  I guess the view is different from on stage.  Did they do the JBG 2nd encore to "make up for it?"  Suits me fine either way.  Now Camden's scene was great, from what I saw.  There's a parking lot down the street that's gated in and untouched by the police.  Huge Shakedown (but too much nitrous!!! as usual).  I must've left before a fight that included a knife or two took place, thank goodness.  Amazing how a few idiots can fuck up a good time.  We were glad to get out of Camden anyway (I've been there too many times).  They might as well stick a "condemned" sign on the town.  Most buildings are boarded up ("Condemned: Dep't of Public Works").  The rest should be.  I actually like the amphitheatre, very comfortable outside of the brown hay that they call the lawn.  Definitely not a place to be away from 15,000 or so friends.  So we drove straight to Penn State after the show.

Penn State was a real good time and an amazing show.   The scene was younger than most, being at a college town in the middle of nowhere.   It kind of felt like being outside a fraternity house after the show.  But that turned out to not be a bad thing.  At least from my perspective.  We managed front row center tickets for that show and were sure to get in on time for Ziggy, as was the daily ritual.   That band is something else: great musicians, great singers, great vibe.  They bring so much positivity and joy to the atmosphere, it was a shame more people weren't in there to see it.  For me, Stephen was as big a part of that band as Ziggy, and the Melody Makers (two Marley sisters and another woman... names elude me) were beautiful in their voices and manner on stage.  The drummer, the bassist, the guitaristssss (the only band with more guitars than TOO?), the keyboardists.  I really miss seeing that at 6:30 every night.  Now, Ziggy's a funny guy, cuz every time I was near the front for the set, there were one or two blondes in the front row completely down with what was going on on stage, they'd share looks--Ziggy with big ol smiles toward them--and they'd without exception be on stage by the end of the night.  Quite a trip.  Everyone was havin a great time!  The Other Ones were spectacular this night.  The Help/Slip/Franklin's was stellar!!!  Perfectly played with no slips, so to speak.   This is the first time I've seen Kimock take control of the band, marking off the changes as the whole band looked to him as the guide.  By the time they got to Franklin's both guitarists were on fire! Samson tore the building and prolly the whole neighborhood down.  The whole show was incredible and complemented by the Hanson mindfuck.  Cool scene outside like I said, even though it felt like winter outside.   A couple friends and I got into a two-hour (it felt like) discussion on the direction of the band and what they're trying to do.  Needless to say we didn't come up with any definite answers (like Michael Elsman suggests in his "Atmosphere" writing).

Couple days off and we headed to Blossom to see Phish.   I hadn't seen em in nine months almost, so I was excited, but at the same time it was very strange stepping out of The Other Ones' world and into the Phish one.  The scene at Blossom was very cool, outside of the undercovers, and we saw a lot of the same vendors there as at Furthur.  Getting to this show made me appreciate the smaller crowds of Furthur; I'm not patient enough for the traffic and lines, though I always deal.   Anyway the music was great, lots of familiar faces, but on to Virginia for a day off then Hampton!!

After a night at my friend's in Richmond, we did the short drive to Hampton and checked into the Red Roof.  Our room was next to these same drunk huntin n fishin rednecks (no offense) as we were next to at Penn State, we all laughed about it and then got away from the negativity.  Temporarily.  We walked down to the Coliseum to check out the scene, and it felt weird.  It's easy to say this after the fact, but as soon as we got in the parking lot we all felt this weird vibe, and the first thing I heard was people screaming "Undercover."  Whatever, it's Hampton and I wasn't gonna worry about anything besides the show.  We met a couple friends who were selling pizza, hit will call, ran back to the hotel to prepare, and on to the show!  We got up front in the GA show--good since we were so damn close but bad cuz there were a lot of drunk folks that didn't were way way intent on getting close, so it was much more of a crunch than yer average GA show.  It was strange... they told us we had to sit down on the floor till the lights went down while at the same time saying "Do what you'd like as long as my boss isn't around."  Ziggy rocked, found his blondes, and we waited for "the band."  Rrrrrrrrrrrockin!   Out of the gates with St. Stephen and nonstop from there.  The Estimated was amazing.  Now, I'm very into Bobby's vocal improvisations but most of my experience, like most other folks', with The Dead and Bobby is on tape/CD.  But watching him, I'm pretty sure he developed a serious stuttering problem during Estimated.   "C-c-c-c-california!"  Not like he was fuckin around, it was like it wouldn't come out of his mouth.  Maybe the energy just overtakes him or maybe it's something else, but something was going on up there.  Anyway, it was sick sick sick sick sick!  Whoo!   The whole show down to the Lovelight just rocked like Hampton "should."  We went outside and there was tons of energy swirling around.  At the time it didn't strike me as bad energy, till we got to my vending friends who told us about the girl who died.  Downer and things started getting fucked up from there.  Some girl started slapping and hitting another guy on Shakedown as he tried to pull away... he obviously said something dumb about the girl who OD'd and she took offense.  It completely killed my high high happy energy and it was almost like post-show mourning.  One of my friends (Jon, who took the pictures), finally convinced me to walk with him to the Red Roof to drop off his camera and then we'd come back, and we asked our other friend Jefferson if he wanted to take a walk, and he said "sure."  So off we went to the hotel, hung there for a bit, then sirens started.  Jon looked out the window... one cop, two, three, four, five, six, seven.  "They're going to bust Shakedown," Jon said.  "They don't bust Shakedown like that," I responded.  Well, we decided to walk down there anyway, and we got to the stoplight where the Coliseum entrance is and it was weird.   People flooding out, lots of cops doing rounds, weird shit.  Jon and I both felt like we shouldn't be there, and the three of us decided we needed to go back to the hotel.  Well, our vending friends stopped by the hotel and told us they were in the middle of a war zone.  They said shit started and mace, riot gear, and batons started appearing.  They watched as the cops beat on people trying to help a three year-old who had been maced, and just madness around them.  They said they both ran--and one of these dudes is pretty big with an ego to match and he doesn't run--leaving their stand and everything else behind.  Where they ended up was near some shmuck tearing his van apart looking around going "Where's my gun."  Ugly scene.  The incredible Yang to the equally strong Yin that was the show.  Well, the night ended with four cops asking to come in our room--while we were smoking and on another planet mind you--and us eventually letting up.  They were looking for a kid who put a cop in the hospital they said, and the kid was himself beaten up and handcuffed (we were approached earlier in the Red Roof lot by someone looking for a hacksaw so they could get him to a hospital).   Obviously, the kid wasn't in our room and the cops came and went and we were happy to get out of Virginia.  On to Greensboro!

We cabbed it from the hotel to the show, relatively chill scene (with some fear of a repeat of the Hampton riot in my mind), not too many police, nice folks working there.  Definitely the South.  We hit Ziggy then watched a solid TOO show--very mellow, in reaction to the show and/or scene the night before?   Outside everything was moving along fine till the police started trying to kick people out.  Don't they understand it's in everyone's best interest for people to sober up before getting in the car?  A cop came up to one guy selling grilled cheese and said "the next step is riot gear and mace."   Disgusting.  But the huge crowd of cops stayed in one place and didn't get out of hand, though I understand bottles were flying by the end of the night.  But that wasn't till the point when only the nitrous crackhead scum were the only ones left.

We stopped in Athens, where we all knew each other from, for the night, and it was conveniently half-way between Greensboro and Suwannee.  Our friends who were vending warned us there was a hurricane so they weren't gonna go, but their loss.  It rained literally a couple drops during Suwannee and that was it.  We avoided traffic coming in, and it was obvious this would be a nice relaxed scene compared to the tension of Greensboro/Hampton.  Lots of folks had camped out the night before; bands played at the grounds as part of the Furthur weekend, and it was a 'homey' show.   Everyone was there to have a good time, and the authority at the place was pretty relaxed.  More right-on Ziggy, then TOO.  This band kept evolving, and the Suwannee show was one of the more exploratory and plain ol phat shows.  It opened with NFA, Bobby dedicating it to someone, then headed into Bo Diddley (?!) with Bruce singing, and into a badass bass solo by The Man, and out of that Bobby hit Mona, which I didn't recognize at the time, before getting back to Not Fade.  The Mr. Fantasy... awesome.  Down the Road/On the Road Again, interesting and great.  It was my first time hearing the new Tennessee Jed.  Very different... much darker, bluesier feel to it till they went to the "traditional" way for the last part of the song.   Sailor/Saint absolutely rocked (!) and so did the rest of the show.  It's always nice to hear Saturday Night before the encore too.  It was kinda strange how they ended at 10:30 in the middle of nowhere, and the buses were rolling out practically before the house lights came on.  But they'd said what they needed to say and we were left out there to have a good time on our own.  Great environment, though I couldn't seem to find Shakedown.  We wandered a bit and paused near a van that was playing Jerry to take it all in for a while.  What a great place to see a show or ten.

Then time for the finale in Atlanta.  Being from Georgia, this was my hometown show, ran into lots and lots of friends I hadn't seen since moving out west, and Lakewood has developed into a really cool venue (since summer '99 in my mind).  The scene is always in full force and unscathed, which kind of makes folks a bit more relaxed and in-the-mood, I think.  This was an incredible finish to the tour--even my cynical and skeptical friends that avoid Dead-related stuff at all costs thought it was amazing (which I find amazing in itself after all the great music they've dissed).  It was really interesting to see how the positivity increased through the tour as the negativity disappeared.  Anyway Help/Slip/Franklin's and Samson were amazing as they'd been the previous Sunday.  Stir It Up was the first time I'd seen Ziggy and his band play with TOO, and it rocked; Ziggy urging Bruce to jam, Alphonso giving up the bass spot to join the line of musicians on stage with less prevalent instruments, hugs all around as the song wound down.  The ultimate in high-vibe legacy on stage.   The split Terrapin was sick, I'm really diggin Odessa, and a rockin rockin St. Stephen/Eleven to end the set (with Bobby coming back in at the end of the song to repeat the refrain, "This is the season of what now," a few extra times.)  The Black Muddy was beautiful as it always is.  It seemed at the time like a really strange way to end the tour, but in retrospect it feels right.  These guys didn't need to do some JBG-esque rocker to end it.  They're too strong.

These are, in my opinion, seven of the strongest musicians alive (across these genres).  It's an all-star band as far as I'm concerned, and I wouldn't change a single thing about this tour.  Let's hope this train keeps rolling... it's gathering steam and definitely headed to that special place.  Thank you!!!!!!!!!  I hope to see you all again soon.

--Dave Rosenberg