Set 1:
Viola Lee Blues >
Bertha >
Viola Lee Blues >
Caution (DSOTT) >
Viola Lee Blues
Black Peter
Cosmic Charlie
Set II:
Shakedown Street >
New Speedway >
Scarlet Begonias >
Fire >
Drums >
Space >
Dark Star >
Wharf Fat >
Dark Star
Satisfaction
Encore:
One More Saturday Night
In other news, I’ve heard from my sources that Phil Lesh has booked his annual fall residency at the Nokia Theater in Times Square, NYC. Phil has said that he’s taking the summer off so we’ll just have to wait til the fall to get our Phil!
Phil - 5/09
Also, for the statisician and Dead nerds out there, check out this running list of songs played this tour with their associated number of times played – download word file with the stats here.
Let’s mix it up a bit with some recent news tidbits, some bootlegs, and some video. As they say, “variety is the spice of life”:
First, the All Good Festival announced their Daily Lineup which looks like a lot of fun, though admittedly a bit cheesy and poppy. For some reason, they seemed to have packed a lot of the best acts into Sunday’s lineup. Why they wouldn’t give DSO, BK3, or Tea Leaf Green main day or late night shows is beyond me. In any case, check it out, July 9-12 at Marvin’s Moutaintop in Masontown, West Virginia.
In Dead news, Jambase put out this review of The Dead’s 5/02/09 final performance at the Philadelphia Spectrum. They’re got some nice pics, but I don’t think this review holds up to the one offered up here. Also, The Dead released a series of new videos from their 09′ tour. They picked some choice moments for the musical segments of these vids, definitely worth a watch. One of the 2 most recent videos feature Branford Marsalis offering up a fresh perspective on the Dead, their approach to the music, and the repetoire while the other has Bob Weir embarrassing himself with an attempt at human speech. The mindless dribble that comes out of his mouth these days is only second to his “rhythm guitar”. The dead kick off the closing west coast leg of their 09 tour today with a stop in Colorado. Rider, anyone?
Elsewhere this week, Phish’s Trey Anastasio was on Capitol Hill lobbying for drug courts… His choice of words was a bit cryptic: “I’m a recovering alcoholic and a proud graduate of the Washington drug court program”. Let me translate for you: I’m a recovering alcoholic who still loves oxy and blow! To read between the lines yet one layer further, I think what the frontman is really trying to say is ‘Don’t do drugs… Except of course on the upcoming sold out Phish tour!’
Moving on to something we really dig over here – let’s check out some bootlegs from the 70’s when, according to Branford, ‘Things were just easy’.
First, some Peter Tosh from the nation’s capital in 79:
Peter Tosh
Washington D.C.
3/13/79
1 400 Years/Steppin Razor
2 Pick Myself Up/African
3 Burial
4 Soon Come
5 I’m The Toughest/Bush Doctor
6 Don’t Look Back
7 Get Up Stand Up
8 Legalize It
Second, dig this show from Jerry and the late, great Merl Saunders in Palo Alto in 73′:
Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
5/04/73
Homer’s Warehouse
Palo Alto, CA
Set 1:
That’s The Touch I Like
Expressway
instrumental>
AfterMidnight>
It’s No Use
That’s All Right Mama
Set 2:
It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry
Honey Chile
Lonely Avenue
instrumental
Georgia On My Mind
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
How Sweet It Is
For a second encore, and one well worth it, check this Jerry and friends vid featuring Baba Olatunji, Carlos Santana, Hamza el-Din, Bobby Vega, Sikiru Adepoju, and others in California, 1987. Santana rips the shit out of this Fire and the rhythm secion is not to be messed with:
In other Dead news, the band recently launch an Iphone app – features includes streaming audio, photomosaics, and Twitter streams from EVERY show of the tour, plus much much more! Check it out…
Set 1:
China Cat Sunflower
Born Cross-Eyed
Built To Last
Pride Of Cucamonga
I Need A Miracle
Wang Dang Doodle
West LA Fadeaway
Liberty
All Along The Watchtower
Set 2:
Mexicali Blues
Into The Mystic
Peggy-O
A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall
Space>
Drums
Iko Iko
Standing On The Moon
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad
Set 1:
On More Saturday Night
Brown Eyed Women
Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl
Althea
He’s Gone>
Uncle John’s Band>
Mason’s Children
Set 2:
Good Lovin’
Cumberland Blues
Cryptical Envelopment>
The Other One>
Drums>
Space>
Morning Dew
St. Stephen
Revolution
Help On The Way
Slipknot!>
Franklin’s Tower
Some play-by-play and highlights from this magical evening:
The energy level in the Spectrum on Saturday night was poppin’ – not an empty seat in the house and not a seat in use when the lights went down. The band came out firing with One More Saturday Night giving their first nod to the symbolic closing of the Dead at the Spectrum tradition of 53+ sold out shows over the years. After a raucous, if not perfunctory sounding Saturday Night rendition, the Band kept things moving quickly with tightly executed versions of Brown Eyed Women and Good Morning Little School Gril. Weir started out Good Mornin’ solo and, after getting his sea legs, delivered a soulful and, at times, creepy take mixing in some original improvised lyrics for good measure.
Warren took over and changed things up on Althea – his vocals and guitar rang true and he definitely delivered an improved rendition from the 3/30/09 Roseland show. The first set closing sequence of He’s Gone>UJB>Mason’s Children really took off aside from a botched UJB ending sing along. The band did a great job channeling their frustration out of UJB into a smoking version of Mason’s straight out of 1968. Seemingly minutes after the set began – the band left the stage at 8:45 for setbreak – the crowd stunned with the whirlwind that had just engulfed the arena.
The band really played with the dynamics in Cumerbland swinging from Chimenti’s organ swells to Warren’s lighting speed blues riffing gymnastics to tasteful drum fills – the band doing what they do best – the music playing the band. Dipping into the ether for a more typical set 2 offering – Phil and Boby led the band through a full on ‘That’s if for the Other One’ rendition alla Anthem of the Sun. This was a lot of fun if not for Bobby’s restrained and, at times, unpredictable vocal delievery on The Other One.
The band boarded the Drum/Space ship and, as they landed, the opening Dew progression emerged. What followed was a beautiful rendition – evoking the intense power of the deep and haunting post-apocalyptic anit-war song. Turning on a dime, the band jumped into St.Stephen:
Stephen was very well played if not, again, perfunctory in nature. The following Revolution was a nice treat and was really played true to spec:
All in all, Revolution was a lot of fun. Seemingly unwilling to stop, the band busted into the famous Blues for Allah medley of Help/Slip/Franklins to close out the set. This definitely had its ups and downs including a botched Franklin’s transition, but the Franklin’s sing along was worth it and a great way to close things out:
Phil emerged for his donor rap and acknowledged the un-matched energy that only the Spectrum can conjure up. The band closed things out with a ritualistic Samson and Delilah – chanting the ‘If I had my way, I would tear this old building down’ refrain – bidding farewell to years of history and a historic building always to be remembered in Deal lore’.
The band really broke out of the mold for this weekend’s spectrum run – leaving behind the restrained and safe playing of the last few weeks and taking things up and notch in terms of creativity and adventurousness (and tempo for that matter). The few bumps along the road were well worth it – let’s hope this train keeps building steam and Truckin’ down the road – one more time.
And if I had my way
I would tear this old building down…
Set I:
Playin’ in the Band>
Mississippi Half Step>
New Speedway Boogie
Shakedown Street
Dupree’s Diamond Blues
Hard to Handle
Friend of the Devil>
Playin’ Reprise
Set II:
Jack Straw
Alligator>
Caution (Don’t Step on the Tracks)
Drums>
Space>
Loose Lucy
Comes a Time
Cold Rain and Snow
Sugar Magnolia
The Dead ~ 4/29/09 ~ E. Rutherford, NJ ~ IZOD Center
Set 1: Touch of Grey, Pride of Cucamonga, Crazy Fingers*, The Music Never Stopped*, Deal*, Days Between*, Casey Jones*
Set 2: Sitting on top of the World, Doin’ that Rag*, Ramble on Rose*, Terrapin Station (Lady with a Fan intro)* > Drums* > Space* > The Wheel* >Terrapin Station > I Know You Rider*
Set I:
Bertha
Till The Morning Comes
Little Red Rooster
Row Jimmy
Watchtower
Glory Road
West LA Fadeaway >
Cumberland Blues
Set II:
The Weight
Tomorrow Never Knows >
Black Peter
Greatest Story Ever Told>
Space>
Drums>
Space>
King Solomon’s Marbles >
Viola Lee Blues >
Samson and Delilah
Also, The Dead released 
Elsewhere this week, Phish’s Trey Anastasio 
Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Welcome To Now 