Category Archives: Flashbacks

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Intermission has been awesome!!! I don’t know if it’s all the chemicals but I never saw so many beautiful people in my life… It’s like a damn Hippie Beauty Pageant in this place tonight… Everywhere I went I saw exactly who I was hoping to see moments before I ever saw them… I’m gonna have to find myself a kind woman in here tonight on the same high I’m on… The mood in this place is so electric…. No drama… Nobody freaking out… Everybody in this place seems just right… I’m not sure my chemistry has ever been so ideal in all of my life… I feel like an absolute Ray of Light… I’ve helped 3 people get out of the problems in their own head just by smiling at them… There’s some Magic all over this place… I missed the guys climbing up the ladders… I hate when that happens… There’s a patchwork of smiles… Beachballs bouncing around leaving crazy trails… I don’t know who that dude we’ve been selling Buds to is but he’s definitely well connected… We haven’t been further back than 10th row the whole tour… The Anticipation in this building could be weighed with a scale… Air has a very definite heaviness in this place right now… Your mind screams, “TURN THE LIGHTS OUT!!!!” It’s as if Candace hears you scream in your mind… Lights Go out as The Instant Roar of the crowd is immediately followed by the sight of Flashlights leading The Band to the stage… They emerge from behind their stacks of Sound equipment laughing as if there’s a joke between them… The energy shared in this place is all over them as well… It’s clearly not just me…. When the noodling and tuning starts it becomes immediately clear… It’s gonna be Scarlet->Fire!!!! This takes the intensity to an entirely different level of high!!! Every member smiling… Bill and Mickey warming their chops on the hi-hats… When the affirmative notes of Scarlet Begonias are struck by Garcia… He smiles down the line of people in the front row causing every person within his vision and even those beyond it to believe they just had an intimate Soul Experience with him… As the riffs roll out and the rest of the band gets behind the movement, Garcia seems to be caught up in the vibe and seems a little slow getting to the mic… I think to myself “He’s definitely missing the cue”… Some how… In perfect Garcia time… He gets there some way and the Raging Party officially takes flight as Jerry’s eyebrows, slightly elevated, rejoices with his voice through half of a smile, “As I was walkin’ ’round Grosvenor Square!!!” Holy Shit this is tight!!!!!! The band sounds like a well oiled machine as every component falls into it’s perfect and proper place… The notes that come off of Garcia and Weir’s guitars spin my my mind… Any wayward thoughts fly away… All negativity is sent packing… I found such a funky dancing groove in the pocket that I feel like the 7th member of the band… I’m like a human metronome and I swear the band is actually using ME to keep time… I couldn’t stop smiling if I tried… There’s something so cyclical about Scarlet…. I feel like we’re all on this Psychedelic Merry Go Round… It’s Impossible for anybody to sit still at this point… Every verse speaks deeply into the experience… The Band hits their marks in perfect unison… They absolutely drive the whirling dervish of tie dyed sweat that most of us are quickly turning into… My body is seemingly taken over by the absolute clarity and volume of the massive trampoline of sound that’s springing all of us higher and higher… I catch the eyes of everyone around me… We’re all being blown away by what’s taking place… As the Merry Go Round Spins, Garcia fires off notes that feel like ornate sparks being thrown from his strings to elaborately decorate and detail this creation… As we approach the final verse Bill and Phil hold down the foundation of the groove while Mickey climbs the percussive Ladder of Life running his sticks up every tom tom he’s got… You know that sound!!!! Garcia’s licks seems to intentionally linger behind just enough for him to accelerate as quickly as possible as he begins to make his final move…. It’s as though he’s gotta catch up to the proceedings at hand without leaving any note out from the run as he makes the musical sprint to the finish line… Scales being peeled off rapidly, his face assumes the determined and intense look illustrating the effort that goes into this stretch to the finish line crossing it with the rest of the band, as well as all of us, as we collectively declare, “THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS PLAYING “TEA FOR TWO”!!!!!!!!!!! THE SKY WAS YELLOW AND THE SUN WAS BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every cell in my body climaxes with the moment as I’m fully awakened to the realization that EVERYBODY truly and completely is Playin in the Heart Of Gold Band… It’s all of us… Everybody…. Like ’em or not… Everyone one of us is a necessary and required ingredient to all of this wild shit that’s happening… In my current state of mind I think I’ve discovered something that’s just as new as when I discovered it during this same tune just last week… The jam heads for exploratory ground… Noises from instruments that aren’t even present can be heard in the thick layers of sound that are coming at us from the Band like Lava flows from a volcano… It’s no coincidence that particular vision emerges in my thoughts and overtakes my senses… Just as Lava flows from it’s Source, Surely there’s some Fire coming our way!!!!

Preparation for The Dead’s Fare Thee Well shows has begun!!!check it out here.

Gratefully Deadicated,
Dean Sottile (pronounced SoTilly)

www.gratefuldean.com
Dean SoTilly on Facebook

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GarciaWolf

Space has been a little creepy… Weird energy all over the arena… Seems like everywhere I go people are in some kind of rush to get somewhere… I don’t know why… We’re all staying right here… Almost like watching people on the streets on Manhattan… Not too many faces seem at ease… Is it me??? I don’t think so… Could be… Garcia’s notes are rolling out of Space like we’re about to get some music again… The Energy in the room is shifting… It’s cool to feel 14,000 people become attentive all at once… What’s it gonna be??? Black Peter??? Stella??? Strange to hear notes that sound like a Garcia Ballad out of Space… The fat strings of Jerry’s guitar begin to form the frame of an incredibly powerful, albeit somewhat eerie march… The drummers fall into place following his lead… The room begins to glow in it’s darkness… Jerry, Bob and Phil are framed in Blue Light… The tempo matches the pace of the steps you might take walking through a graveyard as Garcia approaches his mic from 4 steps back… Death Don’t Have No Mercy… That’s what the fuck I’m talking about!!! The mood created is Pure Magic mixed with Pure Emotion… It’s like a high speed collision where Magic collides with Sorrow… We’re all experiencing this from the Inside Out… Garcia’s line is delivered from deep within his core while the 3 deep creases are fully activated on his forehead… Weir’s line comes through absolutely clear and without any hesitation or doubt… His eyes shadowed like a Skull even when he faces the lights… I don’t how that shit happens… He leans back hard and sharp as if he’s squeezing everything he can out of the moment… 14,000 people are simultaneously having their insides rearranged at will by it all… The first solos begin to take flight… Brent’s Church Organ seems to form some kind of audible hands that appear to lift the music higher and higher… It becomes a completely visceral experience as Garcia’s solo ferociously climbs up and down a stairway of sonic emotion that seems to be made out of the chills that are formed within my spine… Each note penetrates far deeper than our ears as we can literally feel the guitar pick make contact with our hearts… Jerry bends his knees 4 inches… That brings the whole experience way over the top… This Ballad of Death and it’s failure to show Mercy has created a vivid mood, emotion and experience within all of us as it’s completely directed the thoughts of thousands of people in a single direction and all at once… Brent takes his turn completely possessed by the spirit of the song… He Jolts… Shoulders swinging… Looks like The Song is Playing Him… His voice cuts through all of us like a chainsaw through the sternum as he begins open heart surgery on the entire room all at once… We Feel every word… As Brent hammers into his keyboard it appears as if the keyboard hammers back… It sends him into a euphoric looking yet somewhat spastic state… The look in his eyes is like that of someone on a ride they have no hope of controlling in any way… Every cylinder is firing on this one and Jerry has the look on his face that makes us all aware of how special the moment is… The Look that says, “SHIT Is Going Down RIGHT NOW!!!!” He takes his solo with an undeniable fire and and as animated as is possible for the Boss… He’s in perfect command of the moment and with a few deep bends and a strong throw of the final notes into the air brings it all home… Everyone seems to be Paddling as hard as they possibly can as the efforts are generating an energy that seems to have caused the building to lift off… Our Hearts were opened wide… Some Dark Spots were exposed, Romanced and Then Ripped Out… The Feeling of Pure Ecstasy And Pure Sorrow All at the same time is way more than our carnal minds were created to endure… We’ve been forever changed in this moment… We smile as we cry… We Cry as we Laugh… We hug those nearest to us… We acknowledge that we were just part of something that was never available prior to that moment and won’t be completely available ever again… It’s All too much…