Grateful Dean

Ahhhhh Yes, Georgia… A state known for dungaree overalls on grown ass men along with engineer hats and the mandatory handful of teeth missing. Lets not stereotype… Atlanta is a great city where I spent 9 years of my life and I Love it there! Go south of Macon and you’re guaranteed to meet some folks whose family trees have no damn branches though. A man will introduce you to his wife, sister and cousin and there’s only one woman standing there… The country’s largest predominantly caucasian dance party of the night took its awkward and mostly rhythmless moves south as Dead & Company got down in Dixie and held court at The Omni. I understand it’s called something else but I’ll always call it the Omni. When I think of Atlanta I always think of a few things. One is Gladys Night’s Chicken and Waffles! I hope some of y’all made it there before or after the show last night. Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for Blues and BBQ is another one of my favorite places down there. When it comes to The Dead in Atlanta, my memory instantly goes to April Fools Day in 1990. To me, first sets are more often than not just warm ups and a great bonus if something really special happens. Shows, from my perspective, were always measured by the quality of the second set. Then there’s those exceptions like the first set of 4/1/90. Garcia dropped all 3 of my first set favorites with Candyman, Althea and a stellar To Lay Me Down. Garcia would sing To Lay Me Down and it would cause this incredible love within US to be completely awoken and put on a pedestal directly in front of our vision. As he sang it the roots of passionate love and all its best attributes were woven deep into our hearts. It was a love much different than I would feel from any other male singer. It was a masculine love that was free of so many of the notions associated with a man singing a love song while other straight men are listening. It was a love you didn’t feel inhibited to experience fully… It was a love like this.

Not really like this this…

That entire April Fools show was just packed with every flavor of goodness known to US. Then there was the Death Don’t Have No Mercy on 4/2. It was a little shy of the hurricane that hit us in Hampton or the bust out at Shoreline but it was a great moment I’ll remember forever.

The first set this time around was pretty much same shit, different flies. Everything sounded good but nothing all that worthy of talking about at length. For those watching at home, streams on Periscope and Mixlr were as inconsistent as Kreutzmann’s urine streams. Erratic spurts with long pauses in between leaving both those on Couch Tour and Bill saying, “WHAT THE FUCK??” I’m sure those in attendance had an enhanced opinion on the festivities.

Any set that contains St Stephen is a great set! It became a great set early since they opened with it. Uncle J and Help-> Slip -> Frank cemented the great set tag before drums ever started. Weir can’t seem to get the first verse of Miracle out of his mouth. It’s probably because it’s so ill fitting a verse at this point in life. Since Barlow isn’t hanging around with him at the moment (Get Well in a hurry John) I’d like to help rewrite the song to make it more authentic and current. Here’s what I propose. The first verse will be changed to “I need a woman ’bout half my years, A lady with no liver spots or health related fears!” Then maybe since we’re not as thin as we used to be we can slightly augment that weight verse as well. Maybe change it to “I need a woman ’bout half my size, A Little one that’s twice the fun, no cataracts in her eyes!” I understand I’m no Barlow but that’s just my 2 cents…

The second Dew of the tour was delivered and I’m pretty certain of one thing, If I ever meet Weir, it’s a very safe bet that I won’t say, “Great to meet you Bob, you sounded outstanding singing The Dew the other night!” That’s all I’m gonna say about that… Sometimes I wonder if something as epic as The Dew would benefit from just being an instrumental now. Just put a blue spotlight where Garcia used to be and let it be the ultimate tribute. I’m just rambling I suppose… It seems like they over corrected for the problem they had with the first one. The Dew at MSG, John went bat shit, off the wall crazy on the first solo and the band just stopped jamming behind him after a while to return to the “Guess It Doesn’t Matter” part. By the time the second solo came around, the one he was really supposed to slay, he was too hesitant to do anything. This time around he moved a little too slow through the first solo realizing there was a second opportunity. He seemed a little abbreviated through the crescendo even though he definitely can rage on that tune! Out of everybody that has played that jam, post Garcia, Mayer has definitely been my favorite. They will get that tune just right at some point on this tour and it will be a moment that will be remembered forever. One of Garcia’s last great moments on stage was in Atlanta, March of 95 for the Dew. The end of that Dew was on a whole different level. I was fortunate enough to be relatively close to him that night and it was my last great experience with Jerry on a stage. The last screams of “Guess It Doesn’t Matter”, he actually had stepped away from the mic and screamed towards it one extra time as he closed it. I’m forever grateful the mic picked it up as his voice was totally breaking as he let it out. It’s among my favorite moments captured and definitely my favorite moment of 95. 3/26/95, Check it out and you’ll hear what I mean!

I was completely impressed by US on the NFA Chant! It was strong, powerful and sustained! We should be commended for returning to our youthful state of chanting dominance!

While Georgia got the peaches, Nash Vegas got the cream! Everything had the little extra something that turns the experience up to 11. The streams were consistent and abundant while folks that were on the rail got into the act. I really appreciate those that have Periscoped this stuff for those of US at home. If I did a Periscope it would look like someone put a camera on a mechanical bull. I dance something fierce from beginning to end. Finally people that are shitty dancers have something else to do! Althea was ferocious and the jams went around the block more often than usual. West LA has finally kicked the dope habit and no longer has the pace of a song written in a retirement community somwhere in Florida. Tennessee obviously got their Jed and it was a special one for the host state!

The second set was full of memorable moments. Even though Playin is getting a little Played out, It still finds new ground each and every time and will develop the improvisational abilities of the group as a whole. We can all be grateful for that. The New Speedway is consistently great, Estimated never disappoints and “Not another Viola Lee Blues” said nobody ever! That tuned can turn a party into overdrive! Stella Blue is a Garcia song that Weir sings better than any, in my meaningless opinion, and coming out of Space was terrific. The coolest thing about Dead & Company is getting shit like China-> Rider to follow Stella and close the show. You want a joyous procession out of any venue, close the show with China-> Rider. I think the encore was perfectly suited for what has been experienced so far including last night. Johnny B Goode is just right because in our case, Johnny be real fuckin good! Mayer shows up to play every single night and gives 100% to the experience, Oteil and Jeff as well. That shit is contagious and causing everybody to show up with their very best stuff, every night. While John and Oteil are giving 100% to the experience, you can tell by watching that they’re getting 100% from the experience as well. The regularity of time spent with our favorite musicians as well as with US is obviously impacting them as much as they have been impacting US.

Time to drive past the big Arch y’all! St. Louis awaits! As we watch the band move west, we see that they seem to get younger and better every mile along the way. Maybe it’s true… 70 is the new 50! Unfortunately for those that stream at home, the time differences for east coasters is proving that for those of us with kids, 9:30 is the new midnight as well… See ya soon!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
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