The night after THE night is always difficult. Following The Warlock Shows in Hampton, some people thought every show would just get better until we were all raptured off to Heaven to cruise around in Busses whose tires never got flat nor required gas. October 11th had to come. While 10/11/89 was a really good show, not too many people could tell me about it without using Dead Base or Google. If I ask most DeadHeads about Hampton, they can tell me exactly what was played each night, at least for the second sets. SPAC was like October 11th… Thanks to Joni Mansfield-Hazaz, for the picture. She’s one of the few people that saw more Dead shows than Weir. Love her forever!

The amphitheater that will always be Star Lake got blasted by the blazing meteor known as Dead & Company last night.  No time was wasted getting things started and it was easy to hear Stranger from the first plucking of guitar strings. Once it began, we were off to the races. John proved that when you can play and you’re on a big stage, you can rock a whitebread Aunt Jemimah bandana on your head and get away with it. Brother may have looked like a southern woman doing housework but he was KILLIN it all night long. He was born to play shit like Easy Wind and when he’s playing within his natural space, he shines even brighter. Cassidy showed up early and West LA, a song that has sounded like it’s on life support with a morphine drip since FTW, seemed to be feeling a little better than usual. In case you needed more time to take it easy, Slow Jimmy followed.  Continue reading →