Things can get a little sleepy on the music front in the middle of Winter, so we were glad when friends Scott and Michelle proposed going to see Deadbeat at the Bull Run on a Friday night. They're a Dead cover band and in some shows, such as this one, they're joined by Mark Karan, who's played with RatDog, The Other Ones, and whom we saw with Phil Lesh at Terrapin Crossroads.
Picked up Sarah and Dave at Alewife after work and joined the slow, long slog of traffic out through the Western suburbs on route 2, which barely loosened up a bit by the time we got out to the 110/111 exit. The Sawtelle Room was already hopping and we were delighted that our friend Bill (our neighbor at DeadCo last Summer) was already at the table, joined by his daughter later. Quite a coincidence, and soon Scott and Michelle showed up too, along with friends Chris and Libby at the next table. We were a jolly bunch and had some fine food and beer. And then some more beer.
The room really filled up and got very noisy, being a Friday night with a highly anticipated band. We'd never seen Deadbeat before but they have quite a reputation and quite a following. They came on a bit late and we had excellent seats right at the right corner of the stage. They had a female singer right in front of us and an electric piano player behind her, Karan right next to them with the drummer behind him, and over on the other end of the stage were the two guitar players and the bassist. They launched into a textbook Scarlet Begonias and we were off!
This was very well played, though a bit formulaic, Grateful Dead music. They went into a couple of jams, like a great one around TOO in the second set, but mostly did not really segue between songs or go far off the reservation. They seemed to know where their weaknesses were and they didn't go there, they just stuck to what they did well.
One thing they did really well was turn to Mark Karan over and over when they got the chance and let him take over the song. He was excellent, ripping off mind-bending leads, rocking rhythm lines, and backing lead guitar riffs when the piano player or the rhythm guitar would step up.
Everybody on the stage besides him had some fine moments too, including the female singer doing an excellent Tore Up Over You (the only non-Dead but JGB song) and a Hard To Handle which had the room roaring, the piano player getting stronger and stronger with his bits, the drummer being a metronome that held everyone together, and the bassist doing a couple of solos. The guitar players were good too, though their vocals left something to be desired.
After the first couple of songs the vocalist asked me how the sound was (I was a few feet in front of her and may have been enjoying myself a bit). She may not have been prepared for a cogent answer but I told her my opinion and mentioned that we were having a little hard time hearing the piano. She said that she'd have them turn him up on her monitor, which was slightly pointed toward us and after she talked to the soundboard guy the mix for us was excellent! So cogency is not over-rated.
Two great sets, though the second was (seemingly??) shorter than the first. Whatever, we had a great time as did all the people dancing around the outside of the room, as well as the center aisle. Hung out for a short talk with our friends after the music ended and then took off for the long ride back. Another fine Friday night!
