Dead & Company Back In Hartford: 2021 part 3

One of the most amazing things about the concert in Hartford that Sunday was that it was a "part 3" of the shows we saw in Mansfield.  As mentioned, they do not stray far from their repertoire, but they arrange it with such care, and what we saw on Sunday closed out thematically what we'd seen on Thursday and Friday.  Did they do this consciously, or was it just us who perceived it?  Does it make any difference?

Day off from touring on Saturday, but back to it on Sunday September 5th, and we with our ice chest full of goodies were off to the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford in good time, after picking up Dave.  The sky threatened rain all day and there were a few showers on the way down to Connecticut.  It wasn't a bad trip, but the traffic got worse and worse as we traveled along, though it was moving.

And then we got to exit 50 in Hartford at about 4:20, about a mile from the venue, and stopped!  And I mean we stopped.  We were barely off the highway and then advanced only a hundred yards or so in the next hour.  The line must have been backed up on the highway back to Massachusetts by then!  And the only reason we advanced at all was because some of the cars in line bailed out and went searching for parking in downtown Hartford, the people planning to walk in.

I think that this was just a huge fuckup on the part of the concert organizers and the police, they did not anticipate the number of cars.  We'd been to sold out concerts at this venue before and they always managed to squeeze us into the existing lots, but this time they could/did not.  The time we spent waiting was apparently spent turning around the cars that were waiting for the regular lot and finding another place to put them.  Then they finally let us into that lot, 0.8 adventurous miles from the venue (not handicap-accessible to say the least).  And of top of everything, the heavens had opened and we were treated to a steady, pouring rain.

Oh well, as before that's enough bitching about the audience experience.  We got out our chairs and hung out in the rain while others tried to barbecue, play cornhole, and do the usual things you see in a Grateful Dead crowd.  But this fuckup will make me think twice before ever going to the Xfinity Theatre again.  They really did not do right by their audience.

Finally it was time to follow the crowd into the venue, a long walk.  The entrance was crowded with high people trying to stay out of the rain, but we got in and got to our seats, and they were very good!  We were under the overhang so no problem with the rain (which soon stopped, fortunately).  And again, the sight lines were great and the sound was even better, significantly better than it had been in Mansfield to my ear.  The screens were not working and this must have been a pain for people on the lawn, though it was ok for us since we could see the stage well.

The start was delayed while the huge crush of people finally filled the place.  The Xfinity Theatre holds 30,000 people, it's a very large amphitheater.  For comparison, the one in Mansfield holds 19,900.  Anyway, we were in, we were soggy, and it was time for the first set!

• Shakedown Street
• Samson and Delilah
• He's Gone
• Big Railroad Blues
• Lost Sailor
• Saint of Circumstance
• Franklin's Tower

This was more beautiful, well-arranged, excellence.  Shakedown was the perfect cure for the hassles of getting in and the ensemble singing on it was great, as inventive as anything we'd seen in Mansfield.  Samson was a given, as it was a Sunday.  But He's Gone was as majestic as Dew had been on Friday, and they followed it up with a rollicking Big RR Blues, again exploiting the blues edge they can get down so well.

Sailor/Saint has always been a mixed bag for me, I find a lot to criticize in Sailor but Saint can be fine, and this one was great too.  And then they ended the first set with a fantastic Franklin's, stretching it out to a long song on which everyone in the band had a chance to solo and shine.

My halftime experience is worth noting.  The concourses were jammed with people and so I went up to the lawn (not far from us) to hit the porta-potties up there and the beer stands.  This was a good decision, but the macadam walkway going up the lawn was barely visible through the people when I started, and after I got my beer it was not visible at all for the trek back down.  We've had a very rainy summer and the lawn section was a muddy horror-show.  But I'd been to Hartford before and was not thrown by this.  The only thing to do was to walk all the way around the lawn and then through the concourses back to our seats, which I finally accomplished.  In time for the second set!

• China Cat Sunflower
• I Know You Rider
• St. Stephen
• The Eleven
• Drums
• Space
• All Along the Watchtower
• Wharf Rat
• Playing In the Band

Again, this was an exquisite second set, satisfied us immensely, and was a great cap to their three-show New England loop.  They started off with China Cat and your first reaction was, "I've heard this before," but then you realized how excellent it was.  The wonderful sound in Hartford didn't hurt, and then they went into Rider.  I'm not kidding you, this was one of the best Rider's I've ever heard.  Bobby's playing was incredible and the sound was so well balanced.  I was trying to listen to Oteil, to Billy, to Bobby, and then John would crack off a run or Jeff would take it up to another level.

The Eleven is one of my favorite songs and St. Stephen is way up on my list too.  We'd speculated that *maybe* they'd play the pair, and then we heard a rumor that in sound check they'd done the William Tell Bridge, which holds the two together.  Well, it was as good as I could have imagined, what can I say?

Drums/Space and then Watchtower.  We knew we were winding down and this was a great, "Dylan," bookend to Masterpiece the other day.  And then they went into a wonderful, perfectly paced, perfectly sung Wharf Rat.  You can get into this song and totally lose track of time and space, listening to August West's song and then zooming out and thinking, "Yeah, but how threatened should this make me feel?"  Everyone in the crowd was entranced.

And then those notes rang out from Bobby's guitar and we knew that the world and we were one.  We had forgotten that we were due a Playing reprise and here it was, suddenly upon us.  No Donna (or John doing a Donna Scream), but again, the sound was great and the playing was spot on.  This is one of the most important songs ever and we were so glad that they did not abandon it, they book-ended our New England tour experience with it.

Short encore break again, and then they delighted us some more with Werewolves of London.  In other situations I've seen this song (written by Warren Zevon) as an outlier, but in this case it fit in perfectly.  People were laughing and singing along and dancing and we were not the least of them.

Amazing, amazing show and we had just experienced an amazing three-show window into their tour!  It was a long walk back to the car and a long wait until we finally could get out of the parking lot (which we filled with lawn chairs, beers, and sandwiches).  We got out of there but the line of cars from the closer lots was still creeping along.  Got back home after a not bad drive on 84 and 90 (and dropping off Dave), and I took some time to wind down and got to bed by 3:30.  Long day.

So was it worth it?  You betcha, the traffic sucked all weekend but the shows were the best.  Will I do it again?  Yes, but with a grain of salt.  We were so psyched this time after the last year and a half of Covid.  But I hope that for the next tour in New England they play closer venues with better parking experiences, like Fenway or Gillette (or Gilford NH??).  Of course, I'd love to see them in a theater like the Boston Music Hall (now known as the Wang Center).  But whatever, I'll be there!