Phil Lesh at Thompson's Point

We're in the midst of a whirlwind of a Dead & Company tour, but don't forget Phil Lesh!  We've got tickets to go see him in Port Chester in October, but in the meantime he's been doing his own "Summer tour."  I put that in quotes because he said years ago that he was done touring, and when he goes on the road these days it's on his own, quirky schedule.  That works.

We decided not to go to his set at this Summer's Levitate Festival in Marshfield MA because the rest of the bill on that day was not really attractive to us, but he announced that he'd be appearing with the same band the next day at Thompson's Point, in Portland ME, and that was right up our alley.  He's touring with his usual compadres of Grahame and Jason Crosby this year, and also with Amy Helm, Cody Dickinson, and Stu Allen.  Though I'd rank Stu low on my list of "fake Jerry's" (hate to use that term, but there it is), this projected to be a great band and we were psyched!

Never been to Thompson's Point, but have driven by there a lot.  It's a peninsula sticking into the Fore River in Portland, next to the train station.  From our glimpses of the site from the highway we really couldn't imagine how they'd set up a concert there, but they did a really good job of it.  They've having some great acts there this Summer and we'll probably go again if this continues.

Dave had had to miss the DeadCo concerts we'd attended (see previous posts), but was symptom-free, CDC-approved, and more than psyched to see this one, and it was a great day for an outdoor concert on Sunday, July 10.  We drove up in time to get there for "gates open" at 4:30, and didn't have to wait that long in the line of cars filling their dusty, dirt parking lots.  Followed people to the gates, where they were doing thorough searching of bags and measuring of lawn chairs, and had to send some people back to their cars to get rid of contraband or illegal chairs (seat no more than 12" off the ground).  But we were prepared, got in, and grabbed a piece of lawn (well, hard-packed dirt with some weeds) by the soundboard, maybe 50 feet from the stage!

Filled water bottles, got beer, cruised the food trucks and got some (sushi tuna-roll for me, wrapped in tasty seaweed).  Some boats and kayaks were assembling on the Fore River to hear the concert, don't think they could see anything.  But it was a sunny day with a strong Southeast wind and by show-time of 6:00 the place was getting pretty full and there were still long lines to get in.  Don't know if the place sold out, but it got pretty crowded there.  This was our second time seeing Phil in Maine, and we'd seen TTB there this Spring.  Sheryl Crow and Lake Street Dive are coming to Thompson's Point later this Summer and I hope top-level acts keep coming to Maine, and keep getting closer to us!

Late crowd and so they didn't really get started until 6:20 or so, but finally we saw them doing their Phil & Friends trademark huddle in the wings, and then they came out and tuned up.  A big difference was that Grahame was way over to the right, beyond his Dad, with Jason far left, then Stu, and Amy, with Cody on the back on traps.  And then they lit right into:

• Alice D. Millionaire
• Here Comes Sunshine
• They Love Each Other
• Shakedown Street
• Shelter From the Storm (Bob Dylan)
• Bird Song
• Touch of Grey

At first we couldn't believe it, LSD Millionaire is such an obscure song, but this was our second time seeing it performed by Amy.  Amy can bring a lot of energy, and she sure did with this opener!  And great harmonies from Grahame, he and she are a great pairing and were on all night.  Then Stu continued the precise vocals with HCS and was joined by Amy, Phil, and Grahame on the choruses, singing about our redeeming sun, in the early evening while facing South toward the water on an outdoor stage in the beautiful Summer ... I was almost in tears and I think others were too.

Then Amy took another lead with TLEO.  We'd just seen DeadCo cover this in Hartford and I loved Oteil's bassline on it, but how can you beat Phil?  You can't and he brought plenty of funk to it to mix with Amy's soulful vocal.

Great sound from the start!  We were worried that the stiff wind would be a factor, but it was not.  They had the leader of the band turned up from the start and as the evening went on, Phil just got louder and louder and filled our souls.  Grahame just keeps getting better and better and turned in some technical, uplifting, extended leads, especially on Shakedown.  Amy stuck to the vocals and turned in a great performance, and Jason was low in the mix at first, but then they got that right and he had a great night.  Stu was very good, and fit right in with the band.  But the player that again and again dropped my jaw was Cody Dickinson on drums.  We'd seen him with the North Mississippi Allstars and he was great, but with Phil & Friends he seemed to be playing on another level.  No lazy GD drumming for him, he was dropping in the paradiddles and drum rolls in the middle of playing the solid backbone role

Dave called Shakedown from the tuning and this was a long one, they were ready to hit the psychedelics from the start and we were loving it.  Didn't recognize the next one right off the bat, but it was an excellent cover of a Dylan song, sung by Stu (perhaps a few too many lead vocals for him).  I called Bird Song and again, it didn't take them long to get deep into a jam ... a loud one rather than a cerebral one, fitting the outdoor setting.  They were taking their time between songs to make sure they got everything exactly perfect, but when they started up with Touch I knew it was the set closer and so took off for the port-a-potties and more water.  I pooh-pooh this song a bit, but they did an excellent job with it (Grahame on lead vocal) and were still playing it with me dancing in the back of the suddenly large crowd.

Wow, that was a great first set and we gushed about it with our neighbors.  I'd been hoping for another cover of Two Souls In Communion by Amy (we'd seen her do this with Phil in Port Chester) and was sure they were going to a New Speedway Boogie of death, seeing the recent political developments.  But whatever, they should play what they want, especially when they do it that well.  The transitory nature of Phil bands means they're sometimes not well rehearsed, but the only one who seemed confused at times was Dickinson, who soon got back on the same page with everyone else.  The others have played with Phil many times before and were a tight unit.

The sun was about to set, and when it did the strong wind died totally.  Though the sound had been amazing for the first set, it was just perfect when the sun went down.  I was afraid there'd be noise from the nearby highway, but that was never a problem.  Lots of talkers in the crowd, but this was a joyous experience for everyone.  You don't get a great band like this in Maine too often!

So what did they do for a second set?  Well it was even better than the first set:

• Rosemary
• Terrapin Station
• Jack O'Roses
• Scarlet Begonias
• Dark Star
• Morning Dew
• Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad
• And We Bid You Goodnight

Holy shit!  You think LSD Millionaire is obscure, how about Rosemary?  This was a textbook, short version of it, again sung by Stu.  But as much as the others on the stage shone, there was no question that we were at a Phil F. Lesh show and he was at his delicate, nimble, powerful best on this.  And then they did Terrapin and Grahame took the mike to tell us about that fan incident.  I was waiting for it, and then here it came, the return of the Lesh Brothers!  Phil and Grahame can sing so well together, they're almost like one of those great bluegrass brother bands, the Louvins or the Stanleys or the Osborne Brothers.  Grahame watches him intently and Phil conducts the duets with facial expressions and a few hand signals.  It's not like Grahame just met him after all.  And when their harmonies are joined by Amy Helm's soul and Stu's strong baritone, the vocal sound was enough to lift me off the ground.

And then yet another obscurity that we couldn't believe at first, Grahame sang one of the bits of Hunter's full Terrapin Suite, Jack O' Roses.  We'd actually heard a recording of this done 10(?) years ago a few days ago, and here it was again!  It's a small Terrapin world.  Great stand-alone Scarlet after this ... people were just saying that they were sorry they hadn't continued it into Fire.  But then those notes rang out from Phil's bass and suddenly, once again, he was playing one of the best songs ever for us, Dark Star.  They did Phil's preferred vocal treatment on this, with him and then Stu, and then Grahame splitting the couplets between three voices.  And then Amy would join in on the "transitive nightfall" line and this was so good!  They went deep into space on this, and Amy to her credit did not faint from exhaustion, she stuck it out smiling until they swooped back into the second verse and took us all away again.

Boy, how could you beat that?  Well I'll tell you, just listen to that tape and you'll get blown away like we did when we were just coming down from outer space and then, Brrannggg! ... they hit the first chord of Dew.  Coincidental that there were so many "repeats" on this night.  I'd recently seen TLEO, Scarlet, Dew, and the encore done by DeadCo, as well as hearing Jack O' Roses recently.  But I was not complaining.  Stu did some excellent lead guitar work on this and Grahame and Amy sang it in the beautiful call and response arrangement we'd seen them do before.  Jason got out his fiddle for this and played a stellar lead.  The crescendo of this song is fantastic and Grahame hit it just right.  You think the times call for a protest song?  Well this will do.

OMG, GDTRFB came after this and gave us all a chance to wring out our handkerchiefs and start smiling again.  And when they got to the coda they kept it going and eventually morphed into Bid You Goodnight, which was done a cappella.  A perfect ending to an incredible second set, emphasizing their strong ensemble vocals.

I was getting pretty tired by then, especially after such emotion, and we had a pretty long drive home in front of us.  But there was old man Phil coming out, fumbling with his earpieces, and then giving us yet another fine donor rap.  It was unclear how many encores they had planned, but they just did one, with Amy taking the lead vocal on Liberty.  Yet another great protest song, "O freedom, o liberty, leave me alone!"  Don't get me started.

Wow, what a concert, ending right at 10:00!  Said goodbye to our neighbors, hit the port-a-potties one last time for the long drive, and then somehow found our car in the dirt parking lot.  We'd heard that exiting Thompson's Point sometimes takes a while and it sure did for us, as we were one of the last cars in our lot (except for the dentist contingent, who may still be at it).  But actually it was a bit quicker than we expected and by 10:30 we were back on the highway South, and eventually back in Massachusetts.  This was a lot of fun!

DeadCo In Hartford, 2022

Originally, we had thought we weren't going to go through the hassle again if Dead & Company played Hartford this Summer.  The parking fuckup from last year was agonizing and it's a long way to drive back on busy interstates with crazy Connecticut drivers late at night.  But ... every time they've played there has been fantastic and we thought maybe we could spring for a hotel, get there early to avoid traffic, and have a nice retreat after the concert.  Well, it was a good try.

So we got tickets to DeadCo at the huge amphitheater just outside of downtown Hartford on July 5 and the first part of our plan was executed as well as possible.  Dave (see earlier post) is still out with COVID so it was just Sarah and me, driving down through thick but fast-moving traffic in the middle of the afternoon through some off-and-on rain.  Yes, that's right.  The traffic was thick with trucks and on the verge of clogging up several times on a mid-Summer Tuesday afternoon!?!  But we made it to exit 50 in Hartford without getting smushed and luckily we were just in front of the crowd when we got into town, drove by the venue, and then got to our nearby hotel just before 3:00.

But that part of the plan had some flaws.  We hadn't wanted to pay multiple hundreds of dollars for a room we were just going to sleep in, but we should have!  We and then carloads of other Deadicated types arrived at the Super 8 by Wyndham Hartford on West Service Road and checked in, only to find that we'd landed in some sort of prison.  Perhaps we'd broken some obscure Connecticut laws and had to spend a night in a cell?  Our "room" had two spongy double beds which hadn't been made right and were kind of covered by spreads with cigarette holes in them.  The window was too damaged to shut completely and the air conditioner worked a bit but sounded like an air raid.  The smoke detector had been ripped out of the ceiling and thrown into a drawer, where we found it along with other trash when we checked out the bureau.  The TV had been violently broken off its base.  The fire doors at the end of the hall were propped open.  The sink had multiple cigarette burns and I was too frightened to try the shower.  Every wall had cracks in it, the floor was tile, should I go on?  Oh yeah, and they had no complimentary coffee and had cancelled the free breakfast they advertised.  DO NOT STAY THERE!!!!!  As mentioned in some online comments, they have graffiti on the walls *inside* the building, that's how bad it is.

Oh well, we chilled in the room for a bit as well as we could and then left.  The plan was to walk into the downtown area and find a nice restaurant where we could have a long late lunch/early dinner and then get back to the amphitheater at some point.  This plan worked pretty well!  It was a 1.4 mile walk into town, and we were very glad we'd arrived at 3:00 because even by 4:00 the traffic was already pretty bad, lined up almost all along our route to get into the free lots.  We proceeded past the Yard Goats' ball park and by the (closed on Tuesdays) City Steam Brewery that we'd loved back in 2017, and then over to Pratt Street, which is part of a pedestrian mall in the middle of Hartford, and to Vaughan's Public House.

They had outdoor seating and a hamburger/hot dog grill going outside, but no service out there, and so we sat at a table in their window area.  This was a fine Irish pub meal, accompanied by some Irish ciders and Vermont beers.  The guy at the waiter's station told us that they hadn't even planned to open that day because they couldn't get staff, but realized there was a concert going on and they'd better.  The inside tables were almost full when we got there, and it just got worse.  But us sitting up front in the window enabled the maitre d' to wait on us himself, and things went just about right for us there.  They were playing GD and DeadCo music, mixed with a few other tunes.  Everybody there was a Deadhead (one was sound asleep in the patio area and apparently had a nice nap), and the guys at the next table were mortified that they had missed StS > The Eleven the other night and hoped that this show would make up for it.  We smiled.

Left there and joined the tendrils of people dressed for a Dead concert as they gathered from all directions and converged on the Xfinity Theatre.  We detoured to the extensive Shakedown Street they always have at Hartford and were on the verge of buying a few things, including some excellent hats, but we didn't.  The rain had gotten steadier by then and we finally joined the long line to get in the main entrance when the gates opened at 6:30.  I asked a hassled security guy why Gate C wasn't open as well and he said it was because they didn't have enough staff, so I just told him to keep up the good work.

So they let us *in* but didn't yet have the seating or lawn areas open, and we just had to mill about the concourse while the rain intensified.  We were able to grab seats in the sheltered Xfinity tent though, and coincidentally a work friend of Sarah's was sitting at the same table, so we had some fine conversation.  Both Sarah and I spun the Xfinity wheel at a promotion they had set up and she won a koozie and I won a freezer bag, score!

OK, enough setup and we finally settled into our seats in section 600, dead center and about a dozen rows in back of the soundboard.  It had been a long, adventurous afternoon and we shivered at the thought of going back to the "hotel" (could we just drive back after the concert??).  But we knew we had great seats and were in for some great sound, which turned out to be putting it mildly.  This was an incredible concert!  Here's the first set:

• The Music Never Stopped
• Liberty
• They Love Each Other
• Loser
• Alabama Getaway
• Iko Iko
• High Time
• Cassidy

Boy, did they get after it right from the start!  Music was rocking and Bobby and John were singing like angels, and then they did the first Liberty of the tour, a relatively obscure gem that I really like.  One of the great things about the sound in the center of that huge amphitheater was the bottom end.  I've mentioned Oteil's new bass and this was as good as I've ever heard it.  I texted Dave that Oteil was just eating up TLEO, that's the best description of the way he dominated that gentle song with his elastic, bouncing sound.  I was loving it.

And they'd just started!  Loser was all about building up to and then everyone singing the chorus, and then Alabama Getaway was another feel good rocker.  The whole place was grooving to Iko Iko and then they started into High Time and Oteil stepped up to the mike.  As good as everyone else was (again, Lane and no Kreutzmann), this was Oteil's night to shine and he out-did himself over and over.  Then they closed with another explosive song, Cassidy, building and building up to the last coda.  Dave called it the best Cassidy ever.

What a set!  I texted Dave "OMGOMG" because I couldn't think what to say at first.  I'd called Hell In a Bucket (which they always do in Hartford) and I whiffed on that one.  But that was fine with me!  The wind was building through the whole show from the Northeast and did a fine job of drying things out after the downpour, but it never affected the sound.  The lawn was not quite full ... in fact, you could have had a croquet game up in the far corner (the grass was in great shape).  But the rest of the theater was pretty packed and so my strategy was to head uphill to the cluster of port-a-potties up there.  Sarah had gone for the inside bathrooms earlier and then gave up on getting back to our seats before the end of the set, there were so many people dancing in the aisles.  I guess the security staff was really short, there were just a few people checking tickets and no one was clearing the aisles.  I looked for good beer after the bathroom break but they didn't have any up on the edges of the huge lawn area, and I figured I might not make it out to the concourse and back in time.

Whatever, back to the seats without a beer but had plenty of water (one of their water filling stations was not working but the other one was) and I was sure they'd open the second set with the Scarlet > Fire of death, and that later they *should* be giving us a big TOO.  And I was pretty much right!  Here's the list:

• Jack Straw
• Scarlet Begonias
• Viola Lee Blues
• Fire on the Mountain
• The Other One
• Drums
• Space
• The Wheel
• The Other One
• Black Peter
• Sugar Magnolia

The first notes of the jam into Jack Straw were distinctive and let me down a bit because I'd anticipated Scarlet, until they started singing again about leaving Texas on the 4th of July ... it was the 5th but what the heck, why would anyone want to stay in Texas anyway?  And then they tried to hide it in the tuning, but I told Sarah they were about to play Scarlet, and it was an incredible version.  Viola Lee split up the pairing with Fire and I was afraid they weren't going to let Oteil sing again.  But Viola Lee built to its climax and then boom, Oteil was playing that bass line and warming up the vocal chords.  It was his day!

And then he kept it going into the Other One of death.  This song can take so many shapes and on Tuesday it was long and loud, but spacy and went way off the reservation at the same time.  I was ecstatic, especially when I figured they'd break for Drums and Space and then get back into it, maybe after a ballad.  Well, that's what they did!  Bob teased us over and over that he was about to sing the second verse, then they'd go another round, and another, and another until finally we were escaping through the lily fields (maybe leaving Texas but probably figurative you know).

Dave called the next one, because Bobby always sings Black Peter for me.  He didn't really go over the top on this one, luckily.  IMO, it requires some gravitas and Bobby brought it this time, continuing his great singing.  I was surprised to see, after he'd seemed to settle on his green and brown guitars in Foxborough, that he was back to the one with the white pickguard, and he stayed on it all of the second set.  Whatever, he often knows what he's doing and it was just the right sound to add to the mix.  And then another vintage song in Sugar Magnolia, with the whole crowd joining in, especially the Sunshine Daydream coda!

Wow that was great and I was just about to resume texting while they took an encore break.  But they didn't, they put their arms around at center stage and took a group bow, what a fantastic concert!  I looked at my phone and realized it was already a few minutes after midnight.  They'd just given us four hours of extreme brilliance.

Sat back in our seats at that point, while the large crowd jammed the exits.  Waved goodbye to a few seatmates whom we'd been talking with, there was not a frown in the house.  Eventually grabbed our stuff and shuffled after the crowds, then past lines of vehicle traffic back over to Weston Street and soon the Super 8 (which is right next to Erotic Zone!).  Had some crackers and cheese and then lay down for a fitful few hours of trying not to worry about the missing smoke alarms and the unlocked doors downstairs.  DO NOT stay in this hotel!

Oh well, got up at 5:30 or so, gathered our stuff, and took off in time to join rush-hour traffic on the Mass Pike.  Goodbye to Hartford and Connecticut, hate to see you go!  Again, what a hassle to get there and back (and stay there) but wow, what excellent music the band plays in that town.  Maybe next year at a better hotel?? 

Dead & Company Return to Foxborough

 Another Summer with COVID scares, but yet another Dead & Company tour!  This year they started on the West Coast and progressed East instead of the other way around, and didn't schedule as many dates.  One or both of these may have been a strategy to stretch out the tour more for the sake of Bill Kreutzmann, who had to sit out for a few dates as last Summer's tour moved on.  But everybody else in the band is getting older too, and they might have just decided to take the foot off the pedal a bit this year.

Unfortunately, Billy's problems (hopefully just exhaustion, though one of his tweets referred to pulling a muscle) have recurred and he's had to miss a few shows again.  Luckily they've brought Jay Lane along on the tour and he's been filling in admirably.  Billy's still been joining in on the Drums segment lately, though Jay's been handling the traps.  I really hope Billy gets better, and if it means his staying at home instead of touring, that's the way it's got to be.  He deserves a long life and a healthy retirement when he's ready for it.

Even though they cut down on the dates, they still listed Boston right up there, this time on Saturday, July 2nd at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.  We're blessed that they continue to come to the Northeast (we've got tickets to the Hartford show also on the 5th), and we were very glad to hear they were coming back to Foxborough.  They've played Fenway Park and the amphitheater in Mansfield also, but they both have major drawbacks.  Fenway is crowded and frantic, and Mansfield is always a traffic apocalypse.

More good news and bad news in the buildup to the Foxborough show: our nephew, Marin, was able to come up for the weekend and my brother, Andrew, had an extra ticket he could use.  But horribly, Dave tested positive for COVID the day before the concert and so was not able to go with us all.  Also, the Supreme Court continues to make politicized decisions to advance a white patriarchy and the government is filled with idiots, but that's old news.

Marin arrived the night before and Andrew arrived in plenty of time for a @3:00 departure and a pleasant drive around 128 and 95 down to Foxborough.  Missed the turnoff for the better lot, but we got a great spot in the P10 lot across route 1 and settled down for some fine tailgating.  The weather was looking iffy and we'd all brought rain gear, but there was no problem before the show.  Sarah and I entered the stadium around 5:30 (gates opened at 5:00) and there was no line for anything!  We were easily able to stand in front of the soundboard, as we had last time the band was in Foxborough.  There seems to be a sudden drop in people going to concerts, though maybe the smaller crowd was because of other factors, like people having things to do on a holiday weekend and the impending weather.  They hadn't sold any seats in the top two bowls of the Stadium.

Whatever, the crowd soon filled in fine on the field and the bottom bowl was full, as far as I could see.  Andrew and Marin had great seats just a few rows up from the field.  Then the band came out right on time, lit into a rambunctious Cumberland Blues, and we were back!  OMG, what can I say?  We've seen at least bits of most of the shows prior to this stop on the tour, and they've been playing great and continued at that high level.  We were disappointed but not surprised that Jay Lane was on stage from the start in place of Billy, though nothing against Jay at all, he's a fantastic and dedicated substitute (I was wearing my Golden Gate Wingmen t-shirt as two of them were on stage).  Oteil has been playing a different bass this tour and it sounds fantastic.  He was too low in the mix to start but they eventually adjusted this.  And Jeff has a spaceship of a piano, which sounded great itself, though his organ playing was one of the sounds of the night, especially on the Bertha > Good Lovin' sequence.

And speaking of that, we were dancing and freaking out to another great Bertha and anticipating a seamless switch to Good Lovin' when they suddenly stopped and an announcement came on!  And even as we were beginning to realize that they were telling us all to exit the field, the rain started.  Sarah and I crowded with the rest of the field crew under the archway at the West entrance to the stadium.  We had our masks on as we were cheek to jowl with a lot of high people (we were the only ones with masks that I saw, besides my brother).  The downpour was pretty intense, but luckily I heard and saw no thunder and lightning.  After about 15(?) minutes the worst of the rain had stopped and we pushed our way out of the crowd, put on our slickers, and made our way back to our spot, soon followed by everybody else.

We were hoping the band would come right back out but they apparently decided to make that the set break, even though they'd done only two songs.  Probably the biggest factor was that the sound crews had lots of re-setup and re-testing to do.  So we had a bunch of un-anticipated waiting around to do, though we knew that when they came back out they'd try to make up for it.  And they did!  Here's the second set:

• Good Lovin'
• Crazy Fingers
• Mr. Charlie
• St. Stephen
• The Eleven
• Brown-Eyed Women
• Estimated Prophet
• Eyes of the World
• Drums
• Space
• Dear Mr. Fantasy
• Hey Jude
• Morning Dew

They popped right back into the start of Good Lovin' and then played an excellent, long set.  The highlights were numerous, with John Mayer playing some great blues and space and Bob Weir just doing what only he can do on his fantastic-sounding green and brown guitars.  For me the amazing and wandering St. Stephen leading into the bridge and then The Eleven was the part that moved me the most, closely followed though by a long and loping Eyes after a tight Estimated.

Billy didn't even come out for Drums, I hope he's all right!  But Jay and Oteil were out there and as with the prior time at Foxborough, they had the whole football stadium resounding with their beats, especially when Mickey got out his saw and started applying it to The Beam.  It was a long and enthusiastic Space, ending with a nice segue into Mr. Fantasy and then a beautiful Hey Jude chorus.  They've been doing Hey Jude a lot this tour, possibly as an an homage to Paul McCartney, who's been touring the States and whom Dave had seen recently at Fenway.

BUT, I thought it was coming and suddenly here it was, like a large presence suddenly emerging from the mist and knocking you flat, Dew!  I love this song and they sure played and sang the stuffing out of it.  Another protest song in a Summer unfortunately made for them.  Long set, but they finally put down their instruments and took a short break.

People had been saying that Foxborough has an 11:00 curfew, and the band came out soon and started strumming a tune which I could tell was a Dylan, and then recognized as Knockin' On Heaven's Door.  Very well played, but then another highlight of the night ... you knew it was coming ... was a rocking and loud One More Saturday Night to close the show.  Bobby did not leave anything behind on that!

Wow, how do these guys keep doing it?  We followed the crowd back up through Patriot Place and across route 1 to the lot (a guy was raving to us about Sarah's DeadCo VOTE pin, and then saw my GGW t- shirt and offered to buy it on the spot), where Andrew and Marin had already set up the chairs for some post-concert tailgating.  This is always the best strategy of course, as there was a long line of cars trying to get through the traffic jams on route 1 while we just relaxed and re-hashed the show.  Eventually things died down though, the cops around there have learned how to handle crowds.  And we jumped in the car and had a pretty smooth ride home, though there'd been what looked like a gruesome accident on the expressway, involving three cars and a motorcycle.

So that was a lot of fun but we really missed Dave.  We'd been texting with him throughout the show and he was trying his best to enjoy it from afar.  He may have had it a bit better than we did.  The sound where we were was not as great as it had been before; this may have been due to the damp weather and the fact that the stadium wasn't as full.  They had to lower some of the stacks of speakers at the start of the show in anticipation of high winds.  And the rain and the crowd was distracting of course.  But I love live concerts and will do it again, hopefully with Dave!