Got a good night's sleep in finally, but then the usual mosh pit for breakfast. As I say, there were many Deadheads at the Hyatt House that weekend, more so than any other hotel we'd stayed at. Everyone we talked to agreed that the shows had been fantastic so far, and that Bob Weir should show up on Sunday the 16th.
This show was going to be a very different band, Steve Molitz on keys, the dynamic duo of Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, Jackie Green, and Molo and Lesh. They also promised special guests, and of course everyone's expectations were high.
After breakfast we played another couple of games in our room, went for a walk around parts of the West Harrison oval we hadn't poked into before, and then ate sandwiches. Time for a big game of Parks downstairs, and then back up to the room for a group nap and a little TV before heading out to Port Chester. The weather still wasn't sunny to any degree, but at least we weren't in a huge fog bank. And Kiosko was as good as ever. This night they presented us with free desserts, which were delicious. We really like that place, and they seem to like us. But who knows when or if we'll be back there?
Up to our fine center balcony seats again, and the band came on a little after 8:00. We were delighted that Karl Denson was there (on sax, flute, percussion, and vocals) at far right, along with a to-be-filled guitar setup to his left, and Adam McDougall sharing the keyboards with Molitz. Those two made some great sounds together. Brian Rashap was again on Big Brown. Here's the first set:
- China Cat Sunflower
- Deep Elem Blues
- Here Comes Sunshine
- Sitting on Top of the World
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
- Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
- Sugaree
I really like Jackie Green's voice, and he started us off with a nice vocal on China Cat. And with the next few songs they sure took advantage of having the great Campbell and Williams. Larry was playing a sick rockabilly Telecaster and standing still in precise "musician" posture as always, though his sound was so infectious. Deep Elem was a perfect song for everybody to get to know each other, and then Teresa took over with Here Comes Sunshine; she was not about to brook any argument. Another great part of this song was Denson's ethereal flute.
Sitting On Top of the World was another great guitar workup, and then it was Teresa's turn again and we could see her getting herself psyched. To any one there who wasn't familiar with Teresa or felt that no one could equal the female vocalists of the first two nights, hold onto your hats. She wailed out Lamps at the top of her voice, shrieking and howling and bringing out the primal force of the song.
Somewhere in there (the flow of guests was sometimes sudden), Rashap retired backstage and Grahame took over at bass. He can play it, but he's a guitar player, not a bass player. Later, Adam Minkoff took over and he's a fine player, he used to play bass in Amy Helm's band. And then another great special guest appeared, Tom Hamilton at the guitar setup next to Denson. Tommie sang a lovely little Mississippi Half-Step on which he conducted the crowd on the "Cross the Grand Rio" bridge. But as always, he was bursting to play us some ripping lead guitar and he certainly did. Jackie closed the set with Sugaree, helped immeasurably by having Teresa on backup.
Yikes, just one more set to go! It was another average length intermission and we were getting pretty exhausted. But our seats were great, the crowd was well behaved, and we were having a fine time. What was there left to play? Of course Truckin', Shakedown Street, and Sugar Magnolia ... but there was one more night to go after this one too. I spoke up for Pride of Cucamonga, and every time I see Larry I'm hoping for his When I Go Away (though it's not really a Grateful Dead song). Would they open with a Dark Star jam yet again? And if Jackie's in the house you can't go wrong expecting Caution or So Many Roads. So here's what they played, yet another excellent second set:
- Shakedown Street
- Pride of Cucamonga
- Truckin'
- Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)
- Pride of Cucamonga
- So Many Roads
- When I Go Away
- Cosmic Charlie
- I Know You Rider
Well, it was certainly a jam to open, but you could tell right away it wasn't going into Dark Star, instead they started funkifying things and went into the Shakedown riff. Grahame was still on bass but gave it up for Minkoff soon and went back to guitar. And I loved it when they finished that and then went into Pride Of Cucamonga, with Larry excelling on one of the Dead's most country songs.
A pretty quick Truckin' followed, and then they went into a deep jam, deeper and deeper until the bass line of Caution emerged and Jackie stepped to the mike to tell us about going down to see the gypsy lady. He sang, "And she told me that all you need is just a touch of mojo hand" in one syllable! Pretty impressive, and then he went on to tell the other guys in the band that they needed to get some mojo hand themselves, though he didn't seem at all assured that they'd follow his advice.
Anyway, a tight return to the last verse of Cucamonga came out of that jam, and then they stopped and Jackie crooned out a lovely So Many Roads. This was another part of the set where everyone sat down and I did too, but right after I did, I was back up. What was that they were playing? It sounded like, and it was, one of my favorite songs ever, sung by the guy who wrote it. There was probably a bunch of people asking, "What's this song?" but there were another bunch of us dancing and grooving.
A nice little Cosmic Charlie calmed us down, we were all paddling that paper canoe. And then the band jammed again and wound up in the partner to the opening number, I Know You Rider. There was full band and crowd participation on this one, everyone was singing along and feeling fine.
Grahame came out after the set for another donor rap and introduced everyone again, though I missed the name of the guy who took the second drum set for the last couple of songs. Grahame then started strumming Sugar Magnolia, and soon our music weekend was over.
Back out into another cool night, and a short drive back to a suddenly not-so-crowded Hyatt House. Heading back home in the morning and we couldn't imagine that the traffic would be any worse!