Phil and the TAB Three, part 3

Another not-great night at the Hampton Inn, probably over-tiredness and too much rich food.  Though we were having a great time (and always have at Phil concerts), it's not exactly a stress-free experience for a senior citizen like me.  Anyway, time to get up, take a shower, eat some cereal, and I was ready for another day!

Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday, October 23rd, was pretty dreary.  We sat around the room some, blogged and checked out TV, and then decided we wanted to get out and do something.  We considered a movie, but the one we wanted to see wasn't showing until late afternoon.  I suggested going to see the Long Island Sound coastline somewhere, so we looked at the map and settled on the Greenwich Point Park.  But when we got there we were turned away, seems we had to have a sticker that would have cost us $40 for the season, and they charged $9/person on top of that.  Fuck that!

So we turned around and had a great time at the John J. Boccuzzi Park, exploring the park and a walkway around the inner part of Stamford Harbor, which is the outlet of the Rippowam River which our hotel was on.  Good thing it was high tide, because even though it was there was some smell from the trash and flotsam around the shore.  Low tide would have been interesting.  But we had a fun time, walking around and talking about, "Can you imagine owning a boat like *that*?"  They all looked pretty silly, and most looked downright uncomfortable, though they were probably worth a lot of money.  Downtown Stamford is full of huge apartment buildings too, and I checked out one we walked by, where monthly rents exceed $4k, plus fees.  Not for us, and not at all scenic!

Back to the hotel after that, but we didn't want to eat our last round of sandwiches yet, so looked on the map again and found what turned out to be a friendly, nearby bar for lunch, Tiernan's Pub.  Their beer was cold and their salads not bad.  Back to the hotel after that for a nap and then a bit of Sunday football, and then off to Port Chester!  Dinner at Kiosko one last time, and then down through the intermittent rain and into the theater.

The Sunday crowd was late arriving, but the people finally started pouring in and the show started a little later than the previous two nights.  We had seen two beyond-excellent shows already and so for Sunday, though we expected that great band would vastly entertain us again, we expected a bit of a slower night.  And for the first set it *was* slower, but at the same time more precise, with a crystalline quality.  I thought to myself that they seemed almost like a chamber orchestra in the first set, playing each part succinctly and making sure to stick to the arrangements, valuing ensemble sound more than virtuosity.  And this was great!  Here's the setlist:

• New Speedway Boogie
• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
• Wharf Rat
• Dear Prudence
• Jack-a-Roe
• That's What Love Will Make You Do
• U.S. Blues

I'd anticipated they'd play Speedway at some point during the weekend, and this wasn't as dark as they'd been the previous night but was played exactly and so was top-notch, as was Half-Step.  But then they thrilled Dave, doing an epic, precise, version of one of his favorite songs.  We were already enthralled by the range of the band again, with Molo's great drumming and the six singers they could go from pin-drop quiet to roaring chorus in a wave of wonderful sound ("I'll get up and FLY AWAY!").

James then stepped up and did a great vocal on Dear Prudence, and of course it was Grahame on old favorite Jack-a-Roe.  But then it was Jennifer's turn again and, though we were prepared, she knocked us flat on our backs one more time with an incredible, colorful, emotion-laden cover of What Love Will Make You Do.  This had everybody up and hanging on her every turn of phrase, stretching out some of the soulful lines and then roaring the great chorus, "I'm trying hard to express myself because BABY THAT'S THE WAY I FEEL!"  Another short and precise song after that to end the set, U.S. Blues.

Oh no, our time on the Phil planet was drawing to a close!  And there was so much we still wanted to see them do.  We were sure they were going to do the Help/Slip/Franklin's suite sometime that weekend, Dave was dying for some Bobby song I forget, and we were hoping to hear that horn section do some great jam like Let It Grow.

Another long set break, and we were all pretty tired.  I was almost ready for a nap in the balcony at the Cap, but then the band came back on and had me up on my feet and dancing through the whole second set.  And it was great that after such a tidy nugget of a first set, they came out looser than you'd believe and let it all hang out for the final set of the weekend.  Here's the list:

• Shakedown Street
• Mason's Children
• Hard To Handle
• Estimated Prophet
• Unbroken Chain
• Stella Blue
• Turn On Your Lovelight

Wow, this was more fabulous stuff from that great band!  Can't emphasize too much that these guys played like they'd been playing together for years (the one exception was that Rick showed some inexperience with some songs).  And there were more great performances.  James soloed once again on Shakedown and it made the song seen so fresh to be led by a tenor.  Mason's was more great ensemble singing and they did not hesitate to milk the song for all it was worth.

And then they did a Hard To Handle of death.  When they started this song with a flourish from the horns, we hoped that Jennifer would sing it, but I think that Rick had told Phil, "I'll do anything you want but you have to let me sing HTH."  And he sure did an excellent job on both the vocal and the strident lead guitar, and then the guys jammed and jammed, touching on the Dead's early treatments of the song.

Dave called Estimated after that, and then Phil stepped up for a lead vocal on his classic Unbroken Chain.  His voice wavered a bit at times on this and he showed a little annoyance with the rest of the band when they didn't fill in where he thought they should.  But what's a Phil weekend without a bit of a rough edge from the maestro?

And then after that, the TAB Three cleared out except for Jennifer and we knew we about to go to heaven (or hell) again.  I called it, Stella Blue.  Her voice is so delicate and powerful at the same time, and even after honking that trumpet all night she brings such emotion and color to her singing.  We were all standing on egg-shells listening intently to her phrasings, and then her compatriots came out while the band was working up to the crescendo, and Natalie and James joined her in a full-throated, amazing chorus of, "Seems like all this life, Seems like all this life, Seems like all this life..." and then Jennifer took it to the roof with, "Was just a dream!"  What a performance by the TAB Three, they are just fantastic.

They closed with a fun and short Lovelight.  We'd been hoping Natalie would take the lead on this, but no lead from her on Sunday night.  Whatever, it was a great closer and it had been a great weekend of music.  Phil came out and did another nice donor rap, again almost getting all the names right when he introduced the band.  I called Ripple as the encore, and yet again they did it as a rocker rather than a ballad, Grahame driving it with a great rock 'n' roll guitar, like they'd done at the Cap in 2021.

Oh no!  Goodbye Phil, we really hope we'll see you again!  They got together for a last bow and you could tell that Phil was feeling as tired as we were.  Anyway, back down the grand stairway in the Cap and out to the street.  What had we just seen?  Was this concert as good as Friday's and Saturday's?  Could or should they be ranked?  My feeling at this point is that no, they shouldn't.  They were each fantastic in their own right, there's no need to compare them to each other.  Each night, everyone in the band had shown the highest level of musicianship, there had been amazing individual performances, and there had been amazing ensemble playing and singing.  Perhaps the sound of the weekend for me will be the guitar interplay, or the great vocal performances, or the fantastic bottom end with Molo's drumming and Phil's new speakers, or the versatility of Medeski ... or maybe all of it!

OK, one last slow drive through Port Chester and following a line of cars to the Turnpike, and then back to the hotel, where we decompressed for just a bit and then crawled into bed.

Phil and the TAB Three, part 2

Though we'd gotten a nice hotel, I had a terrible night's sleep.  Who invented duvets anyway, and why?

But the breakfast at the hotel was at least as good as any Hampton Inn breakfast, and we had a mellow morning after that, blogging and seeing if there was anything good on TV.  In late morning we decided to take advantage of the beautiful Fall day, and piled in the car for an excursion to the Mianus River Park in the Northwestern part of Stamford.

I have to say that Stamford is a weird city that's grown faster than it should and so is a crazy hodgepodge of Hispanic neighborhoods and old housing stock, huge office and residential buildings to rival Arlington VA, and vastly rich old Southern New England enclaves.  Mianus River Park is in the latter and is a carefully managed forest with a creek in it, filled with fences to control people and animals, old stone walls that don't seem to make any sense, awesome stone ridges, lots of tall trees, and lots of white people walking dogs.  We passed a group of the latter as we entered off Merriebrook Lane and the quasi-leader announced loudly, "It would be great if everyone pooped now."  We hurried on.

What a different kind of forest than we see in Northern New England!  Just a few evergreens and very tall beeches, maples, white and black oaks producing huge leaves, and strangely, large rhododendron bushes all over the place.  There were a good number of people there, but once we got a couple of miles into the trail system we had a solitary walk.  Another great interlude for a Phil concert weekend, especially since the Fall light was incredible, lighting up the understory of the tall trees.

Back to the hotel after that and ate some more sandwiches, took a nap, went for another walk in the Mill River Park across the street, and by then it was time to leave for Port Chester again.  We wondered what they could do to equal or exceed last night?  Was it possible?

Had another great meal at Kiosko's as the area filled with Deadheads.  They're so nice at Kiosko and gave us a complimentary dessert, though we were incredibly full already!  Then over to the theater and braved the confusion up to our balcony seats.  We were pretty much where we were on Friday night, but a couple of rows back.  The sold-out crowd showed up on time again, and soon we were pretty packed in and the band came on.

Maybe I can keep this shorter than last night, but they were just as good, maybe even a little more comfortable with each other.  Here's the first set:

• Bertha
• Althea
• When I Paint My Masterpiece
• He's Gone
• Cold Rain and Snow
• Touch Of Grey

Another short set list filled with long jams and great musicianship.  We've seen Grahame sing Bertha several times and he's just better and better.  Then the incredible Althea, which has more corners you can explore and emotions you can exploit than a whole bundle of pop songs.  An excellent Masterpiece, sung again like a Band song they'd just recently picked up rather then sticking to the GD style.

And then they took off like a rocket again.  It was Natalie's turn and she started into a cautious, quiet "Rat in a drain ditch..." with Grahame supporting on He's Gone, and then turned it up to 11 and took it to the ceiling.  She sang her lines a surreal octave or two higher, perhaps another twist on the minor key(?), and brought an incredible human-ness to that song that we'd heard a million times.  It was more fabulous ensemble singing on the choruses and then she'd take another verse and the crows would roar.  Great stuff!

And then they jammed and jammed and emerged into a crunchy, psychedelic, doomed CR&S.  In fact, this was one of my takeaways from the night, that they were playing with dark forces, man's fate, and things that go bump in the night.  The ghostliness had started with He's Gone and then they turned it up a notch with the murder ballad of CR&S.  They followed this with the redemptive, sing-songy Touch, but as with all songs they've done this weekend, they brought something fresh to it as well as excellent musicianship.  James turned in a wonderful, bright vocal on this, made more special from the fact that he's a cancer survivor.

Ack, halfway through the Phil weekend again!  This was again a pretty long set break, but we were mellow and had lots to talk about with that first set.  They came back out eventually and picked up the torch:

• China Cat Sunflower
• I Know You Rider
• Brown-Eyed Women
• The Wheel
• Terrapin Station
•  Morning Dew
• One More Saturday Night

Just as with last night, one of the qualities shown by the band was a tight guitar pairing.  Grahame and Rick just killed the intricate guitar work between verses of China Cat, and then stretched it out and traded runs into Rider.  Medeski was even more brilliant on organ than he'd been Friday, rolling out waves of sound to compliment the guitars.  And Molo was perhaps the player of the night, pounding those drums and leading every song.  Can't knock Phil too, who took my breath away over and over.

A big change from Friday though, was the dominance of James' sax.  I guess they'd realized that they needed to take more advantage of it and turned him up, and he contributed great fills and leads to every song.  The did a mystical cover of The Wheel after a short BEW, and then the Lesh Brothers took over again.  We've seen Phil&F do Terrapin several times and each time you think it can't get any better, then it does.  And the vocal arrangements were again just awesome, with the TAB Three backing up every line and Grahame and Phil singing a unison lead.

Time to fasten our seat belts after that!  They started into the Morning Dew of death, and this was incredible.  Usually, GD bands do this as a massive guitar vehicle, and the crescendo is when the lead starts fanning like the world is going to end.  Instead, they'd somehow arranged it as an alto saxophone tune and James took off himself towards an even higher crescendo than a guitar could reach.  We'd been waiting for Jennifer to step up as she had Friday night (they missed a chance with CR&S IMO, which she would have killed).  But they had her singing a duet with Grahame, with her asking the questions and Grahame trying to calm her down.  This was really dark, and though Grahame tried and tried, when she'd take a line the fear and awful reality of the post-apocalyptic situation came through and washed over the theater.  Then James did his part and by the time the song ended the Capitol was a smoking hole.

Well, what could they do after this?  It was Saturday night after all, and Rick ended the set with a great vocal on the Weir rocker, with the whole band backing him up.  Again, what a show!

The crowd roared and roared and the players were all bashful about leaving the stage, they knew how well they'd killed it.  But they took a break and then Phil came out and did his donor rap, and actually got Rick's name right when the guys came back and he ran through introductions!  Grahame took up the rock and roll thread and gave it a good shake on Johnny B. Goode to end the night, with everyone dancing and singing behind him.

OMG, another stunner of a concert!  Everyone on stage had shone in their own right and then shone even more when supporting each other.  Again, this was not the standard P&F band.  They were beyond tight and there was no line between the stars and the guests, they all displayed excellence, brought something new to the table, and knocked us dead.

OK, time to exit the Cap again through the confused, gob-smacked audience and out to the street.  Up to our parking lot behind Kiosko, much delay getting back past the theater through the crowds, and then followed the cars onto the Turnpike and back to Stamford.  Another fine night!

Phil and the TAB Three, part 1

We've had so much fun doing the pilgrimage to Port Chester to see Phil Lesh and Friends that we were psyched to do it again this year when another "Philoween" run was announced.  As was the story last year, he was planning to do three sets of three shows each, culminating with a show on Halloween itself.  We did the same thing too, and got tickets to the middle set of three, as the dates worked for us and we figured they would be the best in terms of getting good seats.  In fact we did get pretty good seats during the usual online scrum, in the center of the center balcony for each night.

The big question was, whom was he going to play with this year?  They finally announced the lineups near the end of Summer and we may have lucked out on this.  The first set of three shows featured Mikaela Davis, John Scofield, Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Karl Denson, Ian Neville, Steve Molitz, and Alex Koford.  The third set will feature Grahame, Krasno, Marcus King, Duane Betts, Nicki Bluhm, Jason Crosby, and Tony Leone.  Both of these are great lineups.  But the middle set we were going to see had Grahame, John Medeski (whom we'd somehow never seen), John Molo, Rick Mitarotonda from Goose, and the trio of Natalie Cressman, Jennifer Hartswick, and James Casey, who form the beyond-excellent horn section of the Trey Anastasio Band.

Late October snuck up on us, but we're practiced at this go-to-Port Chester thing and got sandwiches, chips, beer, cider, orange juice, granola bars, and more beer in the cooler and hit the road South on a beautiful but nippy Fall Friday, the 21st of the month.  We'd gotten a cheap hotel that had to be better than the one we'd had last Fall or the one we'd gotten in Hartford this Summer.  But wait a minute, how *much* better?  We'd had some pretty gruesome hotel experiences lately and so at the last second we cancelled the cheap hotel after reading horrible reviews and went for the known thing, the Hampton Inn in Stamford.

Took a bit of a scenic route down to deepest, darkest Connecticut, since we've seen enough of the Pike and 84 to last a long time.  Drove South down 95, around Providence on 295, and then along the coast West on 95 through Connecticut, with the traffic getting worse and worse, and the South Conn cities started up and we approached the New York vortex.  The North-bound lanes were one big traffic jam by early afternoon, but we kept moving, dodging some frantic and some plodding Connecticut drivers and getting to exit 7 in Stamford just as the South-bound lanes came to a dead stop.  Great timing, and we only had a few hours to kill before the show, settling into our nice 4th-floor room and having a couple of beers to get ready.

Off to Port Chester and guess what?  We parked behind Kiosko and had another great Mexican dinner there (I figured I was hungry so I went for their half-chicken in verde sauce, amazing and I ate it all!).  Then off to the Cap, checked out the merch table (we got t-shirts), and up to our center balcony seats.  We were back, and they had another great light show, painting the alcoves in an art deco-esque wallpaper while a bouncing squirrel rotated around the walls.

But in other ways, this wasn't your normal Friday night experience.  The crowd filled in pretty much on time and the place was totally packed.  On other occasions we'd seen stretches of empty seats in the Cap on Fridays, probably they were sold but the people couldn't make it there after a busy week.  But this was absolutely wall to wall and the people were seemingly all there to see a concert!?!  Sometimes there are large numbers of attendees on their phones/talking throughout and/or so stoned they could barely stand, especially on Fridays.  This was a polite crowd paying rapt attention.  Probably another benefit of going for the middle set of shows.

So anyway, it was Medeski on the left with two Leslies, a huge organ, two keyboards, and a huge monitor, Mitarotonda with an extensive row of filters/pedals on the floor next, Molo in the back, Grahame up front, Phil to his left, and then the TAB Three on the right side of the stage.  Phil had the same computer setup, but two big speakers with one horn each rather than one huge one, he could turn around and be right in front of Molo, their low end was fantastic and a huge part of the sound.  And being right next to Grahame enabled those two to huddle when they needed to and for Phil to give him directions directly instead of gesticulating angrily.

RickM was an unknown quantity for us but quickly proved that he's a great GD guitarist.  Grahame is great too but somehow seems to improve every time we see him.  It's no wonder he was up front, if not for the old guy at the top of the bill, he was the glue that held the band together and he was the one everyone watched for the changes.  Rick and Grahame seemed to usually be playing similar tones with their guitars and this worked fantastically, the interplay between the two was another highlight, especially with Phil egging them on and Molo punctuating their verses.  Medeski was amazing himself, playing a great piano on some songs but just dropping jaws with his organ work, sometimes being a fourth to the amazing horn section and sometimes weaving himself in with the guitars.

What a band!  And I haven't even started on the horns yet.  Here's the first set: 

• Here Comes Sunshine
• Tennessee Jed
• Big River
• Dancing In the Street (Jennifer)
• Scarlet Begonias
• Dancing In the Street
• Fire On the Mountain (James)

They started with one of my favorite songs and blew us away.  Natalie (trombone), Jennifer (trumpet), and James (alto sax) all had mikes on their horns, but also had mike stands in front of them and boy, did they join in on vocals!  This was what blew us away the most, when they'd all be singing their hearts out on backup behind Grahame or Rick.  And on the choruses all of them would sing together, at times it was six vocalists (counting Phil, who only took a few lead vocals) and the sound was so awesome.

And then they would play those horns!  The TAB Three was what I was really looking forward to and did they bring it.  The horns could have been higher in the mix, particularly Natalie and James (who didn't solo on sax all night, unusual for a sax in a rock band), but they were playing some great stuff and sure knew how to jam, as well as playing their charts when it was their turn.  Other Phil&F bands we've seen have seemed a little ill-rehearsed, especially on their first night.  But this was the tightest of bands right from the start.  Rick was not about to make a bad move in his big chance on stage with Phil, the horns seemed instantly comfortable from their many times with Trey, and of course the Johns, Grahame, and Phil are so experienced and more than solid.

That first set was extraordinary, it just took off like a rocket.  And after a great Grahame vocal on Big River (though he got some verses mixed up), Jennifer in a brown print dress took us even higher.  She sang Dancing In the Streets in a coloratura style that can't be described and she made our ears ring.  The sound in the Cap is great, and they sure gave that hall a workout with the ensemble vocals and above all, her reaching for the highest notes at full volume.  And after each incredible verse she'd bring her trumpet up to her lips and play an impossible lead with more notes to it than you could count.  How did she do that?  What a musician!  They segued into Scarlet, and then went back into Dancing when that was done!?!  This was the loudest ovation of the night, when she finished that reprise.  We were all on our feet and screaming, what a performance!  She had to take a stiff little bow afterwards, like Judge breaking the homer record.  And then it was James' turn, singing a sly, mellow, reggae-tinted lead to Fire to complete the set.

Wow, were we impressed!  I was less tired than I'd expected at that point after an already long day, and that had been such an exciting first set.  It was a long break though, and the second set didn't start until well after nine.  Could they continue the momentum of the first set?  Yup:

• Ship Of Fools
• Cassidy (Natalie and Grahame)
• St. Stephen
• The Eleven
• Dark Star
• The Other One
• Dark Star
• Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad
• And We Bid You Goodnight

A little strange to start with a ballad, but this featured some of the best vocals of the night, with the whole band crooning, "It was later than I thought..."  They were right on top of their sound.  Natalie is a bit of a fidgety musician, always adjusting her mike, playing with her instrument, and adjusting her music stand.  We could tell from her mannerisms that it was going to be her turn next, and she did a fantastic duet with Grahame on Cassidy.  Grahame was up front, but Natalie soon took over the vocal tone, and gave Cassidy a country lilt that I've always heard in the song but that rarely comes out.  She sang, "On the country miles in his Cadillac" like it was a Gram Parsons song, not a hippy idyll.

And then the dragons really came out!  This was the hugest of jams, encompassing some of the best songs ever.  How can they follow this up in the next two shows of the weekend?  Don't know what to say except that The Eleven was incredibly tight and precise, Dark Star was split between three vocalists as is Phil's custom, the third being Jennifer who took it to the roof again, and TOO was jaw-droppingly unexpected.  They finished by going back into the second half of Dark Star and then wandering far off the reservation, to my ear touching on Cryptical and Big RR Blues before settling into the easy lope and sing-along of GDTRFB.

Just amazing stuff.  The crowd had shown signs of getting a bit tired during the huge jam, but everybody was back on their feet and singing along with GDTRFB, and then they slowed down and dropped into Bid You Goodnight.  The crowd was in full voice and Phil realized we were a bit off the beat.  They were slowing it down and Phil graciously stepped up and conducted us all as the tempo changed.  What an end to the show!

Had to sit down for a bit after that, but soon we were all back on our feet for Phil's donor rap.  He introduced the band after huddling with Grahame and probably trying to practice "Mitarotonda."  He blew it anyway, but got everyone else's name right!  And then they encored with a beautiful Brokedown Palace, with another great lead vocal by Rick, and showcasing their powerful ensemble vocals.

Sat down again for a minute, but then braved the crowd down the elegant staircase in the Cap and out onto the street.  Back to the car and then not a bad drive back to Stamford, where we decompressed and then got to bed.  It's going to be a long weekend!

Darrell Scott Early Show at the Club

As mentioned in the previous post, my big sister Sally (and entourage) was visiting and expressed a hope that there'd be a fun folk concert for us to see.  As it turned out, the great Darrell Scott was playing Passim on October 15th, the night before they had to leave, and I was able to get tickets to the early show for 8 of us!  This promised to be a lot of fun.

And it sure was.  Sarah and I hung out at home during the day and then met the other 6 usual suspects in Palmer Street at 6:00 exactly, after parking on the Cambridge Common.  We had some great conversation and a fine, eclectic meal with good beer and wine.  Hit the bathroom right before showtime and of course had a few words with Darrell as he was waiting to go on, charmingly nervous and polite.

He opened on a wonderful-sounding acoustic and switched to a growling electric guitar for some tunes, and a bright electric piano for a few others.  He mostly stuck to his originals, which are as good as it gets, he's a fantastic song writer.  I was hoping for some of his "hits" but was not disappointed at all when he stuck to his newer stuff, as a good artist should.

I was more than delighted when he called for Cambridge country-folk veteran Sandy Martin to join him on bass and vocals.  She sang a great cover of Neil Young's Harvest Moon, and then they played John Lincoln Wright's Rockabilly Man!!!  I was in heaven.

He finished the set with a singalong of The Man Who Could Have Played Bass For Sha Na Na, and encouraged us to stick around for the late show.  I wished I could have, but we had plans and headed home.  A really great show!

Melvin Seals and JGB in Beverly

We hadn't seen John Kadlecik for way too long, seeing how much we'd liked him with Furthur, etc.  And we'd always wanted to see Melvin Seals' attempt to keep alive the Jerry Garcia Band tradition.  Several times we'd come close but were derailed by incidents, such as COVID.  But they announced a show at The Cabot in Beverly and we got great seats, 4th row center, pretty much where we sat when we saw an excellent Los Lobos concert there several years ago.  So we were psyched!

Sally and friends had been visiting and we drove down from Maine on the morning of October 14th, and then met Dave at Gulu-Gulu in downtown Salem.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, do not go anywhere near Salem in October.  But we forgot and paid the price in ridiculous crowds and a bad meal from an overtaxed restaurant and staff.  Oh well, we drove from there the short way up to Beverly, parked in our normal spot, and were some of the first of the excited, practically packed crowd.  It's a really nice theater.

Unfortunately, the show didn't meet our expectations.  The sound system there is great, Seals himself played some excellent organ, and there were some mind-bending moments and the long, flowing leads that you'd expect from a R&B, "JGB" band.  But there were some not-great elements too.  For one, they only had 4 people on stage, organ, drums, bass, and guitar!  The real latter-day JGB sound includes excellent backup vocals and more of a big-band sound than these guys were putting out.  The bass player sang backup on some tunes, but was not that dynamic, and he and the drummer were not best.  John himself was a bit disappointing also.  Maybe we expected too much, but he'd start a great lead and then kind of peter out after a dozen or two measures.  He was far from sustaining the clarity and emotion the way Garcia used to.

The setlist was great though.  They opened with a fantastic cover of Stop That Train (unfortunately, one of the few peaks of the evening), did a couple of JRAD songs in Cats and then R&C, and had a couple of moments in the second set with covers of Clapton and Van Morrison, as well as an Oteil song (If I Had the World To Give).  They did Expressway To Your Heart, but it never really took off and then they followed it with tepid drum and bass solos.  I was excited to hear Sisters and Brothers, but again with just a couple of male voices on stage it wasn't that great.  Here's the setlist:

Set 1:

• Stop That Train
• Ain't No Bread in the Breadbox
• Cats Under the Stars
• The Wheel
• Tore Up Over You
• Scarlet Begonias
• Rubin and Cherise
• I Feel Like Dynamite

Set 2:

• Lay Down Sally
• And It Stoned Me
• Mystery Train
• Expressway to Your Heart
• Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad
• If I Had the World to Give
• My Sisters and Brothers
• Deal

Oh well, we had a great time, our seats were fantastic, and Seals was incredible!  Drove Dave home afterwards (lots of driving that day) and then got to bed by 1:00 or so.