Charlottesville, VA Pre-Show

This is one beautiful city. The people down here are so, well, nice. Having lived on the west coast for so long, I’ve come across loads of great people, but there is a noticeable warmth in regular interactions with just about everyone. So, thanks, Virginia, you’ve made us all feel at home. The venue here, the John Paul Jones Arena, is on the campus of the University of Virginia, and is the home to the university’s basketball teams, a nice new venue. It’s a smaller venue than the past two nights, with tonight’s venue closer to 13,000. People are slowly making their way to the area, and the buzz is beginning. It was fun driving through Richmond and seeing the Coliseum, where the Grateful Dead played some great shows in November, 1985.

The scene outside was a little reminiscent of Greensboro in that it was a large parking lot, although it was much colder day than Greensboro. As soundcheck wraps up, the feeling is for another solid night of music, hopefully with some more surprises...

Set 1

Starting out right where they left off last night, with another track from 1970, this time Workingman’s Dead’s New Speedway Boogie. It took the audience by surprise, and within seconds everyone was up and dancing. A terrific vocal outro closed the song, with the crowd clapping along to rhythm of the song. It was pretty darn cool. Jumping into another nearly-as-old track, Bertha, from 1971, kept people shaking, which was very appropriate considering the weather. Indeed, ran into a rain storm! A huge cheer for that line. A little nuanced thing was during the closing chorus on Bertha, Warren did these tasty little guitar fills while he was singing. In keeping with the early 1970s theme, next up was a Warren-sung High Time that was extremely well-played. So, far, a very solid start to the show! Next was another 1969-1970 gem, Mason’s Children. It featured some really fine guitar work by Warren, and after a lengthy and inspired jam, Phil brought back the melody of the song for the final verse. In keeping with the so-far-nothing-before-1971 show, next up was Big Boss Man. Bluesy, meaty and raunchy, with a great slide guitar solo by Warren. I’m seeing a trend here, with early MVP-of-the-evening honours leaning in Warren’s direction. Woe, next is 1969’s Doin’ That Rag. People who like older Dead (like, all of us…) are smiling ear-to-ear. Jumping ahead 20 years in GD history, the show then goes to 1989 with Standing On The Moon. A nice spot for a mellower tune.

Set 2

Second set opened with a terrific, jammed out Playing In The Band, which was almost the end of your intrepid reporter’s reportage, as my laptop was stolen while I was out enjoying the music. But, during Crazy Fingers, the perpetrator was spotted, dropped the computer and ran. So, on to the show. Crazy Fingers dropped smoothly into Drums, with the Rhythm Devils on this tour being outstanding so far. Great sounds and themes coming from the drummers. Then came a way-out Space, during which Bobby, as always, played some unguitar-like guitar sounds. That flowed beautifully into St. Stephen, played very nicely by the participants. The jam in the middle of St. Stephen was very intense and nearly blew the roof off the house, with Warren once again providing a stellar boost. Flowing into a very welcome The Eleven, the show’s energy just kept growing. Then came an unexpected but really playing Mississippi Half-Step, with a nice “Across the Rio Grand-eo” ending. Dropping into Playing In The Band was a beautiful way to head toward the end of the show. It was always nice at a GD show when they’d do the Playing Reprise even though you’d forgotten they’d played an hour earlier. Then came Foolish Heart, one of Jerry’s finest latter-day compositions. It had a nice little jam in the middle. Encore: G-L-O-R-I-A!!!! Nice!!! Greensboro and DC were very good shows, but this one, to my ears, was the most pleasing so far. Which is to say, it keeps getting better every night.

One little side thing to note is how great Phil has been sounding in the hall, owing greatly (I assume) to his wonderful new bass, as well as the front of house mix by the extremely talented mixer Derek Featherstone. He’s got the band sounding great.