Buffalo Set 1

Tonight is the first of six straight nights of music for the band in six different venues, including the Thursday night appearance on David Letterman. Western NY state has always been a very strong place for the Grateful Dead to play, and tonight marks the first ever show at the new home of the Buffalo Sabres, who unfortunately are not in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. The band does have a good history here, but mostly at the Aud and Rich Stadium, plus the Shea’s Buffalo Theatre show in 1979, but you can read all about the band’s history in Buffalo in this show’s history page.

On to the show, where the band was greeted by a VERY loud western NY crowd, by all accounts. A special thanks to DR and RLL for being my eyes and, more importantly, my ears in Buffalo. Opening with that classic opener from the 1970s, Promised Land, they signaled that this was to be a rocker from the start. No jam, just straight into this Chuck Berry powerhouse of a tune. The last time the band opened a Buffalo show with Promised Land was a shade over 30 years ago, at the aforementioned Shea’s show in 1979. Cool! Following this with They Love Each Other is a very nice and traditional way of opening a Dead show. I like where this is going. Following this up with Mama Tried and Loser has the makings of a really classic Grateful Dead setlist. I mean, I’ve got to say I love what happened the second night of Worcester, with the mid-first set Cream Puff War and the first set ending Good Lovin’, but there is such a huge charm in the look of a good old Grateful Dead setlist. There is a certain comfort in a Hell In A Bucket>Sugaree>Walkin’ Blues, Dire Wolf opening sequence, isn’t there? A report from the show, in regards to Loser and They Love Each Other, said great vocals on both, with Warren taking the former and Bobby the latter. Oh, here come the fireworks! Woe-oh, Smokestack Lightning! Nice! I only saw the Grateful Dead play this half a dozen times or so, but Bobby always did it justice. Warren has been a monster on these blues tunes so far this tour. Next is Stella Blue, and looking at these first six tunes of the night, none of them are repeats from earlier in the tour, which is to say about 6.5 shows into the tour, only three tunes have been repeated (Uncle John’s Band, Slipknot! and Samson played on Sunday in Worcester were the only three repeats so far). I always loved Stella Blue at GD shows, but then again, I loved all of Jerry’s ballad tunes from the second set, including Black Peter, Wharf Rat and Morning Dew. None of which they’ve played yet on this tour, I might add. Up next is another non-repeat, It’s All Over Now, such a great song for the Grateful Dead since 1976, and a tune that Bobby has played consistently since then with and without the GD. These setlists on the tour are really revealing the depth of not only the quantity of Grateful Dead music, but the depth of quality. Here we are 6.5 shows into the tour and they keep pulling out classic Grateful Dead songs. So cool! Big River, very, very cool! Mama Tried and Big River, although not attached together tonight, was always my favourite cowboy medley amongst the many variations. This is fun! Big River, a great way to end the set.

Set 2

Opening with Playing In The Band is such a great second set opener, as it bodes well for an uninterrupted set of music. As RL pointed out, it’s a very 1973 sounding show tonight, with hints of a 1977 vibe. Playing In The Band, as is no secret, is one of my favourite Grateful Dead songs, as it always opened up to such magnificent spaces. Although it’s a tour repeat, that’s OK, as I could hear this song every night. In keeping with the 1973 vibe that I’ve heard from a few people at the show tonight, up come another couple of songs that are vintage 1973 Grateful Dead, Me and Bobby McGee and Loose Lucy (reminiscent of the Buffalo 1990 Loose Lucy, as pointed out to me by RL, which was a great version in the midst of a really great show). This setlist is out of control good. It’s a very cool theme to follow, this 1973-ish setlist, whereas the setlist of Sunday’s Worcester show was 1966-1968-centric, with Alligator, Cream Puff War, Born Cross-Eyed, Schoolgirl, Lovelight and Good Lovin’. Clearly, this is a band having fun, and drawing upon almost 45 years of music. Up next is another typical-of-1973 tune, Ramble On Rose, which was another huge crowd sing-along as reported by RL. This is one cool show so far. Something that’s been so interesting so far on the tour is how varied each and every show has been. Obviously this applies to the setlists, but also the formats, some shows opening with long jams, some second sets having two songs before the drums, a show with a two song encore, etc. Not only are they drawing upon their entire repertoire, but they’re eschewing the standard formats and going with whatever feels good on a given night. After Ramble On Rose came Drums, which as you might know by my previous show recaps, have been excellent on this tour. Really, if you’re going to a show, check out this impressive part of the show. This was followed, of course, by Space, where the four non-drummers have been making some really great sounds all tour long. Out of the ashes of Space came the uplifting melody of Maggie’s Farm. This was followed by the quintessential 1973 song, Eyes of the World. With all of this talk about 1973, I had really hoped they’d play Eyes of the World at this show, another tune they had not yet played on the tour. Another of my personal favourites. This then falls into the always-welcome Playing In The Band reprise. Truly a classic-looking Grateful Dead setlist. A few twists here and there (Smokestack, Maggie’s Farm amongst a few others), but overall a show that would not be out of place in 1973. And the encore was an appropriate Truckin’, both because it is another vintage 1973 Grateful Dead song, but also because of the line “Truckin’ up to Buffalo!” What a setlist!!

Again, a huge thanks to David Raffarin and Rory Levy for the reports from the road. Tomorrow’s show in Wilkes Barre is the smallest venue on the tour, about 9,000 and change, so to all those heading out to that show, have fun. It ought to be great!

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