Grateful Dead

Well, if he is still here lurking, I wish him Happy Birthday...pretty sure has has same b-day as my wife and Jerry

He planted ice and harvested wind

Thank you. It's too bad...I enjoyed his banter.

Hey mKav
There was some unpleasantness for him on this site many years ago and he deleted that registration. I've exchanges a few emails with him during Summer tours. He may be here incognito but my guess is he will not connect to the previous identitiy.

Anyone know about Rich? I'm curious and hoping all is well with him (and Sarge).

I forgot to reply: I caught both of the June shows that year. One of the few tours when I got to see more than 1 show. Spectacular.

Hey Graceful...congratulations on the contract offer. I can't wait to read the final product.

I read an interview with Weir in which he envisioned the artists being able to control the visuals somehow, with real-time interaction. I won't pretend to understand the technology, but neither will I underestimate it. I'm sure it will happen.

You made an astute observation about the shows. We, and most people in our section, were watching the screen more than we watched the stage. Often, the stage was projected onto the screen. Imagine Mayer and Weir 100' tall!

Hey MKAV,
Thanks for taking the time to write. I feel I have a better sense of what went on.

I watched lots of YouTubes; some with better camera work than others, but on a BIG screen at home you get some feeling for it. And can hear the crowd all oooh and aaaah together. Interesting to me how often the visuals were so bright that it did not look resemble the darkened concert hall that we are all so used to.

Must be a very different experience for the performers to not have every eye locked on them. At times they appear to be playing accompaniment for the visual, as you have said.

As for the timing of the musical transitions: it is my impression that as the run went on, the band id more adjusting to the visual, and not the other way around. Clearly the technology is not yet there to be quite interactive (like different color swirlies reacting to individual instruments); my sense is that the band knew the plan for the big visual transitions and they could tread water a little as needed to make the music transition match the visual. Just my view from the free seats.

And PS: I just received a third contract offer for my book manuscript, Thanks for your support.

I'm wondering if any fellow SSDDers made it to Vegas and if so, I'd like to hear others' observations. I got to see one show 8/9.
It was maybe the 4th or 5th time I've seen D&Co. The band was definitely "on". Tight. Not overly meandering with slow, pointless noodling, (Dallas in May 2023 actually was pretty bad in that respect). Better tempo than previous shows. The pace on most songs and jams was spot-on IMO.
I have to imagine timing the ends of songs to coincide with the visuals' changing was a challenge, but it was seamless.
Going there was a hassle and expensive, but I'm really glad I went. The band was really good. Boy, that Johnny B. Mayer can play!
Having said that: the venue overshadowed the band IMO. Between the 168,000 speakers delivering pure, crisp sound to every seat, and the massive 3.7 acres worth of very cool visuals, it would have been hard to not put the venue as the highlight. YouTube videos are nice but really can't capture the magnitude.
We had seats in 4th level, right in the middle. I can't imagine a better seat for the visuals. The sound was perfect. A friend was in a lower section and he related the "experience" was cooler down in 100 level, but the visuals were much better higher up.

Anyway, IF they do it again, AND I can financially swing it next time, I'll definitely go again. If your circumstances allow it, I'd encourage you to go, too.
By the way: my "mind-altered" state was not dramatic at all, but the visuals were so large, so intense and just so cool, at times it felt like a hallucination...in a good way.
Las Vegas is and never was my thing, but the overall show made it worth it. Shakedown Street definitely had a "corporate" feel to it, but there a shroom sales lady there...very low key...so at least we had that going for us; which is nice. No veggie burritos, though.

I must have sung along to Tennessee Jed 1,000 times without it ever dawning on me that the first lines refer to an incarcerated person. “Listen to the whistle of the evenin' train” really evokes the character in Johnny Cash’s song who is stuck in Folsom Prison.