Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Sunday Morning, 3:36 AM

Yo.

What?

Wrap up? Post-game?

Buncha crackers did some honky bullshit at a whole mess of ofeys.

What I’m hearing is that you’re not in a space for an objective review.

No.

What about the people?

Fuck ’em where their dreams used to be.

The butt?

Duh.

Nothing?

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.

We’ll have our idiot’s tale?

You’re very clever and I hate you.

Trey killed it, Mickey was the Secret Hero, Billy approves of homosexuality, Twitter is fucking terrible, they did not rehearse.

Was that so hard?

Jeff Chimenti was forbidden from showing the people his final form.

Sure.

Phil’s in charge, apprently.

That’s the only explanation for a lot of choices, yeah.

Really disliked the Twitter experience.

You’ve mentioned.

There’s context here, and clear enthusiasm (with a small e;) if nothing else, you get the feeling that I actually enjoy this band. It takes more than 140 characters to build up the courage necessary to tell you that I’ve already begun listening to a ’78. (1/10/78 from the Shrine in LA)

So when I, say, gently rib Bobby for his quixotic grapplings with gravity, it reads differently than on Twitter, where a casual observer would just see me pointing and laughing at a wobbly senior citizen.

“That older gentleman’s having trouble standing. HA-ha. #dead50.”

Of course, the mean tweets get most retweets. Have you ever been retweeted? It’s weirdly satisfying, like if Darth Vader Force-choked you, but getting choked was your fetish.

(TotD Top Tip: if you are a high-level Imperial officer who happens to be into getting choked, don’t deliberately fuck up around Lord Vader to get him to Force-choke you. First of all, he may just choose to do other bullshit that you are decidedly not into; and second, if you get a boner while Darth Vader is Force-choking you and he sees that shit, then even God cannot help you at that point. You just got yourself a lethal boner, my perverted friend.)

But, I digress.

Y’think?

No more Twitter and no more live-blogging. I’m going to watch the show tomorrow with my laptop shut (unless I need to use some pornography) and my phone off. (That is a lie: I will be playing with my phone.)

 

42 Comments

  1. Morning Douche

    Ambitious setlist,but kind of a paper tiger.

    I hope Trey is getting paid well.

    Best song of the night was …….drums.

  2. Robin Russell

    Pretty much right, Drumz did fulfil the high expectations. Trey did a good job. Mickey’s cymbal license was pulled, it seems.

  3. Richard Parker

    Good show. I have ordered the 2 CD Best Of. If this level continues, shouldn’t have any difficulty filling 2 CD’s with choices that I would repeat listen to,

    Trey, we take it all back. I think he will get better every show.

    • HCD

      I think they are all going to get better every show. But I am a little worried about Bobby. That sure was a long break. At the time I thought it was related to whatever Bob’s physical issues are.

      I’ve got a feeling too that they’ll be working themselves throughout the decades. Two sets of 1970 and earlier tunes doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

      • RationalExpressions

        Who would have bet that the young, healthy workout guy would age the worse? Life can be cruelly ironic.

      • Richard Parker

        Looks like Bobby will be the next to go. Great Show, Insanely Long Break.

  4. steveb2973

    I was wrong – a lot of people around us (as in everyone) smoked some weed. As for me – well, when the guy next to me turned out to run a medical marijuana dispensary in Oaksterdam, what could I say? Security was kind enough to look the other way.

    Incredible show. Better, and spacier, than I expected. I also had the thought that they might be working through the decades.

  5. spencer

    Yahoo claims the rainbow was fake? And that they paid 50 grand for the affect? Say it ain’t so joe

  6. wtfwjd?

    Good article…with link to billboard story mentioning rainbow. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/06/28/grateful-dead-start-to-say-goodbye-with-parking-lot-busts-serious-jams/

  7. RationalExpressions

    Sounded interesting. Almost bought the stream last night, decided not to. After reading your comments and Jambase review don’t regret my decision.
    In person might have been cool, getting high and feeling nostalgic, but too much $$$$ for me.
    This just in – Jerry Garcia is still dead.

  8. August West

    If you ask me, and I know that you don’t…
    Pretty good show for the ageing rockers. That completes the coverage of the Live Dead album. Next show should be Europe ’72.

    And did Bob really try to stop the show after someone missed the cue for the Eleven vocals? I was thinking “Whoa Bobby, dude this ain’t rehersal. Just wait til the I-chord comes around again. hahaha.

    Lots of good song by song commentary by the hardcore deadheads over at the Archive forum.
    https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead&tab=forum

    • FreedomHaul

      Think they’re going to recreate a famous live album/tour/era with each show? Nostalgia trip or reasonable way to cover their whole catalogue?

      • August West

        Yeah, I agree. It’s a pretty impressive undertaking to do the entire catalog in 5 shows — especially for Trey who may have never played some of these songs before.

    • spencer

      Paid for it both monetarily and physically (6am est wake up hurt), enjoyed it emotionally. Better than a 95 show. Neighbour streamed it free on ustream might try that tonight

      • spencer

        Chicago p.d welcoming deadhead to the windy city?

      • August West

        Yeah I have a headache this morning too. Always get one when I stay up past midnight — old fart syndrome I guess. I did ustream last nite. It had occasional freeze ups for 30 secs or so, and picture was low res (like 480p) but overall was fine. The boys might look kinda scary in HiDef anyway. 🙂

        Oh gawd, tell me that is not the ‘For Real’ Chicago Welcome Committee. hahahah.

    • davd

      weeell i’m not sure how much of an exaggeration this might be, but i read this rolling stones/trey interview yesterday and he said that he had to learn 90 dead songs

      http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/trey-anastasio-on-phishs-bond-his-man-cave-and-the-deads-big-gigs-20150624

  9. Derek

    Sorry you didn’t enjoy the Twitter experience; I was mainly reading though. You had me cracking up. Thanks. The show had some highs & collisions. I’ve noticed the wrecks always much more watching a simucast than ever it affected me at a show.
    Long live the thumb piano!

  10. Steve Hurlburt

    I’ll be watching tonight.

  11. dj5000000

    I actually had to open up my first Twitter account to follow your thread. Guess I can shut it down now. I agree, Twitter’s no place for fine literature.

    How about a stream of consciousness, On The Road – type document? Posted after each set or during Drumz. Got lots of time during set break to read through your mordant thoughts.

  12. dj5000000

    Also, something about Twitter reminds me of Estimated Prophet with its
    “followers.” Seems like it’s designed to feed delusions of grandeur.

    • maggiemay

      P0rn is bad!!!!!!

      • thoughtsonthedead

        PR0N IS AWESOME LIKE A RODEO

      • maggiemay

        WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN

      • maggiemay

        lel I support sex workers actually #consent is sexy

      • maggiemay

        notice me senpai

      • maggiemay

        IM MORE CULTURED THAN U I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA

      • maggiemay

        That’s one thing I’m not exactly proud of my state for. But hey, I’ve seen my share of celebrities casually before and have been in the same vicinity as the Kardashians on a few occasions. I couldn’t care less.

  13. cgrand

    tonites setlist has already been leaked…it’s a 180 from last nite

    I was laughing at Mickey playing with a pair of fly swatters, but gotdam he was great in the second set. and I wanted to snicker at drums but that was fantastic

    kudos to them for trying the William tell bridge and the eleven, train wreck though the vocals were. Speaking of vocals, more Bruce please, less [redacted].

    triple anaphylaxis was a revelation

    • thoughtsonthedead

      No spoilers.

    • cgrand

      oh and by the by
      this little shining jewel of the web has been blissfully free of input from the humorless breed of obsessive we all know are out there…I imagine that might change once you take your star turn this afternoon

  14. ScottN

    Taking away Mickey’s cymbals, bass drum, and standard drum sticks was a brilliant move (would have been an equally good idea from 1976 on). Not that it’s great having him continually thwack away at toms in a heavy-handed manner, but at least he is muted just enough not to make a hash out of the time to the extent that he could with a whole set competing with Billy (who sounded strong! Maybe killing Benjy upped his lifeforce?).

    I was impressed by Trey. There, i said it. He even sang in key!

    Bruce’s high harmony on many tunes was sour. He sounded good when he sang in his range (and I wish he had more leads), but he shouldn’t be covering the Brent/Vince parts.

    If Keith Richards couldn’t get through a Stones gig without a stool, people would want to know what was up. In the absence of any information, it was hard watching Bob and worrying that he might keel over at any moment. It’s alarming to see the healthiest of these guys by far for their whole run looking like he’s aged 3 decades in the last 5 years. I hope he’s ok.

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