Ok, right up front, for me, last night was about the emotions and feelings
triggered by music. Not about who had the best solo, and how long
some jam went. So, if you're looking for a critical review of the
music played, best look somewhere else. Also, this is only the second
time I've seen Mickey play (first being on Further in '98). I never
got a chance to see the Dead, so this is not coming from someone with a
whole lot of experience with Mickey in person. That all said, I had
a fucking blast. Easily one of the best shows so far this
year.
I got to the 930 a little after 8pm, grabbed a beer, and waited.
I had expected an opener, but judgeing by the equipment on stage, it was
just Mickey and the band tonight. Around 8:40, after another beer,
I asked a staff guy about start time. He said 10pm, the opener had
cancelled on them (to bad for the opener, lot of people milling around
looking for something to do before Mickey. Would have been a prime
chance to gain exposure). So, I grabbed a peice of floor, and waited.
Got into a conversation with a woman sitting next to me, about expectations
for the show, and what the other guys have been doing.
Couple minutes before 10, things start getting a little crowded.
By this time I'm on my feet, and things are filling in around me.
Right at 10, the band walks on stage and people start moving forward.
There is one group of people who always seem to find me at shows, and bug
the hell out of me. That being the people who decide at the last
minute that they need to be up front, and so push and shove their way past
everyone (everyone who had gotten there early, and staked out a nice peice
of floor for themselves). Well, these guys
found me early, and I thought it
was going to be another one of those shows. But, after Mickey said
his hello's he started hitting a beat on one of his toms. At this
point, I didn't know if he was counting a song off, or just waiting for
people to get ready to play, but it didn't matter. By the second
beat, I was grinning ear to ear, and loving life. I was standing
less then 20 yards from Mickey Hart, at the first public performance of
his new band. Yeah, life was good.
Turned out Mickey was counting a song off. Beat settled in fast.
Wait, I know this. What is this? Sounds really familiar.
Is it...? Yup, it is, IKO!!! He opened with IKO! Vince
on vocals, me on shit eating, ear to ear, grin. I was completly loving
life. The last six-nine months haven't been real easy for me, but
I've recently tried to force myself into a better headspace, and this is
EXACTLY what I needed. GOD, did I need this. That feeling in
your heart, like your soul is getting a gentle cleaning. That huge
grin on your face that just won't go away. Yeah, this is what it's
all about. Iko was amazingly fun. Phil might be the one holding
the space jams these days, but Mickey's got the dance party going, big
time.
After Iko came Friend of the Devil. Again, right between the eyes,
good time fun. By this time, I'm loving life, and everyone in the
room. And it's only the second song!!! Mickey handled vocals
for FOTD, and acctually, I didn't mind it.
Next up was kind of a latin number, with the other percussionist and the
female vocalist handling vocals. Great song. Ton of fun.
After that was Down The Road. Now, I'm not a huge Mystery Box fan.
I love John Cage Is Dead, and dig Next Step, but that's about it.
Just not my cup of tea. I'm familiar with Down The Road, but it never
did anything for me. Now, that might have been cause I never heard
it live. Wow! Never hit the point of the eyes watering, but
there were a couple of moments where the emotions were riding high.
Damn, did not expect that. And then the ending, that was fun.
The song sounds like it's ending for real, but it acctually comes
right back but with this fast gospel
flavor beat to it. It was completly perfect. Build the emotions
with the song, and then let the people dancing them out with the outro.
Perfect.
After Down The Road, Vince said something about the next song being one
we should know. Again I hit a point of, "I know this. What
is this?" Then wham! Good Loving. Oh yeah. This
is EXACTLY what I needed to hear. Could not have been a better choice
at that moment. Unfortunatly, it was during this song that the annoying
people found me again. Kinda killed the end of the song, and left
me kinda out of it for the next song, an african piece, dedicated to Joseph
Cambell. But, I was able to ward them off by the time the song after
that started.
Not sure if this is a new song or what. I'm calling it, Who Stole
The Show, since that was the chorus. Mickey introduced it as a song
about the last century, and "who really stole the show." Really good
song. Great groove to it. Completly loving it.
Next up was Ripple. Unfortunatly, with a new arrangement, and the
return, in force, of the annoying people, I couldn't get into it.
Lost the next two songs to this as well. But, by the time Papa Was
A Rolling Stone came over, I had wiggled my way in front of them, and had
a nice little peice of floor to work with
Papa was fun. Good version. Nice chance to play, "where's Mickey?"
He's not at his own drums. He's not at the kit drum (where he was
for Good Loving). Nope, he's burried in the back, playing the bass.
Yup, Mickey was throwing down the bass line for this one. Did a good
job to. But, I really needed a Dead tune to bring me back into sync
with things.
Baba Jingo did a pretty good job, of almost getting me there. But,
it wasn't quite enough. Then it came. I got the Dead song.
But wait, I didn't get "the Dead song." I got THE Dead song.
See, first time I ever GOT the Dead I was sitting in my room, listening
the set 2 from 10/31/90 (or 91, the show with Ken Kesey). It was
the jam at the end of Scarlet, right before it switched to Fire.
All of a sudden I went, "oh, so that's why people love them so."
And ever since, Scarlet has held a special place in my heart. So
what song does Mickey throw me to pull me back into the collective mind?
Nothing short of the one that got me there the first time, Scarlet Begonias.
Needless to say, I was in bliss. The worst of the annoying guys,
found his way in front of me, during this peice, but no. NO ONE ruins
Scarlet for me. Nope, no one, not a damn soul on this planet is gonna
ruin a Scarlet for me. And he didn't. I just focused on the
music. And it was all exactly as it needed to be.
The Fire was nice. First time I've ever heard Mickey do the tune,
and it kinda throws you that first time. But it was still cool.
Great solo taken by the other percussionist. Really amazing stuff.
You've gotta see this guy, to understand what I mean. And then that
was it. The band left the stage.
Needless to say, we cheared and hooped and hollered them back out for an
encore. Dire Wolf. Nice way to send us all off into the beautiful
DC night. But wait. No, that's not it. As Dire Wolf ends,
there's a beat. Wait, that's not just A beat. That's the beat
to end all beats. Yup, there it was, in all it's glory, Not Fade
Away. And we made DAMN sure, the band new our feelings on the matter.
After NFA, the band left the stage to loud cheers and hollars. Quickly
the the cheers fell in sync with each other, as we all fell back into the
NFA beat. And this is where the beauty of seeing a show with heads
comes into play. Can heads just do a simple beat like NFA?
Nope, we gotta screw with it. We gotta make it interesting.
And so, while the room, clapped in unison, you'd hear little imbelishments
coming from various points around you. And it was just almost magical.
And it went on for awhile. I thought we were really going
to bring them out for a second encore,
but alas, it wasn't meant to be. The house lights came up, and we
were deposited in more or less the same location we were in when the whole
trip started. At least, the same physical location. Doubt anyone
was still in the same mind set they were in at the begining of this all.
I downed a couple glasses of water, and made my way into the night.
As I walked out the door, I realized my leg hurt, and my feet were killing
me. But, while the music played, there was no pain. For we
didn't concern ourselves with such trivial things as matters of the flesh.
No, we were somewhere else completly.