Grateful Dead

Space - I wouldn't have guessed I'd be the guy to turn YOU onto something from the 80's ;) Yes, that St. Stephen was the second of the tour (1st was 10/11/83 that also has a killer China>Rider). The place went APESH!T at the beginning of St. Stephen - I feel like I understand what Beatlemania was like - the screaming and the utter joyful feeling of 16,294 people letting out such a thunderous WOOP despite not really being able to hear for the first 45 seconds.... The energy in the room was amazing. And by contrast China Doll was an exercise in how quiet an audience can get - could have heard a pin drop, but that intense ENERGY was still there! 2nd show and I was hooked. I was shocked and disappointed at the time that they chose 10/14/83 instead of 10/15 for the Dick's picks, but I can see why... as you say, 61 minutes of Scar>Fire, Estimated>Eyes ain't too shabby. And the St. Stephen the night before, despite being euphoric for the audience, is rough as heck. Both great shows (both with Day Job! "What the heck was that?!" They went deep on Day Job this tour, playing it most nights. Wang Dang Doodle was also a "what was that?" moment for this new head.)

jrf68 - What piece of documentation did they claim you were lacking?

what were the reasons given? I want to speculate, but will hold my tongue for now.

end of story

What is the reason they gave you for not issuing you a passport?

Those Fare The Well shows admittedly deserve some the criticisms they have received, The mail order debacle is certainly on the top of that list along with the small number of shows that were scheduled. It is true that those shows were expensive as well. The other part is that I know that the band did not rehearse together much in the lead up for that, at least that is what I read by all accounts. There is no doubt that limited performances in many ways, especially for that of Trey. Trey is awesome and he did a hell of job learning the volume songs that he did. I think given the circumstances someone who had more regular experience playing those tunes may have had more cohesiveness. However even still they would have been challenged just to due time constraints of limited rehearsal and playing time with the other band members. There were some good things about these shows though. I was lucky enough to get tickets to all 5 shows (I had to pass the last show just because my better half had to get back to work). The Santa Clara shows had some good moments and I felt like they gelled together a little bit on the second night. I thought the first night in Chicago was the best of the all of them. Overall I can’t rate the shows as stellar but they never fell into the trainwreck category for me. I am not interested in buying the CD/DVD set, but I did download the shows off of the Archive. And there are a lot of video clips and even both complete Santa Clara shows on Youtube. So between these two sources I am good. Now on a musical sense what I did take away as a positive is that even the shows were not stellar the boys displayed that they still had shades of “it”. I felt like if they would have only continued on from there they could have really done something. Of course we all know that basically did happen with Dead & Co. All guitarists arguments aside, Dead & Co. definitely benefit from rehearsal time which is key. The other thing I took a way as a positive is that I think these shows were more about a 50 year celebration than being a jam band-rocking juggernaut. To me a celebration like that means that a bunch of good people got together, listened to music and had some fun. On a personal note for me, I got to take my better half to these shows that were her only chance to experience as close to the Grateful Dead as she could get. She was born way too late and in another country so these shows were important for her to understand something I am so passionate about. Oh yeah and these shows helped me to convert her to being a Deadhead. Yay! When it is all said and done, I am happy I got to see those shows but when comparing them to post Jerry line-ups, as that is the only comparison that should be made, I think other line-ups were better. I think Dead & Co, is one of them, and I plan to catch at least one more show this summer. However my main concern is simply to continue to explore the thousands of Grateful Dead shows that are available through the Archive and many other means. That is where the magic lies.

were all better than the 3 D&C shows I have seen.And the 3 D&C shows I have seen were all better than the previous Dead reincarnations I saw: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, and Futhur in 2011. If someone doesn’t like Trey, then of course they will be critical of the choice. Should the band have practiced more? Was GD ever really into practicing? I bought the FTW BluRay Box and initially was disappointed with the sound quality, but then discovered that it was actually my Samsung BluRay player. I bought an Onkyo BluRay player and the sound quality improved significantly. The Samsung was designed to play Hollywood movies, not concert videos. The Onkyo cost 4x as much but it was worth it because it sounds awesome. I watch a lot of concert videos, very few movies.

but can't get a passport. Thanks...

The US State Department has denied me a passport.The same documentation that got me in the Army and almost killed in Iraq is not good enough to let me go on vacation with family & friends. I'm not an American.Got it.Not worthy. Good ta know... bummed to say the least...

If you enjoy acoustic music, that Doc & Merle Watson box, rec'd by Bear in 1973(?), is outstanding. Doc, who was blind, refers several times to (I paraphrase) "the nice young man with the tape recorder." Doc and Merle and their compatriots come alive in your living room, thanks to Bear's sensationally good recording. Highly recommended. The music made me smile. It's been out for a few months.