|
|
Splintered Sunlight
by Michelle Waughtel"Sometimes we visit your country and live in your home" from Eyes of the World
My concert budget for the coming months continues to bloat as more and more interesting bands are booking Philadelphia gigs. Just in April alone there's the Disco Biscuits, String Cheese Incident, Ominous Seapods, Deep Banana, and countless other smaller bands. "Bigger" shows are scheduled which will bring some of my old tour buddies (who didn't catch the jamband buzz) out of the woodwork: three nights of Dave Matthews Band in May and Phish at the Sony E-Center in July.
Already there is talk of post show parties and BBQing in the parking lot. Will _____ show up with the killer teriyaki marinade? Who's gonna bring the Jagermeister? How many of the "old crowd" can we assemble into one place for a night or two? Can the out-of-towners be persuaded to travel to crash on our floors for any of these shows? How deadheads can we fit in our respective living rooms, especially now that significant others and perhaps rugrats come with the territory? Will they even WANT to bother to travel for DMB or Phish?
This hopeful planning brings back memories of what it was like when the Grateful Dead would come to Philly and we would get to "host." To me, there was no greater high than having the Boys here in my own backyard. All the bumper stickered traffic lined up along Broad Street, the clumps of tie dye wandering down South Street or around the Liberty Bell the whole town was dotted in day-glo for 3 days of the year. And more often than not, one show of the run would be absolutely incredible. The Spectrum was lucky that way, especially in the later years. To name a few memorable moments: the Tubular Bells Space featuring Vince at his all-time best (9-13-93); the Unbroken Chain break out (3-19-95); and one of two "California Earthquake" performances (10-20-89). Sometimes the "rarity factor" would make a show memorable in a given run overshadowing the performances of another night.
This was definitely that case with both 10-19-89 and 3-18-95. In my opinion, these shows are more "must hear" than their more sought-after predecessor shows. 10-19-89 became available in ridiculously clean SBDs in the mid-90's and was previously overlooked. The highlight of this show was Death Don't Have No Mercy featuring the most outrageous eerie vocalizations from Brent who pours out all the darkness in his soul in a transparent premonition of doom.
You may have heard parts of 3-18-95 on the Grateful Dead Hour featuring a very energetic second set. Again, Vince Welnick is in the spotlight doing some of his best work on the Beatle's cover "It's All Too Much" opening the set. The Iko Iko which follows is truly a barnburner! Jerry just would not let it drop. The crowd went absolutely apeshit as Jerry continued to fiddle with the energy level taking it higher and higher with each chorus until it exploded just short of Armageddon. The interesting thing is that it holds up just as well on tape. Later, Bobby heads for the twilight zone in some of the sickest contributions to Space that I recall hearing from him -- Stephen King's got nothing on this boy! Finally, the sweetest moment of this tape has to be Jerry's rendition of "Visions of Johanna." He seemed deeply connected to the lyrics and his phrasing was every bit is poignant as Bob Dylan's, only with that beloved Jerry spin to it.
Taking into account the "Unbroken Chain" breakout on 3-19-95, it makes me happy that the last run of dead shows in my hometown was so memorable. Who knows if what I heard there will be the same thing you hear when you listen to the tapes? I guess many of us are biased about Dead Magic cooked up in our own kitchens. Therein lies one of the most beautiful principles of life with the Grateful Dead: "sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own"
April Issue: Home | Editors | Features | Columns | Photos | Regional | New Groove
Road Trip | Tour Journal | Venue | Levels | Ghosts | Homegrown | Inaudible | CDs | Charts
JamBands.Com is published on the 15th of every month. Submissions are due ten days earlier on the fifth of each month. Please contact the specific editor for the section you are interested in contributing to. For general content comments, please e-mail jambands@jambands.com. For all technical web site related issues, please contact Sarah Bruner or David Steinberg