Tao of Pauly

The Dead at Jones Beach... a Few Afterthoughts

I think that Sunday's show was the best show (The Dead and the Other Ones) I have seen since Jerry died. There were one or two kick ass Phil and Friends shows that I got see over the last few years, but Sunday's show was up there with those gigs. All in all, I was happy to see a St. Stephen because I never saw the Grateful Dead perform it live. They stopped playing that in October of 1983. Terrapin Station was something I had been dying to hear. The acoustic set was mellow and Jone Beach is a nice place to see a show. I sat next to a guy named Jimmy who had seen well over 400 hundred Grateful Dead shows, since 1973! He smoked me out with some homegrown Maui Bsssssssss! And I was a flooded puddle for most of the second set!

Bruce Cohen e-mailed me his thoughts:

"I can say that the second night was definitely a better show than the opening night. The Sunday night show seemed like a more BREAKOUT VIBE. The weather was nicer. I caught the whole acoustic set. The Uncle John's Band opener was nice. Phil Lesh did a nice Mountains of the Moon. Jimmy Herring was chilling on a stool, finger picking out on an acoustic guitar. Sounded coolio. Must Have Been the Roses is always a nice ballad with Joan Osbourne singing, it was nice. She has a clean mellow voice. Well it seemed like the acoustic set was more like a paired down electric set. But, I kinda was expecting more like a Radio City Music Hall (Circa 1980) type of set.

The DEAD left no holds unbarred. Opening set 2 with the DRUMS was way cool and surprising all with breaking out into ST. STEPHEN which was freaking awesome. I have kinda missed all of the PHIL & FRIENDS shows that they played St. Stephen and the Eleven. For me, this was the night to finally get a shot at seeing them jam on this OLD STUFF!! They did not disappoint... the St. Stephen's > Eleven ROCKED! I was digging it... heavy POWER CHORDS and hi-energy jamming. They play most of the stuff I wanted to see, well i suppose doing a Viola Lee Blues or Alligator could have been added. But Morning Dew, TERRAPIN, UNBROKEN CHAIN, ST. STEPHEN, WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE and THE ELEVEN... NOT TOO SHABBY!!!!

They did US BLUES as an encore and they did not disappoint by doing a jamming TOUCH OF GREY to end the show. US SHMOOZ is kinda way played out so, I was psyched they didn't just bolt out after that.

Despite the bad karma on Saturday night (the smackup accident with the car entering the beach) and the off and on rainy flow at the Saturday show... all and all things were pretty COOLIO Sunday night with the Dead."

Alea commented:

"Out of four shows I have seen since the reunion, Sunday was the best show by far. The venue was very cool. Right up on the beach. You could see the moon and the waves rolling up onto the beach! Very cool!"