Grateful Dead, Buffalo, 4/21/09

11:00 AM Tuesday, April 21, Too Tall Tim and I shuffle off to Buffalo to see The Dead. The band is no longer using the name The Grateful Dead it has been shortened to The Dead. Too Tall and I have met maybe a total of 10 days over the past three years. We play golf in a weekend getaway every year for the past three years and we have run into each other at a Rat Dog show. This is perfect two Dead Heads who hardly know each other traveling across country to see the Dead just for the love of the music and the scene. We will be hooking up with friends of mine but TT will not know anyone other than me. I need a miracle every day.

The Dead have gone through a metamorphosis and come out on the other side in tact. Four of the six band members are original members. On bass and some vocals you have Phil Lesh, on rhythm guitar and vocals there is Bob Weir, On one drum set you have Mickey Hart and on the other drum set you have Bill Kreutzmann, filling in for Jerry Garcia on lead guitar and vocals is Warren Haynes from Gov't Mule and The Allman Bros. Band, and on keyboards we have Jeff Chiamenti from Rat Dog.

The afternoon showers have kept the crowd outside to a minimum from what I can tell. To Too Talls dismay we head right for the arena and do not go to Shake Down Street to check out the vendors. I can tell Too Tall likes to still take in the whole scene to pick up on the good vibe from the crowd.

The Dead take the stage at approximately 7:55 and play the first set which takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. They start out with "Promise Land" an old Chuck Berry song I do believe. They move into "They Love Each Other" which TT tells me is a Garcia tune that Bobby takes the vocals on. The voices are not coming through the speakers very well yet. "Ma Ma Tried" is next, the sound man has the mix together finally. They do a nice version of "Loser". Then they dig way back to find an old Pig Pen song "Smokestack Lightnin". Warren Haynes does a soulful "Stella Blue". Then they kick it up a notch to play the Beatles, "She Used To Love Me". And they close out the first set with "Big River". So far all of these tunes have been from the 60's and 70's.

The second set starts out with "Playing In The Band" which the crowd sings along to. Is Phil's bass glowing? Yes, Phil's fret board is lit up in neon blue lights, wow pretty psychedelic. Now they are ready to bring out the girl songs of the Grateful Dead. First a not to often played gem, "Me And Bobbie McGee". And here's one that I don't think I have ever heard live before "Loose Lucy", thank you for a real good time. While the band is noodling around I believe they are going to slip into "Tennessee Jed". But Noooo, they find one of my favorite ladies in "Ramblin Rose" of course the crowd sings along.

The lights dim and half of the band leaves the stage, the crowd sits down, and Drums begin. The Dead have added a new twist along with Mickey and Bill, Jeff Chiamenti adds some prerecorded voices and low key synthesizer to the drum solo. Mickey gets to the big bass drums towards the back of the stage and lets some thunder loose on the crowd. The rest of the band returns to the stage for what some people call noise but the Dead Heads know it as Space. with the stage dark and if you just listen you can not even tell that Jerry is not playing guitar. Good job Warren.

The Band has one more lady to bring out and that is Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm". The vocals get lost again. The sound man gets things back together in time for "Eyes Of The World", sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own. Finally the Dead go back to where it all started and finish off with "Playing In The Band".

For an encore the song that everyone knew had to be played "Truckin", Truckin-up to Buffalo, been thinking - you got the mellow slow, Takes time - you pick a place to go and just keep truckin on.

Above the stage there was a large circular screen that had lights on it that illuminated the stage and the crowd. In the center on the screen pictures of Saturn, the Earth, steal your face, lightning bolts and other images were projected onto it. It was a nice touch.

Wow it was a pretty Rockin evening. Old friends, new friends, good friends. This concert took me back to when I first started to see the Grateful Dead in the late 70's. All older songs that prove that The Dead are the greatest dance band ever. I give this one four twirls and a moth catcher move. There was something missing and I am not sure what it was yet. There was something missing in the crowd. I just can't put my finger on what it was but something was missing. Four Twirls and a moth cathcer move is right. A very, very good show but not the best I have ever seen. I loved the line up of songs but something was missing in the vibe.