Happy Birthday Jerry!

I'm thinking...
of starting...
something called: Give Zoooma a Topic to Type About

Why? Why not. Don't leave one here, this post is about the show below. If you see the request for a topic, then you may leave a comment concerning that... this was just the announcement that I'm thinking about it. Like how Congress does things -- "Let's take a vote on whether we should think about taking a vote on that new measure we discussed." What?!?!

Anyway... it's late... everything below I've already finished, so now before I click Publish I've gotta do a little workin in reverse and ramble up here, at least a little bit, at least about... nothing. Is nothing better than something? Heck, I know some people who download, they'd prefer I just put

http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-1.rar
http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-2.rar
http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-3.rar

and be done with it. Well, that ain't how I do things... yo. Gotta do all that crap below beeeee-caaaauuuse I like to. K? Oooooo-kay. And then more crap up here. It's not really crap as in crap crap, it's stuff as in crap to some people, but fine and dandy to others.

Anyone can do this

http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-1.rar
http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-2.rar
http://rapidshare.yadayadayada-whateverthelinkreads-GratefulDead-4-15-69-PART-3.rar

but not a whole lotta people actually put love into what they post. Yes... love, Gumby damnit! Love. This is great music... gots ta be treatin it with love and respect, yes, respect! And love, did I mention that one?

And now... I have rambled way more than enough about nothing. Perhaps I've entertained only myself but once again, that's okay 'cause I'm goin' to sleep in a minute or two and by tomorrow I'll have forgotten all about this! Won't matter a bit. But wait.... since I took the time to type it, doesn't that therefore mean it does matter in some way? Kinda philosophical there... hmmm... i think that calls for a falafel... from one of the "grease trucks" at Rutgers. Yeah, that's the good stuff! When you're at Rutgers and you get philosophical then it's time for a falafel. That's the way it is on College Ave in New Brunswick at 2 in the morning, I'm tellin' ya. Them Scarlet Knights, they know what I'm talkin' about.

Enough? Yeah... enough. Toons, maestro... wait, that would signify cartoons? No, I meant tunes, dude!

The Dead Jerry's Birthday August 1, 2004 Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, New York

1st Set: Jam-> Uncle John's Band, Lazy River Road,
Estimated Prophet-> The Other One Jam, No More Do I,
Down The Road, The Music Never Stopped

2nd Set: Me & My Uncle, Cryptical Envelopment->
Death Don't Have No Mercy, Bird Song, Reuben & Cérise->
Drums-> Space-> Shine On You Crazy Diamond->
St. Stephen-> Comes A Time-> The Other One->
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad-> Angel Band

Encore: The Real Thing

The Band: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann,
Warren Haynes: vocals, lead guitar ~ Jeff Chimenti: keyboards
Jimmy Herring: guitar

About 6 weeks ago someone asked me if I had this show in it's full Soundboard beauty. I did not. That was then... this is now. Request fulfilled! Happy to help out.

Jerry Garcia's birthday. What excitement in the air there must've been on this mid-summer day in upstate New York. Phil, Bobby, Billy & Mickey were back on the road in 2004. Not here from last year: Rob Barraco on keyboards and Joan Osborne on vocals. In: Warren Haynes. Sweeeeet.

A cool little jam gets the show underway. What would the first song be? Looking at the setlists since the tour got underway, it could be anything, it seems, but fans were treated to those beautifully recognizable first notes of Uncle John's Band -- first and only time The Dead would open with this tune. I always thought UJB was a fun song, suited ideally for outdoors in the summertime... and here it sounds just great to get the festivities underway. Ugh... a few minutes in there's a horribly serious lyrical meltdown; everyone seems to head off in whatever direction with a two or three different lines colliding in a... just a mess. The ugliness is brief and soon they're cruising and finishing up in fine style... fine, I say. Fine indeed. (But that was really, really bad!)

Phil & Friends had been doing Lazy River Road since September of 2000 and it's made a few appearances with The Dead. Hearing Phil & Bobby & Warren trade verses is a nice tribute to Jerry. My emotions were held in check; LLR, while a good new Jerry tune, well, it was back in the early 90's, it never really achieved that same status of So Many Roads or Standing On The Moon. Because of that, it works here. Not bad.

Estimated, to me, is in a weird slot, especially starting with a count-off after a deadication to someone who lost their battle with Hepatitis. That was nice and all but I'm just so used to something making a transition into Estimated. But once it gets goin' here, it's pretty cool, very GD sounding at times. Warren, for a little bit, could almost pass as Jerry before he begins to sound more like himself, allowing him to be a part of the song rather than being Jerry's part in it. Some serious crowd rousing up when the band steamed ahead into a bit of an Other One Jam. I wonder if that was planned or not. You can hear Bobby strum a few notes then back off but Phil picked up and led the way. They almost sound like they're tryin' to transition into No More Do I but just don't get there.

Down The Road is my personal Set 1 highlight here. The reason:

From the corner of my eye I saw the sun explode
I didn't look directly 'cause it would have burned my soul
When the smoke and thunder cleared enough to look around
I heard a sweet guitar lick, an old familiar sound
I heard a laugh I recognized come rolling from the earth
Saw it rise into the skies like lightning giving birth
It sounded like Garcia but I couldn't see the face
Just the beard and the glass and a smile on empty space

To me, those lines by Robert Hunter... forget it -- I've got no words. When Mickey begins that verse and the band gets a little quieter than they have been.... oh man.... tears, smile, THANKS........ what an exultant explosion of... of pure glory? Sadness? Happyness? That and a dozen other feelings all rolled into one exhilarating cosmic moment?! Patchwork Quilt comes so close but for me, there's no better post-Jerry song than Down The Road. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Mickey!

Music Never Stopped closes out the First Set before Bobby tells just the people in the back, not everyone, to go and register to vote. I guess there was an important election coming up later in 2004? I must have missed it.

Set 2 starts with seemingly just Bobby & Warren on acoustic before everyone else joins in. It's a slow groove that builds and how amazing it would have been to get a jam goin' on to transition into Cryptical... no such luck. Too bad. But the jam gets goin' pretty hot on the way to Death Don't. A bluesy version here with Warren on vocals and gettin' especially emotional near the end, not to mention the sweet guitar solo thrown in there. Plus here was the first time so far that I've really noticed Jeff Chimenti on keyboards; he had a spot to shine and really added to the tune.

Bird Song here with Phil on vocals just doesn't do much for me, unfortunately. It doesn't have... lift. It doesn't take off and soar the way this song should... and then Warren singing Reuben and Cherise, once again I was left feeling flat. I've got this amazing feeling, however, that many of those who were there and enjoying this night, they just danced and didn't give a damn. Warren's guitar is really nice and Phil's wailin' away here. The vocals didn't do anything for me but the jamming through the end is gorgeous!

Another highlight for me comes with Billy & Mickey doin' their thing for Drums. When these guys are on and in no hurry to get off the stage, when they're really enjoying themselves and puttin' out there some amazing sound and rhythm... yeah... that's just awesome! For some Drums = bathroom break, time to roll a joint, catch some Zzzzz's... but not for me, man! This is a good one!

Space into Shine On You Crazy Diamond -- very cool. Warren and The Dead busted out this Pink Floyd classic on the first show of the tour at Bonnaroo and this is just the second of three times played. And then into St. Stephen... wow. Probably the crowd's favorite moment, collectively speaking, at least judging from their reaction that can just about be heard on this gorgeous soundboard recording. They just erupted.

Perhaps the quietest moment came next with Warren singing more Jerry on Comes A Time. Outstanding in a special tribute kind of way. Normality returned for awhile with The Other One-> GDTRFB before Warren would lead Angel Band to close the set. Jerry did this one literally once upon a time with Old & In The Way and Phil & Friends had been doing it rather infrequently since 2001.

I don't necessarily want to comment on the encore... I like The Real Thing just fine but... as an encore here on Jerry's birthday? Honestly, I think Day Job would have been more welcomed. A total anti-climax... but looking back at the entire two and a half hours or so, this is a pretty cool night of music.

Happy Birthday Jerry!

Source: Digital Soundboard > CD

Sound Quality: A++++++++++++++++++

The Dead 8-1-04 @ SugarMegs
for your listening pleasure... not right now,
sorry, they're down & out at the moment...

but here's the deal... I couldn't do every song
(I've got slow-speed dial-up and a lot more
GD uploading to do) but if you click the
speaker--><-- Before A Song Title In Green,
you should be able (only 1 at a time, sorry)
to listen to those tunes if you want

-or-

Download The Show Right Here

8-1-04 aka 08-01-04 aka 8/1/04 aka 08/01/04 aka 04-08-01 setlist 320 kbps mp3 SBD download

Please don't just take without leaving a comment. The Dead - 8/1/04 - Saratoga P.A.C. - Part ONE 8/1/04 The Dead - Part 2 Part 3 - The Dead 8/1/04 Part FOUR - The Dead - 8/1/04 - SPAC

The Dead - August 19, 2004
the former Lakewood Amphitheatre,
Atlanta, Georgia