Furthur into '09 we go

I wish everyday I could be inspired to put up posts like the one below... but the excitement for this life just ain't all there. Okay, it's not really there at all and I kinda wish it could all be so simply over. Ya know? Crap, this sucks 'cause it's not the right way to feel, it's not how I am. I wanna live damnit, I wanna rejoice and really happily f'ing live!!

But life ain't quite that way nowadays. So in order to keep doing this (posting of shows thing) I need to find some Inspiration... somehow, from something, and be Moved Brightly to put up some music here. Unfortunately, while I love the Grateful Dead and almost anything at all within the family, it's not been doin' it for me. I hate to say that. But it is what it is.

Seems I was Inspired, though: the new Phil & Bob band really snuck up on me and when I realized on Friday that the first show was just hours away, I was Inspired to get that first of the three shows. I truly wish my Inspiration was Inspired by something other than music... by something real and tangible... not that music isn't real and tangible but... but anyway, music is what Inspired me so I'm gonna run with it... if I don't then I'll never get anything posted here.

So onward we go, Dead soldiers, furthur with another day and furthur with more music. I hope to get back to the Good Old Grateful Dead soon... hope to.... but for now what we've got is:

Furthur

Friday,
September 18, 2009

Fox Theater
Oakland, California

Phil Lesh ♦ Bob Weir
Jeff Chimenti - keys ♦ Jay Lane - drums
Joe Russo - drums
John Kadlecik - lead guitar

1st Set: Jam-» The Other One-» The Wheel,
Jack Straw-» The Music Never Stopped-» Bird Song-»
Born-Cross Eyed-» Let It Grow

Set 2: Lost Sailor-» Saint of Circumstance, Althea,
Scarlet Begonias-» Fire On The Mountain,
St. Stephen-» The Eleven-» Foxy Lady Jam-»
Terrapin Station-» Not Fade Away

Encore: Touch Of Grey

WOW! If the thunder don't get ya then Phil's bass will! Over eight minutes of a light and mellow tuning jam sets the tone for what might be a quiet and mellow night? HAA!! Sometimes Other One can be so smoothly slid into, a gorgeous transition from a jam right into the song, so seamless that you might hardly even notice until you recognize some proper TOO notes that are so familiar to us. But sometimes.......... yeah, baby..... you get PHIL!! Whew, here.... well, just listen and dig it for yourself! Man, he is FIRED UP and ready to go. The mellow tone does continue for another 5½ minutes before we get some severe electricity to send the song in a very frenetic Never Never Land. Is it Cowboy Neal at the wheel? Cowboy Bob? Cowboy Jerry??? Some combination of all of the above, I suspect. Holy Goof, nice stuff for the first 23 minutes so far. But hold the reigns there for a second, Santa -- Other One to open the show?! Hmm. Worked for me!

The band cruises in a lower gear during Wheel and it has quite a warm feel to it, at least for me. Rather than wrapping it up so quickly like so many Grateful Dead performances of the song, they work on a nice little extended jam at the end. Eventually the count-off for a new song stirs excitement and we get... Jack Straw? Phil takes a couple verses here and the crowd appreciates it... but Jack Straw for me is the quintessential show opener. Ahh well, this ain't the Dead now, is it?

I noticed it in Other One and here again we're getting a severe dose of Garcia. Jerry? 'Zat you, Jer? It is him. Seriously. I've never heard Dark Star Orchestra but apparently they play spot-on perfect Grateful Dead shows. Not my thing and while Garcia's doppelgänger (of sorts) seems to work for some people, I'm up in the air about it. This ain't the (Grateful) Dead and Jerry's gone so I kinda wanna hear his lines played similarly but not exactly. Ya know what I'm sayin'? At one point in Jack Straw Kadlecik steps up to play a Jerry solo and the crowd is noticeably quite happy with it. Kadlecik is smokin' here... I mean, yeah... wow, he's pourin' out Garcia as this song really escalates to some kick ass heights! If you don't crank it up at around the 6 minute mark, you're nuts.

Music rambles on quite nicely but the crowd reaction hits a high for the intro to Bird Song. Lots of Garcia, I mean Kadlecik noodling here as the song meanders along. Another nice thing I'm noticing about the sound of the band is the difference two drummers makes. That has really stood out for me several times. Jay Lane can kick some butt and has for many years with Ratdog but the addition of drummer Joe Russo really adds a nice dimension to this... very Mickey & Billy-esque. Bird Song doesn't hit monumental heights of gorgeousness but tis sure purty. I love this song so much and there's just no one other than Bob that I'd want to hear it from... post-8/9/95 that is.

Wow, pretty wild to hear that left turn straight into the late 60's with the explosion of Born-Cross Eyed. For the first show for this band, they are nailing EVERY single note. Holy cow, and then the first notes of Let It Grow so beautifully ring out and I'm left dumbfounded and wondering about that combo... fuckin'-A, man, that's... interesting. And what a Let It Grow it is! Unfortunately Jeff Chimenti on keys is too low in the mix to hear very well on this Aud source because it sounds like he's got some nice chops in here. First time I've really heard him tonight so far. Once again, the whole band is COMPLETELY on the same page. Unbelievable. Is this better than '09 The Dead? That would be a tough call but it sure is close!

Sailor to open Set 2 had me sailing away, drifting and dreaming, lost in Jerry's beautiful guitar work. Whoops, did I say Jerry? Yup, here he is again. That must've looked strange on stage, some dude playing Jerry note-for-note... but it wasn't Jerry at all. What the hell? There are advantages to having this guy play -- he knows the music oh so very well. But again my personal dilemma shows itself -- do I want Jerry duplicated musically? No. But it's still nice as is Saint from start to finish.

Fake Jerry takes up vocal duties for Althea and... and..... I'm troubled. Where the hell is Bruce Hornsby?! That's all I've got to say... oh wait, they turned Chimenti's piano on. His playing seemed next to non-existent in the first set but here he's got a nice solo that's standing out nicely. Fake Jerry sounds kinda like a younger Jerry and kinda like Hornsby but where the hell is Bruce? Now that's all I've got to say.

Uh oh, more Fake Jerry singing Scarlet. It's nicely rockin', though. Bobby's back-up vocals let you remember he's on stage, too, and this isn't just some cover band... oooo, but it is, isn't it? Ha, to some people, sure but, ya know, I'm not gonna get into that argument here. Just wanna dig the music for whatever it is. Too bad this isn't a soundboard 'cause I'd be diggin' this a whole lot more. Sounds like there's some sweet Phil dosage goin' on here but it's not the easiest to hear. Maybe, just maybe, he'll give us a Sbd or two as he's done quite frequently with Phil & Friends. Who knows. Would be nice to actually hear Phil's individual notes and what Bob's doing on rhythm. With an average or even nicer Aud source, such as this one, that great playing half gets lost in the overall sound. Ah well. Still good listening as Scarlet makes the billionth transition (give or take a few hundred) into Fire. Bob must be takin' the rest of the night off from lead vocals 'cause there's more of John Kadlecik here. I'm lovin' Phil's bass as the oh so familiar notes are just so wonderful to hear. Same is true for Bob's rhythm guitar. And Chimenti is spot on playing Brent's Hammond B-3. Sweet. They really begin to smoke this! Wow! (I wish I had the SBD!)

St. Stephen is a musical masterpiece to a small degree. This guy Kadlecik is a freakin' Jerry jenius. Is it Furthur or is it Grateful Dead? As they roll into The Eleven, Lesh is on a roll, as well. He's non-stop and at times playin' so HUGE notes but because it's an AUD, you've gotta pay close attention. A soundboard would be soooooo sweet here but just close your dang eyes and enjoy it for what it is!

Bob's back on vocals for The Eleven and while I got used to hearing Kadlecik on vocals, Weir is definitely a relief from that. Mmm, nice to hear the Foxy Lady Jam in there. They did this on The Dead's Spring Tour... I wonder if that's been a Ratdog thing or just something they wanted to carry over despite it not being Warren Haynes on lead guitar this time. Very cool to hear and from what I read, this show marked an anniversary of James Marshall Hendrix's passing... I wonder if they even realized that? Maybe and that's why it was included. Whichever way, while it's not a long jam, it's inclusion is pretty cool.

Terrapin vocally disappoints me as again I'd rather hear Bob on lead vocals but musically it shines at times but struggles to be cohesive at others... but when it's spotty it finds its way back to perfection. Bob actually takes the last verse and coincidentally that's when Phil's playing really gets kicked up a notch. Mmm, a nice ending that's pure gold. Thanks, Bob!

To close the set is a good old fashioned smokin' NFA. It's so nice to hear one that's not a 5 minute Good Night, Folks. This has some room for everyone to play and rock and have fun. The Grateful Dead could surely rock an NFA to close the second set but this is much better than a quickie good night version. They leave the crowd to carry on a good old fashioned "Know our love will not fade away" clap and chant. That, coupled with the Touch Of Grey encore, is such a fitting end to this show. Here's Bob & Phil in September of 2009, not fading away and still getting by. Hell yeah!

Furthur 9/18/09 @ the Internet Archive: as of 9/19/09, it's not there.

download it here Audio Quality: Lineage: (quite possibly) Neumann skm 140s-> Sound Devices 722-> Resample-1.8+(24/192->16/44.1khz); minor glitch fixes w/ cooledit. 9/18/09 - Part 1 ♦ Part 2 - 9/18/09 Fox Theater - 9/18/09 - Part Three

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