Grateful Dead - Fare Thee Well

[Fourplay]

Hey All,

Not sure anyone else round these parts is following this, but here are the setlists of the two Santa Clara Grateful Dead shows:

Saturday 6/27/15
Set One: Jam -> Truckin’, Uncle John’s Band, Alligator -> Cumberland Blues, Born Cross-Eyed > Cream Puff War, Viola Lee Blues

Set Two: Cryptical Envelopment -> Dark Star -> St. Stephen -> The Eleven -> Turn On Your Love Light -> Drums/Space -> What's Become Of The Baby -> The Other One - > Morning Dew

Encore: Casey Jones

Sunday 6/28/15
Set I: Feel Like A Stranger, New Minglewood Blues > Brown Eyed Women, Loose Lucy, Loser, Row Jimmy, Alabama Getaway, Black Peter, Hell in a Bucket

Set II: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo > Jam > Wharf Rat > Eyes of the World > He’s Gone > Drums* > Space > I Need a Miracle > Death Don’t Have No Mercy > Sugar Magnolia

Encore: Brokedown Palace

* – with Sikiru Adepoju

I watched these with friends in Vermont. The streams were not perfect with occasional interruptionsGrateful in music and video. The production was excellent when it was working. In general the band was very good to great with Trey Anastasio from Phish on lead guitar. Bruce Hornsby & Jeff Chimenti were also along to enjoy the ride with the so-called "core four" Dead members. Surprisingly, the Friday opener was more epoch by a longshot than the 2nd night. I would be surprised to hear any argument on that assessment. The setlist was stellar Friday night, and the playing was by and large more consistently excellent.

I was not in a place with a surround system, but I would be surprised if there were not more of a surround mix on the final and inevitable Blu-ray than just audience and ambience. Perhaps someone else here can speak to that point.

I will be in Chicago if anyone wants to meet up.

Happy trails!

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I will be in Chicago if anyone wants to meet up.

Happy trails!

Thanks for the info. I wanted to go to one of those Santa Clara shows this weekend, but health issues thwarted that idea. Ticket prices came down to earth as low as $20-$30 according to the local news. It was held in a brand new "state of the art" Stadium that has built in Wi-Fi every so many rows and its own App. It's where Super Bowl 50 will be next year. At the beginning of Saturday's show the local news showed a Purple rainbow in the sky right above the stadium and the weather was perfect here. Many generations of people there going to the shows. I only saw the Grateful Dead once in Oakland, October 9, 1976, with the original The Who as headliners at one of those "Day on the Green" concerts. There is a free official Grateful Dead Roku App with years of free live shows on it for anyone interested.

Have a great time! It should be fun.

 

[hwkn]

I watched last nights show on Pay Per View and it was a good one.My only complaint was no 5.1 mix[I listened to it in multi channel stereo on my receiver......it's not 5.1 but it'll do].......there's been no 5.1 either night and there probably won't be tonight either[though i've read elsewhere there is a 5.1 mix but Uverse doesn't seem to be broadcasting it].

 

[Fourplay]

Friday, 7/3/15

Set One: Box Of Rain, Jack Straw, Bertha > Passenger, The Wheel > Crazy Fingers > The Music Never Stopped

Set Two: Mason's Children > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain > Drums > Space > New Potato Caboose > Playing In The Band > Let It Grow > Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower (somewhere is the set was a West LA Fadeaway tease/jam, but I forget exactly where)

Encore: Ripple

Saturday, 7/4/15

Set One: Shakedown Street, Liberty, Standing On The Moon, Me & My Uncle, Tennessee Jed, Cumberland Blues, Little Red Rooster, Friend Of The Devil, Deal

Set Two: Bird Song, The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), Lost Sailor > Saint Of Circumstance, West L.A. Fadeaway, Foolish Heart, Drums > Space > Stella Blue > One More Saturday Night

Encore: U.S. Blues

These shows have been excellent. Not perfect, but the Dead were never about perfection. The spirit of improvisation is alive and well, lead guitarist Trey Anastasio is blending well with the music, and the crowds are pretty happy. Crowds, or as I have been calling us, the throngs of mobs. Getting around is an exercise in shuffling a millimeter at a time in many cases. But I am glad to be here, as this has been an important part of my life. Ken Kesey and others have said "you can't quit the mob," and it's a little like that (without the violence).

One more night to go!

 

[Fourplay]

This is probably old news for those who really care, but for the sake of completeness here is the final Setlist from Chicago, Sunday, 7/5/15:

Set One: China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Estimated Prophet, Built To Last, Samson & Delilah, Mountains Of The Moon > Throwing Stones

Set Two: Truckin', Cassidy, Althea, Terrapin Station > Drums > Space > Unbroken Chain, Days Between > Not Fade Away

Encore: Touch Of Grey

Encore2: Attics Of My Life

One published account states: "Soldier Field officials have revealed Sunday's final broke the attendance record for the venue. 71,000 attended (Sunday's) show which beat out the record previously held by Saturday night's concert (70,844) which beat out Friday's record-setting performance (70,764). In addition, the concerts generated over $750,000 for Grateful Dead-related charities, $526,000 through an auction of a signed guitar that Bob Weir played on-stage in Santa Clara."

It is confusing to me that all three nights did not have the same attendance, since all three nights were "sold out" and there were an over-abundance of fans clamoring to get into each show. This suggests to me that some of the scalped tickets went unused, which is really a shame. There was not just a little profiteering going on around these shows, and it was purely at the expense of the fans. Some of this is just down to supply and demand, but some of it must fall at the feet of the band themselves, because they inked the deal that allowed some of it to happen.

Scalping is hard to beat, although some have had good success. In 2007 Tom Waits did a tour with a two ticket limit, and each purchaser had to be present with the credit card used for purchase to receive their ticket and a wrist band at the door after which they were compelled to go right into the venue. Heavy handed yes, but it really limited scalping.

As for the Dead, they had in place a perfectly functioning system of in-house ticket sales, but only 10% of tix were sold this way. Bears season ticket holders were guaranteed first right of refusal for the same tix they hold for Bears games, and many took tickets they had no intention of using to scalp them. Then there was Ticketmaster. Don't get me started. Among their sleazy tactics was resale of their own tickets through their website months after the on-sale at prices elevated well above face value. As for raising money for charity, OK, sell a guitar, but don't charge extra money on an excessive ticket price and then give it away. Another gouge of the fan, as far as I am concerned. And there are no figures available for the profits ticket agencies and others received for their scalping efforts.

I don't mean the above to sound like a rant, though it probably does.

The band will next sell the recordings:

http://www.relix.com/news/detail/fare_thee_well_chicago_to_be_released_on_dvd_and_blu_ray

This is fair enough as it costs to produce the product, and I hope for a surround mix that is better than audience/ambience.

My final thoughts on the shows. Attending was in many ways an act of endurance, but for those such as myself who felt compelled to attend, and who did get in somehow, the effort felt well worth all the associated BS. There was a great vibe in the venue for most of the three nights. Some people felt disappointed at the song selection, particularly for the 2nd set of the final show. I did not, and it was because years ago the Dead themselves taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned: if you have no expectations, you will not experience disappointments. Open up and accept all that life gives, good and bad, and just meet it with the best energy you can muster.

Not bad for a rock & roll band.

They may be Dead, but they have left me forever Grateful. For them, for this forum... for my crazy walk through the long strange trip of life. OK, 'nuff said.