Chicago - The last show for the Dead | The Boneyard

Chicago - The last show for the Dead

boba

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After spending an hour online this morning I could only score a 3 day ticket behind the stage. Because I was trying to get tickets for friends and relatives too, I made the mistake of ordering 4. We should have ordered one each and perhaps been lucky to get a better seat. Wouldn't sit together but we could at least see the old codgers. Na ja, es geht so.
Anywho... $800 later I scored 4 tix in the 250 section (as did another friend in 354). Then I saw this:
StubHub Prices.
Mein Gott! Are they that popular still? I saw them in MSG the past two Furthur tours, and god how many when Jerry was still kicking it. (200? lots of shows at Shoreline and Oakland with trips to Sacramento, Phoenix, and Lost Wages) I wasn't planning on going to this show but friends got hotel rooms and I'll soon be going back home (Ess bay area) so I need the last show cred. I'll be among a million who said they were there.
 

8893

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Pardon the pun, but they screwed this thing up to a fare-thee-well. We sent in a couple mail orders among my friends. I got rejected and two friends are still waiting to hear--no confirmation e-mail, no rejection, nothing. I wasn't going to try for the Ticketmaster on-sale because I was pretty frosted with the ineptitude and feeling like it didn't portend good things for the shows themselves, and because I've grown increasingly skeptical that these will, in fact, be the last shows. Just too much money to be left on the table to think that they won't find some way to add more shows, before or after. Anywho, I decided to try yesterday for sh/ts and giggles. Got a 12-minute wait message at 11:00 (turned out to be less than 10 minutes) and came up empty. Tried a few more times throughout the day with no success. No way and I going with no view.

I'm adamantly against scalping, but I will be interested to see what happens if more shows are added and the bottom drops out of the secondary market for the Chicago shows.

Apparently there is still a slight chance that one of the yet-to-be-rejected-or-confirmed mail orders will be filled and we will be in, but at this point I am actually hoping against it and planning on getting the sure-to-be-announced PPV or webcast instead.
 

phillionaire

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I managed to snag tickets in the mail order. All three nights either floor or pit. So stoked.
 

8893

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Good on both of you. I hope it delivers and I'll stop selfishly rooting against it. That was very un-Deadhead-like of me. If we get them through the mail order I'll look forward to joining you there.
 
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Huge fan, but I'm really not sure this would be worth the trouble. I don't know how Anastasio will fit in with the rest of the band, but highly doubt he fits in the way John Kadlecik does. Nice snub of him, too, BTW. Adding him was the best incarnation of the group in 20 years, easy. Some of the earlier attempts were horrendous. That's about what I'm expecting of this.
 

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Huge fan, but I'm really not sure this would be worth the trouble. I don't know how Anastasio will fit in with the rest of the band, but highly doubt he fits in the way John Kadlecik does. Nice snub of him, too, BTW. Adding him was the best incarnation of the group in 20 years, easy. Some of the earlier attempts were horrendous. That's about what I'm expecting of this.
Not sure whether it will be worth the trouble either, but disagree with the JK praise. Loved the note-for-note fake Jerry thing when he was with DSO and I could see a show locally for $20. Didn't like putting the cover band guy in the real band. Note-for-note reproductions are one thing if you are a cover band (which is what DSO is), but genuine inspiration for original, spontaneous playing within a theme is what attracted many, including me, to the Grateful Dead's music in the first place, and JK simply doesn't have that gene.

I think Trey was a great choice. I think he will approach it with a proper degree of reverence, but also with enough creativity and chops of his own to add something spontaneous, creative and appropriate.

For my money, the best take on Grateful Dead music since August 1995 has been Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD). They are on fire right now and hitting many festivals in the spring and fall; also playing the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester in May. I doubt I'll be in Chicago in July, but I will definitely be in Port Chester in May.
 

phillionaire

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I think trey is gonna crush it with all of them. I'm not the biggest Phish fan but Trey is an amazing guitarist and if he's being honest in the interviews he's immersing himself in Jerry's musical style, so he should do a pretty good job with the band.
 

boba

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I think trey is gonna crush it with all of them. I'm not the biggest Phish fan but Trey is an amazing guitarist and if he's being honest in the interviews he's immersing himself in Jerry's musical style, so he should do a pretty good job with the band.
Hitler does not agree.
 

August_West

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Trey was will knock this out of the park. Best choice the could've made.

Looking forward to the shows. It is also like a high school reunion because all the tour rats I saw 100's of shows in the 80s have come out of the woodwork in a way that hasn't happened even since GD were around ( so mAny of us dropped off in 90s when Jerry's decline was apparent and the scene turned to crap and a ton didn't bother much with phil, ratdog, furthur etc....)
 

August_West

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Oh and no more shows. These guys don't like each other much. No matter how big the payday.
 

8893

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Trey was will knock this out of the park. Best choice the could've made.

Looking forward to the shows. It is also like a high school reunion because all the tour rats I saw 100's of shows in the 80s have come out of the woodwork in a way that hasn't happened even since GD were around ( so mAny of us dropped off in 90s when Jerry's decline was apparent and the scene turned to crap and a ton didn't bother much with phil, ratdog, furthur etc....)

Yeah, the chance to reconnect with friends was a big motivator for me, as was the offer of an apartment, Cubs season tickets (day game Friday) and the fact that Fitzgerald's has its annual Americana music fest that weekend, which is a worthy destination unto itself.

Oh and no more shows. These guys don't like each other much. No matter how big the payday.

I don't think any will follow, but I wouldn't be surprised if they add a show or two prior in the Bay area. Lots of rumors about Levi's and/or AT&T in late June. I've read Shapiro's denials, but they are not absolute (i.e., "no extra dates planned...").
 
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I'm a deadhead and when I saw this announced I was dissapointed. Nothing but a blatant cash grab IMO. There is no dead without Jerry. He was the soul of the band. Kinda like the Beatles reuniting without John - it's not the Beatles, no matter what they call it.
 

phillionaire

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I'm a deadhead and when I saw this announced I was dissapointed. Nothing but a blatant cash grab IMO. There is no dead without Jerry. He was the soul of the band. Kinda like the Beatles reuniting without John - it's not the Beatles, no matter what they call it.
i was too young to see the dead play when jerry was alive so this is the closest i'll get haha. i'm excited.
 
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So you never saw Further? Rat Dog? The Dead (feat: Warren)? Feel the 'cash grab' rant is old. I have been over 60 Dead shows - 80 Phish shows.....I know exactly what I signed up for in Chicago over July 4th. Does not matter if you're not into. Silly to deny that it will be one hell of a time.
 
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Not sure whether it will be worth the trouble either, but disagree with the JK praise. Loved the note-for-note fake Jerry thing when he was with DSO and I could see a show locally for $20. Didn't like putting the cover band guy in the real band. Note-for-note reproductions are one thing if you are a cover band (which is what DSO is), but genuine inspiration for original, spontaneous playing within a theme is what attracted many, including me, to the Grateful Dead's music in the first place, and JK simply doesn't have that gene.

That may be, but the fact is, before JK, they basically pretended Jerry's part didn't exist.
 

8893

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That may be, but the fact is, before JK, they basically pretended Jerry's part didn't exist.
I don't agree with that, either. They previously had various people (e.g., Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Trey, Steve Kimock, etc.) playing lead with their own interpretations on how to fill that space. To each their peach, but I prefer live creations to recreations. JK does an amazing job at recreating, I'll give him that.
 
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I don't agree with that, either. They previously had various people (e.g., Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Trey, Steve Kimock, etc.) playing lead with their own interpretations on how to fill that space. To each their peach, but I prefer live creations to recreations. JK does an amazing job at recreating, I'll give him that.
Never cared for any incarnation post 1995. JK may be a re-creation, but I get more of a Dead vibe with him than anything previously. The really early post-Jerry stuff was flat out terrible. I saw them with the Black Crowes at SPAC in like 97 or so and considered leaving before it was over.
 

8893

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Never cared for any incarnation post 1995. JK may be a re-creation, but I get more of a Dead vibe with him than anything previously. The really early post-Jerry stuff was flat out terrible. I saw them with the Black Crowes at SPAC in like 97 or so and considered leaving before it was over.
I don't disagree with any of that. The first few times I went back after 8/95 I left feeling worse because it just made the loss of Jerry more striking. And I agree that seeing DSO with JK for $15 at Toad's on a weeknight gave me more satisfaction--even if mostly nostalgic--than any of the post-Jerry Dead amalgamations. But when the Dead added JK and essentially became their own cover band--except a lot more money and larger, more distant venues--it really dropped off for me.

Now that I've gotten into JRAD, I'm really enjoying hearing fresh takes on this music.
 

phillionaire

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I don't disagree with any of that. The first few times I went back after 8/95 I left feeling worse because it just made the loss of Jerry more striking. And I agree that seeing DSO with JK for $15 at Toad's on a weeknight gave me more satisfaction--even if mostly nostalgic--than any of the post-Jerry Dead amalgamations. But when the Dead added JK and essentially became their own cover band--except a lot more money and larger, more distant venues--it really dropped off for me.

Now that I've gotten into JRAD, I'm really enjoying hearing fresh takes on this music.
JRAD is the bomb. PhilRAD on NYE was really good. There are some nice videos of it on youtube


like this
 
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8893

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JRAD is the bomb. PhilRAD on NYE was really good. There are some nice videos of it on youtube like this

Yeah, I bought the PhilRAD NYE live webcast and went to the first of the most recent JRAD shows at Brooklyn Bowl, which iirc featured 15 band debuts and was amazing. I wanted to catch the Providence show that ended their brief East Coast tour that followed but the weather conspired against it. I am ticketed for their sold-out show at the Capitol Theater in May and looking forward to it. I've been watching Marco in various bands for a while now, as well as Russo, who I knew was a beast; but I think the biggest revelation for me has been Scott Metzger's work on the Bobby vocals, as well as his rhythm and lead guitar playing. I've been enjoying seeing him with various Anders Osborne and Phil groupings for a few years now, too, but I never would have expected that he would make me have a greater appreciation for Bobby songs than Bobby himself.
 
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So you never saw Further? Rat Dog? The Dead (feat: Warren)? Feel the 'cash grab' rant is old. I have been over 60 Dead shows - 80 Phish shows.....I know exactly what I signed up for in Chicago over July 4th. Does not matter if you're not into. Silly to deny that it will be one hell of a time.
The thing is, Further, RD etc. never held themselves out as the Grateful Dead. These shows are being touted as the last time the original members of the Grateful Dead will perform together, when the reality is that happened 20 years ago. I'm sure it'll be a good time, and I imagine it will be so successful that they take it on tour nationally.
 

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