Comes A Time
Sat Sept 24, 2005
Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA
David Nelson (Acoustic Guitar & Vocals), Sandy Rothman (Banjo & backup vocals),
& Brian Godchaux (violin)
7 songs, 30 minutes
Sourwood Mountain
If I Lose
Rosa Lee McFall
Oh, The Wind and Rain
Gone Home
Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie
Barefoot Nellie
String Cheese (Jason Hann, Michael Kang, Keith Moseley, Bill Nershi, with Scott
Law on guitar:
5 songs, 30 minutes
Friend of the Devil
Catfish John
Casey Jones (also w/Jeff Chimenti)
Goin'Down the Road Feelin' Bad
Ripple
The "Jerry" Band - Melvin Seals (Keyboards & Vocals), Gloria Jones
(Vocals), Jackie LaBranch (Vocals), Stu Allen (Guitar, Vocals), Marty Holland (bass),
Bruce Spencer (drums), Donna Jean for a few songs
5 songs, 30 minutes
Cats Down Under The Stars
Rhapsody In Red
That Lucky Old Sun
My Sisters & My Brothers
*Deal
*with Billy Kreutzmann, Warren Haynes, Merl Saunders joined Melvin Seals on keys
Ratdog
4 songs, 30 minutes
Mississippi 1/2 Step
Bird Song
Lazy River Road
Big Railroad Blues
Rex Foundation speakers
Rex Executive Director, Sandy Sohcut
President of the Rex Board
Annabelle Garcia, and family speak briefly
The Jerry Garcia Tribute Band
Core band: Bob Weir (Guitar, Vocals)
Drums: Jay Lane on Help thru Eyes, Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart on Scarlet thru
the end
Keys: Jeff Chimenti, Bruce Hornsby both played & switched off. Bruce sang lead
and backup often.
Guitar: Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, Trey Anastasio in various combinations, alone,
in pairs, and all together at times. Mark Karan on a few songs.
Bass: Robin Sylvester (Ratdog) handled most of the bass duties, plus J.V. Collier
(Horsby Band) on some songs
Also: Kenny Brooks (Ratdog) on saxophone for a few songs.
Lead Vocals: first name listed in parentheses below
Backup vocals: Gloria Jones, Jackie LaBranch, & Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay on
backup vocals. (At times, Donna was out there alone, and on some songs she sang
from a mic right next to Bobby at center stage).
8:10pm to 11:00pm
@Olin Arageed (Hamza El Din, Mickey)
%Help on The Way> Slipknot! (Trey, Jimmy)
Sugaree (Warren)
Loser (Bruce, Warren)
Brown Eyed Woman (Michael Kang, Donna, Bruce, Jimmy)
Dark Star (Bobby, Bruce, Jimmy, Kang)
Bertha (Warren, Jimmy)
Eyes of The World (Trey)
(Bobby intros a few folks)
Standing on The Moon (Bruce, Trey, duo only, no drums)
Scarlet Begonias (Bruce, Warren, Jimmy, Kang)
Fire on The Mountain (Mickey, Trey, Jimmy, Kang)
Stella Blue (Warren, Bruce, with Jimmy)
The Wheel (Bobby, Warren, Trey, Karan)
Uncle John's Band (All, Warren, Trey, Karan)
He's Gone (Bobby, Trey, Kang)
Franklin's Tower (Trey, Warren, Bruce, Kang)
Encores:
Brokedown Palace (Bobby, Warren, Bruce)
Dark Star v.2 (Bobby, Trey, Warren, Karan)
Touch of Grey (All, Trey, Warren, Karan, Kang)
Group bow
Mickey: "Take this spirit home with you..."
@with ~30 other percussionists/clappers in white robes including Bill Walton)
%Power failure, house sound goes completely out for a minute or two.
=========================================
You can see Bob Minkin's photos here:
http://vcpractice.com/jt1/index.html
=========================================
Blair Jackson's review from SCI list:
Blair Jackson: A truly wonderful afternoon/evening. The weather could
not have been better: gloriously sunny but not hot in the afternoon,
and pleasant in the evening (no fog). I'm sure there will be
nitpicking galore going on here, but none from me; I have no
complaints--except that the overwhelming presence of BEER made for a
chatty and distracted crowd...very disappointing. Back in the day beer
was not sold at the Greek or Frost and that was a good thing. I know,
I know..."Why shouldn't I be allowed to enjoy a beer with my friends?
I don't do anything bad!" Maybe YOU don't, but an awful lot of people
do--kind of shocking how loud a huge segment of the crowd was,
especially diuring the quieter acoustic acts...but really all the way
through. Too bad.
But what a musical bonanza! Starting out of the gate even a few
minutes early, with Sandy Rothman, David Nelson and Brian Godchaux
(yes, Keith's brother, who is close to Sandy, I believe, anda fine
fiddler). Sandy played banjo and mandolin, Nelson the guitar and lead
vocals, and they had a marvelously relaxed chemistry as they went
through a handful of tunes including "Gone Home," "Rosalie McFall,"
and, best of all, "Oh, the Wind and Rain," which was followed by a
fantastic jam. Just a couple of songs in I was thinking, "I'd buy a CD
of this!" Wonderful!
The String Cheese folks' acoustic reverie brought us a fine, "Friend
of the Devil," played at its origional clip; "Catfish John," also
done
at a brisker tempo than the Jerry Band version; "Casey Jones," which
was a real rockin' suprrise...predictably it built a great head of
steam by the end; "Goin' Down the Road," which gave Kang and Co. ample
opportunties for solos; and "Ripple," which I didn't expect to turn up
so soon in the show (I wondered for a sec...too soon? But actually it
felt perfect in the golden light of late afternoon in that temple of
great vibes with a chorus of 9,000 singing along.
The so-called "Jerry Band" definitely gets my vote as the most
pleasant surprise of the evening...Not sure who that singer/guitarist
was, but I really dug him--sang and played a lot of like JG but not in
an annoying or cloying way; just really heart-felt. Nice song
selection, too--especially "Rhapsody in Red," which was kickin'! And
it was so great hearing Melvin, Jackie and Gloria on "Cats" and "Lucky
Old Sun" (a bold choice, but they pulled it off). "My Sisters and
Brothers" was one of the first songs of the day where the crowd really
seemed locked in (IMO)...really fun. And then Warren's first song of
the day, playing wicked slide on "Deal," was a treat. This set also
contained one of the most emotional moments of the whole evening: Merl
Saunders, still partially paralyzed from a stroke, was introduced on
the side of the stage (where he watched the entire evening's
festivities) to a sustained standing O...which grew even louder near
the set's end when Melvin had him sit with him on the bench for
"Deal." He gave Merl a big, long hug, and I practically lost it...very
moving. Nice to see the love there. It was that kinda night.
Ratdog's set was short but extremely tasty, especially the "Bird Song"
and the unexpected ender, "Big Railroad Blues." Mark Karan was
incredible, really putting his all into every solo. He stepped up big
time at this show. Can't say enough good things about his playing.
Set breaks were pretty short...the whole thing was very well-run
(though I heard some comments about not keeping the aisles cleared
downstairs...I was in the bowl, where there was plenty of room for
dancing and the sound was excellent). Kudos to Another Planet for
their old-school Bill Graham-eque production...barely visible
security, a fast line not bogged down by excessive pack
searching...why it was almost as if 9/11 had never happened and we
could actually be trusted to enjoy a show without being treated like
terrorists! Anyway, Another Planet is very cool. (You may know that
they're former BGP folks, escapees from the Clear Channel empire.)
Back the music. Hamza and Mickey, BOTH in long flowing white robes,
kicked off the nearly three-hour final set. There were
singers/clappers on each side of the stage, all in flowing white as
well, and then a line of folks playing tars, including Bill Walton, in
a semi-circle onstage, as Hamza led everyone through "Olin Arageed." I
was struck once again by how extraordinary it is that we all get
together and listen to this magnificent ancient music, so foreign in
so many ways, and yet in this GD context it seems completely normal.
Loved it!
Ratdog was more or less the house band for the first half of the set,
with Robin Sylvester adding a LOT of thump and imaginative playing to
the proceedings, though I think Jay Lane was not quite up to the task
of giving a strong, solid underpinning to several songs that required
it, including "Help on the Way," which opened the electric portion,
with Trey on guitar. Trey and Bob were definitely locked in and easily
navigated the intricate weave of "Slipknot". An unfortunate technical
glitch had the P.A. non-functional for a few minutes of "Help"...a
drag, but when it kicked back in, what had been a sort of lazy pace
(again, I think it was the drumming) the song sounded much more
powerful. Just as "Slipknot" was going to go into "Franklin's"
Trey
left and Warren came on and delivered a fantastic "Sugaree." I always
love his singing (and playing); he was in fine form all night. Michael
Kang of SCI romped through "Brown-Eyed Women" with plenty o' pep and
verve.
For some reason, I had totaly forgotten that Bruce Hornsby was
involved so I was shocked when he suddenly turned up at the piano for
"Loser." "Dark Star" picked up from nothing and built to several
very
nice peaks. I never tire of hearing it and it's always a place worth
going. I'd like to hear that one back again, as I can't remember
details, but I know it was well done. Then, again unexpected, "Bertha"
came tumbling out of the cacophony, with Warren singing lead, and this
was another one where the crowd seemed to really come together
jubilantly as one. Yeah!
Trey did a nice job on "Eyes of the World"--his singing is kinda
nothing special, but at least he doesn't mess with Jerry's phrasing
and he's faithful to the melody and he TRIES. And his guitar
playing--all night--was sublime. Even though he'd been out on a few
songs already, he really killed me for the first time on the jam
following "Eyes," which was astonishingly good. That guy has serious
mojo; no doubt it. I was thinkin' what a great band that was: Weir,
Trey, Hornsby, Sylvester...
Forgot to mention that a trio of Jackie, Gloria and Donna sang backups
pretty much all night and sounded great; Donna occasionally came out
front, too, to sing backups....Also, at some point Mickey and Billy
took over the drums and the music immediately went WHOOOOSH! THAT's
what I'm talkin' about! That's power!
Then came the highlight of the show for me: "Standing on the Moon,"
which was essentially a duet between Bruce on piano (and vocals) and
Trey playing beautiful atmospheric guitar. (Bobby and Robin were also
contributing subtle touches). Just exquisite. Perfect! Bruuuuuuce! And
BH led into a rippin' "Scarlet Begonias"-- nice jam led by Jimmy
Herring, who I haven't mentioned yet, but who alo played great all
night...I think he was one of the movers on "Dark Star" and a couple
of other tunes. He was in excellent form...It was The Good
Jimmy...Mickey sang "Fire on the Mountain" and gave it his best
shot--definitely better than his usual spoken approach, and the
backups on the "Fire...fire on the mountain..." were potent and aided
by the crowd, of course.
Warren's "Stella"....again, just about perfect. There aren't many
people who can pull that off. He's one of 'em.
Then it was into the triumphant sing-along duo of "The Wheel" and
"Uncle John's Band," both fabulous and full of heart. "He's Gone"
was
lovely and sad at the same time...a reminder (as if we needed one)
that, yes, he's gone...but what a thoughtful elegy. It didn't bum me
out this time; there had been so much joy and love I wasn't dwelling
on our loss...And then, out of nowhere, "Franklin's Tower," which
started off kinda slow but went into overdrive by the end.
Bobby & Co. handled "Brokedown Palace" very tastefully...again, it
didn't seem sad, for some reason. Verse two of "Dark Star" emerged out
of the end of "Brokedown," one more unexpected treat, and then it
slammed into "Touch Of Grey" to close on an "up" note.
What a great time! It ALL felt special to me. Also wanted to mention
the backdrop: a giant guitar pick with Jerry's hand print on
it--occasionally it would be illuminated and the field of black
surrounding it lit with little white lights that made it look like a
star field...exquisite!
So that's my take. Let the carping be yours, I'm keeping mine to
myself for a change...
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