[caspersvapors]

maybe I just didnt realize this when he first died but it finally hit me last night how hard it probably was for Vince. I was watching clips of him on youtube and I realized that theres hardly anybody in the crowd, then I went over to his site and saw this pic of his last performance in 2006. He was playing in some random bar. That mustve been so hard to go from the largest touring band in the world, to very small venues with hardly anybody showing up to the bottom of the totem pole as far as live performing is concerned...it makes me sad thinking about it...

anyway, RIP

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OgA6UMz_gA4

[lostsailor8782]

ummm ... no disrespect ... but a ... have you ever heard way to go home or samba ...I had a fit when I drove 8 million miles in six days to see four shows and saw them both twice and they were bad each time ..... may God bless his soul but I hated Vince in the Dead ... Easy Answers may have been a cool song had he not been hollering the backup vocals louder than everything else on stage and not that nicely either ... imagine Brents voice in that song ... it suddenly gets alot cooler does't it ??? This could turn out to be an unpopular post , especially since Vince is pretty popular around my parts, he sat in with EVERYBODY IN TOWN ...but I just had to say my piece ... "It's a long long long long....... heeeelllllllpppppppp

[jck_strw]

I feel for any band that once made it and then has to slum it for the rest of their careers. I just heard on the radio--The Doobie Brothers are in town! To play a fair! Woohoo. Or the time Def Leppard opened a Walmart in NC. Very sad to see how low they sometimes go.

But Vince sucked. Tragic that he's dead and went out the way he did, but that has no bearing on my opinion of him.

[caspersvapors]

honestly I liked his playing and backup singing most of the time, only stuff I didnt like was when put inappropriate effects on his keyboard

Brent is probably my favorite Dead keyboardist but he had lame songs too lol

[CaptainTrips]

Im sure Vince was a great guy and many people would think of him as a great keyboardist. But I didnt enjoy his music at all. He makes listening to late 90's Dead really hard to listen to. He is turned up way too loud, overpowering everyone else on the stage, his "backing" vocals never seemed to be in the back, his effects were hard on the ear, and even Jerry got annoyed when he would try to cop his licks and play them back. That doesnt change the way I think of him as a guy, Im sure he was great. But his music never impressed me. Listening to some shows in the 90's where Jerry is turned down so low and Vince is so high, is painful.

[jdasa]

Call me crazy, but I happen to really liked Samba in the Rain.

The jam section had so much potential, but, unfortunately, the tour got cut short before it could really mature.

As for the rest, I only saw the Vince incarnation of the band (with the exception of 2 shows with Bruce), so I appreciate him for what he was worth. But I do not listen to '91-'95 shows, unless they were shows I was at (for nostalgia purposes).

But his demise was certainly a sad story....

[cuznt]

I think after pigpen it might have been hard for keith at first. but maybe not.after years of brent (he really enhanced the grateful dead.) it is way hard to accept vince. 1st because loosing brent way hurt, i really feel he was as special as everyone in the dead. I too liked samba, but that does not excuse being over bearing. true jerry was near the end of his dragon chasing life and was very poor, yet even then he sometimes pulled it out and rocked. To see the way the some people treated him really disgusts me, yet the fact that he did not draw much of a crowd might lead one to believe his performances were less than good.

CaptainTrips wrote Im sure Vince was a great guy and many people would think of him as a great keyboardist. But I didnt enjoy his music at all. He makes listening to late 90's Dead really hard to listen to. He is turned up way too loud, overpowering everyone else on the stage, his "backing" vocals never seemed to be in the back, his effects were hard on the ear

i must agree totally.

[broomhead]

funny, when I started seeing the dead Brent was the new guy (though in retrospect he was the new guy till his death). Many had the same complaints about him, as hard as it seems to believe that now. He could light the place up with that swooshing Hammond. Jerry always seemed to get off playing with Brent.

Sadly I must agree, I just never got used to Vince's powerfull vocals. I also wasn't a fan of the sounds he chose or his direction on many solos. Excellent player just not my cup of tea.

But thats what made the dead..the dead. They tried new things, some worked and some didn't.
jb

[lostsailor8782]

good so we are pretty much in agreement ... Vince was way to damn loud and he pretty much sucked ... next

[IamDocWatson]

good so we are pretty much in agreement ... Vince was way to damn loud and he pretty much sucked ... next

same with brent...vocals included

[mutant_dan]

I think after pigpen it might have been hard for keith at first. but maybe not.after years of brent (he really enhanced the grateful dead.) it is way hard to accept vince. 1st because loosing brent way hurt, i really feel he was as special as everyone in the dead. I too liked samba, but that does not excuse being over bearing. true jerry was near the end of his dragon chasing life and was very poor, yet even then he sometimes pulled it out and rocked. To see the way the some people treated him really disgusts me, yet the fact that he did not draw much of a crowd might lead one to believe his performances were less than good.
.

I totally agree. BTW, great first post, right on the money.

Keep in mind that prior to Vince's suicide the Tubes were slated for a reunion tour. I am not sure how big of draw that would have been but I would have gone to check them out.

[BlobWeird]

same with brent...vocals included

Didnt like brent at first but now i completely disagree. Brent was the man!

[ker1227]

vince knew what he was getting him self into, he knew he would never be one of "the" keys players for the dead, so IMO, if he was hurting later on in his career, its because he got to full of himself when he was with the dead. Ex) bruce isnt doing so bad for him self and they were in the same boat.

[BlobWeird]

ker couldnt disagree more with that bruce comment. Bruce was no where near the same boat as vince. Bruce was a sub and thats it. He couldve been with the Dead but he chose not to. He was havin enough fun with his own band and wanted to try to make it on his own. which he is doin just fine to this day. I wanna go see Bruce actually. Gonna go look for dates right now

[bodiddley]

I want to go see Bruce too but he never comes around the Cleveland area for some reason. Funny, he played my old High School in Wisconsin last October but I couldn't swing it because I had a wedding to attend.

As far as Vince goes, I heard he suffered from issues before he even joined the Dead, that whole situation just made things worse. I didn't care for him but i do feel awful about the whole suicide thing.