from someone I do not know on another board---I thought this was fairly well written and someone might want to see it......
Lot scene was surprisingly mellow and largely wookfree. Not a huge scene by any means and not a large variety of goods either. I did get a tie dye onesie for my new baby. There seemed to also be an element of people not necessarily that familiar with the dead thing and getting their first taste of things (which is all fine and good).
The china cat opener was alright, wasn't really taking me anywhere too much and the transition into born crosseyed wasn't really seemless by any means, but you have to hand it to the guys for trying to shake things up with setlists that are unusual and reaching for something new. The jam out of the BCE'd was going places, nice spacey places which is another element to this band worth noting. Lots of meltdownish jamming. It's also not the same old pointless jamming, but more focused than previous outings.
As for the Built To Last, I have to give props to Warren. The man is in fine voice and does the Jerry songs with justice. I, for whatever reason have difficulty appreciating Bobby or Phil singing the Jerry songs, it just doesn't really sound right to my ears, but Warren takes those songs and it sounds good to me. He does have strong vocal chops and he does put his own spin on it, so to me it's good stuff.
The Pride of Cucamonga was great and Phil and Warren have a tight musical connection that really came thru on the blues oriented jam section of this song. The set was really starting to pick up quite a bit of momentum at this point and I think bobby hit it out of the park with the I Need A Miracle in the next slot. It was a great choice of tunes at the right time and the crowd responded in kind. The Wang Dang took a bit of getting used to with the new arrangement on it that did not rely on the traditional riff as much.
I enjoy the way Warren is able to hang back and let Bobby do his thing. Bobby's guitar is very audible and the interplay between him and Warren is getting very strong. I've enjoyed listening to the progression of this tour and to witness it last night was confirmation that this band is pretty tight. I am a big fan of Weir's rhythm prowess and the fact that Warren gives him tons of room to do his thing has been cool.
The West LA was a slow darkish groove that slithered around into some dark places. Bobby and Warren sharing the vocal parts was pretty cool too. I was glad that they had enough respect for eachother to share like that. I enjoyed this one and the jam section between the verses seemed to last forver because it was at such a slow pace.
Which leads me to my thoughts about Chimenti. Previously, for whatever reason I did not really appreciate his playing. However, on this tour he has proved me wrong. What a great keyboard rig he has going with a baby grand piano, B3, Fender Rhodes and synth. The B3 he's swirling to some great places, and on the piano he's been quite tasteful even sounding Keithesque. He's definitely the right fit for this band and in general everything sounds right in this band with no instrument dominating too much and everything pretty balanced. I guess I could be more happy with a bit more Phil in the mix, but just a touch and everything does sound very balanced and Jeff is a significant factor in that.
I enjoyed the Liberty and really would have been happy with the set ending on that song, as I thought the Watchtower was sort of over the top, but the crowd seemed to really appreciate Warren's searing leads on this one.
The acoustic set was pretty cool, though I think it sort of sucks the energy out of the start of the second set to start it with an acoustic set. I'm more in preference to seconds sets that start out with a bang. It did have it's moments and Warren on the Into the Mystic is very cool to me. Bobby's choice of Mexicalli quite appropo.
The drums section was a similar theme that they've been doing on this tour. It added Jeff on some synth stuff and had sort of a drone theme happening in it. I have been more impressed with some of the other drum segments, but this one was highlighted with Mickey on the beast beating the big drums with vigor. In general, I thought the RD's were not 100% on top of their game at this show with some endings sort of blown by the drummers and some extra beats thrown in here and there. They didn't blow the show by any means, but they weren't as focused as the rest of the band imo.
Aiko was not what I was necessarily happy seeing, but it got the crowd moving and Bobby ended the tune well. Warren did do justice to the Standing on the Moon. He was great on that one imo. GDTRFB was a rocking closer. However, this second set didn't really do it for me in general. It was alright, but by the encore, I was sort of on the fence about how much I wanted to stay there and how much I wanted to go to bed. The Imagine encore wasn't really what was going to keep me there, so I started heading out. I stayed for the Box encore, but I was mostly out of the building by that point.
I woke up this morning feeling pretty refreshed and energetic, so in general that show did it's job. It does leave me wanting a little more though, so despite the fact that I really thought I would not go to the show today, I am vying for ways to get me to the show again tonight. Though with a newborn at home, the chances are slim, I'm going to give it a try.
http://www.thecausejams.com
let your life proceed by its own design....
