bodiddley wrote:I disagree strongly with that statement. I didn't care for Vince and generally dislike the bulk of post-Brent, but come on, they did some amazing stuff after Brent. So I guess some of my favorite GD is when a few cylinders weren't firing. Do you ever actually listen to some of this stuff with open ears?
These comments concern more of the classic catalog of songs that they carried with them all the way to the end like Playin', UJB, China Cat, Scarlet etc...but it seems to me IMHO that the last few years the peaks they encountered musically were not as visceral as they were in earlier years. In the first 20 years of playing a song you can let it rip and sometimes it was brilliant and others not so much but after a number of years they learned all the little "tricks" to get the crowd reved up. For example China cat > Rider, earlier incarnations were more unpredictable and therefore more hit and miss but later versions were more consistent with the appropriate ones and cues being hit. They were kind of "phoning it in". Do you not think that the music (the Jerry/Bob show) had just run it's course over the course of so many years/shows/tours/every blue light cheap motel.
Is it possible for a band to be creative, en fuego, write new material, keep the classics fresh, replace valued members, play 80 shows a year, get along with each other and enjoy it for 30 years or more? I honestly don't think so, can you name a band that has? The Stones? They aren't even a real band anymore. McCartney? Same deal.
Perfection is fleeting and nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.
