cassidyrose | Dec. 6th, 2002

I was reminded last night why I typically do not wear jeans to indoor concerts, particularly ones where it is likely to be very hot and humid inside and where I wil be dancing a lot.

Sweaty jeans are gross and uncomfortable.

The Other Ones rocked last night. I will post a set list once I obtain a definitive one. Concert started at roughly 7:45 and ended at 11:30, with a short break in between sets when Robert Hunter played .
Some highlights were:

"Scarlet Begonias" which sounded heavenly and full of energy.

They opened with a rousing "Aiko, Aiko" which was great to hear, even if it was odd to hear it in the first set.

Bill and Mickey were both in fine form and it was glorious seeing all four drumsticks going at once.

I was very happy to hear"Eyes of the World". It is one of my favorite Dead songs lyrically, even though I don't care for the musical arrangement all that much.

They closed with "Franklin's Tower" which is one of my overall favorite Dead songs and it was wonderful. Nearly everyone in the place was dacning frenetically during this and it was great to see and experience.

Robert Hunter played"Standing on the Moon" which I haven't heard live since the summer Jerry died (I saw the Dead perform it at their last run of Shoreline shows two months before he died).

Robert Hunter also played "Ripple" which I have never seen performed live and it is one of my favorite songs.

We were surrounded by cool people.

The bear man was there!!! He's the guy who wears this smock of faux-fur with a light-up dancing bear on it and a light-up globe-type thing and dances all throughout the venue. He's been at every dead or dead-related show I have ever been to, including Phish shows. He makes me happy.

The crowd's energy was great!

Seeing a kid who must have been all of nine there with his dad dancing up a storm and obviously recognizing most the songs.

The band's playing was very tight and they came back from jams with amazing accuracy and clarity.

Some lowlights were:

Having to park many blocks from the arena due to all the parking lot spaces being filled way early mostly by people just camping out.

Being informed while waiting in line that no backpacks were to be allowed in. I had already emptied all my purse items into my backpack at home. Grr. I was really pissed off for some time (as were many other folks--who the hell thought to prohibit backpacks at a dead show for fucks sake?). Dad had to take my bag back to the car while we held our place in line. I will add that nowhere on the tickets, the dead's site, or the venue's site was it specified that this stupid restriction was being put into place. I will be writing a letter.

Second set opener of "Strawberry Fields Forever". 'Nuff said. The Dead just cannot do Beatles songs. Granted, it was better than "Tomorrow Never Knows", but it was still pretty bad. The Dead are great with Dylan songs and blues songs, but the Beatles. Ouch. Just Ouch.

The women's restrooms kept running out of TP.

You could cut the smoke (pot, tobacco, incense, and sage) with a knife. I was coated in smoke. Yeach. All the tobacco smoke was really bad.

The route to and from the balcony-area (where we sat---no squished floor seating for me thankyouverymuch)- is a long and winding, windowless, low-ceilinged (as in under 7ft) ramp. You can't see how much further you have to go and it is very claustorphobic. Fortunately, the mass exodus after the show moved fairly quickly. This is fortunate as I was only a few minutes away from a full-on panic attack and had the crowd stopped moving I would have immediately had the attack.

All in all I had a very good time and it was great to hear so many of Jerry's songs played. Seeing Robert Hunter was a kick as well.

In some bad news, the heater is broken in our (not really ours, but the one we are residing in) house and the repair-guy can't figure out what is wrong. Grrr. In better news, the contractor starts work on the kitchen roof next week and we will be getting a skylight.