Myusic in My Mind

There are some Dead shows that seem like they’d sound best around a campfire. Tonight in East Rutherford, the boys went another route.

The Dead w/ Branford Marsalis at the Izod Center in New Jersey.

It was Space Out night at the Izod Center, with The Dead offering up some of their more distant tunes. That’s not to say we weren’t drawn right into the middle of it, however. With Branford Marsalis sitting in on alto and soprano sax, the boys found their groove and treated us to a gem of an evening. Here are some thoughts.

They opened with “Touch of Grey,”  which got the still-sparse crowd involved from the beginning. (Note: if you’re going to any of these shows, get inside on time. The time printed on your ticket is just about when they’ll take the stage.)

From there, “Pride of Cucamonga” and “Crazy Fingers” were nice, but didn’t quite grab me. Things started to pick up with “The Music Never Stopped,”" however, leading into a tremendous “Deal.” My brother-in-law called it the best version he’d ever heard. I’ll say it was the peak of the evening, though not the only highlight. Great energy and a nice long jam.

Was that a Dark Star hanging over the band?

From there, they went into “Days Between,” sung beautifully by Warren Haynes. “Casey Jones” then closed out the set.

After a 45 minute set break, they came back with “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” into “Doin’ That Rag.” We’ll call that our second highlight. Again, Warren shined on this one, making me feel like Jerry, though not replaced, was well represented on stage. As the jam wore on, Marsalis offered up an outstanding solo, sending the crowd into a funk dream-state.

We were cooking. From there, the boys went into “Ramble On Rose,” with full audience participation, singing along and bobbing in unison. Branford Marsalis again made his mark, fitting in so beautifully that you almost can’t imagine how they’d perform without his passionate reedy whine.

Next up, a spaced out “Terrapin” into Drums and Space. All were strong, especially Drums>Space, which featured a drum and bass groove and vocal samples. It almost sounded as if someone was spinning on stage with them. As it progressed, Space got into Pink Floyd territory for a while. I thought they might break into something from The Wall and my sister said she half expected to see a giant pig go floating across the stage. Granted, in this time of swine flu fears, maybe it was better to pass on that.

Spacey night with The Dead.

As they pulled out of Space, the band finished up Terrapin and then blasted into “The Wheel” and then a crowd pleasing “I Know You Rider.” Warren and Bobby were both on fire and Jeff Chimenti also threw out a hell of a solo. I knew it would be their last song of the set and I was fine with it. They went out on a high note and just about any encore would suffice. That’s basically what we got, with the upbeat “Women Are Smarter.” Not a whole lot to say about this one. It was plenty fun and my sister was particularly psyched to hear it. But hey, she had to drive us home, so I suppose she deserved it!

Final thoughts: The Dead definitely sound good, but it did take them a little bit to hit their stride. Also, Marsalis added a whole lot to this show tonight, to the extent that I don’t know if they would have been nearly as good without his presence. Also, they seem to have abandoned the three-part harmonies on Jerry parts that they used with Phil, Bobby and Warren on 3/30.

Anyway, beautiful show. I’m just sad that I won’t be seeing them again on this tour. Even if I wanted to, I just don’t have the funding. Enjoy if you’re show is yet to come. It’s great to have them back.