jw harding

Lot's of great stuff on Brent and other keyboard players, so can't respond to it all. I will add that if you read the Dead Essays blog, very little thought was given to choosing Keith's replacement. Brent just happened to be in the right place at the right time. With Vince, the Dead did want someone who could sing the high harmonies, think Richard Manuel of The Band. I think Garcia's comments on Brent after his death say quite a bit about his personality that a number of people have picked up on here: Brent had a deeply self-destructive streak. He didn't have much supporting him in te

Love Brent's energy, his Hammond, and how much Jerry got a kick out of him. But his vocals and angry personality were always a turn off for me, and his original tunes were dreadful for the most part, and just didn't fit into the Grateful Dead catalog and vibe. Other than Dear Mr. Fantasy>Hey Jude, not much I can listen too. Easy to Love you is ok, Blow Away, not much else. His backing vocal growl was also a bit overwhelming and didn't fit the songs. The post-Brent shows with Hornsby were really phenomenal. The last peak of their career, and the best stuff since the Keith and Donna er

To each their own. Though one vocalist we can all probably agree on is Donna, or as my 3 yo daughter put it "Daddy, why is that lady screaming?" We could really start a shit storm if we get a discussion going regarding feelings about Brent...

Have you heard Kadlcek sing? His vocals are worse than Phil's. Really makes it unlistanable, IMO. Dig Stu Allen, only seen him once with Melvin Seals/JGB. Great band, great music, fun time. I took a very anti-Grateful Dead friend to that show, and even he dug it. Just like seeing a bar band rip classic Beatles, Dylan, Motown covers.

Love the Quintent, and agree that is overall the most consistently excellent post Jerry Dead group. Only problem I had with them is there jams could be exhausting, and kind of just like the members flexing their muscles and showing off. But great group improv. The songs of the Dead, with the technical precision of Phish, with some Southern soul mixed in. Great combo. Other Ones/The Dead tended to be mixed, great highs and lows. Though the best post-Jerry show I saw was The Dead w/Warren at the Forum in LA. A rock and psychedelic masterpiece from start to finish. Even Bob stepped up th

Terrapin into St. Stephen? Never seen that combo before, gonna have to check that show out, rest of it sounds like the tits as well. That Dead Essays site is some of the best and most exhaustive writing/research on the Dead out there, including published books. Really excellent source.

Can you post the link for the more detailed seating map? Thanks.

I agree with all of this. Also got tix, Garden row 522, which I guess is a Garden box? Would've preferred a Best Available option, but just glad I got something after my last presale (San Diego), which included waiting about half an hour to find out I was denied tickets. If you enter your seat info in this link, it will show you your seats and your view of the stage, pretty cool!: http://www.hollywood...ating-chart.cfm

Full concert, opening for the Dead on 12/31/83. Would've been quite a party: http://youtu.be/30B1tb9g4GU

At 4:10 Levon does his dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi0ptk9L8uE

Levon only made it to Southern California once since his "comeback." Never forget that night, at the Greek Theatre in LA in August 2010, sitting on the edge of my seat, giddy with excitement. During a break between songs, a fan yelled out "LEVON...YOU...ARE...MY...FAVORITE...DRUMMER...EVER." It was audible to the entire crowd, got a great laugh, and I think the sentiment rang true to all those in attendance. Lots of highlights from that show: Ophelia, Shape I'm In, The Mountain w/Steve Earle (although I would've preferred Levon sang it), Levon's mandolin playing and dirty dancing during De

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdSkXMnYH9I

This. But would add that most jambands today are more influenced by Zappa, prog, jazz, fusion, etc., than by folk or the Dead. That doesn't make them suck, just makes most people think they suck. Just a different foundation that most people can't or aren't interested in relating to.

Wilco is not a jam band. I have seen Nels play in a jam band: Banyan. With Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, a trumpet player, and rotating cast of bass players including Mike Watt. Really stunning to see, especially in the small clubs they play in Southern California. I think it is just mostly off the cuff improv, but occasionally they jam out on tunes like Hendrix's Machine Gun, sans lyrics. Nels channeling Hendrix is like...seeing Hendrix in the 21st century. Wish Jane's would break up again so Banyan could get back together. Also, some jam bands are good, if you're into that k

If anyone finds any delicious youtubes, post links please.

In that link, stumbled across some nice videos posted by XRT from that run as well. Click on this and you'll find links to the others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNUG6-E2RQg&feature=related

Any recordings of this show turn up anywhere? Some good youtubes of Spiders and Impossible Germany on the interweb.

Anyone know any good bars before/after the show Friday night in downtown LA? A place where the hipster-dbag to civilian ratio will be somewhat tolerable? Just a couple of dudes looking for beer and good tunes. How is King Eddy Saloon?

You probably shouldn't go. I'll help you get rid of your ticket.

I saw Wilco back before the Casbah days. They are definitely different, and depending on your perspective better or worse now. I loved the venue. And as much as I love Wilco, if they played at any House of Blues, partlicularly the SD one, I would not go. The management there treats patrons like cattle, and last time I attended intentionally created a hazardous situation in order to get people to buy more drinks. Thankfully Wilco knows better than to play such corporate hell holes.

Used to see Wilco all the time when I lived in Chicago, but first time seeing them in about 3 1/2 years, last time in SD. I listen to shows occassionally, but that's not the same as seeing them live. Same great band, actually better than ever, but certainly different. At this show anyway they seemed to be all about the sprawling, epic, moody, intense numbers. The rockers/alt/folky stuff played a minor role, sometimes providing nice relief, but other times feeling out of place/contrasted. The venue was gorgeous, sound was immaculate, and although seats were toward the rear, still felt cl

Didn't read the Chicago thread, and don't do the facebook, can only comment on what is in this thread and what is my experience. But who knows, maybe Tweedy's place in the Hamptons needs a little work.

Who is saying that? I think everyone clearly understands that despite their presale being poorly set up, Wilco is not out to swindle anyone and has the best intentions. It is Ticketmaster and the scalpers out to screw us.

Similar presale problems were noted in the Western N. American tour 2012 thread: http://viachicago.org/topic/46537-western-n-american-tour-2012/page__st__40

For the SD show this morning, I was able to get through to ticketmaster immediately, which is nice. But despite my promptness, and believe me, I was refreshing, typing, and clicking as fast as humanely possible, I got stuck with 2 tickets in the last row on the main floor. If the presale had a very limited number of tickets, what happened to all the other tickets? I'm sure ticketmaster's resale site and scalpers who have their own special presales through ticketmaster will be doing very nicely with this event. I know of one scalper who was already selling tickets to this show last week.