A few months ago, a friend forwarded an e-mail to me advertising a Dark Star Orchestra show at The Palace Theater in Stamford. The accompanying text said something to the effect of “I’m not sure if you’re into this…” It was a really nice gesture to forward the e-mail, but it took a lot of restraint on my part to respond with a simple “no, but thanks”. I can probably write an entire essay explaining why I’m not into DSO, but I’ll try to make it brief. DSO promote themselves as “recreating the Grateful Dead experience”, but this statement is a contradiction in itself. The Grateful Dead were never about recreating anything. All 2,300+ shows that the Dead played were a unique experience with endless possibilities. The Dead were about experimentation and taking chances. And sure, the Dead sometimes struck out swinging, but more frequently their improvisational approach took fans on an unsurpassed musically excursion. Simply put, the band could create magic on stage. And in short, that’s why I’m not interested in DSO. I’m not interested in seeing a band that’s try to recreate something that’s irreplaceable.
So a few weeks after being forwarded this e-mail, what do I do? I buy tickets to see Further at MCU Park in Coney Island. Further is a band featuring Dead founders Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, and ironically enough, former DSO guitarist John Kadlecik. So after proclaiming my hatred for DSO, why would I buy tickets to see Further? Well for starters, Phil just turned 70 in March (and he’s on his second liver) and I don’t know how much longer I’m going to have the honor of seeing him perform live. I also figured that if this line-up is good enough for Phil (and Bobby), then it must be worth checking out. Now I must admit that I’m a huge Phil & Friends fan, particular the most recent incarnation with Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Steve Molitz and John Molo. I also enjoy seeing Bob Weir & Ratdog in concert. And having seen Phil and Bobby perform together as The Other Ones and as The Dead in 2004 and 2009, I have to say that I much prefer their solo projects to their post-1995 collaborations. Having said all of that, I was going into this Further show with an open mind.
So let me start with the positives. The sound at MCU Park was exceptional. From that perceptive, this may have been the best show that I’ve ever seen at an outdoor venue. I also thought that Bobby sounded phenomenal…maybe the best he’s sounded in 20 years. Both his vocals and guitar playing were for the most part outstanding. For me, this could be attributed to the fact that he didn’t play his custom Modulus G3FH all night. I know that guitar is equipped with all of the MIDI technology and effects that Bobby enjoys toying with, but at times I find that that guitar sounds metallic and even obnoxious. For the first part of the first set Bobby played a pink Stratocaster with a pink zebra print strap. For the remainder of the show Bobby played a Gibson ES-335. While we’re on the subject, Phil was back to playing his Modulus bass. With Phil and Friends, I actually think that I prefer the smoother sound of the Ritter bass, but I’ve never had any complaints with the Modulus. It’s worth mentioning that the initial graphics for the band featured a hybrid of Phil’s Ritter bass and Bobby’s Modulus G3FH, but has since been revised into an amalgamation of Phil’s Modulus and Bobby’s Gibson.
The show started off pretty strong with Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) – always a fun way to open a show. And sure, I’ve heard better versions, but this was a nice blast of Phil right out of the block combined with some cool organ playing by Jeff Chimenti. Next up was a real good version of Good Lovin’ which was played at a slower tempo giving it an almost calypso-like feel. Good Lovin’ also contained a nice jam with some cool interplay between Phil and Jeff. After Good Lovin’ came The Music Never Stopped which also started off slow with some funky rhythm guitar playing by Bobby. About midway through this song fell back into a more familiar tempo, but unfortunately I thought the climax lacked a little punch…a reoccurring theme throughout this show. Next was Sugar Magnolia, which was fairly ordinary. It was around this point in the show that I started to feel like John’s guitar sounded very thin. I don’t know if it was his effects or if he was low in the mix, but his tone seemed to lack fullness. After Sugar Magnolia the first set really took a turn for the worse. The Dear Mr. Fantasy just wasn’t that good. To me, Mr. Fantasy is a song that invites you to go after it, but this version seemed too restrained. John’s vocals were also pretty bad, although Jeff took a nice solo about midway through that saved this from being a disaster. Scarlet Begonias was also just alright and never seemed to recover after John fumbled through his initial solo. The jam out of Scarlet was also a little disjointed sounding and transitioned into Magnolia Mountain. I figured that this was a good time to grab a beer and while waiting on line, a self-proclaimed Ryan Adam’s fan turned to me and said, “nothing kills a set like a Ryan Adam tune”. My thoughts exactly! I just don’t get it. The first set ended with an ok rendition of Uncle John’s Band, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the set.
The second set opened with Unbroken Chain. Like the first set opener, I’ve seen better versions. I particularly thought that Jeff was overplaying and that the jams didn’t flow within the song. I also thought Phil’s vocal were a little weak. Now I know Phil isn’t known for his singing, but I’m more referring to the volume than the pitch. Unbroken Chain was followed by Let It Grow, which was undoubtedly the highlight of the show. The entire band kept driving this song forward and John played some nice MIDI sounding effects that worked extremely well. After Let It Grow, the show took another wrong turn. The slowed down version of The Other One really fell short. Phil did his best to hold it together, but John seemed to really struggle. The Fire on the Mountain that came next was probably the worst song of the night. Bobby’s guitar playing was incredibly tinny sounding, making the song almost unlistenable. At this point I was also getting tired of John trying to mimic Jerry’s guitar playing. The only cool thing about this song was the little 8-miles High tease from John near the end. After Fire came Blues for Allah. I know Deadheads get jazzed when bands play songs that the Dead rarely performed live, but I think there’s a reason why Blues for Allah was never in the rotation. Maybe it’s a good showcase for the bass and drums, but I’d prefer King Solomon’s Marbles any day. The show picked up a little bit after Blues for Allah with decent versions of Morning Dew and Eyes of the World. I thought Phil really carried these two songs and Jeff took a really sweet piano solo during Eyes. The show ended with Help on the Way, which was ok, Slipknot, which was a little sloppy, and Franklin’s Tower, which was way too fast (maybe they realized they were getting close to curfew). The encore was a nice take on Box of Rain. Even though we started to exit during the start of the encore, the sound was so good that you could hear the band sound and clear from several blocks away.
Now maybe I’m being too critical or maybe I just never got over the DSO connection, but this show was just ok for me. For the most part, the band delivered nice versions of the songs they played, but I felt like the show lacked the little extra edge. There really wasn’t any point in this show where I felt the band was going to take it to the next level. There’s also no doubt that I prefer when Phil and/or Bobby play with guitarist that are less derivative of Jerry. I’d love it if Phil brought back his latest group of friends or if Further dropped John and the back-up singers and added Larry Campbell, Theresa Williams and Joan Osborne! Unfortunately, that’s just a daydream. So for now, it seems like Further is the best we got and although I won’t go out of my way to see them again, I’d probably give them one more chance.
