Dead and Co Final Tour?

A little from column A, a little from column B...

I wonder how much it would cost to hire a bus to follow the tour for 4-5 shows if they are close enough...

I think it’s 100% legit. They may play a 3 Day Run or a Festival going forward or even do a residency someplace but I feel that touring for them is over.

D&C Lockn 2023 Headliners. Let's do this.

As I was saying to hondo elsewhere, I've heard this song and dance before. Yeah, Billy's retiring if he doesn't croak first, but the only real question is whether Mickey will follow or be part of whatever they're gonna call The Bobby Show going forward.

I'm not going out of my way for this. The SYF mafia has gotten all the $ from me that they're gonna.

It's a sign...

Had a fire in the fire pit tonight.  

Tossed in a piece of scrap wood...

Posted this elsewhere then thought, why not here as well?

TLDR: Dead & CO was a roller coaster for me.

First show was 2016 and I didn't enjoy it much--musically it didn't quite connect and there was a darkness on the scene I hadn't felt before. Absolute worst moment of the show, however, was some dude who decided that wearing clothes was the exact opposite of what he wanted to do. After removing his clothing, he proceeded to make his way to the railing at the front of the lawn and stand right next to me. Now, last thing I want to do is stand next to this guy. But dammit, I earned that spot at the front of the lawn and this guy wasn't going to take it from me. I continued to watch Drums. In Grateful Dead years, Drums > Space always bored me to tears. But I kind of liked this electronic element they were bringing and blending with organic drumming. I tried to focus on the music and not worry that someone was going to take a picture of this guy and then somewhere online there's me standing next to a naked dude. Show was a C+. It would be difficult for me to rate Grateful Dead music any lower, but this show was about as bad as I'd ever heard Dead music played.

2017 and I started to feel maybe they deserved one more chance. Lo and behold, I scored a pit ticket. The concert was fantastic. They sounded much tighter and more energetic. Really strong setlist. Watching them interact from a close distance was cool. Solid A grade for this one.

And then a few random shows between 2017 and 2019. They were all good. Nothing mind-blowing but a fun way to spend an evening with my wife. I would say collectively an A-. Went to the Lockn' where Branford Marsalis sat in with them. This was the show I was looking forward to the most at the festival. Unfortunately, it was the last act of the last night. I had stood in the sun for long periods of time for several days. That'll catch up with you. By the time Dead & CO took the stage, I was not up close like I had envisioned. I was far away, lying on a small hill with several others who had not yet given up, but were not far from it. The music sounded nice, but nothing was played to where I knew I had to get down there to witness it happening.

Late 2019 I did a two-night run. Felt the ticket prices were a little high for what the band would likely deliver. The wait outside to get in was cold--not the band's fault, but my own for not preparing better. My crowd neighbors were two young guys that were under the influence of something their bodies were not yet ready to accept and acclimate to. One of them bumped into me. After apologizing, he continued with..."But it might happen again!" This a terrible response. To all reading this, when you bump into someone, you need to apologize. But for the love of all that's holy, don't add "But it might happen again!" to your apology. It truly negates the being sorry part of the apology. Anyway, my main thought throughout the show was: for what this weekend cost me, I could put a halfway decent stereo system in the living room and listen to some 1970's Grateful Dead--same songs performed better. And then I wouldn't have spun out kids bumping into me, and using the restroom is much less of a hassle.

2020 - 2022. The only time they were a reasonable distance from home, we had a lot going on. The money I saved went towards a more than halfway decent stereo system. I'm at the point where I'd rather be sitting down comfortably and not surrounded by people talking when I listen to music. The visual aspect of concertgoing is becoming less important.

2023 - Undecided. The "last tour" aspect doesn't move me. If they play close enough that we'll be sleeping in our bed afterwards, and the prices don't seem like blatant gouging, then it's a soft maybe. I will not be playing Ticketmaster's "Verified Fan" game this time around either.

All that said, I hope those who do attend the shows have a fantastic time. May it be the unique musical and emotional experience that loyal Deadheads deserve.

For me, my take on Dead & CO’s run:
I saw my first shows in the Fall of 2015 & saw at least a handful of shows on every summer tour. I think musically the first tour was really good. It was raw, new and different than Furthur was and Mayer proved he had chops beyond chops. Bob, Bill & Mickey we’re still sharp from Fsre Thee Well and wanted prove they still had it. Over the 2016-2019 tours I felt they took a step backwards overall. There were still great performances, like Mayer’s “Morning Dew” at Shoreline on 2019 and great shows like Autzen Stadium or the shows at Hampton but those shows were few and far between. Overall the pacing of songs, setlist and overall vibe just got stale and seemed weak. Now after the pandemic in 2021 & 2022 I felt those tours were kick ass and really good. They seemed to feature Mayer & Chimenti more and let them control the sound, pace and direction of the music and that made the band a lot better. Mayer & Weir we’re sharp coming off solo tours and Mayer blew the doors off places. I think they reached their high water mark last summer and think the shows this summer will be really good. Musically they’ve produced some great content.

Now for some negatives… I hate the ticketing process. They should use the Phish model, have a request period with set prices and no fees and sell half the tickets that way. I hate a lot of the venues. Stadium shows suck donkey balls. The sound sucks, especially at Wrigley. The sight lines blow cause a baseball stadium is built for you to look and listen to home plate and not center field. The urban shows are super expensive with hotels, parking, food, etc… Their lack of Festival appearances and they way they handled PITS last year. Musically, I wish they had horns and a female vocalist but beyond that, I wish Oteil sung more, Mayer too. I wish Bob Weir wasn’t singing any of the Garcia Songs, and that they didn’t let him control the pacing & set list each night. I wish they let Mayer loose more and Chimenti too, I wish they turned up Oteil in the mix and let him drop some heady ass bass bombs and I wish that Drums/Space was a once a tour thing and not every night. I’d rather hear two more songs and watch Mayer kill it for 20 more minutes. Mayer & Weir could have done a mini acoustic set instead of Drums. I hate their management & what he stands for and represents.

Overall i think the band had a good run, grew the fan base, made the members & GDP tons of money and gave alotta people stuff to do each summer, Halloween & NYE and that’s the most important thing. They continued or brought back friends, family and fans to shows and tours. They made music to fill the air and put smiles on faces. You can’t do more than that. I’ll probably see a handful shows next year and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

w3Rd

Well I'll hop on the D&C take train...

My first Dead show was Rothbury of 2009 and I was immediately hooked. Up until the first Lockn in 2013 I had 0 interest in any other jam bands, just Dead bands. I saw Furthur throughout college and beyond, saw their final performances in Mexico in 2014. Did as Much PLF and Ratdog as I could after Furthur ended, did 6 nights of Fare Thee Well and had one of the best weeks of my life. By the time D&C started I was in a position in life where I could see them as much as possible and I most definitely did. From 2016-2019 I'd see close to half the shows on Summer tour. I saw plenty with big groups of friends and plenty more solo. I traveled the country and saw them in every bucket list venue, did every PITS, so on so forth. I get the complaints about slow tempos, lack of rehearsals, cash grab, so on so forth but it never bothered me. I was seeing my favorite musicians play my favorite songs amongst a group of my favorite people. No matter what other bands I saw, Dead lot always felt like home to me.

Over the past two tours its definitely felt a little different for me. I still love the band and I'll still see them when I can, but I dont feel the desire to see 10 shows a tour and stream what I cant, comb over every setlist, collect merchandise, so on so forth. It seems like the crowd and the experience as a whole has gotten even more commercialized in ways that are harder to ignore. Maybe Im just a bitter jaded vet now, but the crowd seems less "deadheads on tour with their favorite band" and more "oooh I like Grateful Dead and they are playing near me, lets go to the concert!" type.  It seems like some members of the band (read: Mayer, more on that later) are bored of it and just going through the motions. The setlists dont vary too much to the point where if you follow the setlists you can more or less guess half the songs on a given night. The jams themselves seem more programmed and less organic. Maybe I've just seen too many shows but the entire experience just seems a little more stale to me. This has also been going on at the same time that I've gotten much more into Phish. Sure the Phish have plenty to critique as well, and sure Trey and Gordo arent Jerry and Phil, but compared to D&C the experience just feels more fresh and exciting now. The PITS debacle last year also really left a foul taste in my mouth that hasnt subsided. I get covid complicates things, but I felt CID treated the fans like shit throughout that whole process. It all culminated in them announcing a refund window, then announcing Bill K was out after the refund window, and then Mayer strait up lying to all of us. First about performing, then about having covid. The fact that the band allowed all of this to go on in their name was a huge black mark on their legacy to me.

At this point I still love to see them, but its become more "seeing my favorite songs played live with my friends" than it is "follow my favorite band on tour because I cant miss a note of music". I'm sad to see them go but at the same time its probably the right thing to do. I dont want to see them turn into a nostalgic classic rock act and many would say they are headed in that direction if they arent there already. I'm doing PITS with my core Dead crew, I plan on seeing them as much as I can this tour since it is the last time, but I dont feel let down or depressed about them hanging it up. I think they've been a great band that has carried on the legacy of the greatest band of all time, and theyve given me some of the best experiences of my life, but I think this is the right time to hang it up. We'll see what else Bob and Co. have in store...

Bring back Ratdog woof woof!!

I guess it’s about time to dust off the Furthur vs. Ratdog debate…

I don’t think either are happening, but I’d very much prefer Furthur. Tho of the two ratdog is more likely. Tbh I think this is the end of big touring Dead bands. I think Bob will do Wolf Bros, and beyond that it will be one off festival lineups like: “PLF with special Guest Bob weir, Wolf bros with special guests bill and Mickey, bill and the kids with Bob weir” etc.