Nathan’s Picks Volume 4
Dead and Company Fall Fun Run 2019
Ripple - MSG (New York, NY) 10/31/2019
Werewolves of London - MSG (New York, NY) 10/31/2019
Hell in a Bucket - MSG (New York, NY) 11/1/2019
Friend of the Devil * - MSG (New York, NY) 11/1/2019
He’s Gone † - MSG (New York, NY) 11/1/2019
Brown Eyed Women - Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) 11/5/2019
Sugaree - Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) 11/6/2019
Wharf Rat - Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) 11/6/2019
Shakedown Street - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Throwing Stones- Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Eyes of the World- Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Drums - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Space - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
My Favorite Things - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/8/2019
Bird Song - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/9/2019
Uncle John’s Band - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/9/2019
Playing in the Band (Reprise) - Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA) 11/9/2019
* featuring Maggie Rogers on vocals
† with Smokestack Lightning ending
Editor’s note: I’m throwing out my previous Nathan’s Picks requirement of being able to fit all of the contents onto a single 80 minute CD, due to astronomically low demand for the hard copies. On this tour, I was at MSG on night two, as well as both nights in Hampton, so my attendance probably biases some selections here. That being said, I found both Hampton nights to be my favorites of the tour after listening back to all of it. This post is not meant to chronicle each of the full shows, but instead highlight my favorites from each night. Would love to hear about your experiences as well as any heaters that I missed in the comments.
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| Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia |
Welcome to Nathan’s Picks Volume 4, my attempt to summarize a short but exciting fall tour for Dead and Company. The tour consisted of only 6 shows across three venues, all of them out of Grateful Dead folklore: Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, and Hampton Coliseum. About a month before the tour began, on September 24th, the news came that Robert Hunter, the Dead’s primary lyricist, had passed away at 78. With the community mourning, the tour took on a whole new meaning.
That sets the stage for Halloween night at the Garden. The band surprised with a Ripple opener, which quickly got emotional. I’ve been known to complain about how often we hear Ripple from Dead and Company, but major respect for them for honoring Mr. Hunter by opening and closing the tour with it. In a ceremony that was admittedly pretty corny (we still love you Mickey), Oteil was inducted into the rhythm devils before Drums in the second set. And in true Halloween fashion, they closed with an encore performance of Werewolves of London. The band was understandably a bit sloppy at points throughout the night, but the crowd energy at MSG still made it a fun show to listen to.
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| Bobby wearing a kilt in honor of Mr. Hunter on Halloween night |
The Garden was still buzzing with energy for night two, which manifested into a great first set. Hell in a Bucket is my early set pick, featuring serious JM horsepower. That song just comes in like an 18 wheeler for me - and even though they do it slowly, I like the Dead and Co approach. Later in the first set, the band brought out local legend Maggie Rogers for a really pretty Friend of the Devil. Could you imagine if the lovely Donna Jean sang like that? Only kinda kidding cause Maggie sounds great here. The highlight of the second set for me was He’s Gone which features more than a tease of Smokestack Lightning at the end.
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A few days later, the tour continued at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. My picks from night one are Brown Eyed Women and Cumberland Blues (which has a little pace to it!), both of which feature great work from Jeff. On night two, we’ve got Sugaree and an incredible Wharf Rat. I really enjoyed this Sugaree, and while I don’t think it’s as good as 6/30/18 or 7/2/19, they have all been scorching recently and worthy of recognition. And you can tell that Wharf Rat is one of those passionate songs for Bobby - this version is no exception.
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To the Mothership we go! The band traveled down to southeast VA the next weekend to play the first ever Dead and Company shows at Hampton Coliseum. What a cool place to see them - even though it feels like a high school gymnasium when walking around the concourse, there is something really intimate about the circular shape and how small it is. And the way the lights reflect onto the back of the wall is truly sublime. (From my understanding, it’s a similar setup to the former Nassau Coliseum, which I’ve never been to. Certainly explains all of the excellent Grateful Dead and Phish shows that have taken place at these two venues.)
We got a really funky Shakedown Street early in the first set of the Friday show. For Dead and Company, Shakedown is one where I admittedly sometimes groan about the slow pace at first, but they can still light it up when they want to - and this one doesn’t disappoint. I think it really captures how ON they were for the first set, and I think that energy spilled over into set 2, making it my favorite of the fall tour shows (upon listening back, I actually thought night 2 was better in the moment). Later in the first set, we got a really pretty Mississippi Half-Step. JM does a really good job of exercising restraint in the right moments here, and just letting the solo come to him instead of trying to fill up every empty space. I don’t want to over-analyze, but I honestly think this is a big theme for him as he’s evolved as the lead guitarist, it really does seem like he’s more patient and has been “forcing it” less. It resulted in a gorgeous solo here. It’s sometimes harder for me to appreciate the quieter moments live due to crowd noise (see: Bird Song. Shut up people!!!!) , but it really sounds amazing when listening back.
Following Half-Step, they went right into Throwing Stones. While it may be a given while attending a show in the vicinity of the nation’s capital, it is still fun every time to hear the passion from Bobby. Is there not a more relevant time for this song than now? I've also included the Eyes of the World from the second set, which got especially jazzy. The chemistry between John, Jeff and Oteil on Eyes is getting better tour by tour and the interplay is so much fun to listen to.
The Drums from night one started off as a tribal drum circle and evolved into Mickey beam-ing (yeah, I’m making this a verb) what sounds like a Hanz Zimmer score at the end. There are definitely some annoying horn noises in the middle but we got there eventually. The real star was Space, as the band slowly comes in and plays their way into My Favorite Things from Sound of Music. Night two offered a treat as well, as they came out of Space into Milestones by Miles Davis. (Admittedly, that was a little more ambitious than the night one jam, and was a bit sloppy, but for a moment there, they really did sound like a jazz band.) I really appreciate those improvisational bits - they’ve really added some spice to recent second sets - always fun to see the band staying on their toes and trying something new.
For the second night of Hampton, I’ve included a really pretty Bird Song from the first set. Bobby sounds great on the acoustic guitar here. I distinctly remember feeling very present during this as the lights reflected against the back surface of the coliseum behind the stage. I’ve included a stellar Uncle John’s Band from the second set, which evolves into the completion of Playin' in the Band from a few songs back.
I think musically it was a solid tour, but probably not as strong as the summer tour. The setlists did seem slightly more predictable than usual, and by my count they only played about 75 unique songs over the six shows. With that being said, I think many of us have unrealistic expectations, and I would rather see the band stick to 70-80 strong, well-rehearsed songs that are strictly in their wheelhouse, than struggle through a lot of unfamiliar material. And, I think paying tribute to Robert Hunter was at the forefront of the setlist selection this tour. As much as we want it to be, this is not the Grateful Dead. Bobby is 72, Billy is 74, and Micky is 76. I’m really grateful for the incredible music that we’ve still been getting, and am really hopeful that we’ll get to see them again soon.
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