As once promised, a trip back in time to posts from abroad- which are buried in the depths of The Ratdog Conference...
It was July 2002, Scott and only had planned to go to 2 shows (dum-dum-dum!) We made a plan to meet up with fellow conferencer St. Of Circumstance-
I don't see my reviews- I mustve posted them right to Deadnet- not certain if they were ensucted when the site crashed last year? If there's time I'll look for em...
Here we go:
irenie - 02:11pm Jul 4, 2002 PDT (#3880 of 6307)
posting from Amsterdam- from The Bulldog a street away from the Melk Weg- this is the place to be preshow on the 10th- computers, coffeesmokeshop, and bar. Anyhow having fun, got a little lost at Heathrow but that's a story for another day- Hippy fourth !!!!
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Saint of C - 10:22am Jul 5, 2002 PDT (#3885 of 6307)
Hey Reg, sunshine, ShortFat, Prinny, Bantha and the rest of the Kennel--
Well, I made it to Paris!!! Still fightin the jet-lag but pretty excited about being here. How wild this all came together--last minute passport and reservations, no maps, no itenerary, etc. etc. Oh well, I feel like Kerouac and Cassidy.
Coming to you live from the "Cyber Cafe" on the Monthalon Square." Having a great time thus far--excellent food. However, cold and rainy and did not pack for that. Bought my ticket at FNAC for tomorrow's New Morning show.
Reg--will try to get back here after the show to post revue for you.
Irene--saw post about The Bulldog--sounds cool. But I will hopefully see you in Cologne first. We are at the same Hotel. Look me up there before the show under "Todd Gray"--if we don't hook-up beforehand--look for me at the show--I will be wearing my lucky Univ of Mich (white) baseball hat, and either my The Other Ones tie-dye with the Jerry tiger on the back or my purple Ben & Jerry's Phish Food T-shirt.
See you all later.
St.
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irenie - 11:26am Jul 5, 2002 PDT (#3886 of 6307)
hey Saint!! Should we wait and go to the Heineken brewery with ya? We will be looking for you in Cologne! I will be wearing the green Marin Ratdog shirt (You might recall seeing that in the GD Almanac). It's rainy here in Amsterdam. We brought a Ratdog cd to the Bullfrog- music here is that eurodiscotechnoscratchingcarcommercial stuff. Shouldve brought one of the shows with DJLogic on it...Changed hotels-a few doors down from the Hemp now. ((((((The Kennel))))
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Saint of C - 04:42am Jul 7, 2002 PDT (#3889 of 6307)
Irenie--yeah wait for me on the Heinekin brewery.
Sorry I am just now posting--but it was too late to go walking thru the streets of Paris with a camera strapped around my neck (screaming tourist) to look for a cyber cafe.
Last night--in two words--fucking awesome. This has a lot to do with the venue--it was tiny--I mean these guys are literally playing in little bars over here.
New Morning--Really cool atmosphere. Red walls--Red drapery--black leather accents and some tables. It has a little 12ft x 12 ft. half-circle pit in front of the stage and basic spotlighting (like you would see at a Comedy Club) The boys were boiling under the lights--especially Kenny. I was about 4 feet from the stage with no obstructions and since I had high speed film and I had a lot of light, I think I got some great pix!!! What is amazing is how everyone smokes openly without any fear of security--it was pretty cool.
The club was so small that when the Dog casually came onstage and saw how small it was, Bob quipped "we'll get to all of your requests tonite"--me being the smartass that I am yelled "Lazy Lightning" and the guy in front of me yelled "Terrapin!" but they tuned into Stranger--they were a little slow out of the gates and Stranger was a little flat. Bob struggled with this one--he forgot most of the words and kept repeating the same verse. I was close enough to see the look of frustration on his face--Jay finally stepped in to bail him out--"......gonna be a long, long, crazy.." Bob turned and nodded as if to say thanks.
Stranger rolled into Walkin' Blues and Bob seemed determined to get it going--my impression is that everyone else was on and ready to rock, and Bob was struggling, and as a result, holding them back.
Then into Picasso Moon--the music hot, but Bob still searching for that good place. Club was half-full but nearly 3/4's now.
Next--T Jed--this is where Bob starts to settle down and be Bob--the largely European crowd really recognized this one and started to realize that this is Bob Weir folks and we have been waiting for this for a long time.
Next was Shade of Grey (?)--I cannot believe I am pulling a brainfart but I think it is the name of the tune--I have heard it a million times--it is on the Live acoustic Weir & Wasserman cd --starts out"...it is just a shade of gray.." "...but those gray eyes--that easy smile..."--Bob took over lead guitar on this one and played great. Next into West LA, which was hot--obvious play (looking for a chateau). Then into Aiko (another obvious play here in Paris)--this also hot and a big crowd pleaser. Bob tried out lead again and sounded great.
20 min intermission--met a few cool people from the states. Set II, unlike Set, was balls out and the Dog showed the Parisians what a jamming is really like. It began with KC Moan and then into Me and My Uncle--I was now out of the pit area and a little farther back--but still unbelievably close and now elevated to stage level. Dancing and grooving amongst some surprisingly young German heads. German guy next to me said "thiz is grait!" Into a hot "Fever" (no pun intended) German guy thought it was Eternity at first and yelled out "Eedurnidy"--but I let him in on it and he said "I nut no he do thiz". Out of Fever and into Lucky Enough and then into Wrong-way Feeling. Then I thought it was going to be a T Jed reprise, but it was Ramblin Rose--a fantastic one at that. Then a scorching Other One--crowd lit up--German turns to me and says "did yuh hear dee 'Rte. 66' tease?" Then inot a great Terrapin--and a equally great One More Saturday- Encore--a soul-searching B. Palace.
Afterwards, I hung out for a little while and talked to Karan--he said to the guy who yelled Terrapin at the start--"see, you got your Terrapin.." He was telling us that his amp does work good over here--he feels like it is "choked-up." He said next time, he will just bring over an old Fender amp with him.
Saint of C - 04:48am Jul 7, 2002 PDT (#3890 of 6307)
Got cut-off. I think these guys are at their apex, like the Dead in the mid to late 70's. They are all great musicians and learning to really play with one another. At first Kenny really impressed me, but I am as equally impressed with Karan, Jeff and Jay. And Rob has that Bass and Drums segment to show-off.
I like them because they are young and good--and Bob will be challenged by these guys to constantly make it better. I get the sense that there is a lot friendship in this band--sometimes it seems that they even like to screw with one another--especially Bob
Oh well, off to Germany--see ya tomorrow Ireenie
St.
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irenie - 06:28am Jul 7, 2002 PDT (#3891 of 6307)
Thanks for great review! If you thought Paris was liberal- wait til you get to Amsterdam.We will wait for you for the Heineken. See you manana in Cologne! Woof!
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irenie - 06:30pm Jul 10, 2002 PDT (#3906 of 6307)
HOT NITE!!
Saint has tonites setlist, so here he goes!
From St.:
Birdsonng into J. Straw into Miracle to Wang Dang Doodle--It's All Over Now Baby Blue--Cold Rain & Snow--Wthr Rpt. Ste into Birdsong reprise. Trippy Intermission--Set II.--Blackbird into BT Throated Wind--This Could be The Last Time into Ashes and Glass to Help-->Slip--> Drumz and bass and SOTM(where talk is cheap)--into Throwing Stones--into Franklin's Tower Encore: Gloria
very hot show. Bob was in Amsterdam and everyone knew--especially himself. What I like about this band is they come to kickass and take names each nite. They are all in the mix. No slouches here--none! Mark has now made me a firm believer--he is the guy to play lead guitar in this band--at moments tonite, he smoked and took me to places that I have not been to since 95'. Bobby was exceptionally animated tonite. He obviously loved the crowd reaction to several of the tunes.
Some highlights----coming out of Baby Blue, Bob wanted to goof and do something different, but Karan had already started into Cold Rain and Snow heavy and seemed to ignore Bob's urging to stop--great call Mark!!! the crowd loved it and as Mr. Irenie just said ..."yeah, he cooked on that one.." The Let It Grow obvious call for Amsterdam. I thought it was funny that he played "...this could be the last time. I don't know.." to the Europe crowd.
In Throwing Stones, Bob went nuts and said after the main chorus, with emphasis..."Think about it..."
The encore Gloria was astounding...The crowd went nuts, and Bob visibily appreciated the crowd singing back the chorus to him. He tried to return the love by getting funky with the beat and improvising some lyrics--"....when she come to my room.......she got shorts, she got shorts and she digs sports..".....then Bob continued play with a cool Gloria. One that rivals one I heard at Three Rivers in 95'
The scene real quick--Come on--it was Amsterdam, so I won't get into that much, other than---fucking UNBELIEVABLE. Great energy. Bob was clad in khaki short-shorts, birkenstocks and a funky short-sleeved 70's style print shirt with an asian theme. He was fired up and wanted to make up the show last nite--me and Irenie weren't there in Hamburg, but heard that the show was choked by technical difficulties.
Oh and I got a Melkweg Poster--one of only a few--the one's used by Melkweg in the window (there were four of them). Take it easy--
St. and Ireenie
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PT found this pic...
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