Like most half-assed bloggers on the internet, I take a break from time to time, this being more of a passing fancy and exercise in vanity than an actual way to put food on the table. So you'll have to indulge my artistic ebbs and flows while simultaneously contemplating my erratic approach to churning out magnificent content.
Now, with all of that out of the way, lets get down to brass tacks!
Back in late August I was in a 3-way email correspondence with 2 of my greatest GD resources, eVop and Gumball. I had read an interview / article with the famous deadhead, Bill Walton and felt that it was uplifting and not embarrassing, so I passed it along to those two. eVop immediately seized upon how irritating it was during the 2015 Fare Thee Well 'reunion' shows how the camera focused on Walton so much (and then eVop absolutely started frothing at the mouth, raging about how they would also focus on David Gans too).
Gumball, who really likes Bill Walton and appreciates his place in GD history, said that he liked the article but also said that he laughs a lot at Walton's take on GD because he inevitably seems to conclude that every show ever played was 'amazing'. But then Gumball, always the positive yin to eVop's negative yang, finished his email with, "but like you said the other day, they were all amazing". I said that? Really? Yeah - I guess I did. Hmmmm.....well, that is because it is true.
But let me contextualize that statement. I recently got into one of those futile conversations with my Father where he started explaining something to me that I could not even begin to refute because, in my mind, it almost did not even deserve a response. Long story short, he was putting on his Rolling Stones / Keith Richards apologist hat, telling me that Keith's recent shit-talking on Jerry had some actual credibility behind it. I could not believe what I was hearing. After all, ANY musician worth their salt would never ever compare Keith's skill with a guitar to Jerry's skill with a guitar. I dont even think that is a conversation. Furthermore, dear old Dad's explanation of Keith's skill as a guitarist went even further out on a limb when trying to describe how great his solos are...during some mysterious as-yet-unspecified special moments. That is where I, being the polite son, pulled up stakes and changed the subject.
This whole Keith / Jerry thing is NOT the point of this article, but it is merely an interesting aside. Here is my quick summary of it: Keith is fantastic (one of the best ever?) at writing classic 3-minute rock songs. But make no mistake, every significant guitar solo anybody has ever heard on a Rolling Stones record was either performed by Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, or Ron Wood. As a 'guitar player', Keith is not fit to carry Jerry's guitar case. End of that particular discussion.
But I do want to expand how this then relates to 'all of them being amazing'. 99% of all rock 'n roll shows, tours, and/or big productions are canned. Thats right. These concerts are carefully planned, rehearsed, staged and executed in accordance with a very specific formula that all the players (sound engineers, crew, lighting people, musicians, promoters, etc) are in on. You have as much variety and spontaneity in the latest Rolling Stones, AC / DC, Rush, U2, or Taylor Swift show as you do in the local schoolhouse production of 'Annie'.
People often ask me how I could switch back and forth so abruptly from being a hardcore deadhead to being into punk rock, and to me the answer is simple: Both of the live experiences are so anti-authoritarian in nature that trying to choreograph or plan any bullshit like a set list or how long the song has to be is a fool's errand. Furthermore, the crowd is on it. The real audience does not need (nor do they necessarily want) back-up dancers, pyrotechnics, a spinning stage, or any of those other decoys.
Lots of people went to see the Dead for the drugs. Lots of punk rockers go to any damn show because it is their 'tribe' and so they feel compelled go to every show because they have no other place to go. But the hardcore fanatics, the faithful, they go for no other reason than it is home. That real connection between band and fans, where there is no pageantry or peacockery, can only be established when you feel like yourself (even that clumsy and ugly side which we all have) while simultaneously realizing that this 'event' is a real ceremony where you can be who you are and then let the energy of that space take over and guide your movement.
Sorry, but a bunch of frat-boys with their arms over each other shoulders singing along to one another during the big hit misses the point completely. You'll see that at the Rolling Stones or AC/DC concert all night long, throughout the arena. However, at a GD or punk rock show it is a rare occurrence. The celebration and dance is shared, for sure, but it is profoundly individual in how it goes down. The music is so damned sacred that nobody bothers talking to each other while it is happening, much less tries to sing it into their buddy's ear.
My point is that in that respect, all GD shows were amazing because by the early 70s they were playing to 5000+ member audiences and still playing with that unpredictable energy to their audiences who 'got it'. Because as we all know, the big rock-concert industry business demands that you and your band swear fealty to the formula by having some canons fire while your lead singer dances all over the arena. Furthermore, you must swear with hand over heart that your good looking lead singer will extend a phony choreographed sentiment "Goodnight [fill in the city], we love you!" that is delivered at precisely the right moment between, behind, or during a very specifically selected song. And when you do all that, as if on cue, a sheep-like audience will cheer and buy beer (as well as merchandise) in blind obedience.
Any time that does not happen...it is amazing. So even when the GD were sucking, at least the show (and audience) was never like a Rolling Stones or Madonna concert. In that respect the GD were the best only because everybody else on gigantic tours was a cardboard cut-out of what rock 'n roll is supposed to be, and the fans who attended those other concerts had dutifully sworn their corporate rock allegiance oath before entering. But when the GD were on, and when all the deadheads were there and tuned-in, it was the best for a whole host of other reasons. Musical reasons. I'll back that up with some data in a subsequent article.
