Driving That Train
Trey was clearly the conductor of the train last night, albeit in the only way Trey knows how....with humbleness and gratitude and respect. More on that in a bit as I recount my full on wonderfully incredible and beautiful experience on June 27, 2015.
Woke up in San Diego and took the boys to the park. It has been an amazing month with them but coming to a close. Of the many great things about having a sister dog share program is that we both can travel and experience life and know the boys are in good hands with "the other one". Kira just finished an amazing month long trip to Germany, Greece and Israel so now it was my turn to hand over the boys for my upcoming run of GD50 and Phish t00r.
The Schwartz's picked me and the boys up for a ride to the airport with a text that my "Jewbur" was ready. Arrived at the airport and my flight was going to be filled with heads. Old heads. It was one of the few times I actually recognized my age and the the fact that I am getting older and not really the true life Benjamin Button. Outside the gate we see some friends (great to see Bruce) and then all of the sudden I see Bill Walton. Due to the Jedi I have met him and his wife a Lori a few times. We talked about Kira ("We love Kira!") and I thought that was the end of saying hello. We then boarded the southwest plane and Bill appropriately has the money seat with no exit row seat in front of him / extra leg room. The stewardess is saving the seat next to them until I walk on and Bill motions me over to sit next to them as they were saving me a seat - better to sit next the devil you know or something. He was friendly and fun and giving fist bumps out to all the heads acknowledging him and the Dead. Everyone was in a festive mood and the flight must've been 75% heads. Some high points from the flight were bill as a joke (maybe) asking me if my poster tube was a bong, him asking why the plane wasn't wrapped in tie dye and suggesting that the drinks should be free for the flight (even contributing a bunch of drink coupons to the stewardess to pay for some randoms drinks). A very awkward moment occurred when a fan passed Bill her name and number right in front of Lori asking him to hang out this weekend. I mentioned how difficult it must be to be famous and Lori very diplomatically said you take the good with the bad. A fun way to start out this adventure was flying to the shows with "Celebrity Dead Head Number One" according to Bill Kreutzmann.
We got to the hotel and checked in and then quickly headed towards the show.
Side bar: happy birthday to Miki who we are rolling with. GD50 is an amazing way to spend your birthday, what a birthday show.
Side bar 2: For the 5 regular readers of my column, my t-shirt selection was a button up breathable Kuhl piece. Miki was wearing her birthday dress so I felt the need to step it up a bit. Also something felt a bit different about these shows and rather than go with the typical shirt I wanted to look a bit (emphasis on a bit) more classy for the occasion. And I hate tie dye so there's that.
Our first stop was the Hyatt next to the venue. In the lobby I saw some of the strangest looking people I have ever seen in my life...and it wasn't the deadheads. Apparently a major body building completion is going on this weekend at the Hyatt and these massive bodies of people with the weirdest color of skin I have ever seen were roaming the halls of the Hyatt. Much like the Fox in Atlanta back in the day when walking out of a show in the middle of Freaknik (the black spring break), I didn't know who was more freaked out, the Freaknik folks or the phans. In this case who was more uncomfortable by the other group - the heads looking at all of these jacked up freaky super body is a temple or Mr and Mrs Universe looking at these hippy "body is an amusement park" heads. Add to that the random wedding at the hotel (imagine scheduling that a year ago then showing up to this circus) and it was one eclectic mix of some fringe populations.
We eventually headed over to the lot. The lot scene was bizarre as there was a definite segregation between lots and apparently true shakedown (the blue lots) was far removed from being close to the stadium. We found the close but not as heavy shakedown (at the golf course for those on the ground in SC) and headed over. It was typical however you could also tell that times have changed - the shakedown bar had the greatest selection of beers I have ever seen (sculpin, dogfish 90 minute IPA, at least 20 more heady beers) and a classic moment: some clearly underage cats were trying to buy beer and they got carded and subsequently denied by "The Bootleg Bar." The was first time I have ever seen anyone at any shakedown anywhere get carded but it was the correct move. I don't remember ever getting carded as a young lad at shakedown but that was a long funking time ago.
Quick observation on the crowd: it actually skewed much younger than I was expecting. Of course you had the older heads but I would guess 40% of the crowd was young heads at their first dead-ish show.
Anyway we soon saw a bit of a commotion and I sprinted over to see what it was all about and quickly realized it was Phil taking a page out of the Cactus playbook and zooming quickly around in a golf cart. I got lucky and positioned myself well for a high five. Bill into Phil was setting this up for an all time classic GD50 run (although since this was the first it was naturally an all time classic).
Fast forward to 1:10 or so you will get a glimpse of lance and me giving Phil a high five.
Funny random story: They did sky writing during shakedown of a peace sign but the sky writer fucked up the last line and it looked like an anarchy sign. Gd50 FTW (fare the well or for the win).
Side bar for poster folks: you can bring tubes in but posters were being sold outside in the red lot before the show. But primarily massive runs and not signed.
Then things were taken to the ultimate next baller level thanks to my boy Lance Abrisror. Lance would normally be taking his wonderful and lovely and amazing wife to these shows but she had to stay home and I was his date for the evening. We met some of his friends outside and next thing I know the president of the 49ers is walking us into Michael Mina's restaurant Bourbon Steak and Pub at the stadium. We sit down and have the most ridiculous "appetizers" I have ever had pregaming for a run. We had salmon crudo, crab cakes, tomatoes and three separate cuts of melt in your mouth meat, gratis. And then Michael Mina sits down at our table of seven and joins us for a bit for food, drinks and a toast to the Grateful Dead. What a super nice and humble dude. Was this real life? I continue to be the luckiest guy in the world.
Walking into the stadium everyone was handed a rose and a card from Shapiro welcoming them to the show. I thought it was a nice touch. We were then brought up to the niners suite (home base) and after that to the roof of Levi's stadium. Again this was just absolutely epic. Some pics posted with this post. As much fun as it was being up there and in the suite it was time to get down and mix it up with my people. We made our way down and were pit left. The pits were separated on your ticket between left and right. The pits were small and very manageable.
After all of that preamble it's time to talk some music.
As diplomatic as I can be about this, the first set was rough. It took quite some time for them to find their grove as Trey, ever the most humble and gracious guitar god as you will ever see, deferred quite a bit (too much) to Bobby and Phil who just didn't quite have it. Eventually Bobby and Phil turned it over to Trey and the show picked up some "steam". In the Viola they started to find their groove but then the surprisingly short set ended.
I was a bit worried about how the music would be for these shows after that first set but them something amazing happened. A beautiful rainbow appeared with a magical pink sunset and a light drizzle. It was special and I felt like a game changer in many ways. It calmed us down, the band clearly saw it (Bill mentioned at the end of the show the rainbow and tied it into the historic Supreme Court ruling this week) and seemed to also calm the band down. One of those special moments I will always remember (kind of like the Telluride Divided Sky sunset, but I digress). As somebody mentioned, even god is a deadhead.
That magical set break set the tone for a magical set of music. It was just a kick ass set. I was surprised at the level of psychedelia (Saturday night is typically the rocker but now thinking we get that tonight). And most of all like a parent I was beaming and grinning and so proud of Trey. All the work he has done getting ready for this run was evident and paid off. He put the band on his back and carried them to a special set and place in history of greatness. Rightfully so there has been a ton of talk about how honored and privileged Trey should be playing with the dead. Well the exact opposite is also true - the dead should be honored and privileged that Trey said yes and has put his heart and soul into this. The looks and smiles on his face bring me some much Joy.
Quick side notes: the oldest song played was Truckin, meaning every hiring else was super early dead. One theory floating around is that these shows will build with each show featuring a different era of Grateful Dead music.
Can't wait for tonight and Chicago. After all of the bullshit and negativity leading up to this run, the payoff thus far been so worth it. And for that we all owe the band and the music and especially Trey a bow of gratitude.
Surrender to the flow and enjoy the ride. See you later, Alligator.
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