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Utica


Fritz

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Magical night in Utica........hair standing on end throughout the evening...Comes a Time, could have heard a pin drop

Set 1

Schoolgirl>

Promised Land

Cumberland Blues

Ramble On Rose

Foolish Heart>

Reuben And Cherise

Dear Prudence

Satisfaction

Set 2

China Cat>

The Wheel>

I Know You Rider

Magnolia Mountain

Unbroken Chain

Comes a Time>

GDTRFB>

Touch Of grey

Bid You Goodnight

Donor Rap

Saturday Night

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Magical night in Utica........hair standing on end throughout the evening...Comes a Time, could have heard a pin drop

Set 1

Schoolgirl>

Promised Land

Cumberland Blues

Ramble On Rose

Foolish Heart>

Reuben And Cherise

Dear Prudence

Satisfaction

Set 2

China Cat>

The Wheel>

I Know You Rider

Magnolia Mountain

Unbroken Chain

Comes a Time>

GDTRFB>

Touch Of grey

Bid You Goodnight

Donor Rap

Saturday Night

Just got home from Utica this afternoon and after listening to the show again on the drive home thought I'd share a few thoughts.First and foremost what an absolute fantastic show last night. This was one of those that proves to yourself why we keep on traveling down this road with the music of the Grateful Dead. Hit the Buffalo show earlier in the week and left happy....great songs, great band, great time. Problem I'm having right now is trying to put into words how different the experience was a few days later. Although Buffalo had some great moments, last night in Utica was filled with those magical almost spiritual moments in time that fill your mind and body with such energy and emotion you almost feel like your ready to explode with the vibe thats going on in front of you.....it's such a GREAT time to be a Deadhead.

The band came out and ripped right into a Ratdog-esque Schoolgirl, JK trading licks to Weirs bluesy delivery. Old school Promised Land quickly followed making it clear tonight could be one whole helluva lotta fun. Rockin' Cumberland with band in full harmony....we're surely gonna get down. Ramble on Rose sign along time....crowd as loud as the band as JK, Bob and Phil traded lines throughout. An absolute home run hit by JK with the Reuben.....one of the best I've heard this band play. Could see JK,Weir and Phil talking back and forth on their monitors - almost knew something special was coming, little did we know the rest of the evening would be some of the most well played, high energy GD music i've witnessed in MANY years....JGB feelin' Dear Prudence even though Weir took the vocals, lights swirling around the Auditorium..round and round and round.....round and round and round....into a classic telling of Satisfaction with Weir in full on rock star mode including some classic Weir lunges at the crowd and improv riffing through out.

LONGGGG........setbreak.......50+ minutes??

Noodling breaks way to China Cat and all the pyshedelia it brings with it......into......The Wheel just an absolutely fantastic version with bringing it wayyyyy down and building it back up over and over again finally finding the first threads of Rider. Phil dropping bombs shaking the old auditoriums walls off the foundation. First Magnolia Mountain I've caught live, as reported by others here an absolute beautiful song JK seems to be making his own. Another Unbroken Chain......need to sit down and listen to the Barton Hall version again.....after that one I felt it was the best version ever played.....this one may have topped it! On to the highlight of the evening for me.....and absolutely sour stirring version of Comes A Time. We all know what JK can do with this song.....now the rest of the world does. Echoing the greatness of the 5-9-77 version....all I can say is from my eyes and ears....yup...it was THAT GOOD. Stood speachless frozen in time as you could just feel the raw emotion pouring from John as he absolutely OWNED it ...you could have heard a pin drop on the stage as JK did what he does up there. From there I thought a rather sloppy transition into GDTRFB but once there all was well once again. Touch of Grey with JK and Weir trading lines/verses back and forth with the audience, thought for sure this would end the set as the energy was full steam ahead.....out of the crowd voices from the stage are heard, building into a full on Gospel hour We Bid You Goodnight. Phils donor rap ended with "and now live from Utica....it's Saturday Night!" Obvious choice.......Weir back in rocker mode as the tune winded down pulling a Townsend windmill from his bag of tricks.

GO SEE THIS BAND.....do what you must but do not let the oppurtunity pass you by......these are the good ol days (well.....almost :) )

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Last night's show was INCREDIBLE. The band was truly ON. You know how Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady used to have discussions about "it"? Well, without a doubt, the band had IT tonight, and they held it and they kept it and they didn't let it go until the last note had been played. I was at Barton Hall and Bethelehem, and to me the enrergy for the Utica show beat them both. The place was absolutely PACKED! You couldn't fit another soul in that building if you tried. Furthurmore (teeheehee), the security was very...how shall I say...relaxed. Seriously, it looked like Spicoli's van in there. After witnessing how tight some of the security has been this tour, I was pleasantly surprised when it became evident to me that security was not enforcing certain laws...at all. Total freedom.

The smoky atmosphere is not what made the show so great, of course. The band, as I said, was simply ON all night. Perhaps the setlist doesn't stand out, as there were some repeats of recent shows, but I insist that it was the WAY they played the songs that made the show so special. Words generally fail to quantify when a band has "it"...you, the listener, just get a gut feeling. You can hear/feel/sense it. Utica was just such a show.

Amazing, amazing, amazing...

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Just got an email telling me as much...thx Jon.

Sorry for passing on incorrect info.

No worries David...the setlist here doesn't have the Foolish Heart before Reuben...So I could see how one would think it was JK's turn...BTW David this show is dynamite!...The Foolish>Reuben is excellent...nice transition...The whole show has that "ON" factor in it's entirety.

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