"I'm from California and I saw the Grateful Dead hundreds of times - and I tell you these guys play some of the songs better than the Dead did!".
So spoke the gent next to me as we lingered in front of the stage at 12:20am on Sunday morning - partly wanting to thank the band and partly not wanting to leave the hallowed space of such a fabulous event.
It's difficult to put into words how much fun I'd just had. The old chestnut "most fun I've had standing up" comes to mind. This was without doubt the best played, best set-listed, probably best-attended, UK Deadhead gig in recent years (DSO excepted). And I have seen one or two! How rare to get so many of my favourite tunes in one evening! St Steven!; Scarlet>Fire!; Shakedown!; Franklin's!; The Eleven!, ...something like three-and-a-half hours of brilliant music. It isn't till much later that I notice that some of my favourites (China Cat Sunflower, Deal, Bird Song for example) had not been played. But that's a testament to how awesome the evening had been.
It's hardly fair to pick out any best moments but some memories stand out: the drummers going for it at the end of The Eleven, Sean's joyous smile, smile, smile, the unexpected (to me) jam in Easy Wind, Greg's Althea, Andy and Bill trading licks, Andy's Stella Blue, Richard and Andy weaving a double helix into Dark Star, the Mountain lick that popped up somewhere...
At Dudes gigs I might have one beer but never anything else. I'm aware, though, that I suffer from an involuntary and wildly inane grin over which I have no control - with which I am afflicted at points of extreme pleasure, usually while flopping about (equally involuntarily) doing what I hope passes as dancing. I apologise to anyone present who is currently suffering PTSD having witnessed this. But thanks to all the other proper dancers who made the space in front of the stage such a safe place to enjoy and share. (Great move asking folks to move their chairs back a bit.)
And thanks also to the band and everyone involved in organising this event for making this happen. Franklin's Tower gave us some fine music on Friday evening and Big Sky Orchestra some excellent up-beat rock on Saturday afternoon. (LOVED seeing the cuddly bunnies getting flung into the air by the little girls dancing!) Lucky Truckers were good but there were too many country tunes for me. (Much preferred Deadedz last week!) It was good to meet some new people, including Sean and his lady, as well as to talk to old friends - and to see young folks as well as us ancient first-gen Deadheads; the sense of community was very special. Great pizzas too!
Bring on next year's POTF!
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