That's It For The Other One

Another oldie, from 9/21/93

For The Faithful

Neon circles dance on the ceiling, mingling with each other and casting shadows as they cross the girders. Crosshatched patterns mingle below, highlighting the faces of the crowd. The lights spiral and blend, as on stage more designs pulsate on randomly-shaped screens, first suggesting clouds, then drops of water.

At some shows, huge television screens fill with animation and computer graphics, such as the band members' faces morphing into each other. Multicolored tapestries drape the edges of the stage, and lights pour onto the players, creating moods, reinforcing beats, blazing as they reflect off polished instruments.

The lights at a Dead show are thrilling, fantastic. But they are only a small aspect of the experience. The cliche, 'there's nothing like a Grateful Dead concert,' is very true. Many Deadheads will admit that they weren't truly taken with the Dead until they saw a show. True, readily-available concert tapes allow one to get the gist of what it can be like. But nothing prepares you for the excitement, the emotions of the crowd, the actual event.

Visually, a Dead show is exhilarating. The light show is one of the best in the business, with constantly changing special effects. Special lights and lenses allow for shapes to be projected, for light to be blended in unusual ways, for precise areas to be lit in subtly blending, changing colors. On stage, the band stands on oriental carpets, and just the spread of instruments and players is impressive. Two guitar players, a bass player, two drummers, and a keyboardist provide a vast panorama for the eyes, not to mention an almost unbelievable range and intensity of sound. In the crowd, one sees clothes of every color, balloons floating above, glow sticks being twirled, and a wide variety of smiling faces of all ages.

The main draw to a show, of course, is the sound. Unlike some bands that simply recap the hits off their latest album, with old standbys thrown in (and play those same standbys at nearly every show in every town), the Dead play a wide variety of songs, both their own and classic covers, changing the lineup every night. They easily go for half a dozen shows without repeating a single song, and it's not like they just start the cycle over at that point. No, they keep pulling out different songs, trying new angles on favorites, dusting off tunes that they haven't played for decades, working in a number from some band you never expected the Dead to cover...All the time, veteran Heads try to guess what will be next in the lineup--and sometimes succeed.

And the way they play! Six musicians- talents honed through more than a quarter-century of playing together- constantly playing in and around each others' melodies, like a half dozen soloists jamming at once yet still creating a unified whole. They hew finely crafted melodies, reach for the edges of the musical envelope, experiment with new sounds and new ways of putting sounds together. In recent years, with the advent of MIDI and other electronic tools, the lead guitar can now sound like a saxophone, while the keyboardist saws at a fiddle...meanwhile the drummers use sophisticated computers as well as traditional drums and percussion instruments from many other cultures to create a lively rhythm which provides a background for the other players.

Sometimes labeled an 'acid rock' band, or viewed as some relic of the sixties, the Dead are in fact one of the more innovative major bands of the nineties. Their music comes from all sources: rock, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, reggae, and all the less easily-defined genres. They cover songs by, among others, Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Bo Diddley, Harry Belafonte, Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, Buddy Holly, Suzanne Vega...the list goes on and on, and includes many traditional songs whose authors are lost in the mists of time. And not to drop more names, but they have played with, among others, Bruce Hornsby, Clarence Clemons, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers, Etta James, the Blues Brothers, Kitaro, the Neville Brothers, Santana, Olatunji, and Janis Joplin.

The Dead are not mere imitators, however. They have written hundreds of their own songs, and continue to add half a dozen each year. Again, the songs include all styles, and are rarely repeated in a run of shows. One unusual aspect of the Dead's musical style is that they often blend songs together, not pausing to confer on setlists or shout banal jokes at the audience. They pick up strands of the rhythm, or similarities in time, and slowly weave them together, emerging in a new song. Sometimes the combinations are predictable, sometimes surprising. It's just one more element of a Dead show that draws music lovers of all tastes and ages.