Grateful Dead (The Warlocks) - Hampton Roads Coliseum, Hampton, VA 10/8/89 (DVD)
Grateful Dead - St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO 5/15/77
I’ll admit straight off that I didn’t watch this 3-DVD, full show straight through; for me post-Godchaux Dead is like walking a field full of landmines. However, I’ve got about 20 shows written in a notebook somewhere from the same period that came from a best Dead show list that I eventually want to check out and one of them is 10/9/89 (which ironically just got posted on btree). That connection led to me digging this DVD out and one thing you notice is that they’re billed as Grateful Dead (formerly The Warlocks) on both shows, as if they were intending on covering just the old stuff (and not only that but this seems to be right around what would have been the band’s 25th anniversary). While it’s true that they’re pulling songs from early in their career more frequently around this time, songs like “Stagger Lee” and “Victim or the Crime” show that it wasn’t just about the old days.
Like many gigs from the era, Garcia looks like he’s about to collapse and can barely sing, although it must be said by set 2 he’d warmed up quite a bit, although not in enough time that the Help>Slipknot>Tower medley could be saved. Almost always one of the great suites in any Dead set, this might be one of the weakest versions I’ve heard. However by the end of the much longer sequence closing set 2 they end with a rather amazing Morning Dew and one is left with the feeling that this was not a bad show at all.
I spend most of last weekend with a couple plays of this rather amazing May 77 show from St. Louis, which couldn’t have been a favorable comparison to the DVD. There’s a fantastic, heartfelt “Row Jimmy,” as well as a very cosmic Prophet>Eyes>Drums>Samson on this that is one hell of a cosmic workout. The obviously difference between 77 and 89 has to be the pace of the show, in May 77 the band is keyed up and tight, blowing through the songs at a rapid pace (maybe too rapid for Eyes). That this gig isn’t really the best of the month, says a lot about the month itself.
The Fucking Champs - 12 Galaxies, San Francisco, CA 3/18/05 (DVD)
From what I could tell of this DVD, the Champs are a trio of two guitars and drums and like many line ups of this type, they’re damaged by not having much of a bottom end. And like a lot of modern rock groups, they loot wholesale from the past, using just about every 70s rock guitar riff in the book and resequencing them for their own vision. Unfortunately this is about all they do, lots of big riffs strung along and then … the next song. All it does is remind me of bad hipster criticism regarding how the guitar solo is outdated when it would have been a good step in alleviating the tedium this sort of rehash brings a long with it.