Guess the set list

Last night was the twelfth annual Jerry Garcia birthday bash at the Orpheum Theatre in Flagstaff, which I was invited to attend by a girl I met at a meetup group earlier this year. The event was free, and hosted a silent auction as a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. The following account is a review of the event along with the set list. In this case, the songs are embedded in the review in the order they were played by way of using some of each song’s lyrics in quotes. If you recognize the song’s titles, feel free to leave them in a comment.

Although this event started at 7, we didn’t arrive until 8:30 so we missed the first of the four bands that were playing, and the second band was already into their set. Upon entering, the venue had a sense of one that was built “back in 1969.” The security was friendly yet fairly tight. At the door I was checked by a guy nearly “twice as big as me.”

The keyboard player had a raspy voice that is reminiscent of Brent Mydland’s which went along well with the Hammond keyboard that was shared among all the bands. By the time his turn came up to sing, I had said to myself, “you better take it easy, this place is hot, and I’m so glad you made it.” After his song a lady who played the violin was invited to join in and played one of my favorite songs, as it always assured me that “I have no chance of losing this time.” After that they played a song that could make “ten thousand fall.” When her contribution was complete, the keyboard player took over the lead guitar, and played a song that could blow Mr. Bensen “straight to hell.”

“It goes to show, you don’t ever know,” but back in high school it was necessary to repeat eleventh grade English which required me to write another term paper. Because the teacher was aware of this, she let me do one on a topic of my choice, which was The Grateful Dead of course. While doing research on the origin of the themes mentioned in some of their songs, I learned that “once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

The set continued with a short drum interlude which allowed me a chance to get a drink. Upon returning I was left with “a smokin’ crater on my mind” as the bass player had his amp turned up extra heavy for that song. Their set was concluded by allowing a kid who looked like he wasn’t even born before Jerry died to play lead on a song that made the whole crowd want to “shake it, shake it.” He was so good that one of the other guitarists stopped playing in order to take his picture during the song.

The next band only played four songs during their one hour set, and they were selections from the Jerry Garcia band. The only one whose title I recognized was Catfish John. Despite how good the first band was, this guitarist seemed to capture more of the essence of Jerry’s playing style, and had a voice that was also more similar.

The last band was spectacular. The bassist started off playing a sweet Rickenbacher, then switched to an acoustic that had a crystal clear sound. They also had a sax player and two drummers, one of which sang lead on a few songs. Their first song was a tease of The Eleven which lead into a song that had everyone “dancing in a ring around the sun.” It was obvious that everyone was going to “get in the groove if it takes all night long.” Since they started off with music from the early days of the Dead’s career, it made me feel like “I’ve got a friend somewhere.” It also made me want to “pace the halls, and climb the walls, and get out when they blow.”

The next song shares the same name as a girl I graduated with...30 years ago (reunion in September!) except the girl in the song was “just barely 17 when she left home.” As we were driving to this event, I had yawned several times and indicated that I didn’t want this to be an all nighter since I’d been working so much the past few weeks. But by this time it felt like I really could go “all night long,” especially after they played a song that shares the same title as one of Willie Nelson’s biggest hits.

“They say that when your ship comes in, first man takes the sails.” “And you know that notion just crossed my mind” when they played the final song of their set. Over the years different people have asked me what the big deal was about the Grateful Dead anyway? The fact is, music of all kinds and from various times had come into my life from different sources while growing up. And while I had heard of the Dead a few times, I never heard any of their songs until I took the initiative to hear them for myself, and when I did I discovered a sound that had a character that was unique from anything heard previously, or ever since.

So what can I say, “they’re a band beyond description, like Jehovah’s favorite choir, people joining hand in hand while the music plays the band, Lord they’re setting us on fire; crazy rooster crowing midnight, balls of lightning roll along; old men sing about their dreams, women laugh and children scream while the band keeps playing on. Keeps on dancing till the daylight, greet the morning air with song; no one’s noticed but the band’s all packed and gone; were they ever here at all? But they kept on dancin’.”

To be honest, when Jerry died, it felt like my interest in all music died with him. There has never been anything beyond a passing interest in anyone else ever since, even the post Jerry shows that have toured under different names had no appeal. This event was the first one of its kind that I’ve been to since 1995 and only because I was personally invited. So how did I like it? Well, to quantify it mathematically, according to the fitness app on my phone, my activity count was comparable to walking approximately 5 miles during the 4 hours we were there.

Because this last band was so good, and so many people stuck around, they were willing to play an encore. But since it was a song that was already played by an earlier band, it was a little anti-climactic. Oh well, what can you say? “It costs a lot to win, and even more to lose.”