On With the Show

We came to the Gorge to catch what happened to be the final show of the Grateful Dead (touring with the Doobie Brothers and the Allman Brothers.

Luckily for us, it was an absolutely beautiful (although rather warm!)day. Since we were out in the desert in Eastern Washington, the odds of getting rained on were way lower than usual (I don't normally dare attempt to go to outdoor events until after Memorial Day because anytime before that you run the risk of being sodden).

We heard about this show about a month ago, and quickly bought tickets before it sold out (apparently there were about 23,000 at The Gorge).

We decided to go about an hour and a half early to get situated. Since there was no re-entry, we had to haul a ton of stuff in with us--food and water for the entire day, clothes for both hot and cold weather (it's freezing at night once the sun sets), blankets and so on. Fortunately, they are pretty open to you bringing stuff in (within reason). We actually had seats down below, but the proximity to all the amps and speakers made me think I'd be better off up in the lawn area. We claimed a spot with Brian and Margo about halfway up in the lawn area, and settled in for the afternoon.

The show started around three o'clock with the Doobie Brothers. These guys have been around forever, and I had no idea how many of their songs I was familiar with (and knew the words to) until they started playing.

The Allman Brothers, I know well, and Warren Haynes played some awesome slide guitar. Apparently a woman behind us knew Marc Quiñones, because she was very interested in borrowing Brian's binoculars to see him play during the show.

The Dead came on right after the sun set over the rim of the Gorge.
I never got to see the Dead while Jerry was still alive, and had the opportunity to a few times in the years after he died, but decided that it probably wasn't the same without Jerry. Fast forward about 10 years, and I think now's the time. They've had plenty of time to do their thing and for people to get over it. They've had plenty of time to prove themselves worthy of carrying on the tradition, and seem to be touring because they want to, not just because they want to make a buck (reasons why I rarely go to see "comeback shows" for aging rock legends). I figured now was a good time in my life. Phil Lesh of course, is amazing. Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann played some pretty amazing drums (they had a taiko stand set up during Drums in Space), and I really enjoyed the keyboardist, Jeff Chimenti, who was very creative. I was slightly disappointed that there was no laser light show (other than that provided by dorky 20-somethings with $5 laser pointers from Walmart), but the stage lighting was pretty cool, especially during Drums in Space.

With such a huge back catalog, you never know what they might get a notion to play. Here's the set list for the show, courtesy of dead.net

(Set 1)
The Music Never Stopped
Loose Lucy
Crazy Fingers
Dark Star
Dire Wolf
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Into The Mystic
Man Smart (Woman Smarter)
(Set 2)
Passenger
Hell in a Bucket
Althea
Eyes Of The World
Drums in Space
Days Between
Dark Star
One More Saturday Night
(Encore)
Box Of Rain

I think the show ended around 12:00 or 12:30 AM. It's hard to tell when you don't wear a watch.

Misc. Notes: I shudder to think how much secondhand smoke/THC I may have inhaled during the course of the afternoon, but at least it wasn't an indoor show. It never got bad enough that I needed my inhaler, but I had to lay down a couple of times (smoke rises!) My other concern was the volume, a big reason why I stayed up in the lawn area. At least it wasn't too loud...being in an open space helps with that, but even so, the music wasn't excessively loud, the way a lot of things are nowadays (don't get me started on the sound levels in movie theaters!).

Another surprise is that the Gorge is surprisingly primitive, considering it's a major concert venue. There's very little permanent infrastructure compared to most amphitheater-type venues. There's no covering anywhere so god help you if the weather's less than optimal...there's nowhere to escape from the rain here (On the other hand, you are in the desert, so I guess it isn't as likely to rain as it is back in Portland or Seattle). Being out in the full blaze of the desert sun can be pretty intense, so you have to come prepared for that. It's very grassy, so the ground is very comfortable to sit on (important for an all-day show), but it looks like they use the land for some farming purposes in the off-season. Annoying was the lack of adequate restrooms (they had dozens of porta-poties, but inexplicably, half of them were locked up, creating totally unnecessary quater-mile long lines. There's handwashing stations, but no water fountains (I'm guessing the water's safe to drink, but who knows for sure, right?). It's a good thing you can bring in your own food because options are limited, (if you had small children and didn't bring food with you, I don't know what the kiddos would eat--and if you're vegetarian, too bad). Another oddity is that the beer choices are surprisingly pedestrian considering that we live in the microbrew capital of the US. $9 Miller lites? No thank you. The exiting process is really disorganized as well--you're wandering around in the dark with no idea where you're going in with a huge herd of people who are equally confused. It's not very efficient, or safe, in my opinion. I would NOT want to do it with small children in tow--they would be so easy to lose in a large crowd. (Tip for parents--you can take your teens to a Dead show, but you can't make them enjoy it...I was amused as I watched some parents with their three very bored looking 7th-8th grade boys. The poor things looked so bored, with lots of incredulous pondering about the fact that their parents thought this music was "cool"...in fact, truth be told, they probably would have been less bored parked in a classroom with me all day, but I'm not volunteering.)

I make it sound all bad, but the scenery at the Gorge is incredible. The backdrop to the stage is the canyon cliffs of the Gorge and the river flowing by, and while you're listening to the music you can sit there and look around at the all the scenery. Watching the sun set was very cool, and being in such a rural area, at night, when the stars come out, it's incredible.

In conclusion, the show was awesome. Because it was a Dead show, the crowd was pretty mellow, and the scene was pretty drama-free and pretty respectful. Because I had brought lots of snacks and drinks (and warm clothes), I was pretty comfortable during the show, and held up pretty well throughout the 9 or so hours of musical entertainment. I was very grateful, though, that we didn't have to drive anywhere after all that, and could simply wander back to our campsite and pass out in the tent.