Dead & Company/Jam band thoughts

Hi all! Had a busy weekend that consisted of driving and walking all over downtown L.A. I visited museums, went record shopping, had good food, and went to a concert. I mentioned earlier last week that I picked up a cheap ticket to see Dead & Company at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night after a friend told me about it. It was a brutally hot day, and I arrived at the stadium after about 5 or 6 hours of walking around in the intense heat. Let's just say that it didn't go too well...

When I finally reached my seat after 2 hours of walking among the stoners and boozers you'd expect to see at a show like this, I was way exhausted. The heat had taken so much out of me, but I was hoping that the show would bring my energy back and I would end up having a good time.

The minute this show started, I knew that that wasn't going to happen. I found the band to be exceptionally lacking in energy and, worst of all, the sound was consistently very, very low. It was quiet enough that the people around me were able to carry out normal discussions without having to shout in each other's ears. It was as though the music was merely there in the background, as an accompaniment to the conversations of the people around me (sort of like what you would experience when going to a coffee shop that has live music). I tried to focus all of my attention on the music, but quickly became just as disengaged as everyone else near me. I found myself wanting it to be over, and that's not a good thing. The only thing I cared about at that point was getting home and taking a shower. When that happens, I know that all bets are off. After the first set, I simply stood up and left, and took a taxi back to where I parked my car. Since I didn't stay for the whole show, I'm not going to give it a rating.

I have mixed feelings on these "jam bands" as people call them. There seems to be two types of people when it comes to jam bands: people who absolutely love them, or people who just don't get them at all. I find myself to be one of the few in that gray area, where it largely depends on the band. While I appreciate the experimental tendencies of bands like Phish or Umphrey's McGee, I have one major problem with jam bands: their music tends to wear out their welcome with me very quickly. As a prog fan, I love a good, long session of jamming here and there, but to me, these bands can sometimes take that a bit too far, to the point where the music loses its impact on me. You can only jam the same chord progression for so long, or so I think. Eventually, I stop noticing the talent and begin wondering when this jam is going to be over. If I'm going to see a band that takes this approach, then it needs to be consistently high in energy, and I'm happy to say that, for the most part, I get that experience out of Phish and Umphrey's McGee (more often from the latter band, personally). With Dead & Company, the energy just wasn't there for me, which is why they lost me so fast. What keeps me engaged with a show is not just the quality of the music, but the volume, and the energy displayed by the band members and the audience. The reason I enjoyed, say, Franz Ferdinand so much, was because their music filled the entire venue, and the chemistry between the band and the audience was totally on point. 

I'm going to see Phish next week in Washington with some friends. Having already seen them twice, I trust that the experience will be far more enjoyable than what I got at Dodger Stadium.