2/2/2016

Alan had planned on only participating in the first set this jam so we accommodated his schedule with a big, long 12-song first set of pure Grateful Dead. first set material. This night I was playing a Fender Super as opposed to my standard Twin Reverb and it definitely was thinner and brighter than a typical Twin. Everything else was pretty much status quo. Lee got there later than planned as he had to attend to his injured dog.

Funny in that we opened with a Touch of Grey into Little Red Rooster into Loser and then Esau which has an eighties feel to it but we then transformed into a seventies first set for the rest of of the first set. There were lots of meaningful songs in there,. While different than our jams of recents with long meddles of several songs strung together, this first set had a real authentic feel to it and there was lots of good stuff.

The Cats Down Under the Stars to open the second set definitely showed a shift towards Jerry Garcia Band and it was a good feeling shift. The Operator was our only stray from the Garcia Band for the second set. The That's What Love Will Make You Do followed by the Mystery Train really let you realize they are the same song with the same break in the middle, but the different feel of each's blues riff let the Mystery Train feel fresh after the That's What Love Will Make You Do. We are getting better that Mystery Train/That's All Right Mama shuffle. I forgot to hit record during the playing of Lay Down Sally which felt really good and I am bummed I didn't record it. With that missing song, it brings the song count to 20 for the jam. A nice number to hit. We got the Russian Lullaby in just before the end of the night, and this rarely performed song for us was nice, with a double round of bass-leads. The Never Can Tell was a nice peppy songs to get us on our way. Speaking of which, I also liked the night's Passenger. I was playing lots of Jerry slide parts during the first set. That was another theme of this night. Until we theme again, "Freak-Out"