Everyone has a favorite band or artist! We know their songs by heart and they play an important role in the story of our lives. Just hearing the first few notes of a favorite song can send us off to a time where this music was our soundtrack. If and when we get an opportunity to hear them live, it’s time to ‘take the bull by the horns’ and relive those memories.

So it was with great anticipation that I set off one Friday morning in the company of friends for a weekend road trip to experience Dead and Company, a reincarnation of the Grateful Dead. Why would one travel hours to hear their favorite bands, night in and night out? Because like snowflakes, no two shows are the same. So it is with bands like Dead and Company.

First and foremost, Dead and Company (D&C) includes Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart, three remaining members of the Grateful Dead. They have been performing with pop star John Mayer, former Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbage and longtime Bob Weir keyboardist Jeff Chimenti as D&C since the fall of 2015. This stellar collection of musicians has gotten to know each other well and have breathed new life into the music of the Dead.

But a road trip to hear the same thing night in and night out? The truth is that bands like Dead and Company never play the same show or the same song two nights in a row. Bands such as these pride themselves on delivering fresh new shows nightly, drawing from their rich catalogue of songs and cover tunes. Many very popular and successful acts will essentially perform the same show on the road nightly, changing a few songs each night. They have to play their hits or their crowds go nuts! The shows that weekend from D& C bore little resemblance to many of these bands out today.

Along for the ride is veteran Deadhead, Chris White, and Grateful Dead newbies Lou and Chrissy Pfeiffer, all of us from Summerville, SC at the time of the show.We will meet up in Atlanta with our host and a lifelong friend of mine, John Oechsner. The anticipation is high as we have had these tickets for four months and have been looking forward to what lies ahead. Most of the talk in the car on our four plus hour trip to Atlanta centers on our past experiences at shows as we attempt to answer Lou and Chrissy’s questions. We’re traveling in a car equipped with Sirius/XM and the Grateful Dead channel keeps us company when we’re not playing CDs’ from the Fare Thee Well concerts of 2015. What could be more fun than the anticipation of having a great time! Think about the road trips you made as a kid going on vacation or to an amusement park. You couldn’t wait to get there. As adults, the ride to a big time college football game or similar sporting event is part of the fun of the day. Think of our road trip as a trip to Disney, with all the inherent excitement of the upcoming event boiling over inside us.

Upon our arrival at the amphitheater, the lines were long with hordes of fans packed in cars.  Rarely did you see a car arriving at the show with one fan inside; most of the cars were full with friends making the pilgrimage together. Friends meeting friends to share the time together. That’s what makes it fun!  A human behavior study was released in Australia about a year ago and amongst their conclusions was that people who go to live music performances with others tend to be happier and live longer than those who shun the opportunity.

Once the parking spot was secured, the party spilled out to the area surrounding the car you arrived in. Tailgating was in full force as music echoed from car stereos and Bluetooth speakers. Chairs were set, coolers were distributed and a prepared few fire up their grills for the pre-show meal. Once we all had the fuel for the concert in our bellies, it was time to join the crowd and make our way through the various scanners, inspectors and others responsible for the safety at such an event. Sad to say, it’s a sign of the times where purses and bags get inspected and patrons get wanded and patted down in the hope that no one is hear for anything but a good time.

The crowds were large, upwards of 20,000 people at each of this weekend’s shows. That alone makes a chance rendezvous with a friend all the more remarkable. But I glance over my left shoulder and in the next line is a Charlestonian and fellow Music Hall usher, Michael Turner. Pleasantries were exchanged and a few hopeful song titles were bandied about as we made our way into what was a packed amphitheater. Once we secured a spot on the lawn (versus a reserved seat) with an unobstructed view, it was people watching time. This frankly was a highlight as there are more people who don’t look like Deadheads than those who look like they just crawled out of the seventies. The music of bands like the Dead, with such a long history, brings out all types. There is also a large element of young fans in their 20’s that were too young to have experienced a Grateful Dead show. They are here to see and sense for themselves what their elders have been talking about all these years. And then there are the John Mayer fans, here because he’s here and they want to know why.

Any performance by this band and by alumni of this scene is always two sets these days. For D&C, the first set is almost always individual songs that don’t blend into the next. The set goes on for an hour and more, almost always ending within 90 minutes. Intermission runs 45 minutes so that as much beer can be sold before the second half begins. In summertime, the first set is delivered in daylight, sometimes alongside a sunset. But when the second set begins, nightfall has changed, the landscape as well as the mood of the audience. You see, the second set is where the band likes to flow from one song to another as they jam out together. Meanwhile, the audience is on their feet, dancing and swaying, as they were doing during the first set.

What makes for a great performance on any given night? For me, it begins with the attitude of the band. Are they feeling laid back or ready to rock?  Did they play the night before or have the night off? Is it hot and muggy, crisp and cool or threatening rain?  After that, it’s all about the song selection. Bands like these have a large catalogue of their music to choose from. When you add in the cover tunes of admired artists and rarities, it’s like picking lottery numbers. With so many to choose, you’re lucky to guess a few.

The second set plays for anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours. The band highlights the artistry of their two drummers during the second set, the famous, “Drums and Space,” that some love and others loathe. For many, it’s time to head for the restrooms before the last few songs are performed. The band always finishes a show on a high note, playing songs that build up the excitement in the crowd and has the place rocking. Once the show has ended, an encore is likely to follow, but is never guaranteed. From personal experience, I’ve been to shows where there were no encores and shows that had two encores. Both were rare indeed, but possible. Show encores are usually short, sweet and to the point. In Atlanta, the encore was Chuck Berry’s, “Johnny B. Goode.” This song was a constant encore selection back in the 70’s and 80’s and was frankly overplayed. In Raleigh the next night, we were treated to, “Ripple,” a sing along from the album American Beauty. You can never get enough of listening to, “Ripple,” live.

When shows have ended, the fun is not done as we exit the theatre with thousands of our fellow fans. While many of the fans head for the exits so that they can sit in a long line, burn gas and sucking car exhaust fumes, we head back to our car for post-show tailgating! Rather than sit in traffic for an hour or more, we broke out the chairs, coolers and provisions for late night snacks. With music in the background, we shared our experiences and discussed the night’s shows.

Whenever possible, I like to stay with friends but a hotel will do when friends are not found in this town. This weekend, we were fortunate to be able to stay with a great friend and fellow concert goer, John Oechsner, on Friday night. Accommodations for Saturday night in Raleigh were provided by another good friend, Craig Farqueson. Craig was happy to open his home to us but had no interest in joining us for a show.

Saturday morning, we get up ready to do it all over again. The car gets repacked and gassed up and the coolers get fresh ice. Its six hours of windshield time between locations, providing necessary down time as we recharge our batteries for that night’s performance. The venue will be new, the crowd will be different but the results will be more of the same good music, fun times and created memories. When you travel the interstates between performances, inevitably you will cross paths with fellow fans that are also making the march to the next venue. Back during the heydays of the Grateful Dead, caravans of VW buses and reclaimed school buses combine with vehicles of all types which could be seen everywhere. Today’s fan is just as likely to be traveling in style in an imported late model sedan as well as a Ford 150 or a minivan. The calling card for Heads is your t-shirt. Whether they were bought at last night’s show or hanging in your closet for decades, they are the introduction to kindred spirit. “Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hands,” (Scarlet Begonias 1974). Greetings are exchanged and a departing “have a great show” leaves a smile on all which moments earlier were complete strangers.

Saturday night we arrive at our assigned parking spot too late to grill up dinner. We settle on beer and snacks before joining the long lines getting inspected and wand down before finding our spot on the lawn. It’s a sunny, warm night similar to Atlanta the night before. It wasn’t as humid as when we left Charleston, but it wasn’t arid either! The first set rocked from beginning to end with some favorite tunes being played. We all head in different directions during intermission, rendezvousing for the start of the second set. I felt that the first few songs had a slower tempo than I recall them being performed in the past. That led to the nightly “Drums and Space”. The band came out of the drums/space to a second half that was stellar. It was an upbeat and rocking hour that led to a set closing “One more Saturday night” and the aforementioned “Ripple”.

Back at our parking spot in a grassy field, the grill gets fired up and the coolers reappear from the car. Sitting around we enjoy a late night dinner of grilled sausage with peppers, onions and garlic wrapped in a flour tortilla. Once the crowd has dwindled out we make our way for the exit and a waiting bed at Craig’s home. Sunday morning we gather our possessions and head south to Charleston and our families.

If you love doing anything once, doing it twice is even better. How many of us go to the same restaurant or bar because we enjoyed the experience the last time there? Who amongst you are fans of theme parks or rollercoasters and go back to the tried and true year after year? It’s the same for many fans of live music. We know what we like and know where to get it! I challenge my readers to try a back to back concert experience soon! You might be lucky to have both shows in your town or even better, travel to a few favorite cities to get a double dose of, “the greatest show on earth!” Let the readers know of your experience…we will share your comments!

#DeadAndCompany  #Roadtrip  #Lakewood Ampitheatre  #WanutCreekAmpitheatre #Twofortheroad