3/28/2004 Setlist, Photos, and Reviews

Real good show last night. Venue is nice but real sterile. Newark is kind of sketchy, strange scene overall.
     First set was pretty mellow to start. It was well-played but had some awkward transitions at times. Jack Straw teases before Cassidy. Easy to Slip was tight. Bobby came into Sugaree with the wrong line and corrected it. He is doing some really great annunciations on lyrics and nailed pretty much everything else.
     Second set was a beauty and a rocker, one for the record books. There was a short tease jam before 1/2 Step, and Estimated was more like Est->01jam->Est, then melt a Samson perfectly out of that. Again there were some really different annunciations. It was real, real thick. Drums section was real short but everyone was banging a drum. Heaven's Door, Dark Star, and Terrapin were all beautifully transitioned. I thought there might have been a Terrapin-type jam before Cassidy reprise. Also an Ashes and Glass tease somewhere. This set is all meat and the encores were just a continuation of it. Amazing set, Kudos to Ratdog!

Went to the show, and I have to say very nice indeed. At first I wondered how it would go, being at this location. I had seen Dylan there when it first opened up. It is a bit more structured with security and such, but all seemed well with the few exceptions of flashlights dancing on the fans now and then.
     The show itself was great. Bob played a bunch of my favorites, like Dark Star, Terrapin, Mississippi Half Step, Sugaree. The jams were really put togehter well, and the addition of the sax made it a lot fuller in sound. I really enjoyed the fact that they went back and forth many times to many different songs.
     I have been very pleased with Ratdog the last few shows I have been to... much more DEAD material than what Bob had been doing. Anyone who can, it's worth catching a show or two!!!

Awesome show!!! First time I've seen the band with Robin... he's great!!! Mark's back-up vocals and lead work were better than I remembered (haven't seen Ratdog in 2 years). This was way better than the couple of "The Dead" shows I saw over the summer. Bob's vocals very strong!!! And it seemed like he was having a lot of fun! Knockin' on Heaven's Door was amazing. We heard everything perfectly and we were in the third level. Great venue. Whole show was great. Drums was great, particularly with whole band surrounding drummer at kit and playing percussion. Bob butchered Touch of Grey encore--forgot entire verse and half of chorus. Time to retire this one. I never even liked it when The Grateful Dead played it. Too vocally long and not enough room for jams. Overall I was pleasantly very surprised by this show. Brought 4 people to their first ever Grateful Dead-related show spur of the moment and they all loved it and were dancing in the aisles!!

I thought this was a decent show but I was somewhat disapointed. They were obviously rushed throughout the entire 2nd set because they had to be off by 11. If I pay 45 dollars, I expect to be able to see an entire show. I also didn't like the Touch of Grey encore. Nice Prophet, Delilah, and Sugaree though.