Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

It was my first Dog show since last year in San Diego when Bobby didn't make the second set. They definately made up for it this year! First set was great and really got going once they got into West LA Fadeaway. But the reason we go to see Bobby were times like we heard in the second set. The acoustic Victim opener was good but it picked up serious steam after that. Full bliss started to kick in for the Masterpiece and was fully rockin for the Golden Road and Speedway.... Those three tunes took down the house. Out of D/S was a very tight (and amazingly well sung) Come Together, but the Sugar Mag/SSDD was Deadesque... simply rockin... even without Jerry and Phil. The faster and faster Casey Jones left us all totally satisfied.... See you next year Bobby.

Firiday night at the 4th and B was electric from the jagged chords of the opening jam, which slowly formed into the monumental Playin in the Band. The perfect way to open up my week on the road with America's best band. Oh what little one recalls from a show like this where Ratdog thunk outside their conventions to surf the wild cosmos like the pack of roving dogs that they are. The Beatles' Tommorow Never Knows set us adrift downstream into an ominous wonderland where the soundtrack is Mark Karan's swirling caliope guitar riffs that makes a person forget himself and dance with abandon. Lucky Enough is a 4th and B nugget and marks the evolution of this band. On this Evening Moods diamond, they shined, loosening the jam before pulling it tight into the enchanted lyrics. West LA is another RD solid cover of GD. But the band puts its stamp on this one complete with Jay Lane's hissing and Robin layin down the groove for Kenny and Jeff. Then things got really Weir'd with an electric Looks Like Rain that meltted my heart. Watching Bobby sing this song is a delight especially the end when hes dealing the reprise building it up to a climax. It's something only he can do that way. Then to extend the first set into over drive the new classic medley of Used to Love Her >She Says> Liberty. The She Says has become one of my favorites with golden sax from Kenny and bacon burning solos from MK. Plus I'm partial to a love song. A strung out Liberty crashed into intermission and we all did need a break by then.

The second set featured a creeping Victim that was hammered home nicely before a suprise Mexicali tore up the place. It was polka time in San Diego. Then a sizzling Masterpiece sailed us to the land of Coca Cola before taking us all the way back to the beginning with an acid washed Unlimited Road which seemed to go on for quite a while getting faster and faster. My eyes were burning with sweat. Then things really took off with a bar room brawl version of Speedway that began to not sound so much like music and more like life itself, and we breathed it all in. Mark was sliding all over the road and the band was crossing many boundaries. Before the crowd finally brought them back for the chorus and an impromtu sing along with the band. Then back into wonderland for Ashes and Glass, the band anchored by Jay throbed and pounced all over this number with Bobby giving us all the ol kick start Bo Diddley style. One of the highlights of this concert was Jay Lane's drum solo during Stuff that was beyond description. His energy was unleashed and it was primal and other worldly. I love Jay Lane. Then things melted away into a sureal Come Together that transported me to a far away place with talking coo coo clocks that ran like a swiss watch. Robin's funky Bass was the straw that stirred this cocktail before we emerged into the lights for Sugar Magnolia. Bobby seemed to stutter on the first lyric but things soon picked up and never looked back. This one rocked immensely and the jam into SSDD was full tilt boogie with Bobby prowling the stage headhunting the audience and fellow bandmates. Mark pumped it up, encouraging Bobby to do the same. It was unbelievable rock n roll magic which left me puddled on the floor. And then some more hard rock with an out of control KC Jones that got faster and faster before exploding and crashing into the warm December night.