Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

Last night was good, not great. I was not crazy about the setlist , but hey what can you do? Thought the show for the most part was mellow, but there were some fantastic jams tucked into some of those tunes. The first set highlights for me werethe opener and closer I do not like the Youngblood cover... bag it.

It is great to see Mark Karan really coming into his own; every time I see these guys he seems to be getting better . Favorite part of the show was Even So > October Queen > The Deep End. How smoking was that Karan lead during the Deep End...? What a riff - WOW

Good to see you Bob ! Come back soon.

The show was so tight and groovy, good jams, Bobby had the crowd really goin. Powerful POWERFUL Brokedown Palace closer... couldn't have been done better. One thing, this wasn't included in the setlist, but I'm pretty sure I heard The Other One somewhere in there....

My wife and I made the short journey from Vermont to Albany filled with anticipation and excitement. We left our two year old at home and brought our belly baby for its second Dog show.

The night started with a great Here Comes Sunshine, an opener that certainly sets you in a good mood. As we danced our way through the first set, our energy was up and down with the set filled with familiar tunes. Baby Blue was sweet! Youngblood was a nice surprise; although not my favorite Dog tune, I have to say they played it well. Of course the Big Boss Man, Playin, and Railroad Blues set people's feet moving. Sprinkled in between was a haunting Wrong Way Feeling. Overall, we were stoked with the first set.

The second set opened with a great Mexacali and Hard Rain. Then The Dog faded into a lot of Dog. As my wife settled back in her seat to wrest that precious belly, I turned my focus to the band as they ran through Even So, October Queen, and The Deep End. Not the most energizing mix of tunes, but the band showed off their musical talents. Great playing! Uncle John brought us ALL to our feet and then into the highlight of the night, Black Peter. Man, Bobby did it right! A great tune that brought back a lot of memories. That song alone made the night for me! The Playin and Uncle John's reprise brought us all down to earth in the end.

Finally we ended our night with Brokedown Palace. Bobby got a bit mixed up with the words and instead of suffering through it, stopped, checked in with his mates, and started up again. I love that about great musicians. He's not afraid to make a mistake and fix it. Fix it he did. Brokedown sent us into the chilly night calm and pleased.

Overall, the show was good. Not my best Dog show, but hey no worries here. The band as a whole is really becoming something quite special. They play off each other well. As always, I hope they keep on keepin on!

Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but this show was one of the worst I've ever suffered through. You know you're in trouble when the first Jerry composition is the 7th song in the second set. The highlight was the acoustic "Hard Rain," which was absolutely beautiful. But Bobby, why do you have to follow such a gorgeous song like that with an abomination like "Even So"??? With lyrics like "I'd like to see you naked" and that quasi-growl midway through the song, I thought I was listening to the soundtrack of a porn film. And where was Bobby's good Grateful Dead music??? Mexicali barely cuts the mustard - where is Cassidy, Samson, Estimated, Stranger, LLR when you really need them? I'm all for experiencing mew material, but this was painful.

That was the best "Hard Rain" I've ever seen ANYONE perform live, in my humble opinion. If you don't like Even So or October Queen, don't go to Ratdog shows, as they tend to play those songs fairly often. Maybe it's because I was born the day after Janis died (perhaps even the same day, depending on time changes - my Swiss watch is broken at the moment), but I LOVE that sequence. Felton: if you absolutely HAVE to hear Cassidy, Samson, Estimated, Stranger, AND Looks Like Rain at the same show, my advice would be to pick up a guitar and play - heck, throwin a Mission while you're at it; might as well, right? YOUR choice
i guess i've said my peace, but perhaps i should just spell it out more succinctly: stop complaining and groove with the flow; you're going to have a lot more fun if you let the wind blow instead of trying to control it all the time

Drove up with my friend, Jeff after the wife gave me the night off and met other friends there who had scored tickets the day of the show. Great bar scene. What a great venue! This mighta my first time there since Strange Arrangement opened for Wier Wasserman back in 1991 or 92 remembering how the crowd control really sucked the fun out it that night.

This time tho was soooo much better. We had great stands on the front rail, Bobby does keep his nose hair trimmed. And hey, that close it all sounds great. First set was great. First Here Comes Sunshine opener since when, Giants 1994? First Youngblood since the Weir Wasserman days and anything from Heaven Help the Fool sends me; Wrong Way Feeling as much as any other track. Hey wait a second there, Felton, who do you think carried BBM after Pig was no longer able? 'Nuff said. Closing out the 1st with Big RR Blues was a superb treat. Lots of energy and giving it all away; the way it was meant to be. Thank you for that one and the other two you gave us Noah Lewis.

Loved the second set, nobody even tried to make us find our seats. Acoustic Mexacali? Weird but hey, that's what we come out for, more Weird Bob. Do it again. Hard Rain, too much, Bob always gets that one right. Get on back out there - before the rain starts a fallin . . . Back to you Felton, as far as Even So>October Queen>Deep End goes - this is the first new material from Bob in a long, long time. Soon enough you'll be laughin' when you hear, "wish you were wholesome and sincere, wish i could fake it, wish i were anywhere but here."

When Playin' the Band jammed into Uncle John, the performance turned into a good conversational jam, then into the best Black Peter Albany's had since the second Knickerbocker show!! Back to Playin' then back to Uncle John to wrap things up. Way to go Bob!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for Brokedown and forgetting the words. Good ole' MK filled Bob in and the Dogs then played the guts out BDP to send us all out merrily into those chilly winds. I will always make my way back there for an Albany show!! And thank you Hippie Bill for the setlist. Like Tiny suggests to the rest, may the four winds always blow you safely home.