5/13/2003 Setlist, Photos, and Reviews

Show was rock solid. Bobby looks in good health. Me and Bobby McGee acoustic opener was right on. Bobby's acoustic sounded excellent against Sylvester's stand-up bass. And Karan did some nice acoustic lead picking. Everyone cheered when Bob exchanged the acoustic for the electric following Victim or the Crime and the dogs were off and running with a jam that hinted at the Wheel but blossomed into Help on the Way>Slipknot>Youngblood, an oldie that packs some punch. It was nice to hear All Over Now, a long-time Bobby staple from back in the day. Other highlights: Liberty (very cool, with crowd joining in: "Oooo Freedom! Oooooo Liberty!"), New Speedway (also great crowd participation, entire audience chanting "One way or another! One way or another!"), and Wang Dang Doodle, classic Bobby blues catalog stuff, and the crowd ate it up.

But clearly the evening's highlight was the jaw-droppingly good At a Siding>Terrapin Flyer. Band was insanely tight and displayed an incredible ability to handle this beautiful and powerful piece that is almost best suited for an orchestra. I stopped analyzing the music and just took it in, speechless.

What great fun to see Weir after allowing several years to go by, especially in a small venue. The guy can still make it happen, and it's very cool to see him bring his vocal style and interpretation of Jerry songs. He was strong of voice, looked healthy, and played excellent acoustic and electric. This show marked a personal milestone of sorts, as Bob is now one of only two artists (Neil Young being the other) that I've had the pleasure to see many times over the course of four decades (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s). The band was tight for most of the evening and the setlist flowed quite nicely. The music sounded fresh and vital, certainly not a warmed over rehash of places we've already been. Set break ran a little long, although one could do worse than spend time in a setting like the Paramount. Thank you, for a real good time!

Incredible Show. I first saw Ratdog in 1995 and have seen them many times since. It has been really amazing seeing them improve over the years. The first few times I saw them I was not very impressed to say the least, but as they have had the chance to play together more and Bob has been able to play around a bit and feel the band out and vary the members, I can honestly say they have grown into an amazing band. This by far was the best Ratdog show I have seen. I am quite amazed by the Youngblood/Loose Lucy progression; it is truely awsome. To get a Loose Lucy and a Liberty in the same evening really made my night. I could not believe what I was hearing.

On a side note, I may be out of the loop, but what happened to Rob Wasserman? Why has he not been playing lately? I think part of Ratdog coming into their own was Bobby realizing that he is a rhythm guitarist and not a lead guitarist. His early shows with Ratdog really tried to put him up front on the guitar and I don't think it worked very well. I am glad Bobby has gone back to being the rhythm guitarist that he was meant to be. That being said, I really feel Bobby is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) rhythm guitarists that has ever touched the instrument.

Sorry to babble, fist time writing a review :)