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Rohnert Park - Sonoma Village Events Center 9/26


John A

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Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places…

 

Well, this venue in Sonoma was one of those places.  A former site of an Hewlett Packard campus, now a multi-use facility that does a summer concert series outdoors in what seems to have been a corporate quad of sorts, the whole thing seemed somewhat out of place walking in.

 

But what made this show so ultimately satisfying is that it’s the kind of place you walk into and say, “This is where the stage is?”   Then, at show time, there are maybe 30 people FOB and you’re saying, “Uh oh.” But the band brings it from the opening number.  Within a couple songs, the place starts seeming nicely populated.  And by set break, a harvest moon has risen above the pine trees to the side of the stage, accentuated by beautiful sky of wispy clouds, and the place is rockin’.  It turned out to be quite a powerful scene.

 

Oh, the music – they did Passaic, NJ 4-26-77.  As I said, the band was on from note 1.  Tight first set, sensational second set.  Eyes was my high point.   Little too noisy around me to fully appreciate Stella.  Sugar Magnolia brought down the house. Who needs an encore?  Well, the Dead didn’t this evening in New Jersey, but DSO made it our gain with a double dose of Take A Melody and Music Never Stopped. 

 

Skip, I must say, owned this show.  He was a driving force throughout, and his chemistry with Rob, Rob, and Jeff is wonderfully palpable.  

 

This is an experience that reminds you that taking chances, and succeeding in spades, is more enlightening then the “great venue/historical location/autopilot and this will rock” scenario.   What a magical night!   Not that some ’77 Dead hurts one’s odds, of course.

 

Finally, a shout out to SVT for coming by before the show to say hi – hope your show was as good as mine!

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Fun times!!!!

Set 1:

Bertha

Me And My Uncle

It Must Have Been The Roses

Cassidy

Tennessee Jed

Big River

Friend Of The Devil

Estimated Prophet

Deal

Set 2:

Good Lovin'

Mississippi Half-Step

Dancin' In The Streets

Eyes Of The World

Samson And Delilah

Stella Blue

Encore:

Sugar Magnolia

Definitely seemed like a weird venue at first, but they let us camp and they opened the venue up after the show for bathroom use.... Cool! Really nice people!

From the start the Bertha had me grooving hard (was still grooving on the Grass Valley show the whole night) thru the uncle.

Omg the eclipse is so cooooooool!!!!!! Writing this during.....

Roses took me into the land of transcendence for the rest of the show. Cassidy delivered in swooping majesty and I couldn't help but fear that Skips bass was gonna make my heart vibrate right outta my chest!!! This continued all night. The TN Jed he me dancing really hard with lotsa room and the big river washed our sadness away!

FOTD was slow and pristine and the talkers didn't really get too bad. Estimated..... Hehe, very good and very cool! Deal closed us out proper.

Spent set break looking for ride to Arcata (who knew it would come from the ppl we stayed with the night before! Go us for talking up tour and them deciding to do it!) and walked to my lil rail spot just as lights went down.

Good lovin was glorious fun and the half step was just what I needed to remember that we are all crossing the shores of suffering in one boat and we are gonna make it to the other side!

Dancin eyes!!!! That's me! Best 2 songs for me of the night- seriously epic and amazing!!!! Groovy and swinging and it was fun to have the 2 diff Dancin styles 2 nights in a row!!!! Oh, we woke up to find out, all right!

Samson was excellent and the drummers had me really going.

Stella made me cry from the first notes in tears of heartfelt gratitude and joy.... So glad DSO brought me back to the recognition that all this life is just a dream. Such a great freaking dream!!!!!!! Sugar mags- for all the dakinis out there ;) kiss kiss!

The take a melody was gorgeous and with the cleared out crowd we had amazing space up front to really swirl about. The music never stopped sent everyone home with gleeful smiles!!!

After Grass Valley I worried I could never love another show so much- but, hey, the next show really is always the best. Now to enjoy the moon and some hot water and a bed- I have only slept in a bed a few times since last spring..... Here we go! Love u guys!

Love u John A, glad to see u too!!!!

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...I couldn't help but fear that Skips bass was gonna make my heart vibrate right outta my chest!!! This continued all night.

Interesting you should say this.  I was in what we used to call the “sweet spot” for FOB recording – perhaps a quarter to a third of the way from the soundboard to the stage.  The sound was overall very good, but Skip, in particular, sounded just pristine.  He delivered glorious, deep, full, tight, tuneful bass but in no way overblown or “chesty”.  When the crowd cleared after Sugar Magnolia, I went quite a ways forward for Take A Melody.  Now, maybe a two-thirds of the way from the board to the stage, the bass was massively visceral, resonating deep in the chest cavity.  I suppose it’s matter of taste, but this level of bass output doesn’t do it for me.  Not on its own, and certainly not when trying to balance with the rest of the band. 

 

Do folks enjoy this type of gut jarring bass note in and note out vs. the occasional bone-rattling bomb (of which I’m a big fan)?

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...I couldn't help but fear that Skips bass was gonna make my heart vibrate right outta my chest!!! This continued all night.

Interesting you should say this.  I was in what we used to call the “sweet spot” for FOB recording – perhaps a quarter to a third of the way from the soundboard to the stage.  The sound was overall very good, but Skip, in particular, sounded just pristine.  He delivered glorious, deep, full, tight, tuneful bass but in no way overblown or “chesty”.  When the crowd cleared after Sugar Magnolia, I went quite a ways forward for Take A Melody.  Now, maybe a two-thirds of the way from the board to the stage, the bass was massively visceral, resonating deep in the chest cavity.  I suppose it’s matter of taste, but this level of bass output doesn’t do it for me.  Not on its own, and certainly not when trying to balance with the rest of the band. 

 

Do folks enjoy this type of gut jarring bass note in and note out vs. the occasional bone-rattling bomb (of which I’m a big fan)?

 

 

More bass, please......the more thunderous the better imo ;)

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last year (or year before) at the Best Buy I went (saw some good grooving to latch onto) under the overhang (stage left) for JackARoe but his gut jarring chased me out immediately. don't even like the bombs to much - Phil's Other One's were the only bombs I ever really thought nec.

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