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12/2/17 - The Anthem, DC

Tea

By Tea
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BillK522 Proficient

BillK522

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I continue to amaze at the skill of our band to

create the backdrop to life we all love. 

A night after delivering a raw mindbending 68,

they return the following night as a fully mature 91,

complete with Vinny-ish ivories from RobB.

 

The Anthem emerges as a top flight venue, three

levels of dancers paradise with bright sound at

any location.  I had so much space on the floor,

security asked me several times to calm down.

Let me be the first to motion for retiring 9:30.

 

A personal highlight to meet Dr. Barry and Tea

at the halftime praise gathering.  Great to have

a couple more friendly faces in the crowd.

 

BTW, TJ, Music first set standouts.

H>S>F>Esti>STAR worth the price of admission

 

Praise DSO

 

 

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Rude

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Phenomenal venue. I assume biggest indoor dsos ever done. Biggest indoor venue I’ve ever seen that’s not an arena. Sound was like jubilee. U did not lack anything at that venue. It’s conpletely cashless at the box office and inside. It’s made for deadheads with credit.  City crowd so emptied pretty well by 10:30. Most got down as much as city folks dressed up can. Man the anthem is a badass venue. 

 

Curious about attendance. I guessed 3300. 2 levels of balconies and lots of places to find space may mean more people but I can’t count crowds. Prob 1000-1500 upstairs. Super cool spot. Phenomenal show like always. These guys are like all star team vs AA ball of other acts. This is how dead should be played. 

 

ThNk you Dso again for a real good time. U guys add a lot to my life and I’ve met so many great friends around this music. Love it. Love u all. Flight taking off. Later :)

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Tea Mentor

Tea

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5 hours ago, BillK522 said:

I continue to amaze at the skill of our band to

create the backdrop to life we all love. 

A night after delivering a raw mindbending 68,

they return the following night as a fully mature 91,

complete with Vinny-ish ivories from RobB.

 

The Anthem emerges as a top flight venue, three

levels of dancers paradise with bright sound at

any location.  I had so much space on the floor,

security asked me several times to calm down.

Let me be the first to motion for retiring 9:30.

 

A personal highlight to meet Dr. Barry and Tea

at the halftime praise gathering.  Great to have

a couple more friendly faces in the crowd.

 

BTW, TJ, Music first set standouts.

H>S>F>Esti>STAR worth the price of admission

 

Praise DSO

 

 

Great to meet you too!  Felt like I’d known you for years.  Funny how that happens round these parts 😆

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Rude

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2 hours ago, Tea for Texas said:

Great to meet you too!  Felt like I’d known you for years.  Funny how that happens round these parts 😆

Wish I’d have met u bill. That place had so many people I was hard to find anyone. But when tea said he means u and u were a righteous solid guy then u earned my respect. After his comments I felt bad we didn’t get to meet. Tea doesn’t heap praise on many people in that way so I’m upset we didn’t hear to meet. Chris, Dr Barry and I waited by the soundboard after 1st set but you were lucky to even find your friends again in that huge place much less someone u haven’t met. Until next time. I assuming u will do jubilee. Def meet there. 

 

That har to be my fav b2b shows. 1st 68 that’s was by far the biggest mind melter I’ve ever seen Dso do followed by a perfectly crafted rocker in the best open pit venue probably in the country. 

 

Props to to the new light guy. Met him a few times but forgot his name but the new light system he has is the most amazing setup I’ve seen. Instead of 1 light on 2-4 poles, the system is this rotating bar of 6 lights with 2 on a rig. The light show is off the charts now. Talk about a psychedelic lighting system. And that’s a whole new system since the 1st halt of fall tour. I think this really elevates the overall show. During drums we were like holy shit he’s good plus all those new robotic lights sent us on a journey. 

 

Bravo guys!!!

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Rude

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Oh 1 last funny thing. Rob B gets on the mic and says what about this great venue. He said Jeff said they should call it the 12:30 club lol.  

 

That place in essence was a basketball arena with all the lower level seats removed for bigger floor space. You could prob put 2-3 basketball courts onto their bottom level. 

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Tom Banjo Proficient

Tom Banjo

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I'm not sure I want to do New Years in DC. This venue does sound nice but expensive town for hotels food. Traffic is brutal. I lived in DC for 5 years. I'm not really supporting philly. I'd love to head west. Colorado New Years could be good. Portland. San Francisco. I also dream of a New Years run at Penns peak but also understand that logistically with the likelihood of snow and inclement weather. Penns is probably out for New Years. 

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Island Bro

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I'd vote for a western NYE run...

warfield could be something.

There's a convention center space in Portland that could be tasty...String Cheese did New Years there like 17-18 years ago...

Or good ol' Crystal Ballroom

But I think Colorado would be a winner too except for snowstorms 

 

Although all of the above seems kinda unlikely the way they are scheduling the tours now with the Eastern fall run.

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If they did 3 in a row at the anthem for New Years, that would be epic. We had a badass embassy suites a few miles away for cheap ;)  But think they would have to guarantee a sellout or close to be able to book New Years there. With 6k capacity, the anthem will want to max their revenues with a sellout when people are gorging on alcohol. 

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Tea

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The Anthem is one of the coolest venues I’ve ever been to.  Literally no expense was spared.  Right down on the harbor, It’s part of a complex of bars, restaurants, shops, and theatres – both inside and out.  Tons of families strolling by – it was s a village onto itself.  Many millions of dollars went into this project so  if you go to DC for any reason, go check it out – it’s a blast.

 

The Anthem had awesome acoustics, smooth floors, bars everywhere, kind staff, water bottle filling stations, and a veritable Dancers paradise!  Other than it being too big to find people I was with and the venues staffs futile attempt to try and keep the smokers in a small section upstairs, it was perfect.  Thankfully, security got wise and allowed people to leave at setbreak as long as they went back through security.  Leaving out the front had the additional benefit of me getting to meet BillK522!  Praise DSO indeed brother!  It was really nice to shoot the breeze for a spell.  It is also quite clear that we had very similar paths when it came to following the Grateful Dead.  I’m sure we could have continued for hours on end…   

 

As for the show – it was pretty unbelievable for a 1991 recreation.  I’ll admit I was a little bummed that DSO pre-announced this show.  Part of what I love is about the experience is trying to figure out the show for myself or realizing that it is hand-crafted for one nite only.  I thought knowing the show in advance would detract from my experience of it.  Not this time.  I’ll start this by saying:  I’ve never had so much room in an indoor DSO show ever and it had the sound quality of being near the rail.  It was well-attended but this place was massive folks.  Plus, I was dancing with a strength and an energy that kept people from getting too close.  I was turned up to 11 – lol!

 

Cold Rain and Snow was a solid start and when they began to bring it home, I knew they had things dialed-in.  Eaton treated us to a bluesy/funky Wang Dang.  In my previous lifetime, it would have been time to find the bathroom.  I’m really glad I didn’t – while it’s not usually my cup of Tea, it seemed to be an important piece of the puzzle. 

 

Jack-a-Roe was another gear and the crowd responded in-kind.  Everybody in the band got a turn with this one and it really flowed together nicely!  The Big River > Maggies Farm was one of the 1st set highlights!  The River flowed at a breakneck pace, nice-n-tight.  A couple extra loops just to be sure!  The Maggies is  where I think Barraco really took charge.  His vocals were just soooo spirited!  Filling spaces with the Welnick sound was a much more welcome surprise than people thought.  As soon as he yielded to the next stanza, the place went nuts! 

 

For me, everything past this point was as good as it gets.  A very sweet and extended Row Jimmy with a decidedly melodic then reggae flavor was excellent!  Black Throated Wind continued the fun even though I was worried Eaton was gonna blow a vocal chord.  Really strong stuff there. 

 

Another song that I used to leave more than I took was Tennessee Jed.  I was up for it and it delivered in spades!  Holy Crap!  That thing snaked it’s away around and then just got ludicrous.  When they had their fill crashing this into the shore a few times, I remember belting out a Yeah-Hoo about as loud as I could.  It was that good.  The Music was dressed in the same clothes as the Tennessee Jed except they somehow reached a peak that left me speechless (shocker) and breathless.  It was perfect save for the additional mic not getting run out on stage for Lisa.

 

The Help > Slip > Franklins.  I loved the rythymic strumming before they let it out of the gate – timed perfectly with the lights!  So bouncy and bright and so very tight!  The crowd went bananas for the Franklins and for good reason.  Again, loop after loop – totally relentless.  What can I say about the Estimated > Dark Star.  The estimated simply sparkled and shined with a little extra time spent bringing it back around.  Once that part had run its course, things got a little sinister.  It was funny to see how the darker spaced-out themes brought some people from the front towards the back.  The Dark Star was a little more than some could handle and they thought it was a better idea to walk to the back instead of getting in the fetal position where they were – lol!

I almost always break for Drums > Space.  Not tonight – I just let it all run right through me.  The light show made for some very interesting sights that seemed impossible.  Unreal stuff.

 

Those that have seen Jeff do Stella over the last couple years know how this went.  A sweet combination of despair and hope – I was really lucky that there were no talkers near me.  If there were, I shut them all out anyway.  Very powerful with the perfect twinge of sweetness!  Jeff has really come into his own vocally – I gather he has worked very hard on it and it clearly shows.

 

Oh yeah – Lovelight!  Back-to-back nites!  Supercharged everything.  Just like the twisted Viola Lee from the night before, I tried to keep up but it still flattened me good.  We get the huge finish – then it was a false finish!  Back around we go to blast it off one more time. So good!

 

A sweet, sweet baby blue followed by rainy day women.  The crowd went berserk for that finish.  It’s message was clear and there was 100% buy-in.

When DSO comes back to this venue, I will be there.  It is that good folks!

 

Congratulations to DSO and Crew for their performances.  A World-Class band, playing a world-class show, at a world-class venue.  As good as it gets!  Sorry for the blog :)

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