Wow. Where to begin? I guess I'll begin with regretting not staying for Sunday, as the show looked awesome:
Throckmorton Theatre
Mill Valley, CA
1-10-10
Here Comes Sunshine
Jack Straw
Till The Morning Comes
The Wheel >
Althea
Throwing Stones
St. Stephen>
The Eleven>
Drumz
King Solomons Marbles
Unbroken Chain
Wharf Rat
Touch of Grey
I heard Phil had his bass lights on again - made for a SICK show on Thursday...
I guess I simply ran out of money and energy but felt strangely content leaving knowing that I could have stayed for more. Whereas they would have had to drag me out of Marin County by my feet to get me to leave on Saturday...
Tuesday
The whole run was just simply awesome for me. First and foremost, the Bay Area continues to amaze me - just world class in every sense. I am head over heals in love with the place - the people, the food, the places, the magic, the scenes, all of it...
If you've never been to the Throckmorton before, it is an intimate theatre in Mill Valley (300 capacity) with great sound. The artwork is beautiful with murals all over the walls. The ceiling is a blue sky scene with clouds and angels looking down over the crowd from the sides. For these shows, they had the balcony closed off (for VIPs presumably) as there was never really more than 10-15 people up there.
After passing on Sunday and Monday for silly reasons, I told myself Wed was the day and I was going no matter what. As it turns out, Tuesday became the day, and I'm glad it did. I left Eugene Tuesday morning and arrived at the Throckmorton just in time to grab a drink before showtime. I was laughing all week that 'you know you make the drive too much when you can drive from your house to the venue with perfect timing.'
I had been feeling a little like my cup was half empty, but Tuesday filled my heart until it was overflowing. The show started out choppy, but started rocking with Greatest Story. Probably my favorite part of the ENTIRE RUN: seeing Phil sing along with the part in Magnolia Mountain "We burned the cotton fields down in the valley and ended up with nothing but scars. The scars became the lessons that we gave to our children after the war." If you don't like this song in the Dead context, I don't know what is wrong with you... Comes a Time was breathtaking. This band has really been nailing the ballads. The entire room was silent. Unbroken Chain drove it home for me (always always does), and when Bob false started Masterpiece and started fiddling with his guitar, Phil said "Since this is a rehearsal, we're going to let Bob change his battery. ::short pause:: The battery on his guitar, that is..." Love it!! To finish off, they somehow turned Ship of Fools into a rocker - not slow and building, but rocking from note one - very very fast tempo. And the Lovelight brought the house down, which was already very high due to the second half of the show.
Wednesday
Wednesday I returned feeling very fresh. Seemingly, a little of the novelty of seeing these guys with 250 other people had worn off a little already, and I found myself with crossed arms this night. Looks Like Rain was great - probably the only time other than Dear Mr. Fantasy when the band 'got there.' Welcome to the Dance is about as bad as I thought it would be - luckily there is a good heavy jam at the end that might make sitting through the song worth while. Really not that much more to say about Wed...
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