TIGDH: post-Jerry content–07/21/2001 Hartford

 (TDIGH = Today in Grateful Dead History)

TIGDH: "My Strange Heroes Lead Me On"–Disco Biscuits, Ratdog, Phil and Friends at Hartford Meadows on 7/21/2001

The "Q": Rob Barraco, Jimmy Herring, John Molo, Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, c. 2001.

After the Furthur Festival in 1996 in Veneta, OR, I stopped seeing post-Jerry Dead-related shows (one exception: the Zen Tricksters). They were crushingly disappointing. In Veneta, all the gang was there: Kesey, Babbs, Jorma, even the Flying Karamazov Brothers. None of it, not even being sprayed by Kesey's mysterious fire extinguisher from atop the Furthur replica, "Further," could fill that giant hole in my heart and the music.

Fast forward to 2001. I had moved back to New England to strap in to the work-life imbalance we call adulting. It was a bumpy ride. A friend of mine from Oregon insisted I attend a run of "Phil and Friends" shows in the South during my school's April break. She plied me with recent recordings, and I was moved enough to ascent. So, as it happened, on 4/19 and 4/20/2001, I jumped back on the proverbial bus. Phil's quintet of friends blew my mind.

Naturally, the following summer, I just had to see as many "Q" shows as possible. Hartford Meadows fell right into the middle of that run. A hot summer day in Connecticut with friends and family, my old show crew mashing up against my new show crew, I was back into the dreamy swirl. Upon entering the venue, I spied Rob Barraco awaiting a radio interview, and we chatted about some of the weirder Zen Trickster shows I had seen. One, in particular, held in a downtown PDX office building, seemed to stir his memory and generate a wide smile.

Honestly, I don't remember much of the Disco Biscuits. We were grooving to them as we settled into our pavilion seats. What stands out most is that the shed seemed almost empty. We were awaiting Ratdog, who did not disappoint. This was not the stripped down Ratdog of 1996, and much to my surprise, they jammed! This was not the last Ratdog show I saw, as a result, logging many, many more in the years to come. My older sister and I both enjoyed this portion as Bobby was the hook which drew us into the Grateful Dead. (Jerry was the club to the head once we'd been pulled into the boat.)

While 4/20/2001's Phil show was some of the weirdest and deepest psychedelic shit I'd ever seen up to that point in life (and that includes the Warlocks, 3/29 & 9/20/90), this Hartford show represented new heights. Phil, Jimmy, Warren, Rob, and Molo demonstrated that they could blesh into a single organism. This entity fluidly accepted Bobby in for a couple of numbers during the first set, only to let him go and reform around the business at hand. And what a business! No one in our area of the shed stopped moving until the music stopped.

The "Q" absorbed Bobby and then let him go.

The bleshing phenomenon with this band can give one whiplash, be it from headbanging or just trying to determine what's happening. Warren's teases start with Devo's "Whip It" in the opening jam, continue with "Elanor Rigby" out of Beautifully Broken, and, of course, there are Allman's noodles galore. Most impressive to me, though, is that these guys are playing Grateful Dead material but making it sound very much their own. In that manner, this group transcended the trap of "cover band," and I never heard anyone disparage them in this manner. It is one sound; group mind; bleshed.

Listen for yourselves. While this may not be the most psychedelic Phil show (2/18/2001 and 04/20/2001 retain those crowns), this is by far the most fluid. The entire second set flows as a single thought WITHOUT PAUSE. While I chased the Q for the next couple of years, they never quite reached this height again. It is remarkable music they made on this hot July Saturday, and it deserves your listening attention. You will be rewarded.

Disco Biscuits opening set.

Ratdog's contribution.

Phil Lesh and Friends, aka the "Q."