4/23/84 new haven: 1st set is barely 45 minutes. 14-minute SUGAREE glows in places. weir watch: slide guitar & whammy bar supplanted this set (& this tour, mostly) by harmonizing pedal, a vast improvement! no blues/C&W tunes helps, too. 88-minute LOST SAILOR > SAINT OF CIRCUMSTANCE > UNCLE JOHN’S BAND > ONLY A FOOL > DRUMZ > SPACE > SPANISH JAM > TRUCKIN’ > BLACK PETER > AROUND & AROUND > GOOD LOVIN’ is rough around the edges but has fascinating turns. [2/3]
garcia unspools SAINT OF CIRCUMSTANCE into UNCLE JOHN’S & keeps at UNCLE JOHN’S with long middle & exploratory coda. after garcia/weir/lesh split, mydland & drummers debut ONLY A FOOL (pissing lesh off, per scene report), its only performance. oddly, more appealing to me than DON’T NEED LOVE (almost Band-like keys groove?). satisfying extended SPACE wilding, garcialogue matched by stereo weir/keys & chaos-retaining SPANISH JAM with sweet soaring garcia tone. #deadfreaksunite#gd042384 [3/3]
Was this peak "Brent takes the lead" era? Or did he also have a resurgence during the "Blow Away" era, 88-90.
For example, Dear Mr Fantasy bustout, 6-14-84 felt very Brent Driven, the way I recall it was the band was leaving stage for Drums, but Brent started playing DMF, Jerry started to put down his guitar, but picked it back up and joined in.
@bourgwick@tor_haxson agreed, I think it was different. My perception was that post coma Jerry took care to active make space for and foreground Brent, who maybe was also closer to Bob and Billy after the Go Ahead experience. Why is speculative but it felt like the band as a whole treated him much more as an equal. He and Garcia developed an extremely visible, palpable onstage rapport. And the latter eighties new heads were much more pro Brent than any previous cohort imo.
@mrcompletely@tor_haxson yeah, the garcia/mydland bromance definitely hasn't kicked in yet, at least in any audible way, almost the opposite with garcia's early exits.
@bourgwick@tor_haxson despite the occasional tiff, I've heard a few times that Phil was the most encouraging in that 84-86 era, perhaps he just appreciated someone making an effort
@bourgwick@tor_haxson in the mid eighties it felt more like Brent stepping in to fill holes left by Garcia's various absences, physical and otherwise, and I was never sure any of the other band members really thought it was a good idea. Later it seemed more like a positive affirmation of his role
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