On a warm Tuesday night in Southern California, Furthur and their hoard of adoring fans rolled into San Diego State University for the first of 4 So. Cal shows. The place, San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater. As if someone had looked at a giant hole in the middle of campus and said, you know what would go good here…a theater…the open air theater is a bit of a ravine with seats. Perched above the large chasm is the library and a walkway, peppered with a myriad of passers by curious as to what manner of circus had rolled into their town. This was a monumental show for me as it was to be the most Southern locale I had seen the band perform. Previously, that honor had been held by Atlanta, GA, circa 1990. Also my first “Dead” show on a college campus, so I knew this would be an interesting experiment in culture clash.
Let’s talk venue for a second. It was fairly obvious this place wasn’t equipped to handle a crowd like the one drawn by a band the likes of Furthur. Parking is spread all over the campus. While the ingress into the venue was done with ease, that progress was quickly halted by a throng of humanity standing in long lines for both restrooms and the Karl Strauss beer cart. Both lines obstructed the flow into the venue through the only upper entrance and created quite the gridlock. A great dichotomy is created as you peer from the top into the ravine with stage at the bottom. Move your eyes upward and the harsh contrast of the halls of higher education is painted in against the flashing lights of musical bliss. As your ears take in the tunes from below, you can’t help but notice the congregation of students in the library computer lab working diligently on their homework.
Furthur kicked off the night shortly after 7:00 pm with a set that would hang heavy in the mellow arena without ever really reaching that break-out moment of true jammy bliss. Even the lighting seemed a bit subdued as they meandered their way through a heavy first set, lacking in any noticeable punch. A welcome Mason’s Children seemed to wake up the scene and a high energy/fast paced Casey Jones closed out the set preparing everyone for a second set that was a stark contrast to the first.
First Set:
Greatest Story Ever Told, Cold Rain and Snow, El Paso, Lazy River Road, Black Throated Wind, Mason’s Children, Cumberland Blues, Casey Jones.
Second set kicked off with a “clap free” Aiko Aiko. Never before had I witnessed a crowd not clap out along with the band during Aiko. Has this time told tradition gone the way of the Albatross? Next up giving a clear “we know where we are” moment to the crowd, Estimated Prophet rang out with “California, prophet on the burning shore…”, giving the crowd a much needed goose in the right direction but only to be brought back down to earth by a Dear Mr. Fantasy. Second set closed with the Beatles “Dear Prudence” setting everyone up for, hopefully a rockin’ encore. Not to be. Terrapin Flyer and Ripple closed out the night, softly dropping the crowd back down on a pillow of comfortable soft down.
Second Set:
Aiko Aiko, Estimated Prophet, Dear Mr. Fantasy, New Potato Caboose>Dark Star>Caution>Eyes of the World, Dear Prudence
Encore:
At A Siding>Terrapin Flyer, Ripple
While the show in total never really reached the heights of “rockin” it was peppered with moments of clear jam-ness. The drumming of Joe Russo brought an excellent rockin’ air to the set and he may be getting on in age but Phil can still drop those bass lines like no other. Rumors abound that this might be Phil’s last Furthur tour, having built his own Deadhead Mecca, Terrapin Crossroads. Begging the question, after all these years do you bring it to them or do you make them come to you. With Bob Weir and Phil both recently constructing their own venues, seems like their leaning toward the latter. But then again, we’ve been hearing the retirement rumors for years. Not likely.
Furthur continues their So Cal run with Friday 10/5 and 10/6 at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater and then 10/7 at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA.
