Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

I always dreamed to see the Grateful Dead in concert; never able to, though. The only time that I was in the States, back in '91, I was on the west coast and the Dead were playing the east coast. And they never played Europe so much--almost never--then Jerry Garcia died. Last night i went to see Bob Weir and Ratdog, here in my city, Italy.

What a magical night. I didn't know what to expect, but it was clear from the very first minutes (a surprising Cassidy) that this was bound to be a magical night. Bob played a very moving tribute to his old buddy Jerry all night long--few songs from his solo albums, mostly a pure Dead songs list from the beginning to the end, including gems like China Cat Sunflower, a moving One More saturday Night, and, at the end, a very touching Touch of Grey, the song that means so much for Jerry Garcia.

I loved the way Bob can lead the band from one song to the other with almost no break with those fabulous jams that were like the intro to a new song. China Cat Sunflower went into I Know Your Rider just like on the "Without a Net" GD album; Good Morning Little Schoolgirl was great, as was One More saturday Night, which made me think how great it was for those lucky people who hearded those songs back in the 70s.

The band was fantastic, a guitar player who played every single Jerry note. (Somebody could say this was a pretty good GD cover band, but it wasn't. Only with a leader like Bob Weir they could sound that way.) Long jams with Bob very into the music. But most of all I finally understood what was the GD secret: good, good positive vibrations, the same good vibrations that Bob Weir was sendin' to the audience all night long. And the audience was a few hundred of people (too bad, a shame, really)....

They played more than two hours, even if last night was a festival and the audience was only a few hundreds people. Some very nice American kids too, a solitary taper in front of the stage, and nice girls dancin all night long.

Yeah, the Dead music was good vibrations, now I can see it, and I will always be grateful to Bob for keepin those good vibrations alive. 'We will survive'...