Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

The music sounded great,but it was way too short. How long has it been since we even had a local show, and they give us an hour and forty five minutes with no encore? I just want a two set local show.

Good show overall. Vocals needed to be louder. The crowd, for a hometown crowd, was surpsisingly lame, hence no encore. Good energy though. I think that if you're trying to re-live the Grateful Dead your closest facsimile will be Phil and Friends. Ratdog may be trying to achieve another sound all together at which I believe they succeed but fall short in delivering the Dead thing. There is a growing consensus among Dead fans everywhere that John Kadlicek from Dark Star Orchestra should play with either the Dead or either Lesh or Weir's respective bands. That would get the fire started again and they would pack stadiums once again with none of this lame response no-ecnore stuff.

This show was excellent. From the get-go they played confidently and with focus. The aural textures were manifesting so gracefully and richly throughout the whole set. Starting with a beautiful, dynamic Fly Away; the Lazy River Road was thick & delicate and a little stompin'; the Mississippi Half Step ended in a trance-pulse-call that seemed to be echoing across the universe; the jam without Bob was a mind-bender with Bob returning, saying into the mic "Mommy mommy that man is scaring me" as it was careening darkly; the Terrapin sculpted amazing patterns with spot-on peaks and accelerations.

The venue was wonderful. I saw Phil in Berekely, and that venue, too, had no alcohol in the theater. This one had better ventilation - or maybe just fewer people. Not sure why it wasn't sold out - Ratdog + a charitable organization benefit??? Anyway, while I know many folks imbibe with dignity, there are enough who do not that make almost every show I go to a struggle to focus on the playing. I thought the sound quality was great, except that it was a little too loud.

It's really cool to see these musicians developing so satisfyingly independent of each other. I got to see Hydra in April, Phil last week and now Bob. I am deeply impressed by them all and can hear even more keenly what each brings to the Dead sound.

And can we just take a moment to acknowledge what a great vocalist Bob is?

This was without a doubt the WORST show I have ever seen. Ratdog is a very capable band, and Bobby and the rest of the band are truly talented but there was not even an encore. Nobody knew what was going on until the crew started to disassemble the mics, people were actually booing. Weak to say the least. Nobody showed up and I can tell why.