Bob Weir and RatDog | RatDog.Org

What a great show. Everything was in place for a fantastic evening, from the terrific weather to the killer set-list (both Keller and Ratdog). Weir and Keller playing Dark Hollow together was really cool. Ratdog's set was off-the-hook the whole way, from the long spacy Eyes to the incredible Other 1, which at one point almost scared me. I'm sure everyone knows the moment I'm talking about when they hit the chords so hard it was impossible not to look and say "Wow". Then OMSN/Ripple for the encore was the cherry on top. The venue was nice and there was plenty of room to move around freely. They did make us throw our drinks away before coming in but thats expected. Otherwise an awesome Ratdog show the whole way round'.

Mike and Augie Lyons
Lynchburg, VA

Had a fun time. The sound was good under the Pavillion. Nice cool breeze coming off the Mts. I love this venue. The setlist was a good mix of different tunes.
I enjoyed The lengthy improvisando jam on Eyes, tease before Other One,then, that jam rocked. Peggy O , Senor , OMSN was really got the venue jumpin! Then the at the end of the jam started right back into OMSN and the Encore Ripple was spiritual to me.
Kimoc was fun to watch. His finger picking Jerry influenced leads sounded sweet echoing through the air.
I really enjoyed his talent. Kimock was a treat. I missed Karan and hope gets back on the bus soon.
Peace
Doug

Oh My God! What a Ratdog show! With this being my 70+ show (stopped counting around 70), this show truthfully was one of the best I have seen. I was a little worried about a show without Mark, but Steve did a fantastic job filling his shoes. Right from the start of Music Never Stopped, Steve was right on top of his game, and man did Steve add a tremendous amount to the nearly 20 min Eyes to close the first set. Keller's set really set the tone for a fantastic show.
Keller jammed hard for more than a hour with Bobby coming out for the last two songs. Dark Hollow was amazing, ending with Bob and Keller shaking hands and smiling just before leaving the stage.
Then...came Bob and the boys with Music, and it never did stop until the end of the show. The Eyes to close out the first set was really over the top. The second set was just as hot; they picked up right on top of the world where Eyes left off. The Other One was so incredible, and Dear Prudence brought the house (tent) down.
All I can say is this was a really amazing show. The music was fantastic, the weather was great, the venue was great. It was so good I listened to the show on my two hour drive home.
This is the kind of show that makes me more happy than ever that Bob Weir has not retired. Thank you Bob for the amazing two hour mental vacation. You are amazing.

lets see..... where do we begin?...
ok. the weather, great. (got pretty warm in the first 10 rows, though)
the venue (props to Korin capshaw..sp?) made a good thing better with the help of the city. love the whole thing.....

on with the show.

the show actually started with Bob and Keller doing Dark Hollow and then Brown Eyed Women. Great vocal interplay and just two guitars. I really enjoyed the tete a tete.
doesn't take much to get Bob up.... just a littl chomp from Keller and Weir was LIGHTNING>>....

the Ratdog/Kimock(zero) experience.....
Having played football.... it was kind o like watching your replacement do pretty damn good

Lets face it people, Ratdog is a different dog with the man in the hat.

A more flamboyant player with his talent could have erased the show like too much icing on a cake.

I really sensed the heightened awareness of the band, ...as always with a "new" member, you cannot "know" always where they will be.

What I saw last night was Kimock keeping a band on its toes without really doing anthing more than playing a very reserved, and sometimes, understated role.
that is until the end of Dear Prudence ,
Oh then there was there was Eyes, and then there was the estimated, and then there was the Other one.....
O shit..
nevermind...

Great show...
Loved it. danced my ass off, sweated and enjoyed.


to all the fine sweet smelling ladies dancing around me,(not with me) with whom I had the great pleasure of watching....
thank you.
and thank you RatDog....

not much a review of the show, but a review of my night.

but thats what its all about.... the BAND giving US enjoyment
and that was many, many moments of WOW....
I enjoyed.


except tor that LAME MUTHER FUCKER who threw a shirt at BOB, hitting him during OMSN.......
you fucker...

anyways.

I don't know if the band sees any of this shit we post,
but I like.....I REALLLY LIKE what I am hearing

kep it up
later
BRENDAN

Definitely a great show. I'd seen the Grateful Dead play Eyes a few times and I'd have to say this easily ranks at the top of those previous experiences. Not lost at any point, the 20+ minute jam flowed nicely, remained on theme and easily slipped back in to the song when the time came.

The Promised->Other One was awesome. Some classic Bobby in Promised with hard-hitting bridges and fun screaming. The transition rocked. A lot of times the way the GD would do the transition is just have Phil drop the baseline and off they went. The underlying theme to Other One on this night started 5-10 mins before that. We were pretty close so you could see the communication between Bobby and Steve when Bobby started slipping in some Other One chords. Slowly the full theme of the Other One took hold (maybe this was The Faster We Go the Rounder We Get). When Robin finally dropped the bass bombs it's not like it was out of place and sudden, it was beautiful. Then they were off and running and cranking out a fantastic version.

Kinda cool thing for me with the encore. I first saw Rat Dog on 8/17/1995 (Ratdogs's 8th). I had seen the Dead some 30 times before that. I didn't really know Rat Dog was still touring, but managed to find out because I'm a Keller fan. So....between my experience with the Grateful Dead and Rat Dog that once it took until 2007 to see my first live Ripple. It was very pleasing.

Umm...yeah. That'd be Estimated->Other One. Maybe it's still too early in the morning for this. :-)

Awesome show! It was a great night under the Pavillion. Just cool enough. The band was perfect from start to finish. Steve looked very comfortable filling in for Mark. I really enjoyed the song selections.

Keller was a nice touch to get the evening started. He was fun to watch. Overall another terrific show. Ratdog seems to keep getting better. I can't wait until August 14th show in Bristow.

It was beyond belief. Caught the show in Greensboro this past spring and love every minute of it. But this one surpassed nearly every show I've ever seen. Right up there with Dylan and the Dead in Anahiem.

I must say that Keller started out with promise. Very, very talented musician. But his facination with gadgets and gimmicks really took away from the soul of his performance. His numbers with Bob were outstanding.

Ratdog just killed from the start to the finish. The jams were very tight and extensive. Estimated Prophet is one of my all time faves and last nights was the best I ever heard. The transition to The Other One was powerful. Earthshaking, actually.

I was told before the show that this tour typically had Keller open for an hour with Bob joining Keller for a few. Then Ratdog would play one long set. Well they did. And then they played another. I couldn't believe our good fortune. Undoubtably one of the longest shows of the tour.

What in the world will we do if Bob retires? Well, hopefully we won't have to think about that for a long, long time. Roanoke as a new ampitheathre in the works. Hopefully we can lure Ratdog in for show.

It just does not get any better than last night - great city, great venue, great weather - great friends and great music - the spirit of the Grateful Dead is more alive than ever. Let's hope Bob tells Phil "you know - you ought to run that band of yours thru Charlottesville this fall"!

GREAT SHOW, cant wait to see how they are in a week in san diego and LA!!! cali here i come! anybody going to cheese and if so where is the good hotel near the greek theatre in berkeley?

All in all not a bad night for ol' Bobby and the boyz. There was some confusion as to whether or not there would be one long set or two. After the first set, I was not expecting another and what a nice surprise. AN action packed adventuresome show. Certainly The Other One was one for the record books in terms of quality. I have seen many in my day performed by GD or TOO or the Dog and this one was definitely of epic proportions.
Other high points included both set openers and a nice long exploratory Eyes. This band is currently the best thing happening in live music these days and I hope they will be around for a long time. Thanks again.
Fred S.
Gastonia NC

I second all of the above. The Vibe was happening all night. The Other One did not explode it desinigrated. I want to shout out to the dude from CA. Thanks for the VCU shirt! It was just one more night of everybody getting high, Thats right it was Saturday Night!

Bobby and Company -- thanks for stopping by C'ville and for playing such a smokin' show! Please come back next year.

This show was on fire from beginning to end. The band is extremely tight...there was lots of experimental improvisation but the tunes always stayed close to the musical themes...the playing was brilliant. I hadn’t seen Ratdog for years and I was very impressed with how good they’ve become and how they have gelled.

The acoustic tunes at the end of Keller’s set were beautiful and I especially enjoyed Brown Eyed Women. As for Ratdog, I thought the song selection was fantastic. As has been mentioned the Other One was truly something special... a long and powerful jam. For me the other highlights were Mama Tried, which was fun, beautiful and fast; Senor – I would never have imagined that the band could have taken this to so powerful of a crescendo – it was pure beauty and power; Estimated absolutely rocked; Peggy-O was a fantastic opener for the second set; and Dear Prudence – wow – once again another powerful song with Kimock really tearing up the lead on this one.

And Ripple – what can you say? Ripple is in the realm of sacred territory – and it was a perfect ending to an amazing show.

The music was fantastic…what a great band!

the show was hottttttttttttttttttttttttttttt peace love

Wow I drove over 500 miles to see Bobby and Boyz play. I was not dissapointed. Probably the best i have seen Bobby play and sing with such conviction. It was soooo cool that all of it melts together into a beautiful night of vocal, song and dance. Thanks Bobby c u tonight in Cleveland.

Wow - my first show and it was absolutely incredible... Keller was a blast and Ratdog defied description... don't know what else to say that hasn't been posted above.

Have fun playing my hometown the 16th. Thanks you guys - come back this way soon!

As good as a Ratdog show w/o Mark could be...A nearly flawless show...special kudos to Bobby's vocals in Senor..Estimated>TOO was mind-blowing - Pepto Pink for both songs - all that was lacking was the ponytail and the nutters and we would have been back in 1988

This was my second Bobby show (first being the finale of his spring tour this March in Greensboro, hell of a show as well) and it was spectacular. I was most excited for Kimock as he's one of my favs and he put on a hell of a show with the boys. Music to start off the first set, a new favorite of mine Money For Gasoline stuck in there (heard it at Greensboro) and a crazy Eyes with Keller to end it. Word on the street was that they only played one set so i was worried at this point. But he let us know he'd be back for more. Peggy-O is one of my favorite Dead songs ever so to hear that was unreal!!! Estimated>Other One was insane. At times I could no longer dance but rather stand in amazment. One More Saturday Night was perfect to end the beautiful saturday night in c-ville. Ripple to encore was refreshing to hear and soothed everyone for the ride home. Thanks Dog, Kimock! Get well soon Mark!!

Awesome show! It was my son's first show! He's 10 years old and loves to jam to the Dead & RatDog! We couldn't have had better weather or tunes! Thank you, Bobby, for still sharing the magic with generation after generation! We love you!