It was on the third day at Rothbury that I knew I had settled in to a bit of a routine. I knew my favorite food vendor, I knew the fastest route to each stage, and I even had a port-o-john that seemed to be cleaner than the rest. I knew I could survive on very little sleep, I knew the importance of drinking lots of water, and I knew the benefits of Gold Bond.

This was also the day I had planned to see the most music. Three of my most anticipated sets would happen on Day 3 – Railroad Earth, The Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee. One was just as much fun as I figured it would be, one blew my mind, and one was a huge disappointment. Read on to see which was which…
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I was a late bloomer when it comes to the Grateful Dead – I didn’t listen to my first live concert (2/24/74) until college. As I explored their live sets, I stuck mostly to the mid-to-late 70’s and the late 80’s. They were energetic, songs like “The Promised Land” and “One More Saturday Night” can really rock. So, I don’t know what the hell happened at Rothbury.

Saturday night’s Dead set was a lethargic trip through some great songs – songs I’ve been wanting to hear for more than a decade, and never thought I would. “Sugar Magnolia” opened the show, and showed some promise – sounded tight, vocals were as crisp as they could be, crowd was digging it. A good start. “Eyes of the World” was where the trouble began for me. The song’s tempo was so much slower than I had heard it, I couldn’t identify the song until the lyrics started. “Throwing Stones”, “One More Saturday Night” – they all seemed sluggish and dragging. Those should have been huge songs! For me, the encore was the highlight, mostly because they finally put some fire in their step as they rolled into “U.S. Blues” with fireworks as a backdrop, followed by “Not Fade Away”.

The Dead ran pretty late – both MSTRKRFT and Umphrey’s McGee had started their sets on the other stages, and as the fireworks were beginning, so was the exodus. Maybe this was an off night. Maybe this is what the whole Spring 2009 Tour sounded like. Maybe I just need to go back to 1974.

The Dead
July 4, 2009
Complete Setlist

Set 1
Jam > Sugar Magnolia, Eyes of the World > Estimated Prophet, Loose Lucy, Friend Of The Devil, Into The Mystic (Van Morrison), Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower

Set Two:
One More Saturday Night, Shakedown Street > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > Drums / Space > Viola Lee Blues, Morning Dew, Throwing Stones, Sunshine Daydream

Encore:
US Blues (with Fireworks) , Not Fade Away

Busy day in the world of Rothbury – getting both the Festival Schedule (here’s a printable version, too) and a revamped Festival Map. I’ve seen some disappointment on Twitter over the lack of any organized Circus and Theater events at the Establishment. From my understanding, those things may still be happening, just in a different way than last year (think roaming performers rather than scheduled)…

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We got some excellent, if mostly overlooked, information this week from the Rothbury folks. In their email detailing the new 2-day ticket (complete with a lower price), they broke down which headliners are playing on which days.

In case you missed it, here’s what we now know…
Friday (7/3): String Cheese Incident
Saturday (7/4): The Dead
Sunday (7/5): Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Friends

There are plenty of interesting pieces to take away from this small announcement. (more…)