The First Day....
by mrjackstraw
Friday April 17, 2009 was a glorious day both here in Toronto and across upstate New York and into New England which was perfect for us. Sameer, Andy & I were about to embark on a journey that included both known and unknown entities. We knew that we were in to see The Dead on Friday and Saturday nights and that we had accommodation in Albany, NY for the first night. Beyond that it was all up in the air. Sameer rolled up in front of my place at 830am just as I was finishing my cigarette. We were each wearing ear-to-ear grins and we greeted each other in anticipation for what was to come. From the car I could hear The Dead's music recorded only a few days earlier in NYC.
We breezed to Andy's place with no significant delays. There we had a little snack, some coffee and a J, watched Andy's 6 month old flatly reject prunes and expressed our child-like giddiness to Andy's wife. After doing a car shuffle we were finally Going Down the Road Feeling Good and we crossed into the US via the bridge at Lewiston , NY. We made it through no problem although the border guard seemed to be fishing for something.
We made good time across the I-90 and arrived in Albany at around 5pm. The interstate actually fired us out right near our hotel. We picked up some beers and ice for our room cooler and had a few quick ones before heading down. Waiting for the bus we decided to make a bet on the opener. Balloons were the prize. I liked Sugaree, Andy had Tons of Steel and Sameer had .... something. I forget. A mini van cab showed up at about the same time as another young couple heading down to the show. We flagged it and asked if they wanted to split. They did and we all hopped in. Turns out they were from Toronto as well and were actually in the process of purchasing a place not too far from Andy's. Small world, eh?
It was chaos in downtown Albany outside of the arena. Deadheads everywhere. The local cops have experienced this before and took the appropriate actions by shutting down some streets and just letting things happen that were going to happen. We hit Shakedown straight away and scored some green. It's hard being a Canuck, ya know? We grabbed a few beers and spun one right off. Things would not be the same for a while and a debate would go on as to whether there were any additives.
We didn't have much time in the lot pre-show due to our arrival time and pretty much headed towards the entrance after finishing our session. The few of the streets was awesome as we were climbing the steps of the Times-Union Center. A sea of people. A kaleidoscope of colours. Every few minutes the crowd inside would cheer leading to everyone in line and on the street cheering and yelling. People were excited and so was I.
We just made it in as Casey Jones began. No one won the bet. Whatever. We really should have called that one though. Andy tried to get us down to the floor, but security was tight. No pat down whatsoever coming into the building, but getting onto the floor w/o a floor ticket was a different story. We retreated and got in line for a beer. It was while in this beer line that we enjoyed Cold Rain & Snow and New Minglewood Blues. Can you say, "Understaffed"?
We made it to our seats in the upper deck and were treated to Van Morrison's Into the Mystic. Warren Haynes took care of business on that one. It was followed by a really fun dancable trio of songs starting with a funky West LA Fadeaway, then Brown Eyed Women followed by the set-closing Cumberland Blues.
It was absolute chaos between sets and I wandered out to get a beer only to realize that I was not completely "comfortable" among this many people tightly jammed in and decided to head back to my seat and wait till the crowds thinned. I lost Andy & Sameer during this time. The Dead returned to the stage before the boys made it back and ripped into Viola Lee Blues! As happy as I was, I was upset that Andy was missing this as he's wanted this song the last few Phil & Friends shows we've gone down to. Sugaree came next with Warren singing and this may have been the highlight of the run for me. It was huge! It was during Sugaree that the boys came back and they were nice enough to bring me a frost beverage. Another was rolled as the band steamrolled towards The Other One. You can tell the song is coming, but it never really begins until Phil drops that first huge bass bomb and then it's off to Never Never Land. Drums/Space was next but I had to take care of some urgent business. Beer sales had been stopped so I was shut out on that front but was feeling a lot more comfortable. It was around this time that Andy went MIA from the seats only to pop up from time to time near the entrance right below us, dancing on the rail.
Sameer & I were keeping tabs on him while discussing how much we'd like to hear a Stella Blue right here. We got the Warren/slow song part right. The song, however, was Comes A Time, a Jerry ballad that while never a regular part of any eras setlists showed up throughout the band's history never being shelved. It just wasn't played as mush some others. I am really looking forward to listening to this one again. Phil's Unbroken Chain was next and Andy was still down on the rail. The seamless 2nd set finished with a high energy Throwing Stones that had the entire crowd shaking.
It was at this point I noticed Andy's absence from the rail below, but Phil was on stage giving his donor rap and then the band came out and began Not Fade Away. Great audience participation and a great version of the song from where I was sitting. There were smiles all around as we headed out sans Andy.
Outside the venue was chaos again. We waited around in a few different places hoping to catch Andy walking by or waiting. Nope. Down to shakedown we went and milled about looking at the goods and having a beer. Then we heard the hiissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss of the tanks and off we went. I got scammed on my first set as I had only received 1/4 before the guys pulled up shop thinking the 5.0 was onto them. No rebate. No worries. We grabbed some more and filled our heads till the wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-ing.
It was not long after that we purchase a little strip of paper for $20. There was nothing special about it (as we found out the next night), just a little strip of paper. There are some people you hope you see again in life. Just for a little retribution. There are others you hope you never see again. Like this kid whose thing was to go up to people and say, "I just got out of jail. Can I get some of your balloon?" Sammy is a kind guy and on this night he obliged. Remember the Jail-Kid. He makes another appearance.
For about an hour it was balloons>beer>balloons>balloons etc, etc. Sameer was hungry and we hit a pizza joint just down the road. We split a slice of cheese which was really two slices. It was thin crust and had to be folded in half to prevent cheese slippage. I added garlic salt. Fantastic. At this point we weren't sure if Andy had headed back to the hotel or what. The boys didn't bring their phones and I don't own one so we were out there on our own with no way to call each other or a cab. I know for some of you this would have been the beginning of the end, such is your reliance on this little device. But lo and behold, there was Andy! Sitting on a bench looking just as someone should following a Dead show. A little spacey, but no real problems. I mean, at this point I don't think there were many of us who didn't.
One the cops came in en masse on horseback to clear the main Shakedown, we decided to book it back. Albany is not the greatest city to try to hail a cab. After walking a few blocks we managed to score and "out-of-town illegal cab". When this vehicle rolled up to us it sounded as if parts were just going to start falling off. Seriously. Every bump we hit along out 3 mile journey rocked the cab. We drove past tons of SUNY students looking for cabs after a Friday night out. It's too bad they didn't know where the real party was that night. I think our cabbie was a boozer. He told us about every bar we passed on the way back.
Not interested in going anywhere we were back in our room and turned on some hockey highlights. All of us fell asleep fully clothed on top of the covers pretty much immediately. After a full day of travel, a crazy show, etc, and considering we are not teenagers anymore, we did alright.
Stay tuned for Day 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment