Bob Weir & Ratdog w/ Keller Williams Charlottesville Pavilion – Charlottesville, VA July 14, 2007, 6:00 PM
Things were becoming warm, fuzzy, and hazy by the time Bob & the band emerged :O) There was a huge turnout for this show – Deadheads everywhere. This was my first time seeing Ratdog, so I had no clue what to expect. Well, turns out I should have expected GREATNESS. Bob Weir is THE MAN, and the guys in the band are all amazing. I heard from someone in the crowd that Steve Kimock was filling in for the guitarist, and no offense to Mark, but that made me quite happy. Steve’s always on point and I love any opportunity to see him in action. Also, another tidbit I heard that last night was
Bob Weir’s 750th show!
The internet confirmed this fact and all I can say is holy freaking crap, that’s ridiculous.
They didn’t waste any time, and started us off with a blazing jam that slowly escalated into “The Music Never Stopped”, which got everyone up and dancing. Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” and Dylan’s “Senor” were the cover tunes for the first set, along with a few other songs I didn’t recognize. Then the set closed with one of the night’s highlights, the towering “Eyes of the World”. I think it was Lizzie who recently mentioned the moment where you lose yourself in the music, and “Eyes of the World” took me to that place. A helluva way to end the first set.
I didn’t think the guys would be able to surpass that “Eyes”, and for the first few songs of the second set, they didn’t. Then, I heard that funky opening riff of “Estimated Prophet” and Weir’s voice sounded like it hadn’t aged a bit as he sang out ♪California!♪ They didn’t relent, calling up the thunder in “The Other One” - followed by a deep version of The Beatle’s “Dear Prudence”, and closing out the second set with the BEST “One More Saturday Night” I have ever seen. The energy on that song made me feel like I might explode. The crowd hooted and hollered as the stage went black. The encore came quickly, and I can’t begin to explain how happy I was. “Ripple” - one of my most beloved Dead songs. I nearly cried because I wished it was Jerry up on stage, but somehow Bob channeled him. I could not have walked away more impressed. I am now a full-blown Bob Weir & Ratdog fan. Worth every penny.
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So glad you had such a great Saturday... I am just counting the minutes til Tomorrow night :)
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Only a few more hours to go - Yippee!!!!
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A most excellent review of one of my favoritist bands. I saw them play last week in Lincoln, RI, and was as gratified as ever. I expected to be a bit more impressed by Keller being my first time seeing him and all, but it was Steve that stole the show in my head.
Some great links for setlists, and live CDs/dwnlds - https://www.munckmusic.com/wms/ratdog/index.html http://www.ratdog.org/
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Internet Archives has Lincoln up now, I bought the CD at the show much better quality but this is good for a listen - http://www.archive.org/details/ratdog2007-07-11.flac16f
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Sweet.
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Thanks Ash :O)
Bruce - Isn't Steve amazing? I don't know Mark's work as well, so I can't really compare the two. And Keller isn't for everyone, that's for sure. I heard more than one Ratdog fan complaining that he fiddled with his toys & gadgets more than he made music; but anyway, I love him. Thanks for the links! There was a real nice fella at my show who was taping - hopefully he'll post on the archives.
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i haven't seen ratdog in 8 years i bet, though i heard they are ripping it up. i did see weir play with the waybacks last fall, and they were great. kimock is a monster, my absolute favorite guitar paler, i would go anywhere to see him play with weir and play dead tunes. they kimock, trey, page and phil warfield shows in 99' were some of the best shows i ever saw
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I can't believe Bob is 750 years old! He doesn't look a day over 695!
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if garcia was alive he would look 1273
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Kimock is one of my favorites too...he has got skills! Kimock, Trey, Page, and Phil? Wow...missed that tour entirely.
"_doesn't look a day over 695!_" hahahaha well played :O)
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it was a one time shot, 4-15, 16 and 17th of 99'(http://www.gdforum.com/phil-friends/pf9904.html)
i used to have the discs but lost them, but soundboards are around, get them. the st stephen>eleven, the scarlet> fire, the help> slip>frank...... the saturday dark star>it's up to you(only kimock song they played)>dark star>days between>dark star>my favorite things is very cool, the whole thing was epic.
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Oh My GOD! It's time to yell at my mother again for not letting me go to shows until I was a senior in high school!!!
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Glad ya enjoyed the show!!!
Hey, this might seem WEIRd and like I'm tryin' to sell somethin' but it's just a (relatively) new site that's tryin' to get bigger and I'm tryin' to help out...
http://deadreview.informe.com -- you should post your review there!!!
Garciya later!
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Hey Zoomabooma - WEIRd is fine with me. I will definitely post the review there. Thanks!
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Hiya again Kat! cool of you to post that review! it's not even my site but it's nice to help the guy out and even better to tell people about shows!
not sure if you know, but if you wanna listen to or dload that show, here it is:
Listen: http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/Ratdog2007-07-14CharlottesvilleVa.asx
Dload: http://tela.sugarmegs.org/darkstar/Ratdog2007-07-14CharlottesvilleVa.wma
(not the best quality, generally just good for a casual listen but many thanks to Sugarmegs for makin' these available to folks!)
Well, catchya later! Have a GREAT weekend! chris
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Great review, Kat. Sounds like it was an awesome show.
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Man...I can't keep up without e-mail notifications.
Chris, thanks for the links! I'm a freak about downloading shows I've been to - quality be damned!
Lady Miss I - twas an awesome show, and I don't even have to wait long for another...Ratdog's opening for the Allman Brothers when I go see 'em next month!