The Dead celebrated Billy Kreutzman’s birthday last night by serenading him with “Happy Birthday” to him in the middle of the second set.  Then, after an awesome performance on Drums, Micky Hart gave him a big hug.

This was my first Dead show without Jerry.  In fact, it was my first Dead show in more years than I would like to admit.  Great fun!  Brought back memories from days gone by.   Nice to see them playing some accoustic.

Warren Haynes is a good addition to the band, but nobody can replace Jerry Garcia.  I miss Jerry…

Highlights from last night included “Loser”, which was once my favorite song, “The Weight”, “Me and My Uncle”, two really great “Space” sessions, “Drums”, and then “Not Fade Away” to close out the second set.

Phil preceded the encore with a plea for more people to be organ donors.

Here is the set list:

Oh Yeah!  I am getting excited!

The Dead are playing in Denver this week – Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.  I can’t wait….

I haven’t seen The Dead play since long before Jerry Garcia died.

My brother just told me about the two shows they played this weekend at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.  From what I gather, Friday night was good, but Saturday night – May 2nd – was awesome.  According to my brother:
The first night was good, last night was blow you away awesome (or at least as close as one can come in the post Jerry era).”

Here is the playlist from Saturday night –

Set 1

1. One More Saturday Night
2. Brown Eyed Women
3. Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl
4. Althea
5. He’s Gone >
6. Uncle John’s Band >
7. Mason’s Children

Set 2

1. Jam >
2. Good Lovin’ >
3. Cumberland Blues >
4. Cryptical Envelopment >
5. The Other One >
6. Drums >
7. Space >
8. Morning Dew
9. St. Stephen >
10. Revolution
11. Help on the Way >
12. Slipknot >
13. Frankin’s Tower

Encore

1. Crowd
2. Organ Donor Rap
3. Sampson and Delilah

And here is a link to the audio if you want to take a listen…. http://www.archive.org/details/dead2009-05-02.spectrum.