Mountain View last night. I love The Dead, I loved Phil & Friends, I loved Furthur, and I think John Mayer is a kick ass guitarist but man, what a disappointment. There was absolutely zero energy on that stage, the songs are played at 1/2 speed (or slower) and Mayers tone and playing are just fully uninspired. He basically just shoegazed and noodled in the background on some generic Jerry scales. It wasn’t musical at all, it was just space filling. His Silver Sky tone is thin and weak, it was better when he swapped for his Sig model but still pretty bland. Oteil look viscerally bored, and Bill/Micky looked like they just flat out didn’t know where they were.
I havent kept up with this iteration and maybe it just is what it is, but these Reddit comments I saw sum it up best “twice the cost for half the speed” and “it takes them 4 hours to play a 3 hour show”.
I havent kept up with this iteration and maybe it just is what it is, but these Reddit comments I saw sum it up best “twice the cost for half the speed” and “it takes them 4 hours to play a 3 hour show”.