Review: Furthur @ Hampton Coliseum
Furthur @ Hampton Coliseum, April 1
Words: Mike Ross
Hampton Coliseum, known by many as “The Mothership,” is impressive from the outside, but looking around from our nosebleed seats on the outer edge of the bowl before the lights went down I couldn’t help but feel incredulous that this giant cavernous place doesn’t suck out the energy of anybody trying to emit anything from that stage. It’s almost self-defeating alienating in it’s sheer hugeness – alienation being precisely the thing that people are trying to escape in coming to a public event, perhaps especially a Grateful Dead-related one.
For the first set of Furthur’s April Fools’ Day performance, I was feeling like maybe I was right. The band seemed a little tired. Maggie’s Farm came up and I found myself wondering, Why do they bother with songs like this anymore? Is there any life left in these songs for this band? The Grateful Dead as a band was a finite entity with a beginning and an end, and doing songs like Maggie’s Farm in the first set was part of their natural progression. When Furthur convened 15 years later, they had the option of picking from the cream of the crop, starting fresh and interpreting the Grateful Dead ethos in a way that would be satisfying to them and their fans – so why play first-set filler? Why not fill both sets with awesome?
Of course, my wrongheaded thinking would be spun on its ass by the time the show was over. Furthur gave me the gentle reminder that, just like in the Grateful Dead before it, the magic either happens, or it doesn’t – and it doesn’t much matter where. It can come and go, and it can be prodded and some pretty good stuff can happen in the meantime – these are professionals, after all – but in the end you can’t really force it. This was proven in a second-set Black Peter – usually a bit of a snore-fest for me – that just ripped. It also showed another facet of the progenitors of this music: liftoff can come from any member or members of the band; in the case of this Black Peter it was the Pehrson-Sunshine-Chimenti show. Those thick organ swirls and those harmonies (“See here how everything / lead up to this day”) elevated the whole stage by about five feet, and before anyone knew what was happening, the Mothership was hovering in place somewhere above Hampton. READ ON for more on Friday night’s Furthur show…
There were other highlights and this being April Fools’ Day there were hijinks such as the opening One More Saturday Night that had everyone making a quick mental check on this Friday, and the Foolish Heart – oh hey, another April Fools’ reference that I didn’t even get till writing it just now! – was a lovely, bouncy rendition. Set two began with a mournful and lilting Weather Report Suite with a Let it Grow that covered all kinds of ground before it just cooked to the finish.
China Cat Sunflower felt great and man, the transition jam into I Know You Rider had Kadlecik’s fingers flying free over the fretboard – except it veered left instead into Shakedown, no Rider. The tempo/vibe change was a momentum killer, and though some of the transition energy spilled over into the first couple of verses it was certainly a slightly deflated balloon. It’s funny how sometimes the changes are so slight that you think you might be imagining them, then you look around and see many of the people around you slowing their dancing into little more than a light sway. Shakedown was a perfect example of the band/crowd energy exchange, as these swells and troughs came like waves over the crowd, who responded in kind several times over the course of the song.
Furthur reminded us again what day it was – and their Prankster roots – when the Good Lovin’ intro to follow led reassuringly into… Fool in the Rain! A very good first version of this Zeppelin tune, and though Kadlecik blew a few lyrics and looked to be straining toward the teleprompter, you had to appreciate his – and their – sheer gameness in playing it. One of those great moments in Deadness when you and your neighbors exchange priceless holy shit looks. Good Lovin’ proper happened next with a big finish before Phil’s customary Organ Donor rap, short and to the point tonight. Box of Rain never fails to send everyone off with a grin, and tonight was no exception.
[Image via @furthurband]
herad this show fantastic and im not a huge further fan. I like em but not my fav. but when they are on they are on fire. The one thing that confused me is that Hampton isnt intimate?? maybe I read that wrong and compared to some venues they play it may be tru. But that place is fantastic inside and out and I always feel close
“It’s almost self-defeating alienating in it’s sheer hugeness”
Don’t get to a lot of arenas, do ya? God forbid you ever experience a shed show from the lawn.
Totally disagree the crowd was into this whole show from beggining to end.The china cat>Shakedown was more april fools hijinx and was awesome.I thought the band was dead on all night!
Oh, I’ve been to all kinds of huge venues. That doesn’t mean I love any of them. The show did seem stronger when we found seats a little further down. I’m just not sure how well any band can connect to the far reaches of an audience in a venue that size.
sorry, man. by any standards, hampton is not a huge venue. Wasn’t there, and haven’t heard the show, but if the band wasn’t creating magic, I’m sure it wasn’t the fault of the mothership being too big for the band to connect to the audience.
place holds 13k and if phil and bob cant make their music sound good in a place that isnt even that big they have problems. they played the meadowlands for christ sake. keep playing small venues for ever they will always be a small band which may not be a bad idea. show rocked tho and the mothership will always me the dead’s
Wow i went to this show, anyone saying the crowd wasnt jacked or there was a disconnect is a fool (in the rain)! This was the most excited ive ever heard a crowd, i love hampton and I love furthur.