@FACTSAREUSELESS said:

Really well done review.

Regarding the woos.......the scene (and I wasn't there I leave in the East) with the woos is obviously taking on a (ridiculous) life of of it's own. What can you do?

The band is huge now, they're a happening scene and lots of folks think it's great fun. But I feel your pain with it. It reminds me specifically of the late 80's when it became the yuppie thing to do to attend Dead shows. All of sudden people wearing alligator shirts and gelled hair are standing next to old hippies.

The hippies and old Heads who were used to 5,000 seat venues and intimacy with the music were greatly annoyed by 13,000 screaming kids who had no history with the band stealing the scene. It was unnerving but it's the price of success.

I think band really likes to please their fans and I also think they're a lot more sensitive to our criticisms than they would ever admit publically.

The set lists in the last week and a half to me are evidence of a clear and deliberate attempt to address what a lot of us have been complaining about this tour.

Wonder if we see Taste tonight (one of my favorites) as we are a pace at this point to play everything in the catalog by the end of Dicks.

Nice job, man

"I think band really likes to please their fans and I also think they're a lot more sensitive to our criticisms than they would ever admit publically."

I really got that vibe Saturday night as I had some serious realizations, especially after writing my review. Like, who am I to even judge what they do? For me it sort of boils down to this: it's easy to just judge the music objectively when you listen at home, and deciding whether certain things are better than others can help us laud the band at their best and help push them when they have a down night. But when you're there, sharing in the groove with the band, and they're pouring out their hearts and souls on stage, how can one even question them? The band does this thing for us just as much as they do it for themselves, and while Saturday night was far from perfect (except R&R which really was!), I saw a band trying their darnedest to make the fans happy and at the end of a far-from-perfect show, the crowd was going NUTS thanking them and you could tell the band was so happy. The whole "Driver" thing was so touching, and I didn't even realize it till after the show. Anyway, I'm still trying to put my thoughts together on the whole weekend so I'll probably share back once I've figured out how to better express it, but damn did I have a great time (especially last night's second set!).