Dumbek's Random Stuff

10/15/89 - Grateful Dead @ Brendan Byrne Arena (The Meadowlands) - East Rutherford, NJ


This was the 4th of 5 nights (our 2nd) at The Meadowlands. Surely tonight we'd get the "Dark Star" or "Attics" or even "And We Bid You Goodnight" that everyone was hoping for. Nope. If there's one thing you could always count on with The Grateful Dead, it was the fact that they never did what you'd expect. A very mixed-blessing that was. We got none of those songs tonight, but we got yet another expectedly solid, if not wonderful show.

I always love hearing "Iko Iko" and this time was no different. We got a rare (for me, anyway) "Far From Me". "Victim" is slowly changing from a complete downer to an interesting jamming vehicle. I'm still not sure I actually like it, but it's becoming more and more interesting. They closed the first set with "Standing On The Moon". An odd choice to close with a Jerry ballad, but whatever. It's a really nice song. Always welcome.

5 songs pre-drums was nice - after getting 6 songs total the previous night. I could hear "Eyes of the World" every night and I wouldn't complain. The second set ended with "Not Fade Away." The crowd kept the chant going throughout the set break - not even stopping when the band came back on stage. The band picked it up again, giving us a sort of "Not Fade Away (Reprise)." Fun. From there Phil jumped into "Box Of Rain" for the real encore. Nice way to send us off. Very, very nice show.

Of course, the next night had it all and rivaled the Warlocks show that we missed as one of the greates shows ever. They played all of the other breakout songs we wanted to see - "Dark Star", "Attics", "And We Bid You Goodnight". Dammit. It was after we learned this news, Steve invoked the "500-mile" rule. "We will never miss another show within a 500-mile radius of home." Of course, that would be impossible to do without quitting our jobs, so we added "on Saturdays" to the rule. I'm not sure how well we stuck to that, but I think we came pretty close.





10/15/2006 Pet Shop Boys @ DAR Constitution Hall - Washington, DC

When I pulled up tickets for this I thought they said Row A - front row. It wasn't until I re-read my confirmation email that I realized it was Row AA - not Row A. oops. These seats didn't exactly suck though. No regrets.

Hell of a show. Lots of hits. Lots of theatrics. Lots of 80s/90s flashbacks. Lots of gay gay gay going on. And I mean that in a good way.

Dinger had seen PSB years ago and insisted that we go to this. It didn't take much convincing - I was all for it. I'm not sure I need to see them again, but I'm VERY glad I went. Everybody should see them at least once.

Old review here.