Vince Welnick R.I. P.

Jsonic, Ooooh, forgot about that one. Good catch. My first show was from that 1971 run - April, with the New Riders opening at Alfred Univ. gym. I was a 9th grader. I really caught the bus July 27, 1973 at Watkins Glen. Both of those shows were close to home, as I grew up in that area. Re: the Europe '72 shows: I think that Phil was at the top of his game then. Go back and listen to the bass lines he puts down in the China>Rider pairing. Just an absolutely perfect counterpoint to Jerry.
As an aside, I only hope that the rest of the boys will now let it rest. That unfortunate outing as "The Dead" scared the bejesus out of me. I envisioned them becoming some Jefferson Starshipish Atlantic City casino act...

I can't fault a musician for trying to earn his daily bread. The Who continuing their tour after Entwistle's death appalled me as do new versions of The Doors , Queen and now The Cars. A friend dragged me to a Phil and Friends show at the Beacon a few years ago and I thought it was awful. How could Phil think he could sing a whole concert?Just do Box of Rain every 50 shows and shut up. I saw The Who in 71 and The Band in 72 at Saratoga, but was too young to appreciate the significance of what I was seeing.

Jsonic,

At age 16 I too was at that Who Saratoga concert in 71. Having only seen Steppenwolf & Arlo Guthrie before, my eyes and ears were thrown wide open at that one.

Keith and Donna and their contributions were the last real incarnation of the Grateful Dead. Any real Deadhead knows this. Who even listens to the Mydland era stuff? At least Vince played on the Tube's classic "White Punks on Dope" With Weir turning into a greedy pig it looks like we might never see another tour. Too bad.

I think they lost an irreplacable part when Pigpen died. I never liked Donna . She was a shrieking over-singer who IMHO was more of a detraction than contribution. Unfortunately Jerry's voice started deteriorating 76-77 so there was a need for vocal filler, but they could've done better than Donna. I've been to shows where she got booed on her solo song "From the heart of me." No problem with Keith though. I agree that their coming on board and the 2 or 3 years that followed was The Dead's last meaningful period.