Vince Welnick R.I. P.

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.

Just to chime in I think anyone would agree that the band was at it's apex from 1970-73. There were good shows in '74 and '76-77 certainly have their redeeming moments in a totally different but enjoyable style of music. Sadly for me due to my youth I missed out on all of that. My first show was 7/6/86 when I was 16. Though 86-88 were pretty terrible things began to pick up a bit in '89. I was at those Warlock's shows in Hampton and they were pretty incredible. I'll never forget when the lights came on after the second night, the DarkStar show, and everyone saw each other for the first time and let out an uproarious cheer and everyone started hugging everyone else like mad. That was great and the band seemed really energized through the spring of 1990. I was at Brent's last show at The Tinley World theatre or something like that, an awful venue in Chicago, and after his death the band really went into their final tailspin. What's happening now is sad and the things that I hear through the grapevine about Phil really turn my stomach. Nonetheless we all have a lifetime of live music to enjoy, God bless 'em for that!

Although my favorite era was actually pre-1972, I saw some great shows in all periods, including a few I really loved in 86 and 87. Just like audio, it's all so personal.