the dead on tour again. ---two questions:

The Allman Bros. have always been a favorite of mine. Sadly, I never caught them with Duane, and the one time I actually got to see them (about 10 yrs ago) Gregg appeared to be in bad shape (and sounded terrible) and the show truly sucked. Fortunately, I later saw Gregg Allman and Friends in a small venue, and it was a fantastic show. I would go see the new Grateful Dead tour just to hear Warren Haynes, and consider the rest of the band a bonus. When do the tickets go on sale?

Rhyno,
You should run to your local record shop and buy at least one of the following:

Gov't Mule: self-titled 1st album
Gov't Mule: Life Before Insanity
Gov't Mule: Dose

Return home asap.
Pour your favorite beverage & hit play.

This group does not pretend to be the Grateful Dead. Hence the name, The Dead. No one is forcing anyone to see this band but if your like me no one has to. I started to see the band live in the early seventies, Pigpen was still alive and Keith and Donna had just joined. For me the Keith and Donna years were the most satisfying, musically and personally. I admit to losing interest in the nineties version of the band. I never felt Brent Mydland was a particularly good addition and it was obvious that Jerry's drug use was having negative effects on the bands performance.
When the band first reformed after Jerry's passing as The Other Ones you could hear the pleasure they shared in finding a new outlet to bring to life the music which we had grown to love so much. Not the Grateful Dead for sure but something viable at the least and welcomed at the most.
I was at the Other Ones shows at The Garden when it became crystal clear that this band is still the Grateful Dead, the magic had returned and everyone there had felt the new vibe including the band who changed there name to The Dead after these shows. I remember saying to my friend during the show " There back!!! This is the Grateful Dead." Now we all know without Jerry Garcia there is no Grateful Dead, he was the heart and soul, the spirit of the band.
One could look at this touring band the same way you could look at Jerry's right hand. It started out with 5 fingers but after an accident ended up with only 4. Can anyone say that Jerry or his music truly suffered from this? The band can and will and deserves to carry on missing one finger.
As long as their willing to play the songs I'm willing to go see them play them.
There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.

I'm hoping and lobbying for these guys to come up to the Northeast. Damn straight I'll be there.

Wow! The attitude of some here makes me think THEY are dead, or just waiting to die. ;-) Get out and hear live music, it will help your audio experience a great deal. And, more importantly, you may just enjoy yourself again.

I had the pleasure of seeing Gov't Mule last Halloween in Boston. The first set was all Mule's best and the crowd was really getting into it. I'd say the age range ran from high school, perhaps a few younger, right up to retirement age.

The second set, the came out and began the intro to Pink Floyd's One of These Days. From there they played just about every song you can think of from Floyd. Everybody in that theater was just blown away. This is the kind of performance you get from musicians like this at live shows that you can't get from their LPs and CDs.

I'm still pissed that I passed up Hot Tuna unplugged, who were performing just 10 miles from my house. But it was NFL opening day and I couldn't get anyone else to go. Should'a gone by myself.

Hot Tuna's first album, Live at the Berkley House has been in rotation here since it first came out many many years ago. I have gone through endless copies and it was this album that truly inspired my guitar playing ambitions. New Song for the Morning, Hesitation Blues and particularly Mann's Fate with Jack Cassidy's bass playing going where no electric bass playing had gone before. Jack was the Starship Enterprise of bass players. It was this album that sent me to my one and only trip to the Fillmore East. It was January 1971 and I was just a kid but what a trip for just a kid. I still have the handbill. To me it is easily in the top 10 if not the top 5 of the must have records ever made.