Pink Floyd

"Whatever you say about the music, one thing I liked about Dead shows was being allowed to answer the call as needed ;)"

For sure, at a Dead show they were either too stoned to notice or too much into "jamming" to even care, take pictures, record do what ever you want, we're just gonna play....I mean who else played 5 hour concerts er..jam sessions?

As Jerry Garcia once said, the Grateful Dead are a lot like licorice. Many people don't like licorice, but those who do really like it a lot. Count me as one who likes licorice. If you hadn't seen them live enough times, you can't weigh in here, sorry. The appeal of the Dead was the lack of a standard setlist, the idea that out of chaos and cacophony could come beauty. Yes, there were many nights they weren't "on" but when they were, they were one of the best live bands of all time, sorry folks. They had certain periods (68-74, 77-78, 88-89) in which they were really "on" due to their sound, personnel, sobriety, lack of sobriety, etc. The Dylan (86) era wasn't their top form. Their songbook of original compositions is a huge contribution to American popular music, too. And, Pink Floyd is awesome. No yawns here.

No doubt Deadheads are a special breed!

Dead concerts were like a 3hr sound check and for those who excuse them when they were often "off" pros get paid to always be "on" thats what seperates them from common men. Color me unimpressed but half the crowd is so stoned (and simple) they dont know what is going on anyway. They only worry about somebody hogging the bowl or whippet balloon.

How'd we get from Floyd to Dead? And I don't mean that literally. :-)