Bearly Dead - reviews?

The only ones I like are Garcia Band focused...even Melvin drifting too far from shore and into GD land a bit too much these days

I'm good with Melvin's expanding of the set lists and the mini-space bits.

Closest I've been to a GD cover show the past decade or so is Phil.

Oh the space bits are good but I'd rather he venture the other direction and hit more Legion/Merl material than into GD, there's enough of them doing that already. 

I hear that.  Would have been perfect for the shows with Ron Holloway.

Yes! That's where the idea became apparent to me.. hearing them rip up Expressway to your Heart

Bearly Dead are my favorite Dead cover band right now. More than anything they're unique. One drummer, one guitar, and a front-man who isn't really a front man.  They also shred, are super high energy, and I think they're a bunch of fun.

Saw JRAD last night and wasn't overly impressed. In fact, I said I'd much rather see Bearly Dead.

Brian! Blasphemy!

I'm going to be blunt. The show sucked. Lots of people used adjectives like "weird" and "different," but it was really just not good.

Case in point, they're a band known for playing fast. So they meander their way in to Viola, a perfect vehicle for them. What did they do?  Slowed it down to some dirge. The Cats Under Stars was musically like some weird mashup of 3 different tunes that made no sense, and the Cumberland was just bad. Don't get me started on the useless and meandering 15 minute jam in to Let it Grow (the worst of many boring jams).

If I get sent to Deadhead hell for my blasphemy, it'll have that show on a loop for all eternity.

IMO there is a big untapped potential as far as "pseudo dead cover bands" go.

set up your setlist like the dead - set 1 more rockin/country, set 2 more heavy improv, use all the trappings of how the dead play/improvise, but just play a small handful of dead songs and maybe a few "deep cut" covers the dead used to play, maybe an occasional JGB tune, but otherwise play different songs, mainly just an interesting bunch of covers going from traditional old time songs the dead never played, to "classic rock" songs from the deads peers, to more modern/contemporary covers.

if you use the general map for how to organize a show and how to improvise, you only need to play a handful of dead songs in a few key places in the setlist to tickle the pickle of most deadheads. then with all the other music, you get more freedom, you can get out from under the "dead cover band" category, and you can attract people who might not otherwise want to go see a dead cover band.

of course, for this to really work, the band has to be able to improvise at a high level and truly melt faces, but im a bit confused as to why so many dead cover bands, JRAD included, feel the need to play all dead songs all the time. seems to me like dialing it back and bringing in lots of other songs from other bands/genres the band members are fond of would be more in line with the adventerous spirit of the dead than playing nothing but GD covers night after night.

> Deadhead hell

Brian, you've been on the black screen longer than most of us, and you still haven't figured out what this place is? lol

This must be heaven, last dbmb on the line...

Ha!

JRAD at Red Rocks this year blew my mind; sorry it didn't seem to happen to you the other night.

Bearly Dead are just fine, lots of energy and fun. Nothing special though. I'd pay $20 to see them though.

There are way too many Dead cover bands out there. It lets a band tap into a captive market but very few bring anything new. Far too many of them stick to the "easy" rock songs, the crowd-pleasers. I like my Dead weird. I think Dogs in a Pile has done a great job of stretching out into other/original songs, they're great. The rest, mostly meh. That said, seeing a group of good players play some fun songs you know isn't so bad. There's quite a market for it. I just wish audiences were more interested in seeing something new.

Last year around this time Bearly Dead played 2 nights at a small club up the road. The first night they played Brent's last show and the 2nd was the Dead's last show.

They shred on Picasso Moon and play a surprisingly badass Corrina. Not many other bands can make that claim!

You can listen to them over at the archive.

Scotty rawx!
The lead singer and tonal choices of the bass player kept pissing me off. Steely Dead gets my nod for cover bands.

lol, people definitely have opinions about that lead singer guy.

"They shred on Picasso Moon and play a surprisingly badass Corrina."

IMHO maybe the two worst GD songs ever.  At least in top(bottom) 5.

I thought that was a very telling comment too, Mark.

> Not many other bands can make that claim!

And there's a reason for that, as spelled out above.

They are pretty good. They have actually been playing a weekly residency all Summer at our local lil bar venue.
I feel like they were better a couple years ago. They had a 2nd guitar for a while, 2 or 3 years ago. When they switched to just one guitar all the time, I really liked them. They were pretty invemtive.
They have since toured a bunch, out West, etc.
I feel like now sometimes they are just going thru the motions, but not as inspired.
Two of their schticks bug me a little bit.
One is the bass player's hair. He has long hair, which he obviously brushes out for maximal fluffy cascade.
He then often kinda headbangs so as to whip the hair in a metal fashion. Not a big deal, but kinda vainly performative.
My real annoyance is the singer, though. I appreciate that they have a guy who ONLY sings, because he sings well.
The thing is, he is often short on stuff to do, and he has this habit of using his arms in a "bring it up" motion at the crowd. Like, asking for the crowd to amp up the energy, or bring up the cheer level, or whatever. He does it a fucking lot, like 30-40 times a show. Dude, if the band leans in and brings the fire, you don't have to try to whip up the crowd asking for energy.
Rant over.
That said, they do go pretty deep catalog, and they give some love to some of the 90's songs that other GD bands don't cover.
Overall, a decent GD cover band, but not super amazing.
 

Just saw Kimock this weekend at he Hamilton in Washington DC with Jazz is Dead.

I stole a poster from the men's room and he was kind enough to take time to sign it during break in a drizzle.

The night before we saw Englishtown Project, also at the Hamilton. Featuring Michael Falzarano and Clare Maloney and a couple Zen Tricksters.

>I stole a poster from the men's room and he was kind enough to take time to sign it during break in a drizzle.<

the aforementioned drizzle took place outside on the sidewalk in a rain storm, not in the men's room!