Truckin' To the Gorge

I survived! Saturday was the Doobie Brothers/Allman Brothers/The Dead show at The Gorge that, being a fabulous girlfriend, I agreed to go to with Kevin. Kevin is a huge Dead fan so I knew this would be a big deal for him. Once I resigned myself to my fate I actually had a pretty dang good time.

The Doobie Brothers were kind of fun. I didn't realize just how many of their songs that I knew. The Allman Brothers were dull. Every song bled into another and they seemed to be going through the motions. Beer was $9 a can.

The Dead are truly talented musicians. The only problem I have with them is exactly what makes them special to their fans: extended jams. Long, long jams. Jams that last 15 minutes or more. I get bored and lose focus and the melody and rhythm of the song is completely lost. The worst part was something known as "Drums and Space" by the Deadheads. Kevin thought I would do alright for the rest of the show but he figured he would lose me here. He was correct. "Drums and Space" is apparently the highlight of every Dead show for the Deadheads. At every concert, there is a part where everyone leaves the stage except the two drummers who improvise some, actually pretty amazing, drumming. Then other members of the group come back one by one and proceed to noodle around and make random sounds that may or may not be music while the sound effects guy plays weird noises. Not horrible for a few minutes I guess but it goes on and on and on and on. I wanted to claw my eyes out. Other than that, I enjoyed their set. I didn't know one song they played except a cover of "Into the Mystic" but still had fun. The Dead apparently aren't the kind of band that plays greatest hits.

People watching was a blast. To quote Cary Grant: "Cliches are only cliches because they are true."

This show also exemplified reason number 24 to legalize marijuana. If it were legal then there could be a designated smoking area where all the pot smokers could go to light up and we wouldn't have to breathe it in and smell that rank smell for 8 1/2 hours. Of course, at this concert I don't know where they would put a third of the audience. I'll tell you though...the McDonald's food that we HAD TO HAVE at 2:00 a.m. on our way to the hotel was the best tasting McDonald's food ever.