Sphere!

@larsman

I see. I agree about the quality of the Dead’s songwriting. Some will disagree, but I rate their best songs as equal to those of The Band. I enjoy their singing on those occasions when they’re singing in tune. My ear is pretty sensitive to pitch, which means Garcia’s "inexact" intonation can be a difficult listen at times for me. I find it very difficult to enjoy sloppily-played, out-of-tune music of any genre.

@stuartk - Indeed, they are different sounds, but neither does that much for me. I'm not really into the 'jam band' thing. What I love about the Grateful Dead that most other 'jam bands' lack, in my opinion, is songwriting chops and distinctive singing. Nobody else has Garcia/Hunter or even Weir/Barlow. 

@larsman

Perhaps we simply hear differently, but to my ears, The Brotherhood sounds very little like the Black Crowes, who were clearly drawing from 70’s Rock bands such as Free, Faces and Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile period Stones. The Brotherhood’s roots were in Jam bands with a strong G. Dead influence, except that, unlike the Dead, The Brotherhood eschewed the "ragged but right" ethos. In other words, they were consistently tight and in tune. Neil Casal’s playing in that band was very much in the Jerry vein. My two cents.

@stuartk - Hi Stuart - yes I am, but I'm not much of a fan of Black Crowes or the brothers - they're great, for sure, but just not for me.... 

I wanted to catch Phish missed out on tix and then got offered a Sunday but it was too last minute. My friends who went loved it and sent some cool pics back.

@larsman

I will check them out. Are you familiar with Chris Robinson Brotherhood ?  

I saw U2 in November…super technology and venue forward with jaw dropping visuals…sound might as well have been elevator music.

Caught the last two Phish shows and they were extraordinarily audio forward doing some of the craziest things I’ve ever heard (bouncing sounds around the room…pun definitely intended). Their visuals were incredible as well but the sound was the star of the show for me.

Been to four Dead and Co shows and they’re a great happy medium…the band is playing super tight, the imagery is ridiculous, and again the sound is off the charts.

I love live music and the Sphere is completely changing that experience in multiple ways and all for the better. Get there if you can!

@stuartk - yes, and I've never been particularly interested in that version of the band, myself. My favorite Grateful Dead band is Dark Star Orchestra; I've been seeing them for decades now. 

@larsman 

I've been aware, just not interested. Is the outfit with J. Mayer the Dead? ? ? 

@stuartk - Last week in the 'Bizarro' panel comic, they had a title of 'Muchas Garcias' and a lot of little Jerrys on the table with scientists talking about cloning him.. 

But perhaps you're not aware of any GD-oriented activity since 1995? There's really been quite a bit over the last 30 years or so.  

Huh? Did Garcia's widow manage to have him cloned? 

We saw the Dead last weekend and loved it enough to buy tickets for an August show. We can’t wait to go back.   Unbelievable venue with incredible sound.   Normally the volume at concerts is way too loud and I need to wear earplugs, but then it doesn’t sound as good.   At the Sphere the SPL are just right with great balance.    They hired some of the best sound engineers in the world.   Thousands of speakers with the ability to send different languages to different seats with no crosstalk.  I don’t understand how that’s possible but it shows how unique the sound presentation is.   The drum space session was mind blowing and worth the price of admission.

I am headed there to catch the last two Dead shows in August. I am really interested to hear the sound system, it sounds like that alone will be quite unique.