On Friday I drove from Geneseo, IL to Detroit, MI for Dead & Company at the brand new Little Caesars Arena. The drive was uneventful as the weather was unseasonably warm. It was clear skies and open roads on I-80 and I-94. I paid extra to park in the garage closest to I-75 which made for a quick getaway. I brought a few leftover turkey and stuffing sandwiches that I ate when I got there being the day after Thanksgiving. It was a scary lot scene a few blocks away in a vacant lot/alley. There were a lot of desperate souls out there with area homeless mixing in with the Dead tour crowd making it resemble a skid row.
This was juxtaposed against an $800 million dollar arena built for the Red Wings and to a lesser extent the Pistons. There were multiple Little Caesars Pizza stands within the facility as you would expect. Little Caesars Arena has an exterior of office buildings. Inside of this is a wide concourse filled with high end sports bars, restaurants, and team shops. As to be expected in these cutting edge facilities we went through TSA style metal detectors. We were greeted by the sounds of jam friendly acts like the Allmans, Phish, and the Grateful Dead on the PA system in the hallway of the arena. I purchased the event poster. My actual seat was in the upper deck. I took the escalator up there. It was hard not to get vertigo. They used the Bell Centre in Montreal as their model of what they wanted for the upper deck sightlines. While it would be great for hockey, that's way too steep for dancing. I found an empty seat in the lower level and it worked out fine for the evening. The sound could have been a tad better but the biggest problem was people talking. I met a good guy named Mike from Detroit. He said he had done some of the electrical work on the venue. The show started about 7:15. Much of the crowd was late arriving. I would estimate the crowd around 12-15K with the floor being separated into general admission in the front and reserved seating in the back.
John Mayer was the undisputed MVP of this show. I recognized the Martha and the Vandellas Motown cover right away. "Can't forget the Motor City!!!" Next was Jack Straw with the "take the Detroit Lightning out of Santa Fe" lyrics. Weir and Mayer trade off the vocals on that classic. A review of this show described the majority of the first set as being Americana. That would describe the song selection accurately. Jeff Chimenti stepped up on keys for Brown Eyed Women. Ramble on Rose was next. That was the Dead and Company debut of the traditional Deep Elem Blues. I remember abbreviating on some of my first tapes BIODTL. Sugaree was clearly the highlight of the first set. Mayer shredded this nearly 15 version.
New Speedway Boogie is a song I connect with the Festival Express DVD. The more I studied the lyrics it becomes apparent that it's about Altamont. This was a great song to start the second set. This was followed by a slow Dark Star. I'm not a huge fan of Bobby singing the Garcia tunes but I tried not to focus on that. The classic Scarlet > Fire pairing made the show for me. Oteil does a good job on the vocals for Fire on the Mountain. I was a little bit letdown by the duration and intensity of this Drums. It just never really got there. They farted around too much and never got a good rhythm going. The rest of the band returned for Space that eventually surprised us with Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall. Weir did a solid job on the cover. The Wheel featured the Jackson Browne "Stay" tease they did earlier in the tour. Buddy Holly's NFA wrapped up the set in this massive arena setting with the crowd clapping along. Casey Jones was the encore. This was a fun show that had its moments. The overall roadtrip was a good experience for me. The new arena was interesting to explore. Mayer, Oteil, and Jeff Chimenti drove the train. The drummers played some of the tunes at too slow of a pace. Bobby "Ace" Weir is one of my heroes. I appreciate him keeping this thing going.
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