The Dead @ Raleigh
The Dead show was a lot of fun. With the addition of guitarists Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring, new keyboard player Jeff Chimenti, and Branford Marsalis on sax and clarinet the Dead has a very different sound than the Grateful Dead had in the 90's. The band seems more together and more "tight" but is still has the ability to veer off into wildly improvisational trippy jam territory and then bring it all back home again. Overall the music was good and the Dead songs they played were generally excellent, but there were times when the new songs ventured a little too far into the southern rock sound for my tastes. I'm not that big a fan of southern rock, unless you count REM, the B-52s, and The Connells. Overall review: two thumbs up. (see also: <a href= "http://www.dead.net/thedead/2004/summer-tour/setlists-photos/20040817/index.html">photos and set-list).