Yeah Furthur is always a treat. John from Dark Star Orchestra is probably the ideal replacement for Jerry in any Dead band... because the guy spent like 15 years or more perfecting his homage note for note, lick for lick. It was scary how awesome DSO could be at times... a few second sets where I had to go back and listen to the original show to decide which version smoked harder.Moondance said:
Of course, no one can replace Jerry... he was a transcendent teddy bear who connected to people on multidimensional levels.
But I am happy with John in Furthur. And while it can be argued rightly that Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring (2 greats among others who have played the part in post Dead bands like P&F, the Dead, The Other Ones etc.) may, in fact, be better guitarists overall... their music isn't really The Grateful Dead. Warren shines best in a Gov't Mule context (or with ABB) where his down and dirty licks match perfectly. And, while Herring can certainly rip Dead tunes into yesterday, I found his best work on the Dead oeuvre to be with Jazz Is Dead... a band which (for me) managed to take the awesomeness of Dead songs and fusion them up to some ridiculous virtuoso heights. It says a lot that some of my favorite versions of Dead songs (all-time including GD) are from JID.
Anyway, here is a sweet Furthur rendition of Terrapin Station for y'all:
[YOUTUBE]
And here is a smoking Jazz Is Dead rendition of Help On The Way> Slipknot> Franklin's Tower
[YOUTUBE]
Herring should keep doing this ^^ Playing with Phil or Widespread is actually a waste of his incredible fusion chops.
