But, this night was going to be different. The first Dead in Dome 1.0 had George Porter, Steve Kimock, Eric Krasno and company. Dead in Dome 2.0 was JGB with Melvin Seals and Steve Kimock. And both presented straightforward, rockin Grateful Dead music. This installment was George Porter and Steve Kimock again (both returning from playing Japan with Voodoo Dead), but also had original Dead organist and keyboardist Tom Constanten, Bob Bralove (keys), Papa Mali (vocals/guitar), Wally Ingram (Drums), and Scott Page (sax), and their mission was to recreate the 1991 Grateful Dead album Infrared Roses. This album was produced by Bob Bralove and stitched together some off the Dead’s best live performances of Space. Space being the section of music following Drums in a Dead show that has the whole band perform open ended, ‘spacey,’ jams that really fall into more of a jazz inspired sound at times.
OK, enough back ground. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of Space. I’m not really well versed in jazz and at times I find myself not enjoying the Space portion of shows. With that caveat, I was excited to experience this show, and hopefully change my perspective about Space.
The Wisdome was awesome as always. There were a few vendors, and a Vegan food stand. It’s a mini Shakedown Street with a bunch of bars. There were also some great art exhibits in the various domes, the Android Jones display is worth checking out. In the main dome before the music was an artist performing. Not sure why this was happening in the main dome, because it ended up going long. Then they had to arrange the chairs. After a brief sound check that sounded amazing from outside they opened the dome and the crowd filed in.
After an introduction of the band the music started at 9:50. The band sounded fantastic. Kimock and Porter had obviously found a good grove together in Japan, and the opening jam was very spacey and had the whole band really take it a bit far out. I was starting to think they were actually doing the Infrared Roses set first, but just as that thought occurred GPJ dropped a familiar bass line and the whole band rolled into Sugaree. I should have noted earlier that the shows were also billed as a Rose and Love themed show due to Valentine’s Day, so Sugaree was a logical choice. GPJ took the vocal lead. Recently, when Robert Hunter passed, George thanked Robert for writing such a beautiful song and how honored he was to have sung it all these years.
As George was singing to the crowd to SHAKE IT, SHAKE IT SUGAREE in his signature gravely voice (its like Tom Waits singing the dead, ha ha), the band was finding their groove. Kimock playing his signature acoustic guitar (someone has to explain to me how he gets that electric tone from that thing, its wicked) got the crowd going with a pretty fierce solo and the show was rolling. Next up was Big Railroad Blues, not quite the love song I was expecting, and Papa Mali handled vocals. But the highlight of this song was Tom Constanten. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the 75-year-old member of the Grateful Dead…but wow. He unleashed a solo during Big Railroad Blues that was ripping. He was the highlight of the night for sure, but unfortunately it seemed as though he wasn’t utilized as much as I had wished. The band fired off Bertha after that and Kimock again showed the crowd why he was one of Jerry’s favorite guitarists, scorching a solo and getting the vibe of the show moving a bit more.
The other real surprising musical highlight was Scott Page on saxophone. A touring member of Supertramp and Toto in the 1980’s, Page was asked by David Gilmour in 1986 to join the newest version of Pink Floyd. Scott is an insane saxophonist. I’ve seen him sit in with Gov't Mule in the past and he always brings an awesome layer of music to the shows.
Tonight was no different. At times it was Scott who kept the band together. When some of the songs wandered a bit, he would come blazing in on a sax riff and get everyone lined up again. Especially during Infrared Roses, where his musicianship really shined (more on that later). Much like a famous Eyes of the World of the past (looking at you Branford), the version tonight was a real sax highlight. With some dazzling visuals being displayed above on the dome ceiling, the band jammed an extended Eyes, with some amazing rhythm playing by Kimock while Page ripped sax solos over it. It was definitely one of the musical highlights of the night. The set ended with the always upbeat Deal that had the crowd on their feet. And the first set ended exactly an hour after it started.
After a 25-minute set break the crowd settled in for the Infrared Roses set. I found myself on one of the couches for the first time in my three visits to the dome, and I must say it’s quite an awesome way to experience the music and visuals. The couch, the dome, the visuals were absolutely perfect for this presentation of Space. It was WAY better than I expected. That’s not to say there weren’t parts that weren’t challenging as a listener, but there was much more rhythm and grooves, and much less open space and abstract sound than I expected. Every time it seemed to get a little disjointed, GPJ would find a bass groove and get the train back on track.
Scott page was the other real driving force during the Infrared set. Much like GPJ, when it seemed a bit chaotic, Scott would find a beautiful sax run to fill in the ‘space.’ Or at times he would kind of grab the jam and make it something of his own. Each member of the band had moments to shine. Again for a few brief moments Tom Constanten really killed it on the keys. There were two times during Infrared that he really let loose and it was impressive. The defining moment of the night for me personally was seeing TC play and how outstanding he really was.
It would be useless for me to break down every measure of the Infrared Set, but I’ll post a link to night one where someone more qualified than I has. Some other notes on the set was an outstanding moment by Bob Bralove on keyboards that really stood out. Bob was the musical director behind the original Infrared Roses album, and he served as the same role for these shows. George Porter Jar also had just a heart stopping extended bass solo that was blissful and powerful at the same time. The sound of his bass in that dome is a beautiful relationship.
And finally, the real backbone of the whole night was Wally Ingram on drums. Holy crap! I’m not really familiar with his work prior to tonight. I knew he toured with Bob and Phil on their duo tour in 2018, but he held parts of the Infrared Set together alone. His improvisational work during the set was outstanding. He continued to find creative sounds and ways to stay connected to the band and the jams. At times it was easy to get lost in the sound, and then you could find home base again focusing on the drums. He may not have been the most noticeable musician of the night, but like most great drummers, he held together what could have been a very easily discombobulated set.
The set lasted an hour, after which George noted they were short on time. On night one they played a four set encore, but tonight because of time restrictions the band played New Speedway Boogie>Other One Jam. Then wrapped up with George singing Black Muddy River with giant visuals of waterfalls and rolling rivers projected above on the dome. One quick note, although because of the later start due to the art show prior to the music (hope the remedy that before next time), the band scratched Smokestack Lightning, They Love Each Other, and I Know You Rider from the encore. I will say the brief Other One jam was out of this world. It seemed as it was Kimock’s decision to play it after discussing it with George, and Kimock used his guitar to ‘sing’ the lyrics to the Other One. It was a unique way to do The Other One. And the tone and sound coming from Kimock’s rig fired things up. It seemed like Kimock saved a lot during the show, but for this brief jam he really let loose.
Another great night in LA for Dead fans. The opportunity to see a legend like George Porter Jr and an original member of the Grateful Dead, Tom Constanten, play Dead music with stunning visuals over head (I forgot to mention, every time I go to the dome the visuals get better and better. The visuals paired with the Infrared Set made for awesome eye candy)…it’s not going to happen very often. The Infrared Set had never been done before and may never be presented like this again. It was done with great class, and delivered better than I had expected. Thanks Wisedome!!! Can’t wait to hear about the next one!!!
Joshua Cumming
