The fragile nature of life (trip report)

furthur from the comfort of your own home!

1) download furthur

2) take lsd

3) ...

4) profit!!!

so recently a friend and i decided to dose up to a recording of the allgood furthur show at my place. i wasn't able to make it allgood, and i hadn't listened to the furthur setlist from there yet. i had glimsed over the tracklsit a few times, and it just looked amazing. i really love this band. so my friend, lets call him D, comes over and we get straight to it since it was already getting late (it was 1 am). we dosed up and went on a little walk around my neighberhood while we began to come up.

D hasn't really listened to alot of grateful dead, but we had been chilling and jamming some the previous week and i had played a little grateful dead for him since he had hardly heard any grateful dead. even though the music was almost totally new to him, he really loved it. once we got back our conversation somewhat shifted to us talking about the band to much deeper thoughts and just about how messed up the world is and how much potential it squanders. which eventually lead to me bringing up hait ashbury, which aparently D had never heard of either. so here i am filling D in on the history of haight street and about the grateful dead and their connection to the community there, while i'm coming up on what is turning out to be very strong acid.

to make things a little more clear, here is the setlist, and a link to a recording:

http://www.archive.org/details/furthur2010-07-09.akg463s.naiant.flac24

Set I
01. Intro
02. After Midnight ->
03. Estimated Prophet ->
04. Just A Little Light
05. Tennessee Jed
06. Must Have Been The Roses
07. Looks Like Rain
08. Brown Eyed Women
09. Big Railroad Blues
Set II
10. Intro
11. Uncle John’s Band
12. Celebration ->
13. Sugar Magnolia ->
14. So Many Roads
15. Colors Of The Rain ->
16. Terrapin Station
17. Scarlet Begonias ->
18. Fire On The Mountain
19. Attics Of My Life
20. Sunshine Daydream
21. Encore Break
22. Donor Rap
23. Cumberland Blues
24. Ripple

eventually we both agreed we were coming up pretty hard. so we went to go turn the music on. the opening tune of after midnight was medicine to my ears. i was starting to get pretty anxious to get the music started. immediately our wavelength coincided with the music and from then on no matter what we did(whether we were listening to the music or not) everything was connected to the music until the setlist was over. the lead into estimed was great. the song estimated prophet will always remind me of this one crazy sidetrack i had to the song during a very strong mushroom trip, and the time when i heard furthur play it live(which absolutely blew my mind). there were some great jams leading through this amazing song with this steller bob-weir-electrified estimated prophet which i am loving more and more. the lead of out estimated into just a little light was fantastic. and where most light versions havn't worked for me, this one was spot on. the rest of the songs in the first setlist were fantastic. we listened to the whole first setlist and had some deep conversations which coincided with the music in crazy ways, until we took a break to go on a walk at the setbreak.

it was great to be outside. the cool night air was soothing. we walked around to go chill at a few places that i know of in my neighberhood when we realised: it had only been like an hour and a half or so. could it be possible that we could still be coming up? i was already tripping so hard. it was hard to even form sentences that weren't part of the flow of energy that was emanating from my being and bouncing back beforth between us in the form on communication. the leaves were melting off trees. the grass on the ground was swirling around in little swirly patterns. we laughed it off. eventually we got to talking about this cop car we saw around earlier and after an initial moment of worry i was reminded that we had no drugs on us and there was no reason for a cop to take us in nor anything we could be charged with. see tyler durden: you can do whatever you want to me!! hahaha.

eventually we got back and damn were we tripping hard. things were starting to get crazy and even though i was keeping my level fairly well i could tell D was starting to get pretty crazy out there. so we went and turned the music back on, to resume with the second setlist opener of uncle john's band.

oh my god.

i havn't listened to a whole bunch of shows with this song as an opener, but man was this a treat. this music uplifted our spirits. D was no longer feeling intense, the beautiful tune from this amazing version of uncle john's band has got to the one of the best i've ever heard. twas good vibes and happiness all around, beside the rising tide. after about half way through the song there is a pretty long drawn out jam. i ran and grabbed my guitar, which worked out great considering i had coincidentally learned how to play uncle john's band 3 days before hand. it felt like the music was calming down to give me a chance to play some tunes. i opened in with the little tune from the jerry part at the start of the song (lead) and before long i was doing things i didn't even know how to do or play and reciting parts of the song that i didn't even know were parts of the song but sounded soooo right. seriously i was a man possesed. i lit that guitar on fire, although it was kinda hard to play because the strings kept melting off the guitar. eventually i set my guitar down after a few minutes and the band lead back in and rounded up the song beautifully.

i'm not really familiar with alot of phil tunes, but the next song celebration struck a very deep and serious note with me. i was astounded. and with my jaw dropped the jam was lead into sugar mags. where the sugar mags i heard from the 2-9-10 show from the winter tour (which is one of the shows i followed closely) was much more high-energy and high spirited, this one was much more profound. it seemed as though it were empasizing a much needed deep respect for nature and the human spirit, as well as the music that the dead have created. a need to not get carried away with things and provide a real respect for life that does not overstep boundaries based on ignorance. the old and wise phil lesh was laying down some vintage music. this is why i love phil lesh!!! we love you phil!!!

where the music went next astounded me. so many roads immediately reminded me of the soldier's field version and jerry garcia. this was some deep territory. earlier D and i had been talking about the nature of life, and just really how hard it is to tell what is really beyond the veil of death no matter how many experiences you have had. we both sat in extreme emotion for the duration of the song. man, i wish jerry was still around. after the song ended we were quite astounded and began discussing how sad it is that jerry has passed, as well as many other great musicians. as colors of the rain lead into terrapin station i began to wonder just what exactly happened. why did he leave us? as the song continued onward that sadness for jerry began to give way to light and love. even though he was no longer around, the music was alive and well. the innocence and hope of the human spirit was still intact, and it was unbreakable. for whatever reasons jerry is no longer around, we still love him and his music. i couldn't help myself but lightly yell "come home jerry!" imagine me, shaking my hair and yelling "come home jerry" with the utmost love, as terrapin station was playing in the background. it was the warmest welcome that a 1 mr. jerry garcia would not have been able to resist.

moving on to scarlet begonias the original energy that was formed with uncle john's band began to take form again. happiness and love emanated through the room, until my roomate's dog came in the room. D said how much of a pain it is to take care of his dog, and that he really wasn't thinking it through totally when he got his cute little puppy(a different dog from my roomate's). puppies are cute, but dogs are a pain if your not ready to take responsibility. i agreed. even though my dog was pretty nice to have, he was a pain in the ass. he eats everything, and is just plain obnoxious when i have new guests over. as we were saying this, there was my dog, looking at me with the most pitiful look i have ever seen. behind the little killing machine that is my dog(i have a pitbull) there was a lot of emotion. i called him over and gave him the best backscratch of his life. he just kept coming back for more. i've never seen my dog look like this. he was so sad and pitiful, and he was in such joy to have me scratch his back. after a few minutes of this i eventually said "hey, look." my dog stopped circling around to get his back scratched and sat down infront of me and presented himself to me in absolute submission. i said "hey, look. you are a good boy." he knows the words good boy, and after i said that his heart just melted. it seriously looked like my dog was about to cry. i reasured him again of how much of a good little doggy he is, and gave him another little pat. after this i layed down on my bed, feeling deep empathy for my little pet. he crawled up behind me(something he used to do when he was a puppy) and layed down by my head (i was flat on my back) and began to wag his tail. i was feeling a deep connection to my dog at this point. i began to think, how empathetic i am for him, only being able to live life as a dog. which sent me into much deeper thought loops as fire on the mountain started.

i could really feel the divine essence that was within my dog, and everything. he wasn't just a dog. i could feel his soul. i could feel the deep desperation that was within his spirit, from the simple act of being alive. i felt deep empathy for him and his restrictions. even though it would be terrible to be a dog, i soon began to remember how it is just the nature of life that we would need to be in different places at the current point in time. it was just simply his dharma to be incarnated as a dog right now. even though he was fated to be only a dog, he could still fulfill his dharma to the best of his ability as the entity that he is. the spirit of life that was within him, was the same that was within me, and is the same that is within everything. i was reminded of the all-encompassing lifeforce that permeates the individual organisms throughout this world that is connected at it's very deepest core. we are all a part of it, we all come from it, and it is alive through every single one of us and every single living creature. i was reminded how important it is to treat all life with love and respect that it deserves because of the frail and vulnerable spirit of life that is within everything. to restrict this spirit of love and life, is a travesty. how many have been restricted or lost their strength because of hate? how much life and love has caved in under the pressure of negativity and malice? too much. i was filled with deep sorrow and empathy for the state of so much life today, while at the same time the holy spirit of love and life flowed into my body and gave me strength. i was so filled with life that i could burst. fire! fire on the mountain!

in the attics of my life
lay fields unsown
and words, unknown
for this time that we are here
we must bring this light to bear

sunshine daydream flowed nicely from attics and tied up nicely what was started with sugar mags. now the high energy that i have become accustomed to from this song was in full flight. a magnificently beautiful song emanated through the speakers as i lay just totally in awe of life. we sat and listened as the very appropriate cumberland blues encore came back on. the cumberland blues from 2-8-10 in the winter seemed a little mean to me, but this one was on a different wavelength. a stellar ripple flowed though the speakers which contained a great energy that i have rarely seen from many version of this song. afterwards we sat there for a second, just totally in awe of what had just happened. we relaxed for a second and smoked the little amount of pot that we did have before we went on another walk to go revel in what had just happened to us. D chuckled "i feel like i learned about myself." LOL

the sun was starting to come up now. it was a beautiful morning, and it had been a long night. the energy from the break of day and getting back outside was just magnificent. we wandered around for a few minutes and admired the scenery before we came back. D kept telling me how tired he was, but i kept telling him he wasn't going to be able to get any sleep. we were still only 6-7 hours into the trip. but he was getting tripping anxiety, and was really tired from being up all night. i've pulled many allnighters before, so i was feeling just dandy. since this was the first time D and i had tripped together i figured i'd just let him do his own thing. he left to drive home and go to sleep. funny thing is, he called me about 2 hours later and told me he couldn't sleep. lol. but this is where we parted ways.

it was damn early in the morning, and i didn't really know anyone that would be awake. i sat around by myself for about an hour browsing the forums and listening to a few tunes before i called my ex-girlfriend. luckily she was awake. it was funny, she greeted me with the warmest "good morning " right when she picked up the phone. i told her i was tripping, and drove over to her place. it was really questionable whether i should have been driving, but it was damn funny cruising down the highway. it wasn't too hard or dangerous of a drive though since she's only 5 minutes away.

once i arrived she began to tell me this crazy story about the night she had last night, all of which was just totally incomprehensible to me at the time. i was still faced. i laughed hysterically and told her how hard it was to follow her story, and she let up on me a little since it was a damn crazy story and hard to follow for even a sober person. we chilled for a few and she cooked me a very delicious breakfast since i hadn't eaten all night. afterwards i collapsed face down on the couch. after she got done doing something in the other room she came in and jumped on my back and started drawing shit on it. i never knew this, but i am very ticklish to a marker on my back. twas pretty crazy, i was still tripping pretty hard.

after a little while we went over to her friends place while we waited for our weed connect to come through. this particular friend of hers was a meth head. i hadn't ever met her before, but i had been over to her place one time when she wasn't there. when we got there she gave us a warm greeting while she toked from her pipe, lol. she offered up the pipe to us and, lets call her C, took her up on the offer. she hadn't smoked meth in a very very long time. i asked her if she was really sure she wanted to and she said yes. i wasn't going to get on her case about it since it was just one time. i just told her be careful and that i really cared about her.

i've always gotten along well with people on meth while i'm tripping. i've been around people on meth on several occasion during past trips, and it just seems like meth brings people up to a similar wavelength to people that are tripping or something. i've always gotten along really well with people that are on meth while i'm dosed. we all had some great deep conversations. after i told C's friend that i was tripping, i found out that she really loved acid as well and at one point had tripped for a very long time straight before she was admitted to a psych ward. i had been admitted to a psych ward once, and it turns out that we went to the same one, and well C had actually been there too, lol. but that's a whole other story. haha. but i just couldn't stop quizzing C's friend about her psychedelic use and her state of mind and her trip to the psych hospital. we connected on some crazy deep psychedelic level. although i had to stop after C appeared to start getting a little jealous and tried to dominate the conversation with stories about herself. i put on the song parralel universe by RHCP and smiled at C's friend before we changed the topic.

we all chilled out and had a merry old time for a few hours when it became aparrent that our weed connect was taking fucking FOREVER!! eventually me and C just went back to my place and chilled out for a few minutes and managed to score a little pot from my neighbor. we toked up and since i had been awake for so long i was pretty beat. the bud brought the trip back fairly significantly, but after a few minutes i was just dead tired. i went over to my bed and slept. oh did i sleep.

 

I was at the show and felt very similar emotions during the same parts of the show.

Furthur was laying down some vintage music for sure... interesting because the following act was Bassnectar. probably as far from the oldschool organic music as I can imagine. Not saying i dont enjoy bassnectar... but GD and Furthur just bubble from the earth.

I felt an overwhelming sense of missing jerry during the terrapin... colors of the rain was absolutely beautiful, music and how furthur controlled physical weather once again.

It was intersting how Dark Star came out Thursday night (night before Furthur) and played a completely upbeat greatest hits set. Phenominal... but left me wondering what songs were left for Furthur... and how would Furthur play after a great greatful dead cover band. I was at first somewhat dissapointed at the show, I felt like Furthur had come out way high energy every other time I saw them, but this show was a slow one for the most part. The crowd was nearly still for the majority of the show (compaired to the 5 other Furthur shows I've seen).

But after listening to the recording this really was a great set... just not what I anticipated. That is what I love about the music, one may think they know the band to the T... but they still have something up thier sleeves. Great but slow set for the headlining spot on a festival. Still getting used to bobby singing jerry parts. IDK why he does it; but hey, it is what it is.

 

I had one of the most awesome experiences ever at this show. Ill make a thread tommorrow about it. And yeah def felt Jerry's presence at this show, it was after all exactly 15 years to the day of Jerry's last concert.

 

What is before the veil of birth?

 

yea i thought that set was absolutely fantastic. i didn't really think it was too slow, i thought it was absolutely appropriate. it was like they were acknowledging jerry's death but then also acknowledging the changing times and the many facets of life. they blasted it out of the park.

i'm thinking, that JK just isn't quite broken in to the music enough to be singing all of the tunes. i've noticed how some of the heavy hitters will be sung by phil or bobby. probably because they can contain the energy of the song better than JK can, them being original members of the band and all. they are still breaking JK in. it's going to take a long time. but JK is getting better and better, hell the synergy between this band is just getting better and better. the magic behind the grateful dead isn't just something that can be picked up on overnight.

that's another one that is hard to tell in all certainty.

nice man i'd love to hear it.

 

If you think you can tell with any certainty whatsoever, you are in a dark shadow indeed.

It is a koan, not a question.

"Show me the face you had before your mother and father were born."

 

man, i can't get over how good uncle john's is right before a sugar mags to start off a second set. i love it.

this was one of the best times i've had since bonnaroo. i feel like i dove into the core of the love that permeates existence.

 

Great report man, you remind me of my buddy a little bit. One time we were tripping and he thought up this whole elaborate explaination of what drugs the band members would sell if they were drug dealers. Okay man, back to life again.

 

feel like a stranger....

for easy reference, here is the 7/11 show: http://www.archive.org/details/furthur2010-07-11.mtg210.flac16

i'll edit the 7/10 one in here too once it gets put up on archive. these shows were on FIAH!!!