Story Photos
 Photo by Greg Ebersole Kelso's Jack McWain, left, and his wife, Susy, front center, dance in their seats during The Dead's show Friday at Columbia Meadows near St. Helens, Ore. |
Day of the Dead
Sunday, July 4, 2004 12:05 AM PDT
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articleDEER ISLAND, Ore. -- Jerry Garcia may have gone down the rock and roll road for the last time nine years ago, but The Dead obviously aren't.
That was clear at Columbia Meadows on Friday, where the venerable rock band brought its Wave That Flag tour.
Thousands of mostly mellow fans grooved to a four-hour concert, the first of this summer's events at the converted pasture in rural Columbia County.
This is the fourth season of shows at Columbia Meadows, located in a huge field behind the Columbia River PUD building in Deer Island.
Faithful Deadheads arrived hours early and set up tailgate parties in the parking lot. Ken Kesey's psychedelic-era bus "Further" was parked just outside the entrance, across from a vendor who sold all manner of anti-George Bush T-shirts and bumper stickers.
Though concertgoers aren't allowed to bring food inside the fence, they can buy everything from espresso to Ethiopian food from booths that edge the meadows -- or visit the beer garden if they're 21 or older.
For some concerts, including The Dead, reserved seats are set up near the massive stage, while other events are all general admission on the flat field.
Though an official crowd size wasn't available, a security worker said between 8,000 and 9,000 people came to the show.
Most of them looked old enough to have seen the Grateful Dead before original lead singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
Original Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir, drummers Bill Kruetzman and Mickey Hart and bass player Phil Lesh still play in the band, which now includes keyboardist Jeff Chementi and guitarists Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring.
Friday, Weir was lead singer much of the time while Haynes and Herring traded off on lead guitar riffs.
Herring in particular sounded much like Garcia used to, with meandering yet melodic riffs.
Of course, there was only one Jerry, though fans vary in their grief.
"I miss Jerry, but the vibe is still there," said Eric Bergman, a local rock guitarist. Bergman plays in the local band Zulu Vision, which evolved out of Jerry's Kids, a Grateful Dead tribute band.
The current band lineup "fills the void," said dedicated Deadhead Russ Neely of Kelso, who has been to dozens of Dead concerts, with or without Garcia. Neely planned to head to the Gorge Amphitheater for the Dead's show with the Allman Brothers on Saturday.
Steve Rogers played air guitar and sang along with Dead songs from his seat near the front. Rogers grew up in Palo Alto, Calif., the Dead's original home, and has been following them since they were called the Warlocks.
He didn't mind hearing Haynes. "He's completely different from Jerry, but he's competent," Rogers said.
Rogers drove over from Bend on Friday to see the concert. "I need to be at work at 8 o'clock tomorrow so one way or another, I'll be there," he said.
But another man complained that "they're playing slide guitar," something un-Garcia-like. "It's not the same. My wife made me come."
The band's set varies from night to night -- fans can keep up on the group's Web site. Friday, it didn't do any of the big hits from yesteryear, though it mixed in songs by the Beatles, Traffic and The Band.
Drummers Hart and Kreutzman did a booming extended duet on their massive collection of drums and percussion.
The crowd was part of the entertainment.
Close to the stage, a middle-aged woman wearing loose, hippie-style clothing, a coonskin hat and lots of dangly jewelry danced near a 20ish couple in tie-dye and dreadlocks.
"There's lots of freaky people here," said a man in his mid-50s who sported short, carefully coiffed hair, an elegant Hawaiian shirt and Ralph Lauren shorts. Then he pulled out a pipe and shared a smoke with his companions.
One person who stood out in the mass of happy humanity was former basketball star Bill Walton.
A couple in their mid-50s who identified themselves as "Bob and Maria from Salem" lined up to buy official Dead T-shirts. Even on a night when tie-dye clothing was a commonly seen uniform, Bob stood out in a tie-dyed shirt, long undie bottoms and even socks under his sandals.
Bob said he and Maria are "people who act like hippies who are professionals." He shared that he's a psychiatrist. "You go here and the people are kind to you."
"We love the spirit," Maria added.
"It's like a religion," Bob said.
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