The Persuasions & Ratdog

November 9, 2000

The Akron Civic Theatre

Akron, OH

Amid the chaos of the presidential election I made the trek from Ypsilanti down to Akron to catch the Ratdog show at the Akron Civic Theatre. Had and easy drive and arrived in Akron early enough to grab a beer and dinner at a pub called Mr. Bilbo which is across the street from the theatre. Lot s of Deadheads at Mr.Bilbo’s (which yes, has a Hobbit theme inside) and somebody had put a lot of quarters in the jukebox to keep the Dead music flowing.

After a good meal and a few beers I wondered back across the street only to run into Ratdog/Other Ones guitarist Mark Karan who seemed like a real nice guy. I made my way inside and found my seat, which was pretty decent. I was sure to get into the theatre on time because I was excited to see the famous a cappella group, the Persuasions who were opening.

The theatre it self was very ornate inside and had sort of an oriental motif, but with classical sculptures in the alcoves and twinkling stars and clouds on the ceiling. Right about on time, the Persuasions sauntered up to the front of the stage where 5 microphones were set up. With out even warming up they dove right into an incredibly soulful rendition of "Black Muddy River". The Persuasions have an amazing new record out where they cover Dead songs and it is by far one of the best records of the year so far. The crowd seemed surprised and delighted by the Persuasions and there was applause even before the song ended. Lead singer Jerry Lawson stalked the stage as he belted the words to a selection of Dead classics like "Brokedown Palace", "Might As Well" and "Ripple". They interspersed the Dead covers with songs like Frank Zappa’s "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth", "Down on the Boardwalk" and even the Oakridge Boys classic, "Elvira". They closed their too brief set with a stirring version of "And We Bid You Goodnight" which the whole crowd sang along with. The Persuasions were a great opening act and I hope to see them in a full-length show someday.

After a relatively short break, Ratdog’s leader Bob Weir along with bassist Rob Wasserman and lead guitarist, Mark Karan strode on stage with acoustic instruments. They started off the short acoustic set with some jamming that seemed like it was going to coalesce into the Beatles’ "Blackbird" which Weir often covers, but instead Weir changed gears and dropped into a folky version of "Me and My Uncle". Karan provided some nice countryish licks and Wasserman held down the bottom well, but the highlight was Weir’s vocals on this classic tune. Next Karan left the stage, leaving only Weir and Wasserman. These two used to tour under the moniker ‘Scaring the Children" and I was a big fan of their stripped down sound so it was cool to hear Bob and Rob tackle "Victim or the Crime" in this format again. Weir’s vocals were again strong and Wasserman basically played lead bass over Weir complicated rhythm work. The song got pretty spacey before coming back to earth and segueing into a nice workout of "Friend of the Devil" with Karan returning to the stage and providing some really great leads. The song morphed into a little jam and the rest of the band consisting of saxophone player, Kenny Brooks; keyboardist, Jeff Chimenti; and drummer Jay Lane, took the stage. The jamming continued until Weir struck the big opening chord to "Shakedown Street". This was a huge version that reminded me of the semi-sketchy scene out on Akron’s Main Street that I had walked through earlier. Weir played the sweetest little bluesy solo in the middle of the tune. Weir is known for his unique rhythm work, but all night he surprised me with the cool little leads he would throw out. "Shakedown Street" wound down with the band trading off vocals with Weir and then jamming into what I was sure was going to be "Easy Answers". Weir played the intro, but then, keeping us on our toes, he led the band into a rollicking version of "The New, New Minglewood Blues". Weir played some good slide guitar here and the crowd was relishing every moment and singing along. Bob personalized the song as he almost always does by referring to the ‘Buckeye fillies" and singing, "It’s ‘T’ right here in Akron…" After a huge ending the band segued into another jam that again resembled "Easy Answers", but then Karan began to pick out the twangy intro to "Lucky Enough" off of Ratdog’s new album. This was my first time hearing this one live and it was a lot looser than the album version. All in all it stood up very well to the classics and I can’t wait to hear it again. The jam at the end wound up in "Other One" territory and Bobby finally stepped up to the mic to deliver the first verse. A short jam followed then became the Weir solo classic "This Time Forever". This slowed things down, but the crowd needed a rest. "This Time Forever" sounded really good with the full band treatment and it led into its usual song partner, "Shade of Grey". This was the real sleeper of the show. I have never seen this one played with the full band either and this usually quiet song was turned into a full bore rocker that really got the crowd going again. It is good to see Bobby breathing new life into his underappreciated solo catalog.

The hard rocking feeling continued as the band tore into the most intense ‘Hell in a Bucket" I have ever seen. The band really seemed to get off on playing this one and the crowd appreciated it too. Bobby, Mark, Jeff and Jay ended the song with more call and response vocals. Soon the jam wound down and Rob and Jay took the spotlight for a cool drums and bass solo section that featured all sorts of crazy bass effects by Wasserman and his standup bass. The show really took off as the rest of the band came back out and jammed for awhile before going into "The Wheel". This was a very tight version that had everybody dancing and it led back into the second verse of "The Other One" which blew away the first in terms of intensity. Saxophonist Kenny Brooks had been kind of low in the mix all night, but here he really stepped up. "The Other One" made its way tnto the hottest version of Bobby "Blue" Bland’s "Turn on Your Lovelight" I have witnessed. The song was too often a run through during the last few years of the Dead, but last night it was really well explored with Weir bringing the intensity level up and down with great dramatic effect. He even threw in a little improvised rap in the middle. Karan actually quoted the intro to "China Cat Sunflower" in the middle of the jam and I hoped they would go into it, but it turned out to be another tease. Karan actually quoted all sorts of songs in his solos which was pretty cool. At the beginning of the Wheel, I swear I heard him quote "Happy Jack" by the Who. All too soon "Lovelight" finished up and the band left the stage to huge cheers.

Very quickly, they returned for the encore, which turned out to be "Liberty". "Liberty" was a Robert Hunter solo tune that Garcia adapted and began playing with the Dead in 1993 so it was never released on any Dead studio album. Weir was a little tentative with the words, but it fit his style well and rocked harder than it used to with the Dead. It was also a telling commentary on the current state of affairs in America. The show wound up and the band came to the front of the stage to take a group bow before leaving for good as the houselights came up. All in all I was really impressed at how tight the band was and how well they have matured as a unit. I wish I could have heard Kenny Brooks better in the mix, because what I did hear, I liked. That is my only complaint though and it was worth the three-hour drive back home in the rain for this great show.