Liberty State Park is located on the shore of New York Harbor. The sun was setting on the Statue of Liberty and New York City on a breezy, cool summer night. The ticket price $37 (won't mention the Ticketmaster fraud here). 18,000 people came to a field for 30,000. The parking lot was 1 mile from the site, with a continuous parade of shuttle buses packed with people who were hanging onto outside mirrors, on the roof, and hanging out the windows. Every person on every bus was screaming. I wonder why? We walked.
The vending area was interesting and fun and I would like to see that happen again. There was a nice little play ground in the shade and the view of the Statue of Liberty and NY skyline was wonderful.
Hot Tuna played early and was good. We walked in on a loud Funky #7. Next was Los Lobos, who played Cinnamon Girl with Mickey Hart, and Bertha. Next was Bruce Hornsby, who did a nice Scarlet Begonias and Mighty Quinn. The sets seemed short, though I didn't have a watch. Mickey Hart was dressed in white and always had a spotlight on him. He conducted his band through a hot, tight set that sounded just like the CD. Acoustic Hot Tuna did a few numbers next that were great. Then came Rat Dog, opening with Good Morning Little School Girl. An interesting Eternity with an other one jam stuck in. Bob and Rob get it but the rest of the band has got to go. Cassidy was a tragedy, huge empty spaces left unfilled by the obvious garcia foundation and brent harmonies. Johnny Johnson sang a nice Kansas City, and Bruce Hornsby sat in on many tunes. Then came the interesting idea of a Playin in the Band based jam with about 12 people on stage. Bobby tried hard to get this going and managed to drag the band through the chaos of choruses. The jam was really very nice, I groove I thought I may never hear again. The whole jam was just like those great Dead jams, only when Garcia would pause to play with some knobs, tune up, go for a smoke, or whatever. You kept waiting to hear him start the next phrase. Then a Truckin' held together by Bob and Bruce. A nice long All Along the Watchtower closed the show. Overall the music was good. Some parts were uninspired. Everyone, the bands and crowd seemed in a low key mood. The crowd was very mellow and I saw very few "miracle seekers" (a polite term), that is until the parking lot after the show. They had been there since noon and now it was midnight.
