*sigh*

Yeah.

Me too.

I know that feeling too well. Brent had just exploded as a player in the last 18 months or so before he passed. His emotions were raw and visible yes. The music shining thru that was outstanding. He was finally playing as a full member of the band in so many ways. I miss him still.
Jerry Day in SF was bittersweet The music and the scene were wonderful but without GD it was like a shadow. I was hanging with a group including Gloria De Biasi (Sp) who with her husband functioned as housekeeper/caretaker for Jerry in most of his last years. A version of Knockin On Heaven's Door came on the stereo. She smiled a bit wistfully and said (to Jerry and the universe, not to us) "Ahh Jerry I miss you, but I'm not ready for that door for a long time yet." Looking in her eyes, the love, and the frustration was so clear I was almost unable to avoid crying. it was a powerful moment. it brought back so much to me of that time. There's a hole in my soul that recorded Jerry just won't fill. I miss them both. I miss Vince as well I got to meet him in 2002 and spent some time with him, a wonderful gentle being. Sorry to babble, but you opened a strong emotion i still carry myself
He's Gone. Nothin's gonna bring him back.....sigh

Both last shows were here in Chicago . . .
I had complex feelings about Jerry's death; it was a tour which really, for me, showed that the scene, which had been fading for many years, was finally over.
Brent's was something else. He, himself, was HOT, but clearly in pain. The show itself was the only time the Dead played a then-new outdoor venue in a cornfield south of Chicago (Tinley Park). The cheesy management had ignored the special requirements of a Dead show, especially shorting fence security, so some of the outer cyclone fence had gone down the first (of 3) shows . . .
There's a life-long concert security pro I've known since college, a really sweet guy who's built like a tun, "Danny D". Those shows are the one and only time I've ever seen him angry -- at the facility management.

((Hey Mike, remember the "Stealth Oldsmobile"?))

Yes I remember those shows well. That old brown beater got us thru quite a lot