Review: Furthur, Mohegan Sun, 2.26.10

by happycat! >^.^<m~ | Mar 1, 2010 | Reviews

Reprinted from Views Skewed

Dsclaimer: I grew up within 40 minutes of the Connecticut casinos.  I like to gamble (craps, preferred).  I know Mohegan Sun well, but I never have seen a show there.  To see my hometown casino filled with deadheads was, as my friend so eloquently put it, “like two worlds colliding”.  Yes, it was, to say the least.

Preshow: Gamble (video poker, craps, up $57 bucks). My friends and I split up, they go off to section 16, I’m in 112– nosebleeds. Had a full on view of the stage, reminding me Radio City, but… not quite.  Mohegan Sun holds about 9500 people, compared to about 6,000 at Radio City.

Set 1: I was wandering around, seat jumping, wanting to get down to my buddies.  Did the side-step with the security guards for most of the first set.  My friends were seated down where a Security-Nazi was on the loose, and kinda killin’ the vibe for me a bit.

They teased the Other One again.  I’m sensing a theme here.  Tennessee Jed was fun, good, solid, but Memphis Blues twisted into some sweet reggae grooves.  It was nice to hear them expand the jam repertoire.  Pride of Cucamonga, I love that song, makes me do a little jig with a smile on my face.  It was a good one, nicely done Phil

Set Break: My friend told me we could go out and gamble if we brought our ticket out to get scanned.  Um, gamble? Me? Heh, I led us out the doors.  Walked through the maze that is Mohegan to find a craps table.  Once we found it, it proceeded to suck us dry and fast.  Said “enough, mercy!”, and we went back into the arena.

Assessment: First set was ok.  I feel a bit biased from RCMH but the first set was solid.  Felt like they could’ve picked up the pace more for my tastes, but a great time was had by all.  The crowd was happy, smiling, dancing and singing.  The place was packed, considering the weather and the snow.

Author’s note: Bobby wore his man-pris again.  Same color too as at Radio City.  I also saw him sporting them at a Scaring the Children show last October.  They look comfortable enough.  As I said to my friends, “It’s all good Bobby – the dukes shouldn’t come out before May.”

The Man to Woman ratio at Mohegan:  6:1   Compared to Wednesday’s 8:1, I can’t find an analysis to come up with discrepancy.  More chicks in CT, I guess.

Set 2: Bertha.  Love that song.  Place erupted in song.  It’s kind of cool to look around and see around you clapping and dancing.  We slid into a really beautiful He’s Gone.  Mississippi was great, John was noodling.

Then…there…was…drums.  I haven’t heard a drums from Furthur, at all.  Not at Hammerstein, not at Radio City.  I hadn’t seen it posted anywhere before but.. there it was.  I totally perked up from my bouncy Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo mode.  This and the reggae stuff excited me for more shows to come.  Summer tour dates were released that morning.  Killer.

They also did a mini-space.  It was right at that time when I was saying to myself, “wow this is really spacey — could it be…?” when they went into King Solomon’s Marbles.  Yeah, it was good.  Jeff and those keys.  Yeah.  Good stuff.   They teased the Other One again, but I am now onto their teasing scheme, so I didn’t get too excited.  I held back.  A roaring U. S. Blues ended the first night of a casino run, and my checkbook thanks you greatly.  As do I.  Solid show.  Definitely.

Set 1:
Other One (Verse 1), Alligator, Tennessee Jed
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Pride of Cucamonga, El Paso, Foolish Heart
Women Are Smarter

Set 2:
Bertha, Good Lovin’, He’s Gone
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
Drums, King Solomon’s Marbles
Standing On The Moon, Other One (Verse 2)
The Eleven, Sugar Magnolia
Encore: U.S. Blues