schneider@2littl.DEC (DANIEL SCHNEIDER) (11/06/85)
THE GRATEFUL DEAD RALLY BACK The Grateful Dead - In concert through tonight at the Worcester Centrum. By Steve Morse Globe Staff WORCESTER - You could tell the Celtics weren't playing. Three of them were here - Bill Walton, Kevin McHale and, surprise of the bunch, Larry Bird. They had a prime view from the side of the stage, nodding their heads to the music and, at least in Walton's case, jitter-bugging as though in a trance. The Grateful Dead had done it again. They had taken a sellout crowd of everyone from teenagers to parents, from bikers to basketball players, and united them through one of their best area performances in years. The Dead may be viewed as time-warped irrelevancies by the culture-at-large, but they can still put together and play great rock 'n roll. They were much more consistent last night than their up-and-down reputation would attest. They were more musical and energetic as well, rarely letting songs drift into the stupor-like blur for which they have been known. Aisles were clogged with rainbow-clothed Dead Heads, and several thousand more were milling outside when the band kicked into Jerry Garcia's sultry country song "Alabama Getaway" and Bob Weir's rave-up of the classic '50s hit "Promised Land." This led a march into vintage Dead blues, country blues, gospel harmonies and levitating guitar jams between Garcia (looking chubbier than usual, but playing vigorously) and Weir, who fired off some slide guitar runs that showed his mastery of down-and-dirty Southern rock. The Dead's early-'70s period was tapped liberally including a sharp transition between the bulldozing "China Cat Sunflower" and lush "I Know You Rider to open the second set. Basist Phil Lesh had complained about a "dumb patchcord" that created technical difficulties in the earlier set, but once that was cleared up, the band really hit their groove. Scalpers, unbelievably, were getting $40 a ticket before the show, but this one was worth the investment. Some people took matters into their own hands by gate-crashing through briefly opened doors, but the mood was generally friendly and harmonious. Many fans danced in the lobbies like swooning Hare Krishnas, while others walked around and modeled fashions ranging from Smile stickers applied to their faces, to tour stickers that said "Stir Fry" on them. It was another night of collective Dead insanity, only this time with reinvigorating rock 'n roll as the guiding force. Let's hope that the band can keep it up and that some of the magic rubs off on the Celtics as well. [Reprinted without permission.]