Holy grail of tone? Mayer on recording with an MPC

Mayer is a vastly better guitar player.
But Garcia is like a religion to the faithful.

Personally I find all that unlistenable either way.

Quote from Locrain

I'm certainly no Deadhead, so I will be the first to admit I'm no expert. But I have been to a lot of festivals, and heard a lot of Dead cover bands. If D&C are a cover band (never said they were anything else...kind of like Journey or AIC), they're a damn good one!

Just my opinion, but I think the "magic" for many many people had a lot to do with the time in their life, in their country's history, and how many tabs they had dropped before the show. Because I have never considered the Dead to be exactly virtuosic from anything I've heard. I could be just flat dead wrong...great band, great songwriters, unbelievable energy...always played like they were real spun...which produced some real magic, as you say.

But "magic" is subjective. I can't observe it, and once it's gone, it's gone. So I don't doubt that the experience of the show is nothing like what it used to be. But imo, from a performance perspective...JM has kicked it up quite a bit. Definitely another level from a objective technical perspective (in my opinion of course), but I'd honestly love to take a look at some older shows that hold up.

And truthfully, and I should have been more clear, I never said "at their best" (subjective of course), but that JM has taken them to "another level", and all I really meant by that was in comparison to D&C shows of the past years.

I didn't mean to imply that The Dead were better with JM than Jerry, you can't capture lightning in a bottle, and Jerry was something. Definitely magic.

This could start a long conversation - I guess we can see what we can get away with...

I just got back from Lockn' Music Festival, so will attempt to address what I understand 'the magic' to be, since its really fresh in my mind right now... I personally don't think it has any dependence on chemical enhancement, although chemical enhancement can certainly amplify it. For me, its about focus. Shared focus. If the musicians are listening to each other, and playing off of each other and allowing the music to live and breathe, it requires a certain 'type/kind' and amount of focus. There is a cycle of energy that is opened/created when that focus is achieved, but it can be tenuous. If you have that, the next part is whether or not your audience can tap into it, and add their focus and energy to it. Anyone who has experienced this knows what I am talking about, but they might try to describe it or explain it differently. It builds, and fuels, and amplifies the whole.

With the Jerry/John M. conversation/comparison, I would amend my previous comments to say its two different versions of the same thing involving different musicians. John has definitely proved his worth in this venue and medium, and he clearly knows how to listen, contribute, build conversations, etc. The Dead & Co. performances saturday and sunday, while not perfect, were very nice. When Branford Marsalis sat in with them Sunday, you could see them literally establishing all of what I just said.

I never watched the Dead live, nor have I watched Mayer doing the Dead thing, but in the old live recordings of the GD there's an obvious energy, some we are having fun together feeling that doesn't always happen with many bands, as well as, truth be said, some tiring improvised stuff here and there. Jerry García was no virtuoso, but that is not what good music is about. It isn't necessary to jam for five hours either, and actually many jams of the late 60s and 70s can seem boring to us now. Mayer and García belong to diferent periods and a different mojo so to speak. I like Mayer but prefer García though.