Galactic Starship Quicksilver Messenger Service Reunion North Fork Theatre 2006-02-10 Complete Show

Short form: This is one of the best Starship performances ever! Galactic plays Jeff Beck tunes, and the Quicksilver Messenger Service rises from the grave!

In retrospect, it's probably hard to explain the pandemonium that went on at this show, you'd probably have to have been there. The beginning was absolutely awful. There was some shouting, a huge run for the box office for refunds (for several reasons), and even more shouting after that. There were some other uncomfortable moments, also.

But as the night progressed, what was left of the audience seemed to settle down, and with them, so did the performers. By the time the main act presented here hit the stage, the audience had dwindled to less than half of those who initially came in for the show.

It might have been a horrorshow. Instead, the rest of us were treated to an unbelievable evening.

As I said in the beginning, it's kind of hard to explain the wave of negativity that swept the audience in the beginning of the night. Some people left right away, when it was announced that Jefferson Starship member Marty Balin was not going to perform. Frankly, from listening to this show, he wasn't missed. The playing was MUCH harder without him.

Former Grateful Dead member Tom Constantenten then came on stage. He's way past his prime, but at least he is among the living. His second number was written by Monty Python member Eric Idle. It consisted of "F*** Bush" in endless repetition, over and over again. You might think that it was funny, but the way in which it was presented sent droves of other people to the box office demanding a refund. It was in incredibly bad taste. We weren't far from the entrance, and we could see people yelling at the management to get out of their tickets. The audience was writhing in their seats, not only because of the Bush number, but because... damn, the guy can't play anymore.

When Country Joe McDonald came on stage, he praised Cindy Sheehan, to mostly silence. If you don't know who she is, check the name on Google. The CJ torrent has already been posted, and it's a great show. CJ also did an anti-Bush number. His attitude, when put out of the context of the evening, is acceptable to practically everybody. Even if you are violently against that message, you still have to consider the source, and for that it's ok. As I said, it's a great show and you should listen to it. But, the effect it had was greatly magnified by the previous events. At the end of his set, less than half the audience remained.

The Starship's arrival was stunning. They blew the roof off! Everybody settled down and the place got friendly again. For two full hours, they played their hearts out.

The band consisted of four members of Galactic, Diane, Paul, and Steve Freiberg from the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Mr. Freiberg is sort of a crossover member to the Starship, he wrote and sang the tune "Jane", which was performed this evening.

Everybody rotated and mixed it up. Where I can remember it, the group combinations are listed on the individual FLAC files. Mostly it was Starship, and that combination is the default. The end jam is to die for.

Setlist:

Sunrise
We Can Be Together
Have You Seen The Stars Tonight
Starship
Diana
Volunteers
White Rabbit
Get Together
Triad
Good Shepherd
Freeway Jam
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad
Because We Ended As Lovers
Loser (with Freiberg doing his best Jerry impression)
All Fly Away
Pride Of Man
Darkly Smiling
DCBA-25
Who Do You Love
Somebody To Love
Crowd Applause
Jane
End Jam - The Other Side Of This Life

Enjoy!

A DoinkerTape