تفسیر درس

Jambands – Commentary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin. Welcome back to the commentary for the conversation Jambands. So this conversation, it’s interesting that it’s coming about right at the time that shows have been announced for the Grateful Dead, the members of the Grateful Dead. Remember that band was mentioned, or I mentioned it actually in my vocabulary lesson. Jerry Garcia, who was mentioned in the conversation, it was his band.

So all members are coming together this year from the Grateful Dead, other than Jerry Garcia, because he’s now dead. He’s no longer alive. The members are coming together to celebrate 50 years from when they were created. So they’re going to have three shows in the city of Chicago, which is in the state of Illinois, right in the Midwestern part of the United States.

And they’re playing where actually the last time that they played before Jerry Garcia died was there in Chicago and that’s where they’re playing these three shows. So those shows are coming and it’s been interesting. I mentioned that Joe was a, y’know, he’s a huge fan of the Grateful Dead. It’s one of his favorite bands. I, myself, I think I went to only one show when he was really young, like 20-21 years old, when I was a freshman in college, before he died.

But these shows are really popular since they’re only doing three. Also, in the conversation the band Phish was mentioned, another jamband like the Grateful Dead, and it’s another one of Joe’s favorite bands. I like them as well. We go to their shows. Their lead singer/lead guitarist is actually playing Jerry Garcia’s role since he’s no longer alive. He’ll be playing guitar and singing.

So people who are fans of Phish as well as who were fans of the Grateful Dead are coming together to see these three shows coming soon. And the first part of trying to get tickets, because many people want tickets, the first part of that was actually doing what’s called mail order where you send in money and you…you say which shows you want to go to and you send the money in, in the hopes that you’ll get tickets before they actually go on sale to the public.

So we actually did this, trying to get tickets for all three shows and we were rejected. There were so many people trying to do mail order. I think that I read there’s anywhere from 55,000 to 60,000 seats where they’re going to be playing in Chicago. So there were…they’re estimating about 60,000 people sent in money trying to get mail order tickets. So obviously many people were rejected.

And when the tickets then, I don’t know, a month later went on sale on the internet, this was actually just a couple of weeks ago, we were trying and trying through the vendor called Ticketmaster, so we were trying, both Joe and I were trying on the internet and there were so many people trying at the same time, we didn’t end up ourselves getting tickets but luckily one of Joe’s friends got two tickets for all three nights.

So we’re excited. We’re going to be going to that and it was really kind of reminds me of one of the nice things about these shows is how friends come together. This friend that got our tickets, he had actually sent money for the mail order tickets and he wasn’t rejected. He got his tickets. So that’s why he decided to try the day they went on sale to the public on the internet, he tried for those just so he could help out friends.

So that’s what I was going to talk about next. When Joe and I go to Phish shows, again, y’know, Phish it’s a jamband like the Grateful Dead, so we’ll go to three shows in a row. It was, y’know, explained in the conversation how each show is different. But what wasn’t talked about in the conversation is what those shows are like.

So, y’know, many times friends will come together from different states and it will be discussed like what shows all the friends are going to try to go to. So then we all meet up and we go to the shows together which is a lot of fun. And so you’re there with your friends, you’re dancing, having a good time.

There’s…there’s, before the shows and after the shows, there’s vending, which means there are people selling t-shirts and posters, things that they make, clothing, all sorts of things.

Which is…it’s a really interesting, fun scene. They’ll sell food that they’ve made, y’know, a lot of times after the shows people are hungry so they’ve got grilled cheese sandwiches, which is just a sandwich with cheese melted on it and all sorts of different food that they’re making and it’s maybe actually helping give them money so that they can go to other shows, if they’re following the band, going from city to city.

Sometimes people also will be wearing costumes, which is fun. And it might have a meaning like it might have a meaning for a particular song that the band is singing or sometimes I think maybe they just wear costumes so that they can be found by other members of their group.

So let’s say there’s a group of friends and they’re at a Phish show, for example, where there’s a lot of people. If someone leaves their group to go to get a beer or to go to the bathroom, coming back in trying to find their group of friends could be really difficult because there’s so many people.

So let me give you an example. There’s this one group, I’ve seen them at a few shows. They wear these little hats and we’ve called them the Tiny Hat Club. So wearing these little hats, they might stand out a bit if someone can see those hats and know the general direction where they left their friends, it might be easier to find them if they see those hats then.

It’s always easy for me if I leave to go to the bathroom or to go get a beer if I know the general direction where my friends are, but also it’s really easy to see Joe because he’s so tall and he’s got the beard. So that’s, y’know, I always look for him.

Sometimes people, they’ll have something that they’re holding up, like maybe it’s a sign that they’ve written something on or, y’know, having to do with the band. Or we have a friend, sometimes he holds up a guitar. It’s actually like a toy guitar that he’s blown air into, so it’s an inflatable guitar, has air blown into, and he’ll just hold it so it’s really easy to see him like if I’m trying, if I’ve gone out and I’m trying to find my way back.

There’s also, it’s…I think I mentioned this already, it’s just really fun to dance when you’ve got your friends around you. And as I mentioned in my vocabulary lesson, the feeding off of the band with the audience. So if there’s a lot of excitement, enthusiasm in the arena, the place where the concert is, y’know, it’s just exciting to be in the middle of that to be around so many energetic people, people who are just, y’know, dancing, having a good time. And the band is having a good time…it’s…to have that experience is a lot of fun.

There’s also, a lot of times there’ll be really interesting light shows, or not necessarily shows, but lights on the band. So as the music is playing the lights are on them, different colors and moving with the different, y’know, the different sounds that they’re playing. It is kind of like a light show if you look at it that way. So that makes it really interesting as well. It’s, as AJ said, it’s a cool scene or it’s an interesting scene to be a part of.

So it’s one thing that Joe and I like to do for fun. What do you like to do for fun? What’s something that really…you go out, you do it, and it helps to relieve stress. For me, I love dancing. That’s a great way of relieving stress. Y’know, what’s something that you do that is a lot of fun that you just love to do and you do a lot of? So share with us and we’d love to hear about it.

Alright, that concludes this commentary for the conversation Jambands. Have a good month and I’ll see you next time.