Election is a Dead issue

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With the presidential election less than a month away, swing is the word in Pennsylvania. But on Monday night, it wasn’t bebop or jazz in the hearts, minds and ears of the roughly 15,000 gathered on the campus of Penn State University, thanks to performances by the Allman Brothers Band and a reconstituted version of the Grateful Dead. Time-worn psychedelic rock in the form of sets by the Allmans and the Dead was the heady soundtrack Monday night at “Change Rocks,” a rally for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

The four surviving core members of the Dead, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, had not played together since 2004 — Kreutzmann was missing from a show earlier this year in San Francisco dubbed “Deadheads for Obama.” With other musical projects taking top priority these days, it takes a lot to get the jam-band pioneers back together, and it was clear Monday — despite essentially no partisan speeches by either band and no direct message from the bands to vote for Obama — that the Democrat’s potential election is something the musicians feel strongly about.

“I’m a fan of the music and a fan of the politician,” said Pete Gonzales, a Philadelphia immigration attorney who, along with his friend sculptor Patrick Huss of Doylestown, took the day off from work for the show/rally at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Politics and celebrity often make strange bedfellows — Obama’s Republican opponent Sen. John McCain has railed against Obama’s cozy relationship with the famous — but the combination seemed to go over well with the fans in attendance. However, many were set to vote for Obama anyway.

“I think everyone has a right to express their opinion,” said Huss when asked his take on celebs promoting a cause or politician.

So, would the two have made the trip if it was the Dead and the Allmans playing for McCain?

“I’m not sure I’d be here,” Gonzales said.

The Allmans kicked off their set to a still-arriving crowd with the bouncy “Revival.” “People can you feel it?/ Love is everywhere,” sang Gregg Allman. It sounded more like a celebration than a call to arms until the song’s sneakily edgy counterpart “We’re in a revolution/ Don’t you know we’re right?”

The Southern rock/blues outfit’s setlist was heavy on the hits: “Statesboro Blues”; “Midnight Rider”; “One Way Out,” which induced a crowd sing-along; a cover of Van Morrison’s “And It Stoned Me”; a simmer-to-boil “Dreams,” with a skyscraping Derek Trucks slide guitar solo; “Melissa”; Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” sung by Trucks’ wife, guest Susan Tedseschi; and an appropriate “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More.”

“Thank you, you’ve been a great crowd,” Allman said after a jubilant set-closing “Jessica.” He paused. “Don’t forget to vote.” The band encored with a nasty, snarling “Whipping Post.”

While the Allmans tore down and the Dead set up, Obama supporters spoke from the stage. One of the speakers was Jay Paterno, the Penn State football team’s quarterbacks coach.

“I think it’s very important that we elect Barack Obama,” Paterno said before his speech in an interview with the Weekender in the auxiliary gym being used as a makeshift staging/backstage area. “I got involved back in February when I went to a Penn State Students for Obama meeting. There was a tremendous energy.”

Paterno is the son of Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, a staunch Republican who seconded the nomination of President George H.W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention. The younger Paterno’s support of Obama has not caused any family tension, he said.

“He’s been great,” the quarterbacks coach said of his father. “We were all raised in our house to think for ourselves.”

On the stage, Paterno exhorted the attendees to vote and volunteer. He mentioned that he has five young children.

“I want to be able to tell them that I did something to change the country: ‘I helped Barack Obama get elected president of the United States.”

Student Obama backers Casey Miller and Harrison Farnsworth also spoke, Miller noting that only two out of 10 Penn State students voted in the 2004 election.

“That makes it seem like we don’t care,” she said, before listing reasons the students should care, including “massive student loans.”

One of the final speakers was Penn State cornerback Lydell Sargeant, whom Paterno praised for registering voters, canvassing and being “committed to the cause.”

“It’s an honor for us to share this stage with the Dead,” said Sargeant. “I play the drums, so Mickey Hart is a big idol of mine.”

A speech by Obama, in which he thanked the audience and the bands and referenced “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” and the Dead’s “Touch of Grey,” was shown on a large screen. In the short talk, he hit the major talking points: the economy, health care, education and the war in Iraq.

At 9:40 p.m., the screen was raised as the Dead plowed into a no-nonsense, muscular “Truckin,’” “cocaine” lyric and all. The song entered deep space, Weir slashing rhythm guitar licks with ferocity and Warren Haynes — a member of the Allmans who also performed with the Dead — pried squealing tones from his guitar. The song lasted about 15 minutes and set up “U.S. Blues.” “Wave that flag, wave it high and wide,” Weir sang.

With Mickey Hart’s bass drum emblazoned with an image melding the Dead’s Steal Your Face logo with Obama’s change logo and with instruments and monitors pasted with “McAin’t Gonna Happen” bumper stickers, the band blasted into the triumvirate of “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot!” and “Franklin’s Tower,” sounding like a band fresh from time off but sharp from rehearsal. “Playing In The Band” went from joyous to dark waters, Haynes’ wah-wah guitar making ripples. Eerie chime-like percussion by Hart led to “Dark Star,” and Lesh’s strange new bass lit up. Weir, Lesh and Haynes traded vocals before the tune melted into a heavy-duty, mean, yet nimble improv of descending minor-key chords. The Dead fell back into “Dark Star,” adding an interesting vocal tag and blues vamps before the crowd-pleasing “St. Stephen.”

Up next was “Unbroken Chain,” the complex latticework of a composition sung by Lesh and perfectly punctuated by the piano and organ work of Jeff Chimenti, a member of Weir’s Ratdog who played with the Dead Monday night.

With the show in full steam, the house lights inexplicably came on around 11:25 p.m., sapping some of the energy, but they went out again in time for “Throwing Stones,” arguably the Dead’s only overtly political song.

“Money green or proletarian gray, selling guns instead of food today,” Weir sang, adding “And the rich man in his summer home/ Singing just leave well enough alone/ But his pants are down, his covers blown/ And the politicians are throwing stones/ So the kids they dance they shake their bones/ Cause it’s all too clear we’re on our own.” Weir also added an impromptu bit along the lines of “a fire sale by our government.”

A reprise of “Playing” closed the set proper more than two hours after the Dead’s opening note. Before the encore, Lesh, whose son works for the Obama campaign, urged the crowd to “make a change in our country,” and Weir quoted the late gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson.

“He said that if every Deadhead in Florida voted in the 2000 election, it would be a different world today. Think about it.”

“Touch Of Grey” seemed somewhat routine and Weir flubbed lyrics, but the night closed on a powerful note with “Not Fade Away.” The simple Buddy Holly tune dissipated into just Hart’s and Kreutzmann’s drums, vocals and the crowd. And then just vocals and crowd. And then just crowd, as the band backed away from its microphones and gave the power to the people.

“Know our love won’t fade away,” the faithful sang, maybe for their musical heroes, maybe for a candidate, or maybe just for each other.

Photos by Nikki Mascali