All the 7s

Over on the http://www.philzone.com/ discussion board, there have several references to Phil Lesh and the Number 7. The first four nights of the www.dead.net/dead09 tour this week were all 7 song affairs ... until last nite's Worcester show, where song N0.7 (China Cat Sunflower) sequed (a rumoured act of audience/ band group mind) into I Know You Rider. There was no No.9.

However, we still have evidence of the 7s at play. After 5 nights the band have delivered 77 songs (including Milestones, the Miles Davis instrumental) without a single repeat ... and still no Scarlet > Fire, lots to go at from the first album, Bobby blues, Dylan, etc.

What makes the Grateful Dead unique? There are lot's of good and bad answers, but no one can deny they are the only ones bold enough to do this.

PS Thanks to the band, the tapers and the good folks at the Live Music Archive, you can grab free legal MP3 and Flac downloads of all the shows at http://www.archive.org/details/TheDead. Try Albany (04-17-09) for staters