They have different visions of what they want to do musically right now and prefer their own gigs over 'the Dead'. They've also had several disagreements in the past concerning what direction 'the Dead' were going, who would be in the band, who would be promoting the band etc. Its unfortunate that they can't find common ground and still play together, but ce la vie. I'm just happy they're both still out there rocking
Ive seen both bobby and phil, and I preferred phil over bobby....... couldve been the setlist... but the vibe at phil n friends was just incredibly more powerful than bobby's gig........
Phil is hacked at Bob because everytime they're in a room together,Bob hogs the celery sticks with bleu cheese dressing.Bob hates Phil because of Phil's penchant for using sleight-of-hand to pretend pull field mice out of Bob's beard.
i love phil but bobs vibe is so shitty. Hes never smiling at the show and he seems like he doesnt wanna be there. Phil is alwyas smiling, what a hilarious guy.
Don't get into who's band is better. Appreciate it all and realize how luck you are to be able to even experience any of it. The question at hand is not about their bands, but their relationship with each other. It's not really known since the people that would know don't talk about it (much at least). From what it seems, early problems were about the vault and how (or if) to release it. More recently it seems to be musical differences. Both Bob and Phil are very dominate players. Of course, certain situations like Phil not showing up at Jerry's tribute concert could be taken at face value. Phil said he couldn't be there because he made a promise (after an organ implant) to be there for his family (or kids at least) and he was moving his son into college that day and couldn't be there.
ive been to both the bobby and phil shows in chicago, and i dont even think you can compare the 2 music. Bobbys band plays really tight music and puts out a really good vibe for me, while phil is more into the entyertaining. PHils shows are loose usually because he is always with different "friends" and have less time to practice. they both bring a differnt type of music to the table
I personally like the and friends format for lots of folks (ie kimock) Bob was twinkling and happy Friday night (and there was a veggie basket on a table backstage with celery bunch and a whole tomato) but he's very much in control of his band, and mostly that gets a tight response (see my thread with a bit of a review). Bob takes his bandleader role quite seriously, and that works for him. Phil brings out lots of peole you should hear. rivalry? think of it as siblings with an inheritance to protect.
