Notes:
no Garcia vocals during the second set due to extreme laryngitis
Set List:
Promised LandDire Wolf
Mama Tried
Big River
Loser
Looks Like Rain
Tennessee Jed
New Minglewood Blues
Deal
Lazy Lightnin'
Supplication
Playin' in the Band
Estimated Prophet
drums
The Other One
Truckin'
Johnny B. Goode
Comments
in the strangest of places
Back to the Berdoo Barn;
This was a pleasant enough show, but in the grand scheme of things this was probably the tamest (or just plain whimpiest) Dead show I ever attended. I recall little dancing where we were, but lots of serious toe tapping in the wooden bleachers. Usually the first sets would get percolating and end with a big bang, and the second set would resume from there. Tonight however, the bang didn't occur until the very end of the last tune Truckin'. A Hell's Angel on stage trying to incite the crowd for an encore, grabbed a mike saying something like "Don't you guys know who that is?..The GRATEFUL DEAD!!"
Admittedly, it was first night of the tour and Jerry was sick, but he'd sung (kindof) the first set so I hadn't noticed the second set was all Bob. Tapes from a subsequent night in San Diego are treasured as Jerry didn't sing at all but focused all his attention on some fabulous guitar playing, but that wasn't the case tonight.
Tonight stands out for me for a different reason, however. I'd been dragging my guitar playing pals to Dead and solo shows for a couple years, but they but they really didn't "get" it. I spent untold hours wondering what I heard that they didn't and v.v. Tonight I brought along a then girlfriend and some younger kids from our band scene known affectionately as "The Roadies". The Roadies GOT IT big time here, at the most lackluster of shows. I thought they were humoring me, but they were raring to go a few nights later to the Shrine shows. I don't know if I adopted them or they adopted me (probably the latter) but this great gang of varying numbers hit shows around SoCal and beyond for years to come (not to mention camping, hanging, childraising) and they're still best friends and brothers to this day.
My second show
I'd seen the Dead here at the Swing a year earlier, when they kicked off their '77 tour (odd that the little ol' Swing Auditorium was chosen for two consecutive tour startup dates). The show was marred by Jerry's laryngitis, but he did his best on the songs he sang. What I remember best, however, was Bob's amazingly bad attempt at telling jokes during the forced interruption when Phil broke a bass string (apparently they had to look far and wide for a replacement, since Phil supposedly didn't change his strings very often). The crowd was subdued but friendly (and at the Swing, when a crowd got UNfriendly, it was VERY unfriendly--I've seen them chase several opening acts off the stage, and there were more than a few bands that finished their sets with almost no applause). Between Jerry's voice problems and the broken string incident, the crowd was, well, mellow.
The attendance was probably around 4,500 - 5,000 (out of approx. 6,300 capacity), due to the time of year and the ravages of an insanely out-of-control inflation rate, coupled with the fact that tickets went on sale around the same time that people were starting to shop for Christmas. The floor was pretty well full with standing room fans, but the side balconies (renowned for their horrible view of the stage) were fairly empty.
Overall, not (by any stretch of the imagination) an excellent show, but a good evening nonetheless.
get it in the Vineyard
Listening to this show right now! Jerry sure is croaky. You can find it in the Vineyard right here on Dead.net
http://www.dead.net/forum/eurovine-2-us-branch