Grateful Dead

A friend of mine didn't want to drive from Long Island to Hartford by himself, (he was meeting friends up there) he had to bribe me with beer, bud,and lots of bullshit because I didn't like this band much, I was 16yrs old and was into stuff like Led Zep,Sabbath,Floyd,Aerosmith,all that stuff that was on the radio back then. The thing that got me was being reminded that at the Hot Tuna (my first concert) show in Commack LI the humongous walls of speakers on each side of the stage were all stamped Grateful Dead on the sides. And Tuna in 76 were On FIRE. I thought if Tuna uses the Deads sound system??? Anyways, I consider myself with the more blessed or at least luckiest people on this planet. This show changed my whole outlook and perception of what music is and can be. This show changed my life.

Remember having floor seats and what a show. About all I remember ;-)

Set 1-Bertha: excellent solo 2:38 – 4:18, Keith adding nice color, Jerry in great Spring ’77 voice -Good Lovin’: solo 1:54 - , 3:19, slow, precise, very good 1st run, 2d run starts a little clunky but excellent at end; unique ending to the song; very good version overall -Sugaree: 1st solo 1:35 – 5:14, starts slow but gathers speed, never getting too fast, repeated note around 3:20 mark, beautiful playing, high-stepping around 4:15 mark, Jerry showing off, awesome; 2d solo 6:29 – 11:08 , Keith allowed to take a run, give Jerry time to breathe, Bobby tosses in some notes, Jerry plays along with Keith, gradually becoming more dominant, better and better, comes to a fanning peak around 9:55 mark, and again at 10:50; Jerry comes right back to the verse as if nothing amazing just happened; 3d instrumental break begins with simple strumming, keeps the mood but seems designed to give Jerry a breather, he can’t let a solo break go to waste though and plays a slow, melancholy solo; back to vocals at 16:30, fireworks before chorus; EXCELLENT version, one of THE Sugarees, 18:32 overall -Jack Straw: nice 1st solo 1:16 – 1:39, Jerry messes up “gotta go to Tulsa” lyrics; 2d solo 3:24 – 4:40, starts to take off at 3:48, almost excellent solo; very good version -Row Jimmy: 1st solo 2:10 – 3:07, slide (Jerry?), good; 2d solo 4:15 – 6:28, slow, dreamy, picks up nicely in the second half of the solo, very nice -Minglewood: 1st solo 1:15 – 2:07, very good 2 runs; 2d solo 3:02 – 5:20, Jerry shuffles during 1st 2 runs giving Keith a chance, then Jerry steps in for 2 or 3 runs and really wows in his last run -Candyman: good solo 3:17 – 4:09; well sung, emotional -Passenger: squishy sounds from Jerry (?), solo 1:40 – 2:15 , Bobby in the lead, ok -BE Women: after 2 somewhat weak songs, they need to deliver here; good bounce; solo 1:38 – 2:42, 1st run careful but nice, 2d run very good, 3d run killer; Keith plays well in the reprised verse -Promised: Chuck Berry to try to rescue what started off as a great set, pretty good version Highlights: Bertha, Sugaree Notes: set 1 starts off strong with a great Bertha and very good Good Lovin’, explodes with an explosive Sugaree, stays warms with a very good Jack Straw, then loses something on Row and Minglewood (but they have their moments), and loses even more with Candyman and Passenger. The band picks it up with BE Women and Promised, making the set VG. Set 2 -Samson: good 1st solo 3:05 – 4:03; good 2d solo 4:41 – 6:23 (Bobby?) -Tenn Jed: solo 2:00 – 2:20, 1 good run; 2d solo 3:57 – 4:18, 1 slow run; 3d solo 5:56 – 8:17, gets pretty hot here, very nice -Estimated Prophet: band seems to have its mojo back; solo 3:50 – 4:16, fast and hot; jam 6:00 – 11:10, excellent -Playing: interesting piano/keyboard from Keith; jam 2:52 – 10:59, leave the song structure at the outset, spacey but not too far out there, pretty interesting; 10:59 total, very good version -Terrapin: solo 3:00 – 3:35, very pretty; love that guitar before “counting stars by candlelight,” Jerry adds some flare to the awesome outro, some Playing jam at the end but instead go into Drums -Drums: 1:30 overall -NFA: unique intro, 1st vocals at 4:29; 1st jam 4:59 – 6:48, tame but nice; 2d jam 7:20 - , tempo slows down quickly, a little spacey, then even spacier, Jerry almost playing alone as the other members get very quiet, excellent little jam begins around 12:45 mark and goes to the end (15:11) -Wharf: well sung; triumphant & beautiful but pretty short solo 6:37 – 8:20; pretty short outro, very good version -Playing Reprise: not really the reprise, at least to begin, nice long intro jam, 2:26 reprise starts, Jerry taking long away around, at 3:39 we are there, vocals soon after, unique outro, Jerry adds a flourish at the end, excellent version -Saturday: fun first solo, it’s a party but we can play our instruments; jam gets moving too -US Blues: good energy, rockin’ finish Highlights: Estimated, Terrapin, Playing Reprise Overall: The band just loses their mojo a bit in the middle of set 1, and the standalones in set 2 are throwaways, but overall, this is a pretty hot show, with an exceptional Sugaree and a pretty hot second set jam. Overall, a VG show, 8.5/10