Grateful Dead

So after basically staying up for 2 days at SPAC, we finally pack it up and hit the road the next day. I believe it was a rainy, gloomy day most of the day. But that didn’t stop our idiot patrol from basically racIng at high speed through the fine but conservative state of Pennsytuckey, where they were one of the last to let go of the 55 mph laws, and back then there usually wasn’t much tolerance. So 2 cars of totally raging nutknicks, with probably enough cargo to keep us detained for decades, thought it’d be a good idea to race at speeds up to 90!, Idiots!.....yes, one car had a radar detector, but in those days smart cops would wait for some nut traveling high speed and click it on when they had ya dead nuts.
Luckily, all was well and it was one more “miracle” as we earnestly pursued our quest for “too much of everything is just enough”, aaaa, never considered back then maybe Bob was being sarcastic? Lol
So we roll on into Chocolate town late and all beat up. I’m guessing we grabbed some kind of drive through, but not sure and as we were hardcore vegetarian then, perhaps we thought we’d grab something there? It’s all such a blur, I do recall the lot we were in had no or little Shakedown action going on. That still wasn’t in full flight anyway, and don’t recall much there, so maybe we drank our supper? I know I scored some Carlsberg Elephant beer, and believe I may have finished it, though that is a tall order even under good conditions so perhaps not. I’m sure I put in dent in it at least! So, that and the last of one z of veggies, though the tricky part was it was mostly just powder and scraps and so no normal produce to properly gage etc, which would turn out to be a tactical error...
So it’s late, we’re tired, but tweaked, perhaps no dinner, and of course it’s horrible out. Dark, rainy, and cold is usually not how you want to do your Dead. Eventually we get in perfect time, slip right in front of the SB and try to make the best of the situation. Well I had a shirt, a black baseball jacket, and the electric Buffalo Hyde, but even still it was damp and cold at first. Eventually, when things started to take hold and we started boogieing, we began to warm up a bit.
Meanwhile, the set list is awesome, but the conditions, which necessitated all the stage and PA speakers being covered in plastic (there was no stage lid) thereby severely effecting the audio. It’s was such a weird show that way, loved the little “stadium” and the nice audiophile stereo set up, with surrounds, great set list, mostly good playing, yes JGs vocals are a little ruff in the first set, but you have to cut some slack as it was terrible, I mean depending on the wind/rain they were getting rained on playing electrical instruments! Weird indeed, but like so many times in adverse conditions our heroes seemed to rise to the challenge. Thus the playing was perhaps more relaxed, steady and together and not forced like the previous night. Really, besides JGs vocal issues in the first, its a top notch show!
The second set really starts to take it higher with stellar versions of Music Never Stopped, Terrapin, Miracle and one of the best Dews I’ve ever seen! I think I saw about 14 or 15 Dews and when I think about Dews I’ve seen, this one is the one I always think of first! Rocking Stones/NFA with a spirited Day Job. I liked Day Job, but by now it was getting a tad old, and was a disappointment for this show considering how high it was at that point. A She Belongs or Baby Blue would of been a perfect Cherry on top, but perhaps that’s being greedy?
Now since the weather was such a factor, we must discuss that and how it influenced this show. The second set starts out with their “signing in the rain” as Bob says, and it’s a good’n! Next they slowly slid into an unusual sounding Tom Thumbs which I had never heard yet, and wasn’t even sure at first what it was, but hey, it was Phil so that’s all I needed to know! Good but perhaps truncated Estimated, followed by an awesome Terrapin. So as the set started to progress, so did the weather until (I think?) around Estimated it really started to clear up and they started pulling the plastic tarps down. It was almost like you could immediately hear it get better after each one was removed. Eventually by about Terrapin, they tarps we’re gone, the moon and stars were out, and Healy started increasing the volume and tweaking the mix. I remember we were goading him to turn it up, and man eventually he sure did!
As the night wore on it began to warm up a bit too. But as you’ve heard this scenario, or been there yourself, many times I didn’t feel quite high enough so what the hell, one more time with the powder veggie crumbles just before drums......hee-hee....you know, “I’m not feeling it?” and then...Dooah!
So the problem with those baseball jackets is they don’t really breath and the electric Buffalo Hyde was thick plastic. We didn’t have all the nice technical outer gear we have now, or at least WE didn’t. I could barely afford the free plastic one from the old mans work.
Well a perfect storm mounted; little or no food, Elephants, veggies etc, no sleep, excess everything and underlying exhaustion, with me starting to overheat due to the above and dancing with that plastic shell on. Things were going unbelievable well, and partly influenced by the very recent passing of my Grandfather, during Dew, things peaked musically, the sound, the night, the stars, emotionally etc etc until I had one of the most powerful musical/emotional/psychedelic peak experiences of my life. Perhaps my all time GD moment, it was that powerful. But what goes up must come down and just like that the radiator blew and that last handful of shroom dust fully kicked in and somewhere in Throwing Stones, right during ashes, ashes all fall down, well.....I say i didn’t really fall down, it was more like an immediate realization that if I don’t sit down rapidly, I’m going down! LOL, so one way or another, depending on who you believe, I end up down in the soft, cool mud until near the end of the song, but I swear just as I tried to get up I knew it wasn’t going to happen, so right on que again I go back down. My friends to this day always bring up my perfectly coreographed “Dance moves” above all else that happened on this tour..35 years later and it’s still “ashes, ashes, Pedro falls down” !
That would of all been well and good except things were very strange and weren’t wearing off, and I was barely functioning. I never would of found the car etc If not for my homies. Honestly all I remember is them pulling into a Wendy’s or something, but I just sat in the car with my face literally stuck to the window and crackled! Zzzzttttt. I really thought I had finally fried some essential circuits and thought this time I really did it. At some point I snapped out enough to find some kids in another car staring at me with a look of concern if not fear. Luckily, the boys finished up and came out and got us outta there. Somewhere near the state line we finally grabbed a motel as we all had had more than enough rain and adversity. Plus the next day was off and the drive short. I remember they propped me up in bed and I just sat and crackled and worried. Eventually I slept and though I felt better the next day, I didn’t feel normal and don’t recall much except when we got to Merriweather and found a good spot just over the creek, right next to the path, in some trees, on the way to the big parking lots to the right of the venue. But now it was nice and I was feeling more normal so not so freaked out. I also remember going to a nearby sorta plaza with an upscale liquor store where I scored my first sixer of EKU 28 ever which was awesome!
So now we’ve moved beyond the insanity of TOGA, the adversity and majesty of Hershey, and ready for perhaps the best overall show of the tour on 6/30/85....

EDIT: Otis, congrats on the stereo. All that matters is if your happy with it. After all the specs and hyperbole etc, no matter how big, small, expensive etc, in the end, that’s all that counts!

Nice rec for the TDIGDH 6/28/76 show! I'd never heard that one before, and it is pretty sweet. The "Happiness is Drumming" is certainly a highlight!

I have been out of the loop for a bit - trying to deal with some personal stuff on my end, and I just kind of lost track of things around these parts. I hope to be able to participate more going forward.

To that end, how about a pick for tomorrow, Monday 6/29? I am thinking Dave's 31 - 12/3/79 Uptown. I feel like this pick got a short shrift on the DaP page, but I remember being very happy with it, though I haven't given it a proper listen since it first came out. What do you all think?

One positive thing that I have accomplished since I've been away has been the set up of my first component stereo system. I don't know if it compares to all of your "big boy" systems, but it certainly feels BIG in my little row home! Looking forward to playing it LOUD tomorrow when the wife goes to work.

Peace

Bode Miller...

First, GOGD, I did not mean to single you out, over generalizations, which become stereotypes, which become truth etc, really bum me out. So it was more of a trigger to that, not you personally. I know you were just repeating this line.
Actually, as I’ve dug in deeper, there are probably a significant number of shows where he often doesn’t sound so good, but to over generalize that “his voice was shot”, as in never more, to me, imho, that completely devalues and discounts all the amazing, great sounding stuff he was still able to do. 87,88,89,90,91anyone? Micro view versus macro perhaps?

SECOND: I must humbly recant my tale of dancin in the rain. As we were diligently experiencing TOGA last night. Too things became apparent. First, perhaps JG was a tad “caffeinated” at the start of both sets. Listening close on a real system, (not the big boy, but the living room system which ain’t no slouch!), he seems a tad to fast and/or their not fully entrained. One could argue not fully so until Women Are?...so probably something to do with him totally skipping the Key Rain Storm, and Jailhouse versus, of Bertha, lol.
Thus, while I wasn’t deceitful, I was not accurate. Sure enough, when Holmes and Watson ripped a spleef and fired up Bertha from SPAC 6/24/84, and bingo, ding, ding, ding, ding! Right venue, wrong year! 😂 Ooops, my apologies to the dear reader...but hey, it’s a fun interesting new tid bit, and it did rain, I think, lol.
While doing this research I was listening just on the iPad and interestingly he doesn’t sound as bad? Also, I’ve been going with the HS matrixes, especially shows where I want to hear those crowd big moments. Generally they’ve been pretty good, but researching, I used a CM transfer and man, definitely a big difference. Perhaps number one being the speed/time of the Miller seemed better and more natural?
Subjective I know, just that it’s interesting how every variable can effect perceptions.
6/27/85: so this beast is still as much of a rocket sled ride as I’ve thought, but it’s perhaps a tad more unpolished then I would of said in the past. But that’s being picky, and you know I prefer danger dead to safe, so as at this moment, Hell in a bucket is scorching, I stick by this show for that, the cool set list, and the fact that eventually, say around Women Are on out, that part of the show stands with its lofty summer 85 neighbors. Probably have to give 6/24& perhaps 6/25? a slight advantage overall, but man I haven’t been to many shows that had the vibe, fun, and overall madness of this puppy.

So why is 85 Dead like Bode Miller? He often was criticized for his erratic style, or lack thereof, his nonconformity, often disregard for the rules, including parting then basically going 80 MPH down an insane pitch, that was usually hosed down to make it more icy, and thus faster! So just like this era of Dead, sometimes he’d DQ, sometimes he’d slack off, sometimes it was ugly, but when he brought it, that mofo brought it!! and when he was able to be one with the force, it was fucking breathtaking! Scary, but breathtaking. No matter what, if he was racing there was an energy, an excitement, that larger than life vibe......that, to me, is 85 Dead.
FINALLY: Ladies and Germs, May I present the Electric Buffalo Hyde! as christened by my degenerate cohort due to my resemblance of the great beast of the prairies back in the day, and this baby used to be so bright people would ask if there were batteries. But Alas, like youth itself it’s faded dramatically, and is old and bartered. It definitely gave it’s all to R&R. So many Dead shows, festivals, camping, parties, you name it! Also, it will be a part of an unfortunate situation at the next night, where I lost my shit in Hershey! So until then....

If you are too busy to listen to whole show, listen to Happiness is Drumming from set II, if you have never heard or listened to listen you will be pleasantly surprised!!! There is a Charlie Miller soundboard on Internet Archive!!!! bob t

Sounds like the ole SPAC '85 show will get some play today.

Always a fun revisit. Vguy & Keithfan that was you guys?! That's funny.

I guess I always thought this was an indoor show because of the balcony stuff and didn't know about the rain storm.

Tell us more.

And just for the record if I happen to say Jerry's voice is shot, what I mean to say is I love Jerry's voice, even though it's a little shot here. ;)

I agree, it always sounds great to me.

Enjoy party people!

We were out on the lawn so actually there were many drops, I mean it was already raining hard, and right when he sang that line, biblical!, but it just added to the madness and was one of my favorite concert/rain moments ever! I believe that’s right when folks crashed security on those balcony ramp ways and turned it into a free for all? Yeah, that was the shit, such energy all around, but that rain just took it to another level. Luckily I had my electric buffalo Hyde on! .....it was a psychedelic neon yellow long rain coat with
BS CORP
WORK SAFELY (from pops work) printed on back, and a Dancin skeleton sticker underneath that I added. Still have it! I should take a pic and post...fond it moving last year.

Deadheadbrewer: yeah, I’m with you, I can’t keep up with these rascals! Pant-pant 😉
Haven’t done Riverbend, Nassau or Dane. Prolly give Nassau a spin this WE. Dane I’ve tried to stay away from cause ya gotta believe their going to give us that one someday! Bastards better! and I’d prefer it on virginal ears!
hey, by the way, how you guys coming on that tunnel under the vault?
So I listen to Riverbend 6/24/85 sort regularly so no biggie there except in the sense of comparing shows. Except It’s cool to go in order to see the subtle changes and how things progress. Like 6/25/85, definitely have felt a ascending arc since the first night in Alpine. Funny thing is I don’t think I’ve heard the second set of this one before? Had a tape of the first all along, but I think it was a tad too crisp so didn’t get as much love as the shows around it. Plus I think maybe I harbored some subliminal resentment for the show because of our decision to skip it to go to Toga early like we did in 84, which was awesome. Obviously if it made us skip a show that close to home, but Doooaahhh. So not sure how it’s the shows fault. LOL, but I think somehow I’ve had some weird thing about this show that has kept me away? Sorry, ramblings of a deranged lunatic!
Anywho, finally gave this bad boy a spin yesterday, though had to do it in 2 sessions as life just keeps buttin’ in like a 3 year old when mom and dad are trying to get down! Man what a show. The only really noticeable hiccup I recall was JG at the start of Jimmy, and Bob missed a vocal, really a great set, better than I remember, though I always liked it, just the tape was lesser then the others...
Second set was hot too, though perhaps they lost just a little near the end? Or maybe that was me as it was late, and by that time on a Friday this ole cowboy is usually not feeling much pain! I recall a couple little blemishes, but so what, you name any show, anyone, and I can find stuff wrong. And sorry, but I’m kinda over hearing about how terrible JGs voice is. Yes, sometimes it’s ruff, but sometimes I think the gravelly age worn voice ADDs to the affect of the songs, which is perhaps what he did best. And frankly, I’ll take the gravel voice singing in tune over a lot of that 1970 stuff we’re between the guitars and the vocals something is ALWAYS out of tune. That’s torturous for a musician.
Now I’m not trying to diss anyone’s favorite Dead etc, just stating an opinion that people perhaps overdo it with the voice comments. My favorite is when people say “I can’t listen to anything after 77”....ok, we’ll that’s cool as it’s your choice and all, but I’d say really you just have made up your mind you don’t want to like anything after that, and you probably haven’t heard enough and with the right kind of ears. Seriously, I challenge anyone to pick a “perfect” “best of “ show and if I have time I will find the cracks!
But that’s missing the point which is ITS ALL GOOD! and every era has something positive that the others don’t have. It’s all ways been yin yang folks, there is no such thing as a perfect show, except in our minds eye, which is quite A ok.
Ok, rant over, I’m obviously biased about my beloved 85!
Which brings us back to TOOOOOOOGGGGAAAAA!! Yo Butch, back in your seat, there’s 50 thousand people waiting for you to get back in your seat! Madness, the whole scene there was just surreal fucking madness, but in a good way.
I’m actually going to try and call my old house/band mates at the time as we all went. 2 I think went to blossom, and Pittsburgh. That one too, like WTF basically could of stopped by on the ride home from Merriweather, idiots! Lol, actually, I’m not sure I could have done another show. I may have caused permanent damage at Hershey, and thank god for that day off that I can’t recall much about, and I did take it a tad easier after, but not much. We ate so many veggies on that run that nobody would believe it. But I know what I came with and what was left after so.....looking back, it’s all kinda scary, we’re lucky we never had any real casualties of any sort. Few close calls, but nothing major, phewwww.
So going to call the lads, and fire up Toga tonight as We have to do a Zoom wedding this afternoon. We were supposed to be out at the Promised land for said wedding and a actual vacation, first since Seattle in ?? 2012!
Think Homer Simpson “oohhhh, Ssstttooooopid Covid”
Speaking of living via the net, was that not a fine show on Shakedown last night! Didn’t have the fire like the night before, but a fine well played outing, thanks so much to Dave and Co. for giving us this nice diversion. It’s getting to b3 a regular weekly thing, and gasp, the Mrs has actually been joining me and digging it! .....as long as I give her a good foot massage (usually during drums). She really digs the trippy graphics and colors which is even funnier as she’s never partaken except booze back in da day, it’s like giving a kid castor oil just getting her to have a beer, lol. So yeah, this Friday thing has been like the “ONE” in our music! Right on! and please keep em coming!
Ok, gotta try and call the guys and reminisce before the wedding. Then.....drum rolls please..........TOOooooGa!

but there are black clouds building on the horizon here. Looks like a thunderous day on the river is in store for me. Got my waterproof device loaded with 6/27/85, thanks to the gentle steering of the GOGD.

Ran into a rainstorm, indeed!

GOGD has some momentum with SPAC 85.

Don't hang off the balcony... (which we later found out was VGuy and Keithfan) :D