Grateful Dead

Hello David,
I know we are not to request for a specific show to be released and I understand that would be overwhelming. So I’m not going to do that. I going to lobby for a general geographical area ! And that is southwest Virginia. And to clarify SWVa has little to nothing in common with Northern Virginia or the Tidewater area. We are the beautiful and rural part of Virginia. 4 hours from DC and 4 1/2 hours from Williamsburg. With that said the GD played here 4 times from 1974-1987. Three times at the Roanoke Civic Center and once at Virginia Tech. Pick any and all !
The 74 show was a real trip. The civic center was only about 1/2 full but that 1/2 was ready and tripping. It was a great night for Roanoke. It was my 8th show but it was the first for a large percentage of the crowd. The US Blues>Jam>Promised Land was primal. They had done similar sequence a month before in Miami but we didn’t know that. To this day when I hear that jam in the sequence it makes feel like I’m hearing some organic primal stew brewing. Tribal !!
I’m a Hokie grad and Blacksburg is sacred ground around here. So in 1978 when they announced this show we were over the top. And it was a different story this time. The place was packed to the rafters. They were VERY popular by then. I was fortunate enough to see the two FOX Theater shows earlier that week. Just listen to TOO>Black Peter and tell me the boys were not ON this night. The whole show is smoking. A couple interesting side notes we relayed to me by friends on the concert committee. The band got to Blacksburg a day early and a couple of them came out and saw our Hokie baseball team play. Also another committee person took Jerry and Bob in a VT van to a Roanoke theater and they saw Saturday Night Fever. He said on the 45 minute return trip they talked about the movie and it’s music. Those are second hand stories but the people that told them to me had no reason to lie. Something I saw with my own eyes was during the “percussion” segment of the show when all band members were on stage I saw Bob beating on Jerry !! Weir had drum sticks and started playing on Jerry’s back. Jerry looked surprised and then started laughing. One great night for sure.
We had to wait 9 years for them to pass our way again in 1987. By now they were HUGE !! How Roanoke got two nights in July right in the middle of stadium season is still a mystery. This time GD mania and culture took over and overwhelmed out humble little hamlet. It took years for our city fathers to get over this event. But the band did come to the Star City (huge star on mountain top above coliseum) and boy did the band play. Check out Morning Dew as an example of just what a meltdown occurred those two nights. We were blessed and we knew it.........those were the days my friend.
Hopefully you were able to find time to read my scrabble and as I said earlier, I’m not requesting a specific show but I/we think it time for some love for the mountains of SWVa 😉. I saw Jerry 101 times from 1973-1995. These shows hold their own with any I ever saw.

Thanks for being a great keeper Of the vault and the flame.

PLP in Rocky Mount, VA Go Hokies !!

Now, just riffing here: as we’ve noticed a ton of Healy/Pearsons, especially some 87s being added, BUT, not these awesome Roanoke shows? Perhaps their saving em for a release sometime? Hey, just a thought ; )

But speaking of since I’m totally just f@#$&&ing off at work today (SLACKER) LOL
Let’s finally discuss those (hope I can remember).
7/7/87: right outta the gate has that “it” vibe and never really looks back. A Finiculi, Finicula always a good sign, sweet 1/2 step, even the Walking Blues which can sometimes be a buzz kill is good. Candyman, Esau, Push, all good of course Bob has to get the wanna be cowboy fix in, followed by a Bird Song, which I think was killer, but having trouble recalling, with a spirited Promised Land, not just a quick and dirty time for a piss and a drink version.
Unusual West LA set opener, , and it’s got a Cumberland, and a hot second set one to boot! Overall good but nothing unusual second set including a good but I wouldn’t say great Dew? Splitting hairs as I’m sure it was great if you were there, which I can’t believe I could have been but wasnt, Dooaahh! I’ll have to call BOO469 tonight and get his memories as he burnout and company were there.
7/8/87: starts out with a ripping Bucket and good Sugaree, and All over now to keep things rolling instead of some buzz kill Bob ad nauseam blues repeat. I took that as another sign that they were into these shows.
Duprees I seem to recall was maybe not quite as tight as the rest but always a fun ditty. Even Good Times seemed above average in the band vibe department. Masterpiece good but perhaps not comparable to what it and all the Dylan tunes Bob hit hard in the late 80s? A nice Big Railroad which I don’t believe git a lot of play then so a nice surprise, followed by a sweet Let It Grow!
Second set starts with a good if not mind blowing S/F, Estimated and Eyes, but we get a really nice Crazy Fingers outta space and then another pleasant surprise of Truckin to give that late energy boost. But then yet another pleasant surprise, Comes A Time as the boys seem like thier trying to one up each other with the crowd being the winner!
Rock Star Bob to bring it home, and a nice Muddy River to bring folks back to earth and out into the night!
Wow, if you didn’t know you might find it hard to believe this is 87, but 87 it is and perhaps at its best?
I saw 14 shows from spring and summer and kinda got turned off. I mean I liked em and as always had a great time and glad I went, but? Part my BS, part the scene, part expectations. So between that and not digging the only big east coast venues on the fall menu skipped the rest of the year, well, bad on me!
Yeah I’ll be checking these out again fo sho!

4/7/78: from the newly discovered (for moi) great spring 78 tour. Good show with many hot spots, but comparatively to what I’ve been able to check out from this tour so far, I’d say this one is more middle of the road. So far that sweet surprise that was DaP 37? one that I was nonplussed, until I heard it! Is my benchmark, that and others from middle tour of the awesome sounding Beatty board variety are perhaps the cream of the tour (much more research needed) but that’s like comparing Porches to Beamers.
Since there’s complete Beatty’s in the vault, I’m thinking we’ll get a box someday, but as always who knows when/if?
I mean ole Dave seems to get easily distracted by birds and things lol, so can only imagine how he gets in the vault ; )

3/19/77: gave this a superficial listen. Believe y’all did this one awhile back so thought I’d sneak it in while folks catch up and/or wallow in the 74 majesty that is DaP 42! Got a decent full treatment in on that last week too. Man that HCSS and disc three are fantabulous!
Ok, hoping to skip out early so might try and hit 6/24/73 and/or Dicks 68 at home with a ice cold summer brew as it’s gotten hot hear all of a sudden, as is often the case here.
Hopefully Mr Jimmy isn’t working too hard on those cabinets or playing ball in the house ; )
Happy Friday amigos!
ONWARD

OH, if your out there Mr Smith, is it warm enough for ya yet lol, stay cool and have a great WE

Edit: BC big time son, big time as The Hawk used to say!

DBL Edit: Pearlysbeentrue, nice to meet ya, thanks for stopping by and contributing. The more the merrier!

Triple edit: BC, I hit that one not too long ago researching my Great Dane Box. (have to credit VGUY with the awesome name). Like all the Dane shows, it’s a good one, for the time at least if not more? So I might pass and hit Jim and DVs picks, but definitely check it out and report back por favor!

2/4/79 - Dane County, Mad Town. Final weeks of the Godchaux era. There's a new Clugston audience available. Sampled it at Shakedown Set II opener and it sounds pretty darn good to my ears. Had a chance to see this show, buddies had a ticket for me, but, oops, took a pass on it. Maybe had a big test or something, maybe just screwing up, maybe both.

Edit - Oro, the Great Dane Box, so many good box set names available, just need the box sets themselves, e.g. Box of Rocks, Baked Alaska ..... and I had that same crazy thought re Roanoke release.

We danced, laughed, and got our blaze on at both of these shows. They hadn't played Roanoke for 13 years when 1987 rolled around, and even though I was stationed at Ft Bragg, doing my 4 years as an enlisted infantry paratrooper with the mighty 82nd Airborne Division, I wasn't going to let this show pass without being there.
I still remember driving in to Roanoke, on 581, and having some dude in a car pull up beside us at 70 mph, and making the universal sign for Uncle Sid, by touching his outstretched tongue with his finger as he looked at us through our car windows. We were used to being under Uncle Sam's constant watch, so we just laughed to ourselves, and waved back.
I distinctly remember a very emotional Candyman, as Jerry had only recently recovered from his diabetic coma the year before, and it seemed that his rendition had all of the weight of a funeral procession, but of course, beautiful and endearing at the same time.

June 22 GD Bulletin just hit my inbox and at the end there is this:

"1969? 1992? 1987? In Pick of the Day, With Discussion, the spotlight seems to be turning to Roanoke, 7/8/87, so come on down and join in."

To which I would add, if you're just tuning in - Welcome!! And don't overlook the first night at Roanoke, 7/7/87, cause it smokes!!

Onward!!

Hey enjoyed this show. Great recording. Longer first set for this time period. Yes Jim, Jerry hits it nicely in Peggy O. Great Minglewood, TMNS.
Enjoyed the second set, the finish with NFA, BP, Playing reprise. JBG.
Good pick OB.

Thinking of going back to the PNW box today with 6/24/73 Portland. Let me know.

Nice show, great recording. This is one Pretty Petty-O, I would surely Marry-O. Tight, powerful and fun. If I had a complaint, it would be that they did not seem to leave the solar system in the second set. The Terrapin>PITB>..., ...>PITB tango was fun but walls remained rigid and nothing melted, exploded, imploded and nobody was walking bow legged due to an alien abduction. First world problems, I realize. 78 has a lot of those, and post drums seemed to be shorter overall.

Still, excellent show, most enjoyable and a great pick.

I might relisten to the PITB and see if perhaps I missed something.. I was sanding and finishing some cabinets outside and that part of the show transpired just about the time the 14 year old ignored the no ball in the house rule. Predictably an errant lacrosse ball went through the front door window. If I hadn't done (almost) the exact same thing myself when I was his age, I'm guessing I would have been pretty pissed off.

I think y’all did 3/19/77 awhile back and I missed it?
So going to forge on with that.
Hopefully I’ll get time for the discussion part of these last few shows…
ONWARD!

Yes, sounds good to me OB. I have never heard this one. Will get it going tomorrow.
Thanks.
Yes, 87 is hot.

How’s bouta 4/7/78 from that great Spring tour. Something with a 7 in front for some variety.
More on those wonderful Roanoke 87 shows later…(if you like 87 and haven’t heard them, YOU MUST)