Grateful Dead

44 years ago today, I was sitting up in the balcony at Winterland watching the Dead put on a great show. Big fun! Could these 3 shows be the upcoming box set? We shall see.

The shows/experience and the tapes are two different worlds. And there are worlds within the tapes.

I caught 'only' about 75 shows, 1972-1992, and stopped going after '87 (3 nights at Rocks, 2 days in Telluride in one week), as I'd been intensely onboard for 15 years, from age 15 to age 30. I caught some big shows:
Sept '72 (1)
Summer '73 (6)
'76-79 (a shit ton)
every single Rocks show they played

At least (3) Red Rocks shows actually sucked, based on the high standards set by the band elsewhere (Jersey City '72, RFK '73, Watkins soundcheck, fall '73 Nassau Coliseum (upcoming DP), Capitol Theater '76 & '77, Boston Music Hall '77, Englishtown '77, Rocks '78 & '79, '80s).

That said, the "average" GD show tended to be a real good time. The best shows changed my life. The worst shows = the price of admission to higher planes sometimes costs more than you originally were willing to pay...

Then there are the tapes. Some shows that might have seemed a little tame in person become these perfectly executed sets on tape. Or the wildly exuberant performances become the slightly off-the-hook tapes. Or some tapes can be explored repeatedly and reveal new things -- impossible in the moment you're experiencing them in concert.

Quite the enigma wrapped in a tortilla within a fortune cookie and still amazing after all these years. Now a solid 50 years for me. Sort of a "What in hell just happened" spread over a 20 year period for me. Then another 30 years with the tapes. (Although we had obtained tapes when the band was still in pre-hiatus phase.)

Okay, ready for the Box News!

Had to use that title. Probably my favorite jazz players.
Oro: Don't think it was '03 The Dead on The Rocks. That was my last Dead related show. 25th anniversary of my first show and Phil brought up that subject saying,"How many of you were here 25 years ago?", and a huge number said YEAH!! Then he follows with one of his cornier comments, "Whoah, your grandparents must have all our albums!". Wait, we were almost grandparents by then ourselves. It was nice and warm that night, but I guess it could have been cold the next night if there were two shows. It is Colorado. We all carry an extra layer every day of the year. That was the Jimmy Herring version of The Dead. I'm an ABB fan too and LOVED it. Every song had those jazzy intros where you have lots of time to guess what song it is, then they change key and you've guessed wrong. Seems like D. & Co. still do a lot of that. Loved how Jimmy added the ABB sound to so many Dead classics. Shades of when Warren Haynes first played with ABB (also a Red Rocks show for me, maybe '90?) and I got chills hearing Duane speak through Warren's guitar. Oh yeah, we got a Mason's Children that night too! Bonus! Cheers all!

DMCVT: sounds idyllic!...cool band, nice vibe..

PF: 😁 unfortunately I have to use the skip button more and more as years go by on certain songs,...but, then sometimes, still get shown that light...

NAPPY 😁

VGUY: NICE! Congrats on the twofer! Any side affects?

HF: congratulations! Lol

DOC/Augusta: wasn’t at Augusta, but those were exactly the kind of places we were looking for to freak freely as years blew by and the scene got crazy. Partially why we stopped going as much. Instead of those places they were doing huge blocks at the same big venues in the same big nasty cities etc...

DENNIS: I think the breaks/timing, and even the set list of 7/4/86 was influenced by the Farm Aid live time slot they had to work with. But yeah it was nice, they played CR&S as it started raining, but the big synchronicity/psychedelic moment I recall was during Fire just as JG was peaking out, aaaaa, and so were we lol, all of a sudden the clouds parted just enough for this little shaft of sunshine to shine on him as if it was a follow spot. Can’t tell so much on the video, but I recall that one fondly, like WHOOOAAAA, “how do they do that” lol.
Saw many of those over the years, enough to not be just coincidence, though one of my favorites, or the one I remember most lol, was the big storm at 3/30/95. I still think they some what staged it. Yeah there was obviously a big storm, but I recall them kinda waiting around on stage and Robbie Taylor was on the radio, and they were sorta looking out at the top/back of the stadium, so I’m thinking with the weather station they had at outdoor shows, they saw the front coming rapidly, so sent someone out front with a radio and told Robbie when that sucker was just about to hit the stadium and then as if on cue by the gods themselves “Raaaaiiiinn, I feel fine”...pretty fuggin cool!
Didn’t have the pleasure of seeing the GD at Red Rocks but saw several Dead, Furthur etc shows there, and yeah, that place always has cool weather moments. HF, what was the one, I’m guessing the Dead around 03, 04, where it got all misty (like you could barely see and the lights were awesome etc) and pretty cold and the band rose above the diversity as only they could do! Perhaps some trippy Beatles and/or a that Miles tune they were doing? Maybe it was Phil and friends? Definetly a top weather show for this kid Whatever, cool place that awesome stuff happened at frequently. .

I am currently doing 3/18/71

and then will do 7/19/74

a question I have always wanted to ask any band member...how did they keep their composure during the REALLY intense shows?

There have been and are and will be times when things are so intense that I crawl out of my skin. They are making things happen...how do they keep it together?

October 12, 1984, Augusta Maine

Way down east. Excellent psychedelics. Maybe 20-30 feet back, dead center. No sardine effect, room to breathe and move around.

OMG how did the Dead do that? We didn't think the Dead were capable of playing like that any more. Second life-changing Dead show (first was Providence in 1974).

We spent the next 10+ years chasing Augusta. We never caught up to it again.........

Doc
Day off Friday

How do WE do that, the band asked itself.

Early '80s at Red Rocks, we're up maybe 20 rows with a full view of Denver as a storm descends on downtown, not us.

Big flash of lightning in the distance while the band jammed away, oblivious. Crowd collectively, audibly, goes oooooh!

I see Bobby shoot Jerry a look: damn, we're good, aint' we, and the crowd knows it....

EDIT: Ding, ding, ding: my first triple post! Dang, ain't I good.

How do WE do that, the band asked itself.

Early '80s at Red Rocks, we're up maybe 20 rows with a full view of Denver as a storm descends on downtown, not us.

Big flash of lightning in the distance while the band jammed away, oblivious. Crowd collectively, audibly, goes oooooh!

I see Bobby shoot Jerry a look: damn, we're good, aint' we, and the crowd knows it....

How do WE do that, the band asked itself.

Early '80s at Red Rocks, we're up maybe 20 rows with a full view of Denver as a storm descends on downtown, not us.

Big flash of lightning in the distance while the band jammed away, oblivious. Crowd collectively, audibly, goes oooooh!

I see Bobby shoot Jerry a look: damn, we're good, aint' we, and the crowd knows it....