Grateful Dead

Somehow it seemed to me to be related to Alpine 7.7.84, so I went there today after the Alpine show. There's a Playing Reprise and I'm hitting the epic Dew right now. No hearty post-Space Terrapin though. It's nice to know as a Wisconsinite that we have places like Bong right nearby. :-)

Ha.. yes, I stayed there in 87.

Is that anywhere near Bong Rec? :-P

Sounds good to me!

And I will second Jim's 4/23/69 Ark pick for tomorrow - should be an interesting contrast.

Since there wasn't yet a pick for today, I loaded up Beacon Theater 6/14/76 from the box, after a morning appetizer of Disc 3 from 4/8/72 Wembley. I got through the first two discs of that one last evening, but HAD to listen to the third before putting it back on the shelf. Favorite Dark Star ever? I dunno, but it is certainly up there! The Beacon Theater show is nice, but it was a little unfair coming right on the heels of that Europe 72 show, as most things are.

Back to the 80s madness! I've actually been to Alpine - the steepest lawn I've ever been on!

Peace

Funny, I was going to toss out an 84 option since we seem to be on an 80's terror.

Perhaps we can squeeze in something primal soon and something in the 7 1 through 74 range too.

As for primal, perhaps later this week?? It's been years since I listened to 4/23/69.

What a fun night!

The Scene:
We'd gotten home from Alpine and kicked around for a week or so and then headed over to Pittsburgh for our last taste of the Dead for the summer of '87. I guess it was a Monday night, but felt like a party. The only time we stayed in a hotel, and a bunch of our friends from Ohio had the room nextdoor. The rooms had a connecting walk through party door and we walked through it and partied all night long! It was off the hook. I can't remember if that was planned or coincidence, but feel like we didn't know until we got to the room. The hotel was taken over by Dead Heads and a party raged the whole time before and after. There was a Park & Eat diner up the road and we went there in shifts throughout the night, high out of our minds, laughing and shit like we were on a different planet, and we were. All these stoned out hippies flooding the place. We made up all these names for it, the barf & puke, the stop & ralph, we were rolling. I think there was a pool and the balcony circled around the pool.. but yeah it was 33 years ago, and we were all blotto.

The Music:
You ever been to a show with a friend and the band plays ALL of their favorites? That was this night for me and my buddy Walling. The place was electric and everybody was ready to party and so was the band. If I remember correctly, which is highly suspect, but mentioned elsewhere, there were guest musician rumors going around that day, so we were taking guesses on who it’d be, I was pretty sure it’d be Dylan, since they’d just played with him. I think that happened, but again the mind can do funny things. The show had that kind of extra excitement. There was magic in the air. And the band was on, Jerry was stomping around and belting it out and it had that ’87 energy of renewal. We’d seen it at Hampton, and felt it at Alpine (somewhat) but couldn’t see it there. So it was GREAT to have it confirmed in Pittsburgh. We had a great view of the happenings and just boogied down all night. If you weren’t hip before, when the Neville Brothers joined the band, everybody knew they were experiencing something special! I had definitely figured it out when Jerry started belting out Whoa’s during Shakedown Street, it was electric. What a fun show. It was my first & only Shakedown, and man it’s still my favorite. The first Knockin’ out of space was pretty epic to witness, by then we had been on such an adventure we just watched in awe, and then they revved up like a deuce with a couple more rockers to send us home or in our case, back to a raging hotel party that continued all night. Throughout, the band played my best friend & traveling partner’s favorite tunes that we didn’t see at Hampton or Alpine. The Shakedown > Samson, Iko > Day-O (he also loved that song, it was cosmically weird) > Women & closing Good Lovin’ & JBG encore, felt like it had been dreamed / willed up by my pal Harvey Wallbanger and we danced our asses off. Good times huh bro?!?!

33 years later it still gives me the chills looking back on it and remembering

Never Had Such A Good Time.

Thanks to BLUECROW & JIMINMD for sharing their tales as well. And thanks to all for listening in with me, this one holds a special place in my heart. The band came to have an electric rock n’ roll party and that’s just what we did.
EDIT: Ironic that In The Dark was released this day as well, and the band didn't play a single tune off the album, bad ass ;)

What a band!

Alright, what’s on tap for today?
EDIT 2: Alpine Valley 7/7/84 you say...

https://archive.org/details/gd1984-07-07.sbd.miller.94379.sbeok.flac16/…
Alpine Valley 7.7.84. Welcoming Lovelight back into the fold! Let's do this!!!

Jim and Bluecrow, thanks for sharing your memories of the Igloo! Really cool. Jim, yes, I do know what you mean, about the changes that occurred after In the Dark. The Dead achieved big time success, which I think was great for them, but of course it changed the scene forever.

The ultra matrix I pulled up on Relisten was marginal. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

Official releases versus bootlegs. I will say, this site would not exist if it wasn't for the official releases. Professional recordings, mixing and mastering take a ton of time and effort and in most cases sound way better than unofficial releases. If they didn't, Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino would not brother with these releases. I am sure glad they do, it has been tons of fun.
I have also been surprised how good some of the shows on The archive or Relisten sound. Miller seems to do a fantastic job, however, it is still no guarantee that the recordings themselves were very good.

Long live the Vault!

More a relation to timing, cash flow and where I was in college at the time, but I saw more shows in 87 than any other year. Plus.. I was kind of freaked by the 86 coma, which lead to full throttle 87 and Pittsburgh was less than two hours from where I was living at the time.

I was there and it was a hoot. I was just beginning to know what the Nevilles were all about.

What I remember from the whole thing was first that Jerry was looking and sounding better as the year went on. Second.. I was there with a bunch of college buddies and I could not wait long enough to ditch them and spend most of the show alone, just me and my girlfriend at the time. Something about people you don't know that well, that probably aren't that into the dead anyway talking while you are finding your footing is really annoying. So by Row Jimmy we had separated from anything resembling the crowd we arrived with and had achieved lift off.

I have not listened to this since I was there until today. What a nice road trip and both brings back memories and reminds me how little I still remember. I do remember the Neville's centric second set and the drive back home a good bit.

Well, that's the best I can recall.

Oh, this might have been the day or the we ek that In the Dark was released. At first I was ecstatic, later deflated.. it was the beginning of the end of sorts.. We were no longer a small town, under the radar thing. It was so much more fun when were were under the radar.

Oh.. and Otis.. it was hot as balls here today, and we are usually 10 to 15 degrees cooler than you. Great day on the river though. This working less stuff is a ok with me.

CAUTION - DRIVER LISTENING TO HOT SHAKEDOWN. Truly the funniest thing I have heard all month. Hilarious, I want one of those stickers!

hi everybody!! sorry, its been awhile posting, but i check in all the time on this oasis of friendship and good cheer.
Pittsburgh 87 was one of only 4 east coast shows i saw (Hampton 88 the other three). I'd seen the Alpine shows, then went fishing with Dad and brother in Canada. just got back day before show. left Chicago area at dawn. for some reason took the scenic route, driving some US highway rather than the interstate. got a speeding ticket as I crossed into Ohio (65 to 55 speed trap) - boo. as i said goodbye to the kind officer i asked him how far to Pittsburgh? he looked at me funny - Pittsburgh??? long long day driving, lots of winding roads i think as i got further east but somehow made it to the arena. back in those days i would get to some confusing unknown city and just follow the cars that looked like they knew where they were going. just now flashed on a bumper sticker i saw wandering the lot that evening unwinding before the show -
CAUTION - DRIVER LISTENING TO HOT SHAKEDOWN
yeah, for real
it was a heart of gold night. mail order ticket, might have been a GA show, but I was in the second level stage left. surrounded by kind strangers. more than a few empty seats in the arena i think. relaxed. really fun first set. remember Desolation Row as big cool surprise.
and then that SHAKEDOWN - holy shit!!!! Jerry scat singing!! Phil!! craziness!! out of body rush just thinking about it!!
and then "We ran into some of our friends the Neville Brothers" and its like you have got to be freaking kidding - Iko > Day-o > Women Smarter!! still have a dream vision of the stage during Day-O. yeah it was like a dream! coming out of space the whole place was buzzing with dylan energy, that bob d would join them. close. he was there in spirit. the knockin on heaven's door was one of the most righteous dead moments i ever witnessed. another vision of the stage as it lead to the first verse - unearthly blue/green lighting, the Nevilles, shadowed, slowly joining the boys. tears in my eyes. great good lovin set closer. then johnny b goode. super energy. smiles everywhere.
at some point during the drive that afternoon i'd wondered what the heck i was doing. i left that show filled with contentment and happiness. of course i'm totally lost when i try to find my way out of town. most traffic long gone. i'm at a stop light, drifting in my own thoughts, when I look to my right and a couple of officers in a patrol car are 5 ft away giving me the real hairy eyeball. seconds from big trouble. I lean over, roll down the window, and ask Hi - which way to Ohio? the expression of the officer at the wheel suddenly goes from doom to Sure, let me help! Ohio? you take a left at this light! I'm like Great!! Thank you!! seconds later light turns green, i turn left, and make my getaway across some bridge. whew. at some early am rest area i remember a fellow traveler asking if I was headed to Roanoke. sigh. the answer was no - heck I didn't even know the next shows were in Roanoke. 10 years later i got to know shannon way out west. and she was from virginia and yeah the roanoke shows were way hot!! as for me, the next shows i saw were Red Rocks
i'm listening to the Zaleski version on relisten right now - it sounds freaking fantastic, amazing pull, highly recommend!!
https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1987/07/06?source=95912
man, '87 was a fun year, with the newly re-energized Jerry. this brings back a lot of sweet memories.
stay healthy and be safe!!