Grateful Dead

...wasn't it named hampton roads coliseum? can still remember the 6 hour jaunt with a forever slow crawl thru delaware [alabama toot-away anyone?] yup, we got back to the hotel and all one of our friends could talk about was "how the dead were now singing nursery-rhymes"...ashes ashes all fall down! lol; 4/9/83 FUN stuff!

I caught that one. I'd tell the tale but the HeyChow police are on to me.

Nice work OB. How did you get that post past the Hey Now police?

The Aoxomoxoa outtakes from around this time are also worth checking out. St Stephen with cello, The Eleven with bagpipes and Barbed Wire Whipping Party with nitrous oxide, supposedly.

That is a fine show TN.
Think I had it in my top five when I did that tour!

W i n t e r Spring 69

The rainbow ballon band lol

This round I hit every available show that I hadn’t heard before, plus rehashing a few official release ones.

For various reasons, I wasn’t able to get as deep as i usually do, and sometimes the lackluster recordings made it harder to get to the goodness, but usually I at least caught the standout moments, both good and not so good.
The overall consistency and repetitiveness actually makes it very hard to decipher subtle differences, so combined with my lighter digestion, I wouldn’t say this is a comprehensive consideration. More a go fast and hard and see what stuck approach.

Overall I found almost every show at least good, and don’t recall clunkers.

I had heard January seventeen via Doc on POTD, and the Aoxomoxoa 50th bonus stuff, but rehashed all that in order to get a good reference starting point.
February 2, 4, 5 and 6 were next, getting seemingly better each night, while noting the fierce Stephen 11 jam on the 5.
The very fine shows on the 7 we’d enjoyed on POTD via Doc, so skipped
Same with the Fillmore shows on the 11.

Did hit another hot one on the 12th, though not sure which show, but man it has another scorching Stephen 11 jam!

Followed with the good first night at The Electric factory, but perhaps a step behind the awesome next night previously dug via Doc on POTD.

I skipped the RJ level goodness of the 2 Dream bowl shows, but I did rehash the whole FW run as I’ve never done so completely and in order before. Sigh, words can not convey…

Skipped the previous POTD Doc choice on March 15 (another top shelf) so next up was an equally wonderful outing on the 22 at the Rose Palace. The tape takes awhile to settle but don’t let that stop ya!
The 28 is another good but perhaps not great outing from Modesto.

I skipped Docs previous choice on the 3/26 and 4/11, along with the Avalon run.
Again, goal was to hit unheard shows this time around…

February things really start getting unbelievable. Some of the newer songs that were ruff at best earlier, are starting to gel and the “Live Dead” stuff is starting to get more improvisational as their slowly shifting from the “keep it tight and right” for the recordings phase. The consistency is still very good but their starting to morph and explore more, and it’s easy to hear differences in this material, perhaps easier than back in February.

April 12 - 17 are absolute gold! Some of the recorders aren’t great but you must hear your way through that to fully appreciate some extremely fine Dead! The 15 especially got my attention! And I rehashed the 17 since previously my copy was not complete and to compare with the 15. I’d call the 17 the 15 if it was given the treatment. And hey, it’s just a little rain folks lol.

Skipped previous Doc 18, which I think is good, but just a tad behind the previous? Did hit the 20 with similar feelings.
Though I’ve heard the Ark shows, don’t think ever did them completely in order etc, so rehashed and dug the hell outta those. I find the middle show to be RJ while the others are good, but perhaps missed it by that much?
Same with the 25. I did the complete shows from the next 2 nights as I’d only heard the DP before. Really strong like all of April but maybe a tad off the peak of a week or two previous?

May is still good, but felt like they peaked and were moving on again with more new material and increasingly longer shows (earlier there were many one set shows, though some of that might be incomplete recordings too)
Checked out the Sierra college on the 3, kinda weird?, and perhaps even weirder vibe at the Polo fields on the 7. Another beauty at the Rose Palace again on the 10 with a very awesome Dark Star!
Perhaps the best of May I heard this round was the next night at the Aztec Bowl, followed by perhaps the only dog in the bunch, Moraga on the 16, which I rehashed since Doc mentioned it again lol. More weirdness lol
Skipped the awesome RT FLA shows, but continued with May 29, 30, and 31st.
All were good, but the recording was ruff on the 29, and the 31st was perhaps a step above due to the a shenanigans and what not? Yet More weirdness lol
Finished off with the weird June first show? Was that a show?
Previously hit the fifth so next up will be the June FW run, but I’m way to burnt on this music for now. I’ll check out more, including the 27 and 28 that BTK has been suggesting…but first, full random cleansing Oxford 88, 5/14/74, 49, and anything else lol. Then, probably starting next week, going to do May through July of 79.
Onward!

Hampton Coliseum
Hunter Seamons matrix on the archive.
This is a crisp sounding show with a fantastic set list.
Peace

Edit: Brent's high in the mix, and playing some really trippy shit.

Jim, great job there channeling HF. I live close enough to a college campus to know whereof you speak. And I worked for that college for years, so... was with the cosmic spirit yesterday. We drove up to the Canadian border, near Newport, Vermont, found a high bit of snow covered pasture on a dirt road with nearly 360 by 180 horizon to watch. Deep in the sweet spot, totality lasted over three minutes. Had seen partials but now, I get why people will chase totality, way beyond spooky cool, epic. The farm animals made noise as it got dark, then were quiet. Roosters crowed like it was the break of day. It got cold suddenly and the light on the far horizons 25-30 miles away was rose and gold. The ride back was ridiculous with traffic never before and never will be seen again for decades.

Easy Jim

Just remember there Romeo
Lovely to look upon, heaven to touch,
It’s a real shame they got to cost so much…

But you already knew that ; )

JK, glad you had a fun day!

Forgot how much I love 5/14/74,l

Did not make it into Fur Peace. Had to drive by it, they must have been busy.

Pretty chill college town, nice view of the eclipse. All is good. Did listen to 2/27. It is one of THE classic dark stars. Sunny day in the 80's. Man that town can party.

There's a time and place for everything, and it's called College. Unfortunately, I am at that age where I politely look in the other direction but man.. Well.. there is nothing like the women on a college campus on a sunny spring day with weather in the 80's. And with eclipse glasses on, they can't really tell exactly where you are looking right?

Edit: Did I say that out loud? In my defense, you can't really see anything with eclipse glasses on, right?