Grateful Dead

This Grateful Dead Show was approximately 4 and 1/2 hours. When I made the decision to go, I had practically no familiarity with any of the band's repertoire except for "Truckin.'" But that all changed after this most memorable evening of my young life.
The audience was unique. This was only the second rock and roll show I had attended. I was seventeen. Approximately seven months earlier, I had attended my first rock show at the Philadelphia Spectrum.
Black Sabbath was the headliner with Wild Turkey and the Edgar Winter Group opening. Wild Turkey, a local band from New Jersey was booed off the stage. It was an uncomfortable moment. Edgar Winter performed Frankenstein. And Black Sabbath played for about ninety minutes.
So, with a very limited amount of live show exposure, the Grateful Dead's musical journey was in itself a mind-bending experience. I went to the show with a good friend of mine. I believe I borrowed my sister's '68 Chevy Biscayne to get there. I eventually learned that a few other people I knew were also at the show. And I'm pretty sure most of us were not as familiar with the band's songs as some of the other people in the audience.
The audience was unique. They danced. All night they danced. Eventually, with some gentle prodding, I danced too. Not the Dick Clark's Bandstand kind of dance. But an always improvising swaying swirling kind of dervish that was easy and fun. There was a lot of pot and hash. No one forced it on me. The air was thick with the beautiful smell. The music was all around me.
The next day, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper review entitled, "Grateful Dead leaves 'em alive, thankful" by Jonathan Takiff, did its best to describe the show. Indeed, that would seem a daunting task given how indescribable this event had been. I still have a copy of that review. The other side of that newspaper clipping had a listing of movies that were being shown at the time. One of the movies was A Clockwork Orange. It was rated X.
The show was on a Thursday night. The next day, I dragged myself through all of my classes at St. James Catholic High School for Boys. It was well-known that I had attended the Spectrum concert. Even my teachers knew. My classmates kept asking me what it was like. All I could honestly tell them was that they would have to go to a show themselves to truly find out. It was not easy trying to describe something I had just experienced for the first time.
Now, I am a member of that unique audience. Thank God that Dick's Picks Volume 36 has lovingly archived this special show. Without an indisputable reference such as Vol. 36, I would still be at a loss to accurately relate what the band played that evening. But I will never forget being there.

The September 21, 1972 show was my first Grateful Dead concert. It was my senior year. It was a school night. Thursday. I dragged myself through my classes all day Friday while everyone asked me what was it like. I think my basic response was, "You have to go to a Grateful Dead concert to even have a chance of understanding what that band is all about." The review by Jonathan Takiff of the Philadelphia Inquirer the next day was entitled, "Grateful Dead leaves 'em alive, thankful." He gave the 4 and 1/2 hour show a good review. But I already had been exposed to the magic. "That's where it all began."