Grateful Dead

I thoroughly enjoyed this show because of its intimacy. It was a poorly advertised and attended (no more than several thousand, if that many, souls) show in a small venue but the band was on their game, particularly Jerry and Bob. It was perhaps one of the last chances to see the band in a such a small setting. Everything after this for me was coliseum, megastadium, and hockey hall and none ever came close to that special spring 1978 evening in Huntington. I remember Cassidy, Jack Straw, Estimated Prophet, and Eyes of the World most.

From my home base in the Midwest, there weren't many small-venue shows after Huntington aside from the Cleveland Music Hall shows of March 1981. Even those weren't nearly as small and intimate as the Huntington show. A few years later in 1986 I caught the band at the Berkeley Community Theatre and even that seemed like a hockey-hall after Huntington. Plus, the April '86 band was a mere shadow of the '78 band. Not even close.

as it is now known, is 9,000. Which puts it a mid to smallish size civic arena. I know what you mean though Grove, there was not a lot of people on tour in 1978. 5-700 at most, I would say. Regardless of the size of the venue, that is what made it seem very intimate. Memory is a tricky thing. The BCT, which holds like 2-3k packed, has to be smaller in size than Big Sandy. But jam-packed it wouldn't seem as intimate. For me Augusta was the closest thing to a very intimate show I ever got. Would have loved to see a show at the Warfield.