Grateful Dead

I may have been pretty wasted, that evening,but, I distinctly remember a quite a few things that happened at the beginning of that show, that are not on the CD [which makes me believe that the show just released is surely from that time period, but from a different venue. I definately remember, that they played El Paso, in the beginning and something "crazy" happened with the whole vibe during that song. The "Intensity" rose,so fast, that after that song, Phil, Bobby and Jerry just stopped and went into kind of a circular huddle on the stage, that lasted quite a few minutes. Then I remember that they proceeded into an excellent version of Dark Star. Then, something else. very "wierd" happened during that song,[that's not apparent on the CD]. During the latter part of that song, Jerry, went into one of his "signature", intense "repetitive riffs" that, I could only recall from the 1969 original Live-Dead recording. At that point, the vibrations got so "heavy", that EVERYONE in the stands, jumped the wall and rushed the stage. Next thing I recall is all of us were packed together like sardines and literally " falling" on each other, but nobody hit the ground because we were so closely grouped and wasted to the max and then, Dark Star ended. Bobby then, did something new, with Ron-"Pigpen" {they started doing around that time}, which was "intoducing" each other to the audience at the beginning of the show, kind of like a mutual admiration intro like; "here he is, the baddest guy in show business...Pigpen" or let's hear it for the prettiest guy in show business...Bobby, and then they flew into Hard-to Handle, which I remember, was as good as the version you can listen to on on of the CD's {Hollywood Palladium}, also available on the Phil Zone CD. My big Question; why didn't I hear that Bobby "intro" of Ron on the Road Trips CD!? After Hard to Handle I don't remember all that much, about the rest of that set, except for two things; 1[ I hallucinated that the Dead were in Spacesuits {like on the back cover of Mars Hotel} and 2] that It was just a little too intense being that high and staying on that crowded football field, colsely packed in with all those crazy "tripping" people, so I somehow got back to my seat, in the stands for the 2nd part of the show. Another thing, I'm 99.9% certain about, is that Jerry reprised his ultimate original, 11-minute phenominal "jam" tune, from their 1st Warner Bros. Album; Viola Lee Blues. I remember finding and reuniting with then friend/neighbor; Al Pine,{ whom I helped get a ticket to the show} and telling him at the start of Viola; "now, you're going to see how Jerry can play, when he's really into it". Finally,all I have left to say about Yale Bowl-1971, it probably one of the last times, I remember them playing TWO phenominal early tunes great and the audience, being about as WASTED as I have ever witnessed, going back to 2/13/70, at Fillmore East.

There were a couple of firsts for me at this concert, the first being the search lights and cops in riot gear upon leaving the concert very stoned and tripping. The second was that I could have sworn that I heard Jerry sing Okie from Muskogee where he said "we don't take no trips on LSD". But from all my bootleg copies of this concert it just never took place. Damn weird that I must have been tripping a song. Never the less was quite an experience, especially since I had left my lights on during the show and had to push it to start. Thank God for manual transmissions!

My mind is blown. The quintessential quintet. 50 times in 71.