Grateful Dead

Q: Bobby, why did you kick your amplifier? BW: Because it had a demon in it. True words spoken to KFOG's DJ, M Dung during the Monday broadcast of the Dead Hour following this awful show. It was hot, the band came out an hour late. Almost every song had some kind of crash landing. Bobby's sound system kept up an annoying crackle and buzz, at one point he litterly kicked the crap out of his amplifier. At another point the show stopped because some fan had scaled one of the ski lifts and was doing a had over hand routine across one of the cables dangling 50 ft above the crowd. My buddy who was attending his first (and last) show, pointed out to me dozens of people napping in the sun during the show. I just shrugged my sholders. The fall shows at Henry J. would remind me once again why I love this band.

i loved the scenery. I loved the crazy sounds. Garcia storming off stage and then coming back with an incredible freind of the devil left me speachless.

Check this out. I was in Truckee,Ca. the day before the show, after just having hitchhiked down Highway 89 from my first visit to 14,162 ft. Mt. Shasta, where I'd end up living for 12 years and climbing to the top of 10 times,5 of those as the first person of the year to reach the summit which is probably still a record. Anyways, I was hitching from Truckee to Lake Tahoe the day before the show and I get picked up by two college students from the U of Colorado. Turns out they were from the town next to me where I grew up in N.J. and one of them was the younger next door neighbor in N.J. of one of the guys who was then my roommate in s.cal and they both new about 6 of the folks who were my roomates or next door neighbors. A couple of them were due at the show the next day and we all met up in the parking lot and had a great time. Jay and Ronnie, drop me a line!

Yeh, very strange musical complications, and tested one's survival skills. But in the big universe, the mountains and many hot ladies clad for sunbathing made for great fun. I was told later by my buddy's neighbor in Sac, who was a CHP honcho, that this show temporarily closed I-80..being the only time excepting for rockslide and ice and snow...ever. I remember Jerry's fit and Ace's attack on the monitor amp, also. Still, an avalanche of good times at the Summit Conference!! My only Grateful Dead Show with very little to no Mickey Space Sounds. All in all a marvelous sunshine daydream.

One thing not mentioned that was incredibly challenging for the band was the wind blowing hard, kicking up dust, and blowing into the Dead's faces all day. The stage was set at the bottom of the ski slope and all day wind charged down the mountain and head on into the stage. I wasn't sleeping, but it was clear the boys were having a terrible time. It was one of the poorest shows of the 300+ I saw. Sometime during Black Peter, I remember singing, "And it's just like any other show that's ever been." I forgot to mention, we did have fun...just mainly before and after the show. And the we were on to the next show...

them boys always had a hard time w high altitude shows,,,,us too, I ate somethin phsyly and almost stayed in the parking lot,, tg for brother chris ,n friends,,, the joint that just wouldnt finish,,,,,,cool clear water,,, just a bout naked,,, now we're havin fun,,, yeah lame show but just great all the same!!!

I thought the show was great, anyone remember the pretty naked chick who tried to climb up on the stage during Day Tripper?

With people crawling up the chair lift, and the alpine slide blowing my way fried mind a couple times, I saught solice in a blended raspberry lemonade life saver and the sprinkler at the top of the hill and there I sat for the whole second set. I was so attentive that only the left side of my face was totally sunburned. I do remember a naked girl ON stage, and I remember being kissed very nicely by a girl I hadn't met. A red head. I saw that twirling CAN be done in ankle-deep mud on a slope, and that The Boys should have played MANY MANY more shows at ski resorts.

musically, it may have been a bit lacking. But next to the hallowed Veneta, I never saw a better vending scene. It all came back to me over the weekend when the Boreal earrings came out of retirement to go to the Rex show. The Boreal earrings are your classic beaded hippie earrings, in iridescent greens and blacks with a lot of jade and crystal. They are at least three inches long, which means they're not too practical for the day-to-day. But it is a testament to how much I loved them at the time that I spent virtually every cent I had on them despite the fact that, at the time, my ears weren't pierced. Yes, I got my ears pierced in middle age because of these earrings. And they really are cool--all through the night various people, including perfect strangers, would stop and check them out, and reminisce about that Boreal show. Little mini time machines in earring form.

My friend claimed his dad wrote lyrics for the Dead so we got back stage or all accsess or something like that. We always said Dedrick was born "Dead" Don't remember alot, we came up from Marin County the day before and stayed at someones house( it's all pretty fuzzy). It was the altitude! The supplies affected your brain a lot quicker because of the thin air. I passed out in a closet after drinking some rum and was pretty well hung over the next day at the show, still it was a good time. Anyone out there might know what happened or where Dedrik might be?

I wasn't there but have the recordings. One thing I do notice about this show, is that despite the hell that was breaking loose onstage, Billy and Mickey were really pounding away! Listen to Alabama>Greatest for example. Usually when Deadheads declare a "great show" or a "bad show" they are usually referring to Garcia or Weir only. Nobody really mentions the drummers. From a drumming perspective, you have to give the Rhythm Devils credit, they were on fire at Boreal

I remember all of my friends and myslef thinking that was the worse show we had ever seen. At this point I hadn't seen a lot, maybe 5 shows before, but it was the first one we drove for 2 days to get to. And then there was only one show and we had to leave. I remember Phil telling saying something like "Hey Bucko, there's 30 thousand people waiting for you to climb down!" to the guy sitting cross legged on top of the ski lift pole. Bob kicked his rack so hard it rocked back and forth. Looked like the boys wanted to really rock but all the equipment problems took their toll and you could see the frustration. That being said, calling it the worse show I have seen says a lot because it really wasn't so bad. Flyin Eye of the Flyin Eye Project aka Dr-Gonzo on Undernet & EFnet

I was living in San Jose with Cragin. One night we went to New George's in San Rafael to see Jorma and his latest project. That night Cragin met a pretty Dead Head lawyer, and he promised to take her to this show at Boreal Ridge. But Cragin already had a girlfriend, and really couldn't do it, so he gave me her number and I ended up seeing the show with her. Unfortunately, her name escapes me, but she'd been around the scene for some time and turned out to be a great companion to see a Dead show with, not the least of which had to do with the copious gossip she'd accumulated. A few things I recall from this show: The ground was so dry and dusty you couldn't dance. If you danced, the dust would rise up to your nostrils. We stood by the soundboard and I was impressed by how clean everything sounded. It was probably the clearest I'd heard to date. Also, the strongest substance I'd ingested the entire day was a bottle of Pepsi. What I heard was a kind of revelation. While many rate this show as being one of their worst, I heard some impeccable playing coming from the stage that day. It really drove home the fact that these were some serious musicians, and not just some pop stars. They may have been having difficulties, but they were pros through and through. I recall many magical musical moments, particularly the little improvised duet between Bob and Brent prior to drums. Brent was such an amazing player. It was really tragic he checked out so young. So, we didn't dance, we didn't get high, but we got an earful of some very fine music. Maybe being by the soundboard had a lot to do with that. The mix was perfect. It was beautful up there in the Sierras, but very dry and hot as many have noted. It was not a show were I felt a lot of personal comfort, but came away very satisfied on an intellectual level. The ride back down to Marin, and then San Jose, was very pleasant, however, being in the presence of the beautiful, friendly Dead Head lawyer from San Rafael.

artAll of my bay area friends and I refer to this show as "The Incident".Being from northern CA. we could go to 20 or 30 shows a year without driving more than an hour or two.I know, we were terribly spoiled,but this show was terrible.The worst I ever saw.The ride home ranks as the single most depressing drive I've ever taken.This is the only show I ever taped that I still don't have a copy of.I erased it.

it reminded me of pigpen...i guess i just like the culture too much... keep your character, enjoy living, share your fortune, OXOX Merple Reddin

Oxygen tanks on the stage! Walking out of this show with my friends Richard Raffel and David Gans I handed David my soundboard master and said, "maybe you can put this in a Worst of The Grateful Dead show!" Richard was a little pissed because it was his birthday and I guess that I actually should have given the tapes to him... Thank you, and Stay In Touch!

I was so excited for this show, the Boys in my backyard for a change - we waited for them for forever to hit the stage..shortly thereafter, Marcia would succumb.... I had to take her to Rock Medicine or Acid Rescue whatever - I was so bummed to be missing the show but you gotta take care of your friends. I don't think I ever got her to another show after this...Once she came down a little, we were able to go back out and catch the last set..Alas, sometimes you just can't get a break, as other have previously stated this show never really jelled...All would be forgiven though later that fall at the excellent Oakland Kaiser run ...

i remember that show mostly because in the evening after the show it got bitter cold in those mountains and all i had was shorts i froze my nards off

My friends, it was me who was sleeping. Heresy, I know. However, two days before, I was sleeping on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico. My buddy and I decided to hitchhike to the show. We slept in the cloverleaf of the highways near Modesto and barely rolled in as the concert started. I remember the guy climbing the chairlift, the nude chick going for the stage, and Bobby's drop kick. I don't recall much of the music. As we searched for a ride to San Francisco, we hooked up with two Scandinavian guys at their first concert. They were in the US for the summer and bought a used car for a couple of hundred dollars. As they lit up a joint in the front seat, the cigarette lighter ignited the dashboard on fire and we had to pull over to extinguish the flames. We did make it back to SF at breakfast time.

Remember when Buckingham Palace caught fire? The Queen said this as been an annus horiblis. Well someone else said any year in a castle is a pretty good year. Any day at a Grateful Dead concert is a pretty good day. There was sunshine, some tunes were excellent, beautiful people, i was there with my beautiful girlfriend, we ran into her new stepbrother who we didn't know was a deadhead and that brought the family together in a fun way. Hey I had a good time!

Jerry's guitar sounds angry, though, during A&A, Lovelight, and Daytripper. Pushing the show to its end.

...in the same way that a poster of dogs playing poker is the best artwork ever. It's so bad, it's good!

A few remembrances: 1. I was very very high and was totally tripping out on how awesome the “space“ portion was and how I thought Dan Healy was totally going genius-wild with the sound manipulation , working with the boys on stage. Later, I realized it was just sound problems and bad feedback. Maybe it would’ve been better if I never knew. 2. I started getting really bad vibes from this family that was sitting on blankets near by, staring at me like they were some Appalachian folks with some ancient blood feud thing going on. Sometime after the show I studied up on the Donner Party and now believe I was picking up on the vibes left over from when the Donner Party was stranded in that area for that horrible winter way back when. I learned that all the families took an “every family for itself“ attitude and there was no cooperation among them, not even speaking to other families for weeks at a time even though they were camped within few yards of each other. Their campsites, next to Donner Lake were within walking distance of where this concert was held. I believe I was feeling something like the blood that was spilled onto the soil. It was very heavy vibe that I’ll never forget. 3. Myself and my two friends camped somewhere in the area the night after the show and the next morning I was totally frazzled from my tripping the day before. For breakfast we went into some restaurant and the radio was tuned to a freeform FM radio station that was playing a selection of tunes that seemed like it was made specifically to chill out somebody who was still frazzled from their heavy trip the day before. I don’t remember the tunes, but I do remember there was a mellow psychedelic Beatles song of some kinds of Summer of Love and oth tunes that I thought had to been chosen specifically for the deadheads that were still in the area and coming down from their trips from the day before. Whatever the deal was, it felt beautiful and the perfect cure for my trippin' hangover.
I’ve never heard any tapes from this show, but I know it has a reputation of being bad but I don’t regret for a moment having gone. Although I can’t help feeling I’m part of that cliché when non-deadheads say you have to be really high to enjoy a grateful dead concert. Well, I got really high and I enjoyed the experience and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to attend the highest Grateful Dead concert ever.

So this was infamous as one of the worst shows. Bobby was having instrument problems, sounds was funky.

But at a certain point , some sort of aircraft flew right over that did not look like a regular plane. Whoosh and it was gone. It sort of hugging the contours as it flew which makes me think it was a military test drone. Everyone went "whoah!" and then back to sucking on doobs.

I was not on acid. This really happened.

We drove up later than we'd expected because getting away had been messed up
So we arrived late at Donner Pass campground.
But - what luck! - we discovered there was exactly ONE site left.
So we set up our tiny tent in the dark and crawled in.
Then in the morning light we saw the sign on the next site over.
It was closed because of being sprayed to kill off PLAGUE-CARRYING RATS.
The rest of the day was similar.
Didn't seem like the Band was okay - though even a bad Dead show is still the Dead.
And at least none of us got the plague.

My one and only birthday show, and it sucked. And we couldn’t get out of the lot afterwards because heads had a card game going in front of our car and wouldn’t move til they were finished.

Hot summer day, high altitude, and alcohol made for pretty zoned out audience. The “venue” was a stage erected in front of the ski lodge, with the crowd backed up onto the slope. The slope itself was made for skiing, not for viewing a concert, it was uneven and bumpy. I can’t remember if there was even grass on the slope. If there was, it was dead. The whole vibe that day was kinda off. The band seemed mildly interested in playing that day, the heat and technical difficulties were definitely an issue. Unlike most shows, there was never that sensation of the band taking off or launching into a groove that would propel the crowd. There didn’t seem to be any connection between band and crowd, which made for a less than usual Dead show experience. The stage was really tall as I recall, further disconnecting the band from the fans.
Having said all that, I must confess that I was still a Jr. Deadhead at that point. Boreal was maybe my 8th or 9th show (I need to go back and check my set list notebooks. Remember those?!), I didn’t even have my secret decoder ring yet. But relative neophytes and seasoned tour Heads alike remember this show as challenging at best.

I had a grate time at Boreal. I got there early and stayed late. Had a spot right in front of the stage. I was inside the stage monitor sound, so it sounded good to me :-) When Bob had amp problems I recalled my friend Steve Marcus saying Bob kept messing around with weird amps; he should just get a Mesa Boogie and be done with it. The setting was cool, because it was a ski resort in the mountains which means beautiful scenery all around.

I say any show featuring "Day Tripper" is ineligible to be considered for status as "Worst Dead Show Ever"

By the time this one rolled around I was pretty darn committed. As I recall I felt pretty much like Jeff that it just didn't take off. And while the elevation at Boreal is less than that of Telluride, where I can personally attest there was NO AIR and it took some getting used to, I think in retrospect that might have been a contributory factor. However. The vending scene, for the time anyway, could not be beat. I still have the beaded earrings.