Grateful Dead

My first and most favorite New Year's Show. I think 1976 is a very underrated year. Two of my favorite shows are this one and 10/9/76. Both have wonderful jammed out versions of Slipknot. Santana opened and while I don't have real strong memories of the set I do remember enjoying it immensely. But the real reason I was there was to see the Dead and they didn't disappoint. Most of the first set was fun but nothing special until they ended it with a very hot Deal and then the highlight of the set, a wonderful Playin' that took off into the zone and left the song behind. I don't remember what Bill Graham rode in on at midnight but I'm pretty sure I remember roses being thrown to the audience. And, of course, following the countdown to midnight they opened with Sugar Magnolia. Very high energy and followed by a stellar set. There were many wonderful moments but for me the highlights were the great jam out of Slipknot and the second encore of Uncle John's>We Bid You Goodnight, which I had very strong memories of but which was not part of the KSAN broadcast that I had a copy of for years. I'm delighted that the complete show with that encore is now available in a high quality recording.

This would have been my first Sons show, but Bill and company were a no-show... the story the crowd got was something to do with being snowed in at Tahoe. I had an occasion to talk to Bill Champlin after a smokin' set at the Sausalito Art Fair a few years back and I asked him what happened that night. He didn't remember exactly, but he did say that after that night Bill Graham never asked them back to play. The Dead were great that night. Santana too. I'm happy to have it on good quality CD too.

My eleventh Dead show. And second of the 3 Dead NYE's I saw (others were 12-31-71 and 12-31-83).

The official release Bob - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spanish Jam

The sound quality is amazing, WOW! So grateful for the achives putting out this show and hopefully many more. The vibe seems very fresh and playing damn good.

recalling my first shows seems all a blur these days...duh, wonder why LOL... pretty sure my first was BGP's Day on the Green #9, Dead/Who, but not sure if I was rich enough to afford a ticket to both shows... gosh, just another ignorant young "head"...haha

The big thing about one's gestation as a head is that it's the music that draws you in... then takes you there, to hell with the proper lyrics... you're so blissful, you tend to make up your own words/verses. REMEBER THAT !!!(Sampson/Shakedown/Scarlet/Sugar Mag)

Heck, we couldn't call or even feel what they might play next until much later, let alone start a pool with your DH friends on what was gonna be played that next show. How many did you win? Geesh, it was years before we had the mind to bring along a pen/pencil and peice of paper or journal in which to write down the show...hahaha.

While seeing in accordance with this Dead.net history of "Shows and Lyrics" that there were only 2 Shows that the Boys played at the Cow Palace, I knew that by the process of elimination, that I didn't live in the Bay Area for the earlier show, and that I had been to one, so that this had to be the show I attended - my 1st New Year's Eve Show...

I just remember how "IMPOSSIBLE" it was to get a ticket back in those days(1976/77), having been completely closed out of the Orpheum shows, and many of the Warfield as well. Experience also included being scammed out of money by scumbags bent on stealing young Deadhead fans' money.

That story went like this...your good DH friend would come up and say..."here's this guy who can score some tickets for us!"...You, being suspicious, would listen to this guy/scammer as he said "here, give me your $40 for 2 tickets, hold this herb and hash as collateral until I get back..." only to reluctantly realize that that feeling that was increasingly building in your stomach was the realization that you had just been taken... especially as the fellow was now more than 2 blocks away with your money, and as suspected, never came back after 10, 15, 25 minutes plus. Oh yeah, here's the part where I tell you that the weed/hash given us as collateral, was "punk" weed upon closer inspection !!!!

ARRRGH !!! How naive we were!!! Only to be left out in the cold, ticketless, only to hear reports post-show of what we missed, left again only to shop at the psychedelic shop on Market or to head home disappointed, once again.

I now remember this Cow Palace show, due to the vastness of the parking lots(Dead Mall), long walks to get to the "Palace", walking up and down Geneva Avenue trying to get a miracle ticket, which came eventually, but definitely not as a miracle...cost us $200 for 2. Having been scammed before never even came into the picture, as we almost peed our pants that these might be the only few extra NEW YEAR'S EVE tickets that would get us into the show...... we showed no hesitation in knowing these tickets would probably be our only chance... and YEAH... THEY WERE !!!

Bought 'em, and yes .... We were in this time !!! The cavernous hall, with its many pictures of classic rock shows(Stones, think the Beatles, definitely attended Rod Stewart, Prince, Jethro Tull, and Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps tour there)... and costuming for the first time with my huge Uncle Sam top hat(in regal red, white, and blue), and blazing the crowd with my electric blue-and-white tie-dye pants that were the envy of many, made by Barbara's of Santa Cruz. Think I picked those pants at the Day on the Green show(s) or at the psychedelic shop near the Warfield.

What a blast, what a blur, and what a pre-cursor of many new year's eves to come.

We were definitely on our way....we never even realized until told later that Bill Graham was Father Time, couldn't remember the entrance, nor the set list for that matter... but BOY did we have a great time on ole Owsley doses !!

Geoff

-"one way or another" .... and "you need to be kissed often, and by a man who knows how"- Rhett to Scarlet - Gone with the Wind The Big Dog Dad - Schultzie

Moved to Mendocino County from Queens NY! Talk about culture shock. But did make it down for this. Cow Palace was a cow of a venue but a great show that I remember little of. I do remember Uncle Bobo and I always loved the 2nd set Sugar Mag opener...balloons flying, drugs working. NOTHING better. Well, except sex of course

The first time seeing the Dead, I had no idea what to expect. Concerts in Canada always seemed pretty subdued and ended early. Probably the strongest memory is that the music never stopped. I was sure that Sugar Mag was the final encore. I mean it was after midnight and this was an encore song - but they just kept going. After that I was positive the concert was over SIX more times before they finally bade us goodnight. What a show. Who does that - plays their hearts out for hours and hours taking the audience up down and round and round. So obviously I was a commited Deadhead from then on spreading the word across Canada from Newfoundland to the Yukon. "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert" - somewhat of an understatement. Then to hear this show again 30 years later, and such amazing quality - talk about flashbacks. No wonder this show changed my life. Now I have proof that it wasn't just my imagination. Hello to the 2 dudes from Montana if you're out there. Remember staying at the Berkeley hostel and you were going to leave for home till I talked you into going to the show. Never had such a good time in my life before. You can thank me anytime. The music never stops.

After listening several times, I've come to declare that this is surely and most definitely one of the best GD shows that these ears have ever heard. I think transcendental would be the word to sum it all up. Did ya catch Keith's "Slipknot!" chord progression during the Good Lovin' jam? Oh what a Good Lovin' it is, too! Then later, when they do reach Help > Slipknot!, they jam it out quite immensely and satisfactorily. Wowsers. And the UJB > We Bid You Goodnight to close it all out is all-knowing and all-encompassing in its finality. This rivals my favorite show of all time, DP 10, 12/29/77

keep your character, enjoy living, share your fortune,OXOX Merple Reddin

keep your character, enjoy living, share your fortune,OXOX Merple Reddin

Yes! I was there too. Don't remember much of it. Better get the cd, asap! I do seem to remember Morning Dew! Wow!Santana was incredible too! Now the first act, don't know if it was Sons, or maybe it was 'Sound Hole"? I do remember somehow John Cippolina guested on the last two songs? I'm pretty sure it was him. Well who knows. What a night!

Both Garcia and Santana played at the same time on many songs...

This was my first dead show. We spent the day in Golden Gate park just relaxing and enjoying the effects of my girlfriend's baking prowess and stumbling around enjoying the day....then it was time to head down to Daly City..... There were so many people hanging out and the atmosphere outside was palpably Grateful Dead...then, going into the arena....like a herd of cows going through the turnstiles (I don't remember the turnstiles...I do remember the girls with the roses in their hair wistfully dancing to the tunes in their head and the lines for the women's toilet winding around and trying to press through all the people to get to a spot where there were no tall boys in front of us). Then the lights came up on Carlos, bright white scorching the stage as he, dressed all in white, with these bell bottoms and stacked shoes...that made the trucking dude's look positively anemic, placing his right foot up on the wawa peddle...and his guitar screaming through the arena as only he can play. But, throughout his set, the music was barely comprehensible because the acoustics were soooo bad in the arena. You almost wanted to go and hang out in the outer halls to listen to the piped in music from there with the roar of the noise from the arena vibrating off the metal doors in the background. Then I found that the best acoustic location in the place was toward the center of the arena 2/3s the way back from the stage....it was like a octophonic acoustic vortex there...(how many percussionists were on stage? Congas, bongos...the drum set, all kinds of stuff going on....). Carlos served his purpose that night...it was enjoyable, but with the sound situation, it was as if half the room was spent before the Dead appeared on stage..... Then, the Dead finally made the stage and everything changed. I was so dialed in to that first set and Bobby was working hard, so to my recollection, it seemed that they came out out hot...though the acoustics on Around and Around were awful from the floor. By the end of the first set, I was exhausted. (Crap, that was fun). Now, it says here that Uncle Bobo came out in an hour glass...and I sort of have some vague recollection of that, but, for some reason, what I remember was a chopped hog (technical difficulties and all) which eventually made it from the center of the arena to the stage, and more dimly,I recollect "1977" popping out in diapers and dancing on the stage ( Did that even happen??) And of course, a lot of balloons and confetti coming down everywhere as the countdown occurred. The sound effects of the chopped hog were incredibly loud...for when it started up, I practically jumped out of my skin...if that ever even happened! Anyway, if you listen to the tracks of this concert, the Dead were great that night. I do remember....(after nodding off repeatedly during the drum solos)...being stopped cold when Jerry started to play Morning Dew....it sent chills up and down my spine...as I had been listening to the E'72 version of it intensely for several weeks.... Jerry just seemed to play it with such sensitivity and feeling, it was amazingly beautiful, really unbelievable....to me.....at the time....shall we say!) So, I don't know about this chopped hog thing. I may have transposed the whole thing from some video I watched two decades later that had nothing to do with the concert that night. (Can anyone clear this up?). I did go to the next year's NYE concert in Winterland, and that was a joint, not a chopped hog....so, I didn't get that confused.... :) Anyway... By the time this concert was done, I was so wrung out that getting back home was as much of an adventure as the concert..... It was an incredibly dark night...and heading through the Altamont was like a taking a surrealistic rollercoaster on the dark side of the moon....t The highway was a nothing more than a floating ribbon of glowing white and yellow markers....you couldn't see the road surface or anything else at all; The ribbons of reflecting markers wound up to the left then curved down to the right then back up into the starry sky into oblivion...and then reappeared drifting off to the left again .....what an adventure! Winterland was such a better venue for the Dead, though....The following NYE concert was like an explosion happening once the Dead got on stage. Its great that both concerts made it to CD.

my fourth dead concert. went with my buddy kl, who went to hundreds of dead shows over the years. we got to the cow palace in late afternoon and had a good time standing in the queue close to the door. around sunset bill g. worked his way down the line thanking us for coming to the show and reminding us that there is nothing on earth like a grateful dead concert. he was accompanied by two ladies with baskets, who handed out servings of carrot cake. santana + the dead on new years eve in san francisco. what a great show.

I made the supreme sacrifice, I think we actually flipped a coin or drew straws, but I stayed home and recorded the KSAN simulcast on reel to reel. That didn't stop me from dropping L and quickly getting pretty damned confused with 2 or 3 different tape recorders running but I pulled it off. I'm marking myself as attended for posterity's sake

Second set was powerful, best "Samson and Delilah" I ever heard. "Morning Dew" was awesome with Phil digging deep for some monstrous 30-foot bass notes that hit the crowd like waves. "Uncle John's Band" and the gospel-style "We Bid You Goodnight" felt like special benedictions for those of us who had stayed all night. The glow of this wonderful performance remained with us as we walked out of the hall and into the cool air of a New Year's morning. No surprise at all that this has become one of the most popular Dick's Picks.