Grateful Dead

This ended the era for me. I was on a different trip, both musically and socially, and as I remember I had to be convinced by an old sweetheart with spare tickets to go to this run of shows.

Maggie's Farm and Rain were the highlights for me. It seems appropriate in hindsight that the last song I ever saw them perform was a song I had never seen them perform before that.

At the time it seemed like it was the end of my love affair with the band, I'd seen them over 50 times and felt like they had lost their spark and magic. I turned towards different things, different people, different expectations, and felt deep sadness two years later when Jerry passed, and also a sense of relief that I wasn't still wrapped up in the scene when it happened.

Now I'm 50 years old, I circled back to their music again many years ago, and now I'm happily building up a huge collection of GD vinyl. I appreciate this band so much, I am so happy I made the decision to drop out of high school and see as many of their concerts as I could over a 3-year period, and have nothing but good feelings about the choices I made, the people I met, and the huge number of places I got to visit while pursuing these guys across the country.

I was 14 the first time I saw them live, 15 when I quit high school to follow them around, 17 when I decided that living on the road wasn't a good life for me, and 19 years old the last time I saw them live. It seems so, so long ago, and as a man who is now a father it strikes me as such a bold, risky, dangerous proposition I embarked on. I would be horrified if my kids did the same thing.

I don't regret a thing, the Grateful Dead gave me a view of the world few ever get, the experiences on tour gave me street smarts and a personal confidence none of the people I grew up with had, and led to bigger and better things that never would have happened if I hadn't had them as a springboard to bounce off of.

All before it was legal for me to drink a beer.

Thank you, guys, for the amazing experiences I had, and which I will never, ever forget.

Wil never forget that day... Driving into the city from the suburbs with majestic skies, that deep blue Midwest sky with impossibly white and fluffy clouds brushed in almost too perfectly. Electricity in the air! But I did not know what was to come. Great parking lot scene. I hadn’t realized that was where it all happens. I expected tailgate and this was anything but. Cruised around and met a bunch of beautiful people. Grubbed something or other. And then it was time to go. I remember at some point we lost my buddy Roy. He had taken some shrooms like the rest of us, but they were slow to kick in and so he doubled down with a random dose off of a random guy. And as soon as he took it, the shrooms kicked in. We found him hours later, huge smile, and missing all of his top front teeth!! Crossed the bridge over to Soldier Field. Lightening starting to trigger. Enter the stadium. Sting comes out and plays a few jams, and then the rain picks up and the lightening is really to speak, and Sting got the hell outa there in a hurry. We were kid lawn on a metal screen that had been laid out to protect the grass. And someone came out and announced that we’d all soon be electrocuted if we stayed. So we walked back towards the shelter at the back of the lawn, and just as we reached cover, the band came out, the rain stopped, and those sweet and sentimental notes of Touch of Gray began to play. We all turned around. And danced our way back out onto the metal lawn. The next major thing I remember is the first time I ever heard China->Rider live. Honestly I was not even that familiar with those songs yet. But after that night I could never quite get it out of my head. And I’m not complaining. It was magical! Truly. Life changing. I’ll never forget it.

I remember how sting only played a few minutes it seemed like ,,, but the show in the sky above took my attention... FULLY... It was an amazing show... I miss these days, my type of cool people, and , of course the LOVE.