Grateful Dead

This was my first Dead show. Though my first album was Anthem and I acquired all other releases in sequence, I still hadn't really been bitten by the "live" music bug. Probably my 3rd or 4th concert, this night was going to stick in my mind and change my outlook on live performances forever. Thanks to my favorite band taking me for the first leg of that surreal journey that lasts to this day!

This was my first Grateful Dead show, and to this day stands out as one of the highlights of my life. I’d only recently started getting into the Grateful Dead when they played a two-night stand in Utica, NY. I don’t remember much detail about that night, we were mighty high. The word from people who attended the night before was that, “the pigs were heavy,” so we did not smoke in the arena. Instead, we dropped some very strong blotter acid before the show, so by the middle of the first set, everything was flashing, flashing, flashing. This was in a hockey rink with no seating in the center area, so there was plenty of space for dancing and swirling and jumping for sheer joy. The second set was mostly a state of ecstasy, and when the lights hit the mirror ball as the band hit “Sunshine Daydream,” … what can I possibly say? My eyes fill with tears and my heart still throbs as I think about it. The truth remains – “There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert!”

One posted in the archives shows Phil playing to Weir's right. Isn't that odd? Phil was uniformly positioned to Weir's left during this era (or so I thought), with he and Jerry not switching sides till '82.Anyone else find this interesting?

My roommate Michael and I hitchhiked to Utica from Oneonta, NY for the show...still a cold time of the year in the mountains. The concert was super, except for the cops busting people for smoking during the show...we'd done some psylliciben (?) spores and were too loaded to do anything but be one with the music. Afterwards we hitchhiked back to Oneonta, arriving at dawn.

I have some pics and the ticket from this show.

We drove from Albany, where we were SUNY students, to the Utica show, about a 90-minute drive. It was my first Dead show, and it came less than two week's after Pigpen's passing. I wish I remembered more, but my friend George got picked up and (nearly) arrested by local cops. I remember standing on the auditorium floor the entire time, and being entranced (in a trance-like state), from the music, the vibe, the weed smoke in the air, the crowd. I don't remember at all the trip back to Albany. It made me hungry for more, and I saw the Dead two more times in 1973 - 50 years ago - as a result. Each time had its own experiences, both transcendent and dark.