Grateful Dead

For me somehow form and formlessness became SEAMLESS at Hampton Roads 1984. During Playing in the Band. Tho altogether 84 was not a great year. The Other One at KC 85 was just a raw power moment. Being right in the orchestra pit didn't hurt the cause.

My first show was 10-1-76 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Several shows during this wonderful timeframe have been released, but I believe 10-1-76 merits its own release. Another show worthy of Dave's Picks consideration is the last night of a 3-night run at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago shortly before In the Dark was released (sorry I can't give you the date-I'm at work). They played a good part of the album that night, plus a Bo Diddly beat permeated the show, earning it the nickname "The Bo Diddly Show". It was awesome!

1st show was Jerry, on the evening news, talking about how the planets were going to align. I think I was seven or eight. Something about that name Grateful Dead caught my attention, not the news, as playing outside was more important at the time. I though Jerry was kind of a cosmic person. It's been unfolding like a road map melting into a dream with a waterfall over my back ever since that broadcast of that small T.V. on the back of the Mars Hotel Album.

The first musical show was in 91. I noticed an opening at one of the gates at the Coliseum as the gaurd had to attend to some person tripping out. So, like a lead goose I grabbed a bunch of people to my right and left and in a V formation lead us up the stairs to an opening into the venue. I expected to see a bunch of people in the stands. Instead there were deadheads with mile long streamers running on the track. While the field was filled with dancing and daisy chains of people passing glass and all sorts of things around to see into the future. This was cooler than the 84 Olympics.
We were the only people in the stands! Last Row. To the point where I thought the boys were pointing to us at the back row.... nah it couldn't be, as it was just "One More Saturday Night" for everybody. Well Thank God for the for the 15 or twenty minutes of an unexpected venture into the cosmos. It was a fun night.

That roller rink is a liquor store on rt 347 now. My first show was 9-18-87. So good I went back 137 times

I wrote a chapter on it for my book. Hope you can check it out
https://www.amazon.com/Drunk-Sunday-Ross-Warner-ebook/dp/B08BLTFWVZ

I had 4 older brothers and a sister who were all heads, never was I going to be a head, I was 20 feet from Jerry & Melvin for the whole show, blew my mind, the vegetables did not hurt. Soon come my first Dead show and the rest as they say was History. She takes the dark out of the night time and you know she paints the daytime black.........

My first show was at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, just outside NYC. It was my sophomore year at The University of New Hampshire and my buddy Peter and I drove down in a lil' Volkswagen Fox for an overnight stay and an incredible concert outdoors. It was quite an experience and I wish I could go back to do a few things different. I would have bought a few more t-shirts in the parking lot and experienced the scene a little more. The show seemed to last forever in a good way - we were on the 20-yard line and the stage was in the end zone. Not bad.

Hampton 89 Dark Star return!!!!!! I was transported to another time and place... I still think about it frequently..

It was December of 1990, and my buddy called me and said - "Hey Flip, you want to catch the Dead at the Oakland Colosseum for New Year's Eve?" I said - "Tim, you're nuts. Nobody gets tickets to that show at this late date without paying scalpers." He said - "Are you sitting down?"

Well, we flew out to California and checked in at the 85 year old Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. We were given two fat envelopes that contained full laminate passes for the 12/30 and 12/31 shows and a notice that the band had paid our hotel bill in advance. How do this "deal go down?"

Tim and were both in the ski industry, and we were there to sign a contract to use the official Grateful Dead graphics on K2 skis and snowboards. We got to the venue mid-afternoon, wandered around the stage looking at the gear, and met with Kidd, Phil's tech and the person in charge of merch. We signed the deal, ate dinner with the crew, and then walked out to hear the show. Babatunde Olatungi and Bela Fleck were the opening acts.

I like the 12/30 show better than the 12/31, but it was such a treat to be able to feel like we were part of the inner circle for two days. The skis and snowboards were produced, and are now collector's items. This was one of the high points in my twenty-three years of Dead concerts - from Cleveland in October of 1972 (right after the Europe tour, and damn they were hot) to the my final sad show at Highgate in 1995 where I said to a friend as we walked back to our car: "One of these days Jerry's body is going to give out on him."

I play in a GD cover band, keeping the legacy going, and while there were many shows that I remember well, those two nights in Oakland will always be special.

I'm almost totally with you on this because I view 11-1 and 11-2 as all part of one long strange trip. if I had to pick one night, I was a little more blown away by 11-2 with all the Phil bombs during the monumental Morning Dew etc etc ...But I include 11-1 as all part of one long mind-blowing Richmond Dead fest that culminated in 11-2 and that blew my mind more than any other show (except maybe my first one at Hampton).

The year was 1987. I had been on the bus for 8 years at this point (MSG 1/7/79)
It was Halloween and Jerry was playing on Broadway in my hometown of NYC. All of us had tickets to the evening show, but my friend and I didn't have any for the matinee. We decided that since this was a show that couldn't be missed we walked up and down 42nd street in search of tickets. My limit was $50.00; an exorbitant amount of money for a ticket at that time.
Up and down that street we walked looking for a pair.
Hundreds of Heads were also looking and it seemed that we were going to get shut out. We justified our sadness by telling ourselves that at least we were going to the late show that evening.
At this point my ticket holding friends get on line to go in as the doors have just opened up.
We were moments away from giving up when all of a sudden a woman grabs me under my arm and quietly asks me, "Do you need tickets to the show?"
I emphatically reply, "Yes!"
She asks me, "How many?"
"How many? How many?" I asked in disbelief. "One for my friend and one for me."
She says, "Come with me."
At this point my New York skepticism meter is deep in the red!
But this soft spoken woman leads my friend and me to the side stage door, walks us through the theater, to the box office and instructs the person behind the window to give me two tickets.
She hands them to me and just tells me to have a great show.
After a hug and probably more thank you's than I can remember, she walks away into the incoming crowd of Dead Heads.
At this point my friends who had tickets are just coming in through the door and I call out to them.
They're freaking out that we got in and asked how. I let them know it's a long story and I'll tell them later, but first we need to get to our seats as the show is close to starting.
I show my tix to an usher and ask him where my seats are. He points downward toward the stage. At the next checkpoint the usher there does the same! Finally we're seated in the 3rd row right in the center!
Seated behind me is this woman AND Bill Graham! I get Bill to sign my Playbill, and I ask the woman one question, "There were so many people looking for tickets out there, why did you pick me?"
She smiled and replied, "You just looked like you needed to see this show."
I tell this story often because I was fully expecting to pay for my ticket, but I was miracled that day. And as a result, I've done the same for many people throughout the years. I know the feeling and it's a good one!