Grateful Dead

The show was held at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, VA. If you've never been, Williamsburg is a restored colonial town for the tourists -- everywhere you look is ye olde candle maker and the town crier. This was before the insane mid-80s outburst of MTV Deadheads, but even so, the Deadheads took over the town in our own friendly way. Walk in to ye olde ice cream parlor, and there are Deadheads helping the counter help apply extra whipped cream to sundaes, and discreetly breaking up mushrooms in to their milkshakes. To add to the adventure, it turns out that besides being income tax day (April 15) it was also parent visitation day at William & Mary. A beatiful crisp spring day as the sun went down. Suddenly someone appeared in the parking lot with a large bag of rather gigantic blotters for sale at very low prices. The rumor was always that the band was connected in some way to this. Who knows? Inside, the stage was VERY low to the floor -- maybe a foot off the ground, making for a very intimate setting. The ushers were all college students, and it was refreshing to see that no matter how wasted we were, they were more wasted. John Scher, the east-coast's answer to Bill Graham tried to get us to calm down and move back from the speaker towers, while spaced out ushers tried to whip us up in to a frenzy with their flashlights. Those who could still talk when the second set started saw Billy and Mickey come out and start swinging their arms back and forth and spinning on their stools before the show even started -- like two wrestlers getting ready to grapple. The rest of the show speaks for itself in a dozen crackling ways, especialy the Drums (featuring the ENTIRE band in those days, all playing various percussion instruments) and Morning Dew. When they played Around and Around, we really DID believe that they would "never stop rocking" -- they're going to play all night! Well, no not exactly. I DO miss the One More Saturday Night encore on many tapes in circulation. The band came out and Bobby said, "Guess what night it is?" and our busy little minds scrambled..."Uh... New Years? Halloween? Someone's birthday?" No, it's SATURDAY NIGHT. Whee! No room here to tell you how after the show with our faces painted day-glo we wound up at Camp Perry Marine Base instead of our campground. (Camp Perry also being a CIA training center). The nice guard with his nice shiney boots and nice rifle showed remarkable restraint, and pointed us toward our campground. OK? OK. Glen

My first Morning Dew. We chartered a bus and made it to Blacksburg and William + Mary. What a trip!

this was the best of times. shows were easy to get into. the heat was not yet sophisticated. deadheads were united in the adventure of getting to the shows and having a good time one and all. my first morning dew, i think. this is one of the shows i saw in the late 70's i can remember. i would have to say this show was and is my favorite, would love to have a copy.

I went to William and Mary class of '73. After road trips to DC, Porchester, Fillmore, New Haven etc I dropped out and went to the Bay Area. My old college roommate ran the college FM station and got the band there twice after I left. Well i met and married a Nevada gal moving to Reno. We're in line for this show. this guy says I hitch hiked from NYC. we responded we flew in from Reno. " I left out of Reno chased by 20 hounds" Same guy says they know your are here. great show and trip

This topped off a great week of music for me. Sunday Bonnie Rait at GW with members of Little Feat helping out on a couple songs. Little Feat at the Warner two shows a night Monday - Frinday with Bonnie Rait helping out and, of course, this show on Saturday Night. Easily the finest Morning Dew I ever experienced. Sorry this was the last show at this venue due to the timing of parents weekend....had to move up to Hampton Roads. In September of 78', Little Feat played their finest show that I ever witnessed at this venue. Both were very intense trips to Wm and Mary and spectacular shows!!! Rossboy777

We hitchhiked from Virginia Tech show the night before in the back of a pickup truck. When we got to Williamsburg the restaurant had Dead music in the system and the mood all around was great. Morning Dew!!

My first show had been at Wm&Mary in '76. Lots of very long Blues for Allah. I sort of got lost due to not knowing the songs. Coming back in '78 was a whole different scene. I was amazed at how easily songs shifted the mood and virtually carried everyone with an altered flow state. Morning Dew was the most beautiful music I'd ever heard from any "rock and roll" band, ever. Around and Around had the whole place flailing wildly and frenzied, and as joyous as I've ever felt in my life!!

William and Mary was my second show after Roosevelt Stadium. I drove down with a friend from Montclair, NJ on the day of the show. I was 17 at the time and we were a spirited bunch of Dead Heads in the making, the hippies in a large public high school. We drove down and at some point in the later afternoon we had our fill of Lysergic acid diethylamide. It w as very strong dose and this may have been my first time. It became quite a night to remember. I have no idea how, but I wound up sneaking into the back of the arena a few hours before show time. I did not have a pass and I knew my time was limited, but as luck would have it I ran into Bob and Jerry in a hallway. They could not have been nicer and after chatting a few minutes they signed my ticket stubb for me (see the fan photos of this show for a scan). I really don't remember much of the show, I was too high. I will say that Brown Eyed and Morning Dew are two of my favorite songs and I was in complete reverie over these offerings. We had always planned to drive back that night (as insane it it was and I do vividly remember driving back as we never stopped at any of the toll booths, just got right up on the car in front of us and blasted through. We though it was all without a hitch until the next morning realized the entire roof of the car was scratched with yellow paint. I was scary high on the way back, so much so that I wrote a short story about it, kind of a science fiction piece that I still have in a box somewhere. We got back to Montclair at dawn and went to my friends house. The moment that I only recently remembered was coming through the front door, it was dawn. On the side table was a vase of red roses. I sat there for what seemed likes hours watching those roses and what I saw was a living breathing, moving, undulating version of the Skeletons and Roses album cover. I am really glad I don't take drugs anymore, but in retrospect that was an incredible important night in my life. Great to finally have a chance to share it.

First show. Hitchhiked down form D.C. tripped my face off and it was all over what a night! You plant ice you gonna harvest wind

I was a GI down the road at Ft. Eustis-we used to say that it stood for Even Uncle Sam Thinks It Sucks-but in hindsight, there were a lot worse places to earn your VA bennies. Anyway, somebody dragged me to the show-I had listened to their LP's, but never seen them live-to make a long story short, it was Parents' Weekend at W&M-it took the school a long time to recover from the shock of Deadheads descending on their precious college-at the time, W&M was a very conservative institution, and while it had an excellent academic reputation, tended to be seen as a "finishing school" for affluent young Southerners-well, when Mummy and Daddy drove down from Richmond to see how their pride and joy was adjusting to college life, I think they had some unsettling thoughts about where their tuition checks were going....