Grateful Dead

A teammate of mine's dad was in charge of t-shirt security in the parking lot for that weekend. I was 19, in college, and needed some work. I agreed to come work this show, knowing zero about the band or its following. I could not believe what I saw when we pulled into the parking lot at Soldier Field. Our job was to confiscate any shirts sold out there with any sort of copywright infringement. I hated it from the start. It just felt wrong. I felt like I was stealing. Immediately, I began sabotoging our efforts. I just couldn't stand to see these good folks getting their livelihoods ripped. I got free access to the shows as a result. I went in to the first show that weekend and from the start, I was drawn in. By the end of the weekend, I was all about it. I took in every show I could and every tape I could get my hands on. I miss those days.

Howdy, this was a birthday show for me. I just graduated from college this summer and off to the shows. I had taper tickets for this run and all the other shows. Taper tickets didn't really mean anything at soldier field becuase we were all the way in the back. The front of board taping was the best in stadiums, Deer Creek was decent for it's size. I remember some really wierd things about this run. The whole first set it rained hard, all the tapers put thier D3's and my new at the time sony D-7 into plastic bags, inside the backpack, umbrellas over the mics. Many tapers simply didn't record until the rain stopped about the last song of the first set. I remember pulling a extra dry shirt (bootleg at that) out my back pack and everybody around me had envy. Of course , the hardcore dancers didn't care. The second set opened with "box of rain" appropriately. However, there were some really wierd stuff that come over the PA about a baby being born, and some NBA commentary beucase the bulls were going to win the championship that night. Everybody thought the place would riot becuase of the games after the show was over. I thought the next night was more pychedelic with a long "deal" , "china cat" of which phil just pedals the tonic for a long time during the intro, and the elusive "other one" that hinted dark star theme at one point...the "other one" wasn't played that much during summer of 93. I can't remember which night it was but there was thick fog at one point during the first set becuase of the rain. Ursa Minor I wish that for just one time, You could stand inside my shoes, and for just that one moment, I could be you - Bob Dylan, Positively 4th St.

Garcia sits in on the last song of Sting's set.

Rained cats and dogs! I look over and the dye from my buddies hat is dripping all over his face. He had no clue! He was wondering why everyone was looking at him weird. When I finally told him we laughed our asses off! Danced in the rain all night. GOOD TIMES!

nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile... This was my first show and what a great time, the opener bucket was so good, and really fitting for me and my first experience with the dead. The rain was super crazy, the queen jane and the music never stopped were done very well. The second set opener box of rain was so fitting with the conditions and it sort of made the rain a non issue. I'll never forget how jerry wailed that china doll, I've never really liked that song until that night, its now one of my favorites. We stayed downtown and had the time of our lives. Thanks to the wonderful fans and the Grateful Dead for such good memories.

I had mail ordered and got 4 10th row tickets for this show. I have a picture of me and my friend Pete-o hanging on my wall, both similing ear to ear, and sitting in 10th row. Summer shows in the rain were always a special. It always felt that the electricity from the storms and the appreciation from the band that we were standing in the rain to see them made the performances and brotherhood shoot to a whole other level. I Miss Jerry.

My friends and I had just graduated from high school and we ventured to Chicago for this show. Sting's set was ok, nothing special. I had listened to a lot of Dead and their bootlegs so I kind of had an idea of what their shows were like. I was totally blown away when the Dead came on and EVERYONE in the stadium, including the security guards, was dancing! Usually at shows you see the people up front dancing but this was incredible. They showed the Bulls vs the Suns on video screens during intermission. The Bulls won the NBA championship that night so needless to say that + a Dead show made downtown Chicago a real zoo. A big fog started to tumble in over the edge of the stadium during intermission too and it started to rain. The whole experience was a blast.

I didn't realize it at the time but that set list is pretty killer. Hell in a Bucket opener.

A birthday show for me too. Walked around the lot with my driver's license taped to a piece of cardboard and scored miracle tickets for all three of my ride compadres from Avatar (Santa Cruz purveyors of fine clothing). Chicago freaks know how to have fun!

I believed it rain before the show. Down poured!!

I absolutely hated everything about seeing the Dead in Chicago. I was on tour and the cops kept shutting us down for selling our stickers (didn't seem to care about the beer we sold though. Go figure!). The copyright thing makes sense now!

It was my last show and what a show. There was a Cubs game, Sox game, Bulls/Suns championship game, and Dead Show that same night. Chicago was hoppin that day, boy, the joint was really jumpin. It did downpour during intermission/drums, they played the ball game, commercials and all on their screens, and it was just amazing. All of it. What a way for me to end my run. Hot day, got stuck in traffic, car overheated, got off highway and parked in garage, grabbed a cab to the show, had my face stole clean off my head BY the show, had to walk soaking wet all the way back to car, got on highway going south instead of north, finally got back to my sisters place at 4am, no sleep, then drove five hours the next day into Northern Wisconsin to camp with family for a week. Then drove back to NY. YEAH BITCHES

Great time, But got lost wandering around the city after the show, I remember the whole mood going crazy really late, found out bulls won, Yeah, i was out of my mind that night, but it was awesome.

The show itself was awesome. What wasn't awesome, was when they they started playing the Bulls game over the Grateful Dead while they were playing. They showed some highlights during intermission, but playing over the show, was so annoying. A guy sitting near me was going crazy, yelling at me and others that if the bulls were to win that night, the city would go crazy and we wouldn't get out of the city alive! I was like "Dude! You're at a Dead show, you need to chill". Luckily, the Bulls lost that night, so the city didn't riot. I remember hearing that Phil Jackson was very upset that they didn't win the Championship that night and therefore had to play the next night because he had tickets for the the 2nd night and now had to miss the Dead show, lol.

I have the ticket stub from this show. I am willing to upload a picture, however, I don’t know how to do that.