Grateful Dead

on july 4 th 89..my old and best friends opened for the dead,, the 10,000 manaics..i was on crew that day ,,,i had just drove with my girlfriend back from foxboro to get back to jamestown ny in time to jump on the bus with the band to get to buffalo bills stadium..was one of those days...i was sent to the lot to grab some doses and ganj for the maniacs, and while out there i started talking to some nice west coast hippies, and a guy with them grabbed my laminate, and looked at me and didnt introduce himself....turns out it was ram rod..so im backstage looking thru a cooler for a beer,,and dennis from the maniacs says you wanna meet jerry..FUCK YEAH !!SO OFF WE GO ..AND THERE HE IS WITH RAMROD ..!!! The guy in t he lot was ramrod!! Jerry was smoking away.. a cig...classic!!! ramrod leans over to jerry and whispers something and jerry just smiles..and i am introduced...jerry says so you are one of those card carrying maniacs,, yes jerry!!and i just smile..He WAS JUST AS I THOUGHT HE WOULD BE DOWN TO EARTH VERY COOL and super nice and polite...i looked him straight in the eye and shook his hand..blown the fuck away....i realized then ..i was just comming on to a altered state or as wavy gravy would say ..under unusual circumstances lol that the universe was thanking me with that experiance for being a good human being...As i said jerry was all i thought he would be....beyond the muscian, i saw not just as a musical shaman, but as a simple very cool fun loving and sweet man...i try to be just the same..just like jerry sweet and fun loving!!Who would have imagined that a simple guy like me would ever meet him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i also was blown away at my second show wich was winterland 78....they had just returned from the pyrimids,, showing a slide show of egypt as they played,,, they did a double encore ,,shakedown and johnny b good...that was the only show i ever felt like i couldnt take another a song ...i was energised yet exhausted after that show,,the band and crowd had given their all as i left winterland i got a burrito from a hippie and it was the best burrito i ever had,,that was also the smallest venue i ever saw the band in....everything they say about winterland is true ,,that place was magic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! may peace prevail on earth remembering jerry a tear comes to my eye thankyou jerry thankyou God AND THANKYOU THE REST OF THE BAND FOR A REAL GOOD TIME!!!

The all left a big impression! But a day I will never forget was at Spartan Stadium 4/22/1979. We had seen the last of Keith and Donna at the benefit concert a couple months earlier so we all were real excited to see the big unveiling of the new guy. I met uncle BoBo outside in the parking area before going in and had a nice chat with him-always admired his work and what he did for San Fran musicians. I had made a huge banner of the 'Egypt' logo and went high up on the bleachers to the fence at the top and hung it up(later stolen at the show) to welcome the day on the green. I then took my place near the front about 20' from the stage dead center. I then proceeded to 'help out' about 300 heads sitting nearby with some green dragon.Charlie Daniels and his band started us off to a rockin start. Then the boys came out and lit a fire with Brent weaving his tapestry. We were all aglow! It was so cool to have a great show-Looks Like Rain,with rain! Then a rockin ,Miracle>Bertha bringing out the sunshine again. Really sweet scarlet- fire as well that day. Surrounded by some great friends and tons of folk all in the same space smiling so hard like your face was going to break and dancin' on the grass so nice. It was a day........... Never had such a good time...........

JGB Jerry Garcia Band Cannot remember the date (sometime around Thanksgiving 1990) Just moved to California, staying with relatives in the East Bay. Took BART to San Francisco, Dropped A along the way and headed to the Warfield. Having come from the East Coast, I thought I was in Heaven that I was going to see Jerry in such a tiny venue. Anyway, long story short, Way Hot Show. If you have seen any show in the Warfield, you know how special a place it is. Having seen Jerry there dozens of time afterwards, I truly know and appreciate just how lucky and fortunate I really am. Love to hear your thoughts..... Eternityblue p.s. Saw the Allman Brothers there too.(w/Dickey Betts) Not a life changing show, but one of the best.(they cranked up Jimi Hendricks ~ Blues) in its entirety before the show. If you have not heard the CD ~ get it and listen to the whole thing very loud.............

At the time, I thought that the sandwich show from the Boston Music Hall 11/30/73 - 12/2/73 run to be the most engaging. (in retrospect, most people disagree) The particular life changing moment which I distinctly remember taking my breath away, was the segue into Uncle John's Band. I had no idea. After that, I was hooked for life.

Every show I saw changed me in some degree. Some shows I remember more than others, but it really wasn't until 1995 when the shit started to happen--gate crashers, etc--that I realized the magic was going away.Even though I have seen Bobby and Phil, it wasn't until the boys got back together as The Dead--summer of '03--that I realized the importance of this community and what it meant to me. I only hope that the boys do it one more time--I've got some teenagers that need to see.

I was only 12 or 13 when Jerry died so I never got to go to a show, but out of the couple hundred shows I have on bootleg, Swing Auditorium '77 is by far the most amazing show I have ever discovered. It was the first show that Terrapin, and Estimated were played at, and it was a great show all the way through the entire thing.

Wow, I hardly know where to start.... Yes, the Grateful Dead experience undoubtedly changed the course of my life. And yes, I have pondered the "what if I'd never gotten on the bus" question. In some probable reality I suppose there is a me who never attended a Grateful Dead show. All I can is I'm glad I'm not him. I can't imagine what that life would be like. There is not enough time or space in this virtual medium for me to go into how far I've traveled and all I have realized (physically, mentally, spiritually) from the time I saw my first show in Dallas, October 21st, 1988 -- Brent's Birthday. We picked up some Golden Zodiac in the parking garage outside Reunion Arena, but I saved mine for after the show! I wound up sitting next to an "old" hippie couple (I was just 18 at the time) who shared some GD lore with me & kicked down a button that said "Peace. Back by popular demand." that I still have to this day. I knew I wanted more of that good old Grateful Dead Experience immediately after that show!! I tuned in to the local LSD show (Lone Star Dead), subscribed to various GD mags, eventually found a few tapes here & there, and did everything I could to absorb the last twenty plus years of GD history & culture.... After a year & half or so of watching & waiting for them to come back to Texas, I finally realized that I had the whole Mohammed & the mountain trip going. So be it. It was time for me to go to them. I had always wanted to visit Colorado, so I set my sights on the December 1990 run & managed to score a mail order ticket for the first & third show of the run. 12-12-90 was it for me. I remember standing in the arena simply awestruck afterwards thinking "I have got to find a ticket for tomorrow night right NOW". At the exact same instant I finished the thought, I heard a young lady behind me saying she was going to have to sell her ticket to tomorrow night's show... sound familiar? The next night I was literally on the bus filled with Deadheads from my motel in Aurora to the 2nd night's show. As I soaked up the conversations regarding the previous night's 'unfinished' Dark Star, I head someone say "Maybe they'll finish it tonight..." "No way!" another 'Head empahtically stated. "Well, maybe they'll finish it tomorrow night..."

the whole three days were incredible. i think back to that experience and feel the warm glow of the whole vibe. the scene in philly was very mellow that week and even though i had been going to shows for a few years there i just felt changed after the whole experience and kind of felt like i had discovered myself in those few days surrounded by bliss and kynd family. my world changed that week and i am forever grateful!!!!!!!

I guess there's a few defining moments that created major memories. Red Rocks! Enough said! An amazing heat lightning storm on City Island near Harrisburg, PA and the boyz breaking into a tremendous Fire on Mt. Penn State '80 with friends and my ex-husband and a China-Rider just for me. Catching them at the Omni during a 14 hour layover in Atlanta- too much fun having just seen them up in Philly and soon to see them at Giants. The journey is the best place to start- the anticipation of going to the show, getting the tix via standing in line for day(s) with other DHs, making friends in line, swapping tapes, addresses, food, smoke, good karma, etc... The journey of the tours- getting set to map out the routes to the shows, from there to the next, where's the next KOA campground? knowing all the names of the rest stops along the way! The people! Selling my wares... too much fun. My 1st show (Philly Spectrum) when I was in 7th grade! Lucky to remember some of it! Ami

My 2nd show was April 28, 1971 and surely was a life changing experience. I have never come down from that show, and consider it the best show to this day, of the hundreds I've seen. On a side note, the dead played Box of Rain that night, but because it was not recorded, there is no record of this in any source I've read. It was played. I not only remember the song, but remember the Joshua Light Show in the back round with a Box of Rain floating through the streets and fields. Another song not recorded that was played that night was Candyman. From the moment the first set opened with Truckin, the buzz in the air felt like it would be a special night, and it was on every level. To this day I can see the dead returning to the stage for the second set, and Jerry strumming the first chord to Morning Dew; a moment that will continue to infinity. Later in the set, TC came on as a guest and played the finale of Dark Star, St. Stephen, Not Fade Away, Going Down the Road, with Sugar Magnolia as an encore. Based on song list, this night was to die for, but we all know set lists don't make a show. The dead played their hearts out that night, and the angels were on all their shoulders for every note and chord. Hendrix was my hero up to his death. The Dead, this night, brought magic back in my life in a way I had never experienced it before, and that magic has lasted my entire life time. Peace -EW

As a VN draft dodger from San Francisco, seeing the Dead in Toronto in 1969, my first year there, was an unbelievable comfort. Unlike the shows I had seen at The Carousel and The Fillmore, this was so poorly attended that is was like a private show. I could sit right up front and watch Jerry and Phil's fingers flowing together like never before or since. It was magic, right to "And We Bid You Goodnight."

8/18/89, I was saved by Jerry during Terrapin Station. I saw everything anew. I imagined during the Terrapin that if I peed where I was dancing, everything negative in my soul would be released. It was the most liberating moment of my life. I found another friend Jane, the beautiful red-head deadhead from Colorado who also "lost her mind" during the Terrapin that night and ran into the streets of Berkeley screaming at the top of her lungs. Later, when I came to, with my back against the black marble sign of the Greek Theater attempting to "ground" myself, I realized that my pants and poncho were wet and cold. Then my friend from Jersey helped me back to his school bus to "mellow-out". Guess what the name of the bus was, Terrapin Transportation. I was saved by Jerry and the Terrapin, hence the name, Terrapin Tommy !!

tory it wasnt the cowboy suits,it was when they lit up. one other. When they played with the Beach Boys at Day on the Green. I could go on...beauty is surfer girl

31 years ago today was my 19th birthday and we had tickets to the Springifeld show. I had been listening to the Dead for several years and had seen a couple '76 shows which I thoroughly enjoyed but this show was truely life changing. It was a general admission show so we checked into a hotel at noon and decided to go stand in line at 2:00 to get close to the stage. Torential downpour all afternoon. The people in line were drenched. I was standing there questioning my sanity thinking I was becominig a total loser wasting my life away. They finally opened the doors around 6:30 and we were able to sit on the floor about 10 feet from the stage. Everyone down front was soaked. The lights went out and the band came on, everyone stood and after a minute or two of tuning, they broke into Sugaree. Jerry was laughing, smiling and dancing around. Everyone around me forgot they were drenched and just starting dancing, smiling and singing with Jerry. Then Jerry looked right at me and broke into this huge grin and sang: "You know in spite of all you gained you still had to stand out in the poouuurrrring rain". I lost it. I never questioned my sanity again and I've been on tour ever since.

hey now, deadheads everywhere:)my life-changing show HAD to be july 16,1972; Dillion Stadium, Hartford, ct. I didn't have to travel far. I was born in hartford. i remember it was incredibly hot and humid, at least 95 degrees, with a dewpoint around 70 degrees.around the middle of the last set that day, i started seeing people with Allman Bros t-shirts. rumors started to spread that,some members of the allmans would jam with the the Dead, for an extra encore. as it turned out, dickey betts and jerry, among others jamed...this is what i wrote on the back of my ticket stub for that show..."no b.s-allman bros jammed with the dead.'" i believe they did "johnny b. goode", and "goin' down the road feelin' bad." also, as it turned out, members of the dead and the allman bros started talking about playing together, somewhere. that somewhere turne out to be Watkins Glen, N.Y.-july 28, 1973..we all rember that as the "summer jam. I was there, along with over 600,000 others" "truckin-up to Watkins Glen;"-y'all know the rest of the story peace:)

Willie Nelson"s Fourth of July Picnic 2003. Sat in traffic from Austin for a few hours longer than expected. I was prepared for everything. Food, gas, beer, sleeping bag, etc. Met my best buds and in we go. Much celebration!! Walking down the hill, beers in hand, I notice a rainbow in the sky as the band plays "leavin Texas, fourth day of July." An indescribable feeling grabbed at my soul, and never let go. Like lightning hitting me. I felt like all the problems in the universe just VANISHED!! Many noodle dances later it was time for my friends to leave and me to return to my Jeep to eat, sleep, hangout,etc. Wait...I've lost my keys! Can't find 'em, don't have 'em, lost 'em. Now what? There they are, on the ground, RIGHT NEXT, to my jeep. I turned around to all the people and just said "THANKS!!" I opened up the jeep and shared. Couldn't sleep there though, Had to drive a few miles to a rest stop, where i saw a VW van with a tie-dyed sheet over the back window. Something told me, this was the place. Woke up the next morning and headed back to the festival for day two with my friends and Niel Young. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!! While Jerry was only there in spirit, the joy I got seeing " the DEAD" will live with me forever. "Without love in the dream it'll never come true"

there are two: 7/18/82 and 7/13/84.

frisko-mobb shop tattoo aurora,co 16868 E. Iliff 3033695446 snack sunday kezar stadium someone passed me a carton of o.j. and jerry n friends came out ripping thru blues 4 allah album allinstramental iwas 13 yrs old at the time and blown away. definetly been stuck ever since now i am 46 and listen every day all dead all day if inhad it my way. just found a picture of me in 76 wearing a blues 4 allah shirt i got at mervins with my moms

Now by the age of 15, I was already a seasoned concert goer. I was fortunant enough to have grown up in the suburbs of Chicago. Was also lucky to be the youngest in my family,my brother and sister being 5 and 11 years older then I. Lucky enough to have experience my adolecense during the 1970's when music in all respects and forms was readily available for me to be discovered and influenced by. I've been to probably around 500 or so concerts in my life.This musical journey began in 1968, when when I was 6yrs old. My sister and her best friend brought me along to see my first concert at Chicago's version of the Fillmore, a venue called The Electric Theater, where I was treated to my first of many to come awe inspiring musical milestones which began with sets by, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Grass Roots, and The Kinks. My Mom also made sure us kids got to see the Chicago Symphony once or twice a year along with the likes of Count Basey, Duke Elington, ArtieShaw, and Sarah Vauhn. My best friend's Dad was a radio announcer for WGN Radio, and from the summer of '74 on through the next 5 summer's, was treated to just about every band that came through Chicago. By May of 1977, having been spoiled and probably even a little jaded by my rapidly growing milestone notches in my concert going experiences (Led Zepplin having been just a month before). Was utterly and completely caught off guard by the the one band that up until that point had somehow eluded my friend Kyle Leonard and I. The Venue was a familiar one but oddly intreging because of its shall we say stature of being the home of the Chicago Symphony. The Chicago Auditorium Theater is a beautiful and elegant room where I had been accostomed to wearing my sunday best and hearing Chikolfsky, Moetsart and Betoven. The Chicago Auditorium has perfect accoustics with five balconies, red velvet seats rising perfectly from a low stage and not a bad seat in the house. However had never been priveledged enough till then to find myself seated in the 7th row on the main left 6 seats in from the main isle. Before the band came on stage, Was approched by a woman with long brown hair wearing a leopardskin leotard holding a silver tray with fresh strawberries and very discriminately passing them out randomly to those who's eye she caught, and both Kyle and I were transfixed by her deeply penetrating gaze as she approached and stood before us and offered us each the best strawberry I had ever had before or since. This was going to be a very special evening I thought, and the excitement and anticipation I felt inside was like nothing I had encountered before, and really had no clue as to why. but it was that feeling of "Toto. we're not in Kansas anymore" I had never had the chance to experience LSD yet. And knew when the Leopard Lady chose me, that I was finally going to know. When the house lights dimmed for the last time(They always quickly dimmed the lights three times at the Chicago Auditorium to let everyone know to take their seats), and the stage lite up and the Grateful Dead walked out on stage, the whole room thundered with the anticipation of what was to come. And Kyle and I had absolutely no idea this band was in the middle of what was already being come to be known by deadheads as the Grateful Dead's finest tour and run of magical shows in their already lengthy and mythical history. Kyle and I really knew nothing about this band(I maybe heard Truckin' or Sugar Magnolia on the radio once or twice). And suddenly there we were, in one of the finest acoustic and beautiful auditoriums in the world, 7th row, beggining to feel the delightfully exciting impessions of my first psycodelic experience and realizing as the band began warming up all playing their instruments not in song but as an orchestra might before the conductors raise of the baton reaching that final creshendo, that sudden moment of silence and with Phil's slide down the neck of his base the band seagued into The Music Never Stopped, Ramble on Rose followed by Cassidy, Brown Eyed Women, New Minglewood Blues, Friend of the Devil, El Paso, Jack-A-Roe(the 1st performance of), Looks Like Rain, and ending the set with Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain(Still the best Scarlet>Fire I ever heard them play). And I (and Kyle both) were astonished and truely transformed by the end of that first set. I think it happened to me during the jam in Cassidy when bobby's break of "flight of the seabirds" to bring the song to its beautiful end. I was thought provoked all through Brown Eyed Women(the LSD was really growing inside my head) but was engaged by Jerry's sensitivity and his way of being able to convey imagery with his lyric was like that of no other I had ever seen or heard before. I could rattle off a list of legendary bands and concerts I had been to up to this point. And had experienced some really incredible performances by the Eagles , Pink Floyd, Peter Frampton, Traffic and even Bob Dylan. But, That was the moment I truely realized something more then just a concert was happening before me. It was the first time in my life I realized that I wasn't just listening and watching a musician play a song. But instead, had personally been transported and consciously brought into experience the song by the musician. And I felt deeply and personally moved and priviledged for being taken there. It happened again, only this time with Bobby's invitation into Looks Like Rain, where I found both the music's depth and lyric's vulerability and the dynamics of the interaction between all the musicians had me holding back tears as if I were the one who sang those love songs written in the letters of your name... I learned how to truely dance with joy for the first time in my life during the sets closing Scarlet>Fire. In which I for the first time became aquainted with everyone else in the room, that I wasn't just me with my ticket, my seat, my experience, my coat, my ride home. I was home... That was when I became a DeadHead. Was during that 22 minutes, that I was embraced not just by the band by the audience that wasn't just an audience, that this was tribe, not just friends, but acceptence not unlike family( like I had finally been introduced to all tha cousins I'd never met yet), A happy and loving family reunion without drama, and narrow pigheaded indifferences or petty unforgivings. True unconditional acceptance to just be embaced back. That is the story of the second set. In which Where the Grateful Dead had graced and had given the collective of the university's gym at Cornell University just five days prior. Those of us in the Chicago Auditorium Theater that night were given and graced( in my opinion and in retrospect) with what I feel to be maybe the band's most beautiul and quite possibly most moving and awe inspiring journey into that rhelm of what lies beyond us and just out of reach in our conscious lives. It started out fun and tight and just that feeling of cathartic release of collective yahoo. Beginnig with Sampson and Delilah, Bertha and then deliberately, but gentley being brought into the rhelm of having to focus attentively and retrospectively by the band to deliver Chicago's first reading of Estimated Prophet which we all listened to finding that it demanded a sort of feeling of reverance, like we were in church. Bobby Weir the firey minister with a sermon both filled with fear of the unknown and reassurance of it's being alright "Don't worry about it" this led to Billy and Micky transporting us all and delivering us into the place where none of us (including the band) had ever been or experienced before. This became one of those very rare indeed moments(one of only maybe three I experienced in over the 274 shows I attended over the next 17yrs). The accoustics of the venue became itself an instrument of the band's to play with. But, everyone knew that this was a moment where the music was actually playing the band. It was like a portal opened up and for the next 17minutes, Jerry, Bobby, Keith, and Phil and everyone for five balconies above us were given a glimpse of Mana. Jerry, Phil and Bobby, on stage, Then suddenly just Jerry left alone with Bobby and Phil at the side of the stage watching and intently gazing at Jerry as he played an enthrallingly beautiful and "other worldly" solo for the next five minutes by himself on stage. The rest of us standing there in disbelief, silent open mouthed some with their hands covering their mouths and shaking their heads in complete and total amazement as Jerry almost seemed like he was literally physically phase in and out of physical reality caught somewhere between here and there...Then demanding Boby's presence then Keith's , Phil and then Micky and Billy. Seaging into the Other One with the thunder of a Saturn Rocket breaking gravity, but for only one verse. This complicated array of time signatures and dinamically tonal textures broke down into its simple and construct components and opened the door and inviting us into the living room of Stella Blue.Possibly to this day the most moving compelling and vulnerably heart breaking reading of it I've ever seen played. There wasn't a dry eye in the house and with mouths once again covered eyes wide open, and even with tears in Jerry's eyes and on his cheeks we mourned for Stella Blue, as if he was able to seen a glimpse of the future and somehow knew this was where he would last ever see her again some 18 years later.. you could hear a pin drop. This WAS now indeed Church. Just then Phil had the ability to pull us all back into ourselves and we were Goin' Down the Road. And Bobby happily reminded us that this was indeed Saturday Night(Not sunday morning). U.S. Blues made for a feeling of the evening having just been nothing at all except for maybe a little ironic. All I know is that you only need ask anybody that attended this show on May 13th 1977, was transformed... Even seasoned Deadheads were reborn that evening and none of us walked out as we had come in... If you have the opportunity to listen to this show you will experience something special indeed happened. Moment for moment, this show to me was "THE" show of that wonderful spring '77 tour It changed my life forever leading me down roads I never would have traveled and known to be the experiences of my life. THANKS GUYS! THANK YOU KYLE LEONARD, I miss you!

I had a great experience at the Gorge in 2004. It was right around the 4th of July and I decided to catch the last show on the west coast. I had seen them two days prior at the local show and I decided I couldn't miss the last one. The Dead came out and played Shakedown St in such a way it put a whole new meaning to the song for me. While this wasn't my first Dead show it was meaningful mostly because before the show we got some caps prior to the show starting. I traveled to the show solo so I met people once I showed up. Once the show started they had came out fashionably (in true dead fashion) late and Robert Hunter came out and apologized. To hear that first song was like heaven to my ears I didn't even have to get through that first song (Shakedown) to know that made the whole trip worth it. I was with another guy that helped me get a ticket because I didn't have one when I arrived. We were just above the the bottom level on the far left at the Gorge where they have those high sides above the stage. We were movin and groovin for some time and the other guy mentioned that he was really cold so I let him know to just keep moving and you'll be ok. The next thing I knew the guy was on the ground shaking uncontrollably so I thought 'man hes having a bad trip'. I asked him if he was ok and he said he was. I looked for the medic tent but to no avail. I didn't want to have a bad trip as I was just getting started and this guy was there with other people. I never did catch up with him or the people he was with after that. I went back the next day where the car that he came in was at the day before and it was gone so I never did find out if the person was ok or not. It was truly life changing though Im sure I'll never forget that experience. I felt bad about how horribly wrong it went for someone else and in hindsight I should've done more. I guess those caps were alot more potent than we thought.

This show was a week after I graduated high school and I went up to Saratoga with a bunch of friends. It was an amazing experience which solidified me as a life long dead head. See the show posts for a taste of what this one was all about. Every show was magic in its own way. Going to shows and hanging with my fellow heads in high school, college and grad school gave us all a special bond which could never be understood by non-heads. It was a sense of peace, love and fun that can never be recaptured. Even today when I reunite with a head friend from the old days - or meet somebody who unexpectedly turns out to be a heas - the bond is still. But at the end of the day, it is the music that lives on in my mind and heart. The tunes are the soundtrack of my life - each note bringing back a memory of a place or person that I knew when life was more simple. The lyrics still give me strength when I hear them for the thousandth time, such as "Sometime you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right." You may be feeling low, then you hear Jerry say, "If you get confused, Just listen to the music play" - and life is a little bit sweeter.

It wasn't my first show... but it was the most life changing show for me... Second set: Help> Slipknot> Franklin's, Estimated> Dark Star> Drumz> Stella Blue> Lovelight E: Baby Blue Sometime during "Help> Slipknot>" The beginning of the Second set felt like the stadium was going to take off.,.. It felt like a giant flying saucer... I had this notion that I needed to get the the lawn.. so that was my mission... I did finally make it... my buddy and I jumped on to the law.. the lady security guard gave me the 'come here' gesture... (my friend melted into the crowd, like i should have) I went.. and she walked me to the rear exit behind the stage. After getting back into the parking lot.. I wandered around a bit.. walked under the bridge overpass and was watching the bridge breathe.... just then three motorcycles from each direction flew past me... it was such an amazing feeling... A guy walked past me and said "hey look that way," as he pointed towards the bridge's arched legs going across the Anacostia river. It was a long reflective tunnel.. shimmering.. breathing as the traffic passed on the bridge above. During Franklin's Tower.. Well, I just had to go that way.. so off I trod... into the water. I must preface this by saying...I cant swim... and that people have been pissing in this river ALL day. As I get a bout waist deep.. i find that my shoes were hindering me... off they go.... hey whats this in my pocket.. oh my wallet... its hindering me.. who needs that?.. and the glasses... who needs them? By this point.. I'm in over my head.. treading water... I start to get tired.. had to rest... I had just seen Backdraft.. and remember the scene when Cage was floating in the bottom of the shaft... he just floated with his mouth out of the water.... that's what i did.. after i regained my endurance .. I looked around my immediate area... and found a discarded tire of some sort... a life ring! That tire saved my life that night. During Estimated Prophet.. So I continue to float in the Anacostia River outside the concert.. a large log comes floating by... being in my condition.. i think its an alligator... so i hop on and take it for a ride! We kept floating... out from under the overpass... and i can hear the concert.. this Estimated was SMOKING! Bobby was on fire that night. Don't worry ... nah nah... nah nah.... NA!! NA NA!!! I made a very important decision that night, at that moment... I decided to marry my girlfriend who was carrying my child. We have been married 18 years now and have 3 children together. There's a lot more before AND after that segment of rambling text... peace! dave

Most life changing had to be my first - The Spectrum, Philly - Easter Weekend 1984 - I will never forget walking in and hearing Jerry's voice, which was really gruff, and he said "hi ya, hi ya, hi kids, can you hear me?" and they opened with The Beatles "Glass Onion." I was hooked forever... So many memorable shows since then - Dead at Soldier Field, Rich Stadium, Foxboro Stadium, MSG, Boston Garden, Oxford Speedway up in Maine on July 4th.... But my fav had to be the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield in SF in Aug 1990. I was out on biz staying in the penthouse at the Griffon Hotel. met up with my bud from HS who lives in Marin and college roomate. didnt know abt the show until we read it in the paper, and walked right up to the box office the day of the show and bought tix. one bud had orthoscopic knee surgery on both knees and when we got in the usher asked us if we wanted handcap seats, so we ended up sitting at a table right on the isle in the first row above the floor directly in line with jerry. we ate burgers and induldged and what an amazing show!! After the show we all went up to my friends house in the Presideo and stayed up late making such a long mix tape that we ended up taping over some of it.... haha... The overall experience was just the greatest time... Peace out y'all... DRL

I can't think of a show that wasn't life changing. I have spent my life seeking all thats still unsung. Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see. When there was no strings to play, you played to me.

Englishtown NJ 9-77 w Dead, Marshal Tucker, NRPS.My folks took me to freshman orientation at Rutgers, droped my stuff off at the dorm, and then droped me off on route 1 so I can hitch to Englishtown. I was still 17 and thought my folks were strict. Different times. Made it there, great show all way around (A Dick Pick's Picks). Hitched back having no idea where I was and forgot where my room was. But everyone along the way was so cool. Even the NJ State Troopers that day. WOW My kids would have tough time if they didnt have enough bottled water and a ride to and from the show.

The first night of this three night run may not have been the best show that I ever attended but for some reason halfway through the first set, I was overcome by a profound sense of enlightened bliss and an elevated group consiousness. I began to hug everyone I came across. I gave away my Jerry side rail seat stub to someone looking for a seat. Spent the better part of the second set carrying water to dancing sweaty heads (until the concessionaires quit giving me cups). I even struck up conversations with a couple of cops and security folks. I felt so lucky to have been born at a time that I could be a part of this community. I remember carrying that bliss through my daily life for several months thereafter.

I think it was 81 - Morning Dew, Dark Star... I died there.

My DUI accident pretty much changed me. By the fate of God, I I survived. Needles to say, I dont drink anymore.As for my first show, it was 1991-06-09, I was new to the scene and had only heard Truckin before. I was so impressed with the parking lot and thought to myself, "Is this for real?, could there really be this many people together in one spot getting along in perfect harmony?" I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE!!! Been collecting shows since!!! LONG LIVE THE DEAD!!!!!!! Phatmoye

My origional life-changing show was my first; August '67. I beleive, the Yale Bowl, New Haven. The halcyion days of the dead, more or less the origional line up. I saw the Dead do "Dark Star" "St Stephen". a lot of material from their "Live Dead' release. But with the news, this moring of the pre-sale of "Terrapin Station-Hartford '77; it brings back a flood of memories. For starters, I was born in Hartford., in May 1977 I was plannng to take the Greyhound bus to San Francisco(I've been on three cross-country bus trips. It's seems Simon and Garfunkle's "America" was written, just for me.) Anyway, I heard the Dead were going to be in town, at the Civic Center.I delayed my trip. I lived about a short 2 mile ride from the venue; I still do Because I was planning to go to San Francisco, I was hoping that the Dead would play "Estimated Prophet' a tribute to California. I was floored, when They did play it!. I left several days later. 1977 was the last time I've been to my favorite city in the whole world, San Francisco. As I remember, we picked up quite a few Deadheads, headed, both east and west, who have either seen the Dead, or were on their way to see them. . Today, I ordered,"Terrapin Station; Hartford '77'" June 16th, I'm flying to San Francisco, , for an extended vacation in the bay area. I'me going to be visiting my lifelong friend, and attend The Kate Wolf Memorial Folk Festival,. It should be fun . I had to get this cd. Among other things, while im in the Bay Area, I plan on going to the polo fields in Golden Gate Park, where, as you know, after our beloved Jerry passed, ther surviving members of the Dead led in a cerimony, honoring Jerry's legacy. I plan on doing, in my own way,the same. albiet 14 years later. We all miss you Jerry, very, very much.

My first show 9/2/78 at Giants stadium w/ Willie Nelson,N.R.P.S I could not move from my seat, I was mealting.10/11/83 MSG St.Stephen break out 11/1/85 Richmond (Gloria) 6/27/85 Saratoga So many "special" shows but these seem to stand out. Also 7/2&3/88 Oxford,Maine. Oh I could go on and on ,but ain't that why we are all here?

My second show was quite memorable...I saw Crosby Stills & Nash at Greatwoods in a special daytime show then drove down to Providence with a few thousand of my closest friends to see the Dead. Man what a fucking amazing day.

Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa. (Sun) 1: Half Step> Rooster, Push, Mama Tried> Big River> Cumberland, Start Your Engines, Big RxR Blues, Music 2: Touch, Playin> Uncle John> Playin> Drumz> Mr. Fantasy> Hey Jude Finale> Black Peter> Lovelight E: Black Muddy River first "Start Your Engines" my first show... or 07-14-90 Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro, Ma. (Sat) 1: Shakedown, Walking Blues, Far From Me, Candyman, Memphis Blues, Ramble On, Saturday Night 2: Eyes> Estimated> Crazy Fingers> Uncle John> Drumz> Take You Home> Miracle> GDTRFB> Throwing Stones> Lovelight E: Last Time> We Bid You Goodnight "Addams Family" tuning, "Take A Step Back" before "Eyes" - final "Take You Home" - venue used to be called "Sullivan Stadium" - Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians opened ... this was the first show that i travelled to... both shows, if i remember, were smokin'... i was with great friends & had super trips... at some point at the foxboro show, i was seperated from my party & really felt the comraderie of the community.. winding my way closer to the stage, festival seating - everyone shared & smiled & enjoyed the day... SAY YOUR PEACE & GET OUT

RFK, June 14, 1991, (wave that) Flag Day. The last time I would see the band for awhile as I was headed Down Under for a year in less than a month. The first set was one that you couldn't gauge how great it was by just looking at the set list. Nearly every song they played was just taken to the Nth degree, it seemed, esp. by Jerry on Tennessee Jed. The second set, however, was one anyone could see was a classic by merely looking at the set list: Help>Slip>Franklin's>Estimated>Dark Star! Stuck with 3 friends in some seats to the righto of the stage (and with no view of Jer), somewhere during drums, I thought, through my kaleidoscope eyes, I could see empty seats way up in the upper deck, facing the stage. So I commandeered the group to go on a hike and they all followed me up the concourse up god knows how many ramps during a crazy Space and all manner of Space-behaviors going on during our trek. finally, I arrived at a portal I thought was near the empty patch of seats and I went in. One of my friends, who I think was starting to wonder why she had left her comfortable seat downstairs, asked politely but firmly: "Do you know where you're going?" OK, that's a fair question, I thought, and told her that, really, we were almost there. Then we walked into the stadium turned up a narrow aisle and began clumsily traipsing up the steep steps. About halfway up, I looked to my right and yes! there was a mostly empty row. so we straggled to some seats, packed a bowl and waited for the rest of Dark Star to come out of Space. But then something happened and it was Stella Blue, a song at that time I had usually not preferred to hear. But this time, it made perfect sense. And Jerry's hair was blowing straight up from the air conditioning as we could see on the huge screens above the stage and he gave all he had on Stella Blue that night. It was just breathtaking. then a quick romp through Lovelight and the encore surely had to be US Blues. No wait, they played that 2 shows earlier in Charlotte and I was there. What would it be? Whatever it was, it would be the last Dead I was going to see for awhile. And don't you know, it was "Baby Blue." You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last. But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast. Yonder stands your orphan with his gun, Crying like a fire in the sun. Look out the saints are comin' through And it's all over now, Baby Blue. The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense. Take what you have gathered from coincidence. The empty-handed painter from your streets Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets. This sky, too, is folding under you And it's all over now, Baby Blue. All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home. All your reindeer armies, are all going home. The lover who just walked out your door Has taken all his blankets from the floor. The carpet, too, is moving under you And it's all over now, Baby Blue. Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you. Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you. The vagabond who's rapping at your door Is standing in the clothes that you once wore. Strike another match, go start anew And it's all over now, Baby Blue. The first 2 verses just seemed like Jerry was singing to me and I know that every time I've ever heard or read someone say that, I just cringed. "It's the drugs, dumbass!" I wanted to scream. And of course, I certainly didn't fly straight at the show that night but the pain of my mother's death just 6 months earlier and the fact that I was about to embark on a life-changing journey was not lost on me during those few precious moments I stood and swayed, up at the top of my beloved old RFK, listening to those words of wisdom written and sung by two men who I had always trusted if not met physically. To get the final blessing on my upcoming trip was very special indeed.

It was the show before Bob Dylan's show at Alpine Valley. I was "Goin down the road" if ya know what I mean!!!!

My first show, Giants Stadium 1991. A friend had tickets and couldn't go, asked me if I wanted his tickets. I hadn't listened to them a whole lot, but I knew the parking lot scene would be cool, so I went. During the show, I found myself singing along to songs I had never heard before. Weird, right? I was changed forever that night. All the sights, sounds, smells just blew me away and I've never looked back.

Wow. Just wow. Either you get it or you don't, and I sure got it! You can't explain it, but you sure can feel it. First show at Deer Creek in '89 I was hooked. I was 16, and I tried every way possible to get to nearby shows in Illinois and Ohio. I got to see 49 shows in those 6 years of my life, and I will cherish those years forever. That was it. That was what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be.

What a long stange trip it wasThe songs that stand out for 12-5-92 was boby breakin a string on scarlet fire or was that in deeer creek but really i remember phil singing his part in the weight It was literally a long trip2 days on a greyhound through a winter storm from kansas to Arizona maybe it was one and a half days its kinda blurry. I got sick and went to the hospitalin Tempee the next day I was at the showI didnt really get into the 12-5 show by sunday I felt a whole lot better and was amped for a good show Jerry calling that glider plane a texas dragonfly was great and when they broke out here comes sunshine I knew I was at the right place at the right time I remember a guy on stilts and I shared a bunch of raisens I had it was areal good time and it was the closest I ever got to see the band the energy was good it was kinda sad leavin the parking lot with some freinds headed back to kansas

My first show was August 2 1976 Colt Park in Hartford, it was fun, but not life altering, my second GD show was New Haven, CT 5/5/77 pretty great but so were most concerts back then. On 5/28/1977 I headed up to Hartford early in the day with no ticket and no ride. I had gotten dropped off at the ferry in Port jefferson, NY. I quickly met Dead Heads on the boat that gave me a ride to Hartford. We pulled into town around 1 pm to find The New England Fiddle contest ablaze in Bushnel Park. This alone would have been worth the trip. Time passed by dancing to the incredible talent hour after hour, until I looked at my watch and discovered it was 20 after 7:00 with a 7 pm show time. I took off running to the Hartford Civic Center, I came in at the beginning of Sugaree which went on forever. The show was amazing and at least one new Dead Head was born that night , me! I have been on the bus ever since 200 + GD shows in 5 countries, 100 Garcia shows, tons of National Parks and countless fun times. "One long party from front to end""I seen some good times"

1st California show and an epic night, well documented in dixpix and well etched in my brain was the encore of shakedown street back into the end of UJB. plus it was the first time I had heard of SEVA (it was a benefit. and it was the first night of 5 ending on NYE, got me to move to California in 18 months

Buffalo War Memorial 9/26/81...Morning Dew...in tears; couldn't stop Also, Estimated...piercing Bobby "Hahhhh..." with ensuing scream from recieving listener. Like an archers weapon flying through the coliseum to its intended victim...Check it out, one for the ages.

I think it must have been Hartford in 1983. It was the tour that St. Stephen had been busted out and we were very excited to hear it. My best buddy Keith and I were in the upper decks and we had a good head full. We had been chased around town by the now notorious Uncle Wah, the scary acid dealer with whom we had done business. Keith had just dropped a lit cigarette butt into his high top when the first strains of St. Stephen wafted across the civic center. The crowd was so psyched that you actually couldn't hear the first verse of the song for the cheering. People were crying and the place lost its collective mind. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! I will never forget that show and I keep the experience close to my heart at all times. Keith and I still smile when we talk about it.If you were there you know exactly what I mean. At the end of the show I was with a German exchange student who was crying and laughing and crying and laughing and trying to explain to everyone how the music had changed his life...all in broken English. People were hugging him and I know his life was never ever going to be thae same. I am a 47 year old high school principal and proud to say that the Dead helped to make me who I am and I love the whole experience for giving me that!!

But June 26, 1993 at RFK stadium was a very special show for me on a personal level. This was not the best show I ever saw from a musical perspective but it completely changed my life. My father committed suicide in 1977 and I had been very angry with him ever since. I attended this show with my friend Scott (who introduced me to the Dead) my son and my girlfriend of 3 weeks (who is now my wife). We had what ended up to be perfect seats. We were in the first row of the upper deck at the opposite end of the stadium from the stage. Maybe not the most desirable seats in some ways but on this day the sound seemed to come together perfectly here. Late in the first set the boys played "When I Paint My Masterpiece". Certain lyrics in the song made me think of my Dad. It had been a wonderfully clear day, but during this song clouds began to roll in. As the band began to play "Birdsong" my son tapped me on the arm and said "Look, there's a face in the clouds!" I looked up and there was indeed a face directly over us! Somehow I knew my Dad was present! Raindrops feel on my face as Jerry sang, "don't you cry, dry your eyes on the wind". My father and I carried on a conversation and reconciled throughout that "Birdsong"! My son's favorite song when he was small had been "Iko, Iko". The boys had played it at every show he attended. The circle was complete when the second set opened with a really hot "Iko, Iko". My son (and the Grateful Dead!) had been instrumental in helping me reconcile with my Dad. My life was changed forever in a very positive way that day!

It wasn't her first show and it wasn't mine. Her first show was Watkins Glen '73 and mine Detroit '76. It was for both of us our second show and unbeknownst to either of us it was our first and only Grateful Dead show "together". I stopped going in the early 80's and she did not see another show until the early 90's's. We were not destined to meet until 31 years later, in May '08. So we first crossed paths at Cornell on May 8, 1977 and took different life paths from there. In spite of our vast common interests which could have easily put us in the same place at the same time, it never happened again until the magic of internet dating brought us together 31 years later. We are just two dead heads / yankee fans/ avid golfers / best friends / lovers and soulmates. Without harping on what happened musically and cosmically at the show, I do remember seeing one girl on a guy's shoulder as I mazed myself through the crowd during Scarlett Begonias. It turns out that girl was my solemate and we were destined to be together - forever and ever and always, albeit not until 32 years later. And now we are heading back to Cornell to see Bobby and Phil again, on Valentines Day this Sunday, on that magic stage which changed our lives 32 years later. I wonder how many of us in the crowd Sunday will have been there on May 8, 1977 at that special place...at that special time...

...and the postscript was even played at the show...They Love Each Other...forever and ever and always...

happy Valentine's Day, you lovebirds!

My second show, I'm barely 15, and just in a trance at the colors, the heat, the dancing. I ditched a bud to get close and was right up there when they started Crazy out of China...the C.C.S just was incredible, like being in the Benefit for Mr. Kite, riding a marble stallion and looking out for the ring. I kept looking at Jerry playing while he was singing and wondering how the hell he can solo licks and sing at the same time...I remember Bobby had a ponytail and a bright pink strat. I was in a new place and I never wanted to not visit it again..and I did 88 more times. That show made me a head. But the one that blew me away happened two years later at Cal Expo, but that's another topic altogether.

...ha ha ha. Excellent. I took a buddy to Cal Expo in June of 90, and messed him up a bit so to speak. I told him "Just watch the Jerry and everything will be all right." Hilarious, Those were really fun shows. (he later told me that was the trick- "..........just watch Jerry"). Hallelujah! nothing like sending a new recruit down the road..... It didnt change my life a whole lot, but he still talks about it 20 years later

11-01-85 My 2nd show. Had had a chance to do a little more homework by then, including watching Dead Ahead (meaning I was totally psyched for Lost Sailor)..... General admission, we ended up standing right in front of Jerry, just a few standing rows back from the front. All our heroes took their places, and I had nearly a Dead Ahead view of their interaction (and even of a soap bubble momentarily floating into Bob's view mid-jam). I was blown away. Even songs I'd never heard were burned into memory that night. That's really when it all began..... up next that Spring: HAMPTON!