Grateful Dead

The sitting down or standing up at shows is a vexing issue. Pretty much every show I went to until the mid-2010s was a stand-up affair. Dancing or not, when the band was on the stage, most of the audience was out of their seats. The first time I ran into the issue in a significant way was at a Tedeschi Trucks Band show at the Morris Theater in South Bend, IN in 2016. I went solo and scored a 4th row ticket on Trucks side on the aisle. Looking around as I took my seat, I read the crowd as a sitting crowd, but I got up plenty and made myself as inconspicuous as possible (tough being over 6') in the aisle, but most folks stayed sitting throughout. After their main set, they come out and they are tuning up and a lady from the center yells, "Can we get up and dance?" Susan told us we could do what we wanted, get up and dance, sit, whatever. They proceeded to play a Bitches Brew jam that seriously melted my face, though I was probably one of only 10 people in the crowd who knew what they were playing.

On the other end of the spectrum was a Phish show on Northerly Island in Chicago about 2012 or so. This was a GA show in a largely undeveloped field on this island. The night previous they had the set abbreviated by a big storm and promised a three set show this night. First set rocks and they go into break and think I can sit down and rest (I was in my 40s at this point in time) for the next set. Nope, Phish fans were constantly jostling for position, bumping me, stepping on me. After the 2nd set, I figure folks must be tired and want to sit down-- nope, more jostling. I have not attended a Phish show since-- if I can't sit down at set break, that is f-ed up.

I am of the mind, let folks do what they want to do, like Susan said. Sit, stand, dance, whatever makes you happy. But, also let folks do what they want to do. Now, if you are a sitter, that may mean you are not going to have a good view for the show if the person in front is a dancer/stander, but that is the trade-off. At TTB this summer in Aurora, IL, it was a sitting crowd, so I went with that, however, when I did get up and explore, the sound was considerably better from a standing position.

Great watching Croatia knock Brazil out of the World Cup earlier today. Those Brazilian players are the worst behaved of any I have seen recently. The white haired ones seemed the worst. Fouling as often as possible, pretending to be fouled themselves, crying when they lost. What a shower. You wouldn't want to be standing behind them at a gig.

Seeing your name reminds me, Colin, I may order that new King Crimson box before Christmas.

It’s dangerous to browse the internet. I was looking for some other stuff and ‘The Lyrics of Syd Barrett’ appeared on the screen. I couldn’t resist it. It apparently came out last year but I missed it.

"Waves of violet go crashing and laughing. The rainbow winged singing birds fly round the sun. Sun bells rain down in a liquid profusion. Mermaids on porpoises draw up the dawn. What's Become of the Baby this cold December morning?"

Does anyone remember Allison?

....the Grateful Dead played The Forum in LA. Spencer Davis and Bruce Hornsby sat in.
It's a grate show.

Nitecate you found the formula for making friends and influencing neighbors: asking nicely. A genuine smile and a look directly into someone's eyes often does the trick in modifying annoying behaviors. Unfortunately for me, there are certain lines in my face that I cannot hide, so I hope to distract with eye contact and a big smile. I can do that at least twice a year.

Oro -- I'm on the mend. Had a 9-day follow-up today with a fresh EKG, exam of my entry wounds by a very nice looking young woman, and fresh advice on taking it easy another 20 days, with six meds per day (some twice) so I have something to do.

Interestingly, and it's a bummer, that my local Dead Hippie Brewing is closing, so we're headin' there tonight as on most Thursday nights for an open mic gathering. The owners, Dean and Cheryl, are about as nice as you get and their hospitality and vibe has been infectious. You can walk in anytime, talk to anyone, hang, make friends and on Thursdays play your ass off and everyone is grooving on the great beer selection and the parking lot scene. Sound familiar? I often play Pigpen tunes and that automatically gets a rise out 'o the crowd, tunes like Easy Wind, Mr. Charlie, Operator, Big Boss Man (okay, Jimmy Reed ala Ron McKernan), I think there's others... oh yeah, Alligator acoustic (try it, it's actually a children's song when done sing-song acoustic).

Poncho -- do you know the Setlist Program? It could be the source material for your Xcel spreadsheet, but you'd have to do data entry for 2,000 shows. We hardly knew ye when ye dropped off the face of the Earth...........

HF, your story reminds me of a time at a Dead show. We were up front in our space and next to me was a large woman in a very furry sweater. Furry like prickly almost. And she kept rubbing my bare arm with her prickly sweater. Very annoying. I had to ask her nicely to move further away from me.

Poncho, there used to be a little softcover pocketbook called Deadbase Jr. It had every known show and setlists. Not so overwhelming as the oversize Deadbase, but from the same people. Not a spreadsheet, but easy to deal with. Don't think it's published anymore. You might pick up one on ebay.

C'mon VGUY, if I knew that was YOU, I'd have no problem with you dancing in front of me, just tell the other 26 people to get the H*LL out of my sightline!!

1STSHOW, LOVE the critters!! My experience with trying to capture good photos is to make sure my phone is ALWAYS nearby. The best shots I have only lasted for seconds before it would have been too late.
For the record, I like Hobbes (with an E), and Big Boy Pete!! Lots of possible nicknames with those 2.

Not sure what to do, so I think I'll listen to some music. It's the Best!!