Grateful Dead

You're right.. they did it at BCT too. I forgot about that.

Brewer, I'm with you on ticket prices. It scared me away for many a show too, again, not because I can't afford it. The pricing and the way that pooped on the fan preorder = a real WTF are you guys doing factor. Couldn't they modernize GDTS or something? Perhaps Ticketmaster and LiveNation have too big a stranglehold, but the process leaves me feeling dirty.

AJS; sorry to “stir it up” yuck, yuck. I bet anyone who went to a decent amount of shows has some tale of regret.
I had tix for Toga 88 but had to deal with medical shit and an upper GI that day sohad to sell tix. Probably 4 or 6 other almost/what if’s, but “goes to show....” Perhaps that’s what made the “super” shows we did get to so special.
SHE BELONGS definetly a Bobby Dazzler. Saw a few of those and Believe it or not, which to me was like a cousin, or “Jerry” version of She Belongs. I love She belongs so much I used to play it. Also, don’t feel bad, the first night of Hampton 88 was the only time I went to a show but didn’t get in. I know Stir it up and Visions aren’t quite the same, but it still sucks. The part that really sucked was not knowing that the show was being broadcast in some (hotel?) parking lot. Dooooo! Heard the next day it was a hell of a party...
JIM; yes, seems we were at many of the same shows...great minds think alike, lol
Hopefully some day I’ll have the pleasure of meeting some of you nice folks at some shows! But,
PRICES ETC; agree, tix, especially with all the bullshit charges are getting steep and the cost/benefit ratio ain’t quite what it used to be. That and/or I’m just another old bastard that wouldn’t leave the house much if I didn’t have to!
So like many, I’ll still go as long as I’m able, it’s easy, and it’s close....very fortunate in Colorado that we have awesome venues and they come round fairly often...

BILLYKID; that’s one hell of an opening, and I’m guessing all around show!

I bought my ticket that day at the box office. My seat was in the very last row. When I went up to my seat, there was a women up there with a handful of tickets, she handed me one and said "you can go down there and have a seat". I went down and sat in the second row. The Dead opened up with Box of Rain and then did Visions of Johanna. It was really cool.

A friend and I always say that The Eleven was the best thing the Grateful Dead ever did.

I LOVED Futhur. I have enjoyed Dead & Co., but the size and price of their shows means I likely won't see them again. CAN I afford to attend?--yes. But at some price point it feels wrong to me.

i thought today was the order day for Dave's 33.

on your marks, non-subscribers

I think Further were their best from 2009 through 2012 (at least that's my take). I believe Bobby was expending extra efforts getting traction in the later years, something he seemed to address after they disbanded.

That's right.. the played a one-off of Visions in Hampton '86. I know I was at the Break Out of Box of Rain (which in doing some research was on a Friday night). Visions was the night before and I'll be damned if I can remember if I was there or not.. I think the answer to that depends on whether or not this was during Spring Break or if we drove down Friday after the early classes??? Oroborous.. I can only hope we crossed paths at one of the apparently many shows we seem to share in common.

Caught one She Belongs to Me too (Richmond).. what an emotional powerhouse that was.. when I hear it to this day I stop what I am doing and the emotions become my own. ..but I'm a sucker for the Jerry Ballads..

Thanks for jamming me again.

It has been well documented that I missed the Hampton Warlocks at the fault of everyone else in my group who, for some unknown reason, placed a higher importance on graduate school than a historic concert. I also spent another night in Hampton listening to Ballad of a Thin Man in the parking lot. One of only two shows where I made the trip and was not able to grab tix.

It's all good boss.

I'll throw in "She Belongs to Me" for my most cherished memories of shows. Lot's of wonderful music, but those two stand out for sure.

It's funny. I bailed on the band for 15 years. Sure, I saw The Dead, The Other Ones, Phil and his collection of buddies whenever they came within a reasonable distance of town. Nothing seemed to get the juices flowing again. Then came Furthur and something just clicked when they played The Eleven. Kadlecik wailing away. It was great.

Saw Furthur a few more times, but they were never able to capture that moment again for me. It did, however, motivate me to get to the Capitol Theatre to see a bunch of shows. Phil and his boys were the clear stars down there. Among the many highlights were Viola Lees Blues, Doin That Rag and a half hour long H>S>F encore.

Back in 2016 a long time tour friend reached out to me with tickets for the first Dead & Co. show at Fenway. So, I went. Two things I will say, the sound itself was unbelievable and Mayer is the best fake Jerry to date. We had an unbelievably good time. First set H>S>F. St. Stephen, Dark Star, Morning Dew, Casey Jones.

Unfortunately, these days Dead & Co. isn't getting it done for me. I realize that lots of folks here enjoy it, but the tempo is just too slow for my ears. And the tickets are way, way overpriced.

So, I am back to the old formula of seeing them in my backyard. Bob rolled through a year or so ago with the Wolf Brothers. Again, a little slow for my liking. Got to see an acoustic Deep Elem Blues, Easy to Slip and Ripple. All were outstanding. I kinda wish he would just stick to acoustic. To me it is far more enjoyable at that pace.

Sorry for the rant, but you got me motivated to break out some old versions of The Eleven.

...."These go to Eleven" - Nigel Tufnel

I was with an old Korean War veteran at that time and he took the minute or so for silence. He was the same age as Willie Nelson (3 weeks younger) and smoked as much weed. He was on a B-29 in the USAF. Also interesting to note he was very much anti-war. He used to go to Grateful Dead concerts several times a year. And he was one of my all time best friends.
I only saw the Dead perform the 11 once, 12/26/81. No words , just the cord progressions.
As far as Dark Star, St. Stephen, Lovelight -9/19/70 was a standout. (pigpen-thank you). 1970 was a wonderful time to be a teenager going to Grateful Dead concerts.

Here, here, yaassss, thanks Phil for all the great “post” versions of this, Viola, Cosmic, New Potato etc. Will always have a special place in my heart for the Phil Denver Philmore shows, but man I really dug Further.
Still think they should have had John, Warren, Jimmy, et el play parts of the Fare Thee Well shows. No disrespect to Trey, I think he did a mostly decent job, especially since they really didn’t rehearse much, but I think they would have been better shows with the guys who actually knew the tunes and had played them with the band members...but I digress....
Have seen some good D&C versions of the 11 etc, a hot version from Boulder a few years ago stands out in my minds eye, but I think the Further ones were my favs?
Speaking of the Philmore shows; that was a nice time in “GD” history. The Other Ones and Futhur fest were cool and kept things going, but I rember feeling like “yeah, this is more like it, this is the shit” the first few stands at Denver. Man the time they played Keep on Growing etc with a very Pregnant Tedeschi and Trucks, that whole set, phewwww, need to look that one up some time! Such a cool venue too, not big, but not too small. The venue, the band, all those great old tunes, it was definitely a great renaissance period.