I was a tour head-
Thanks!!!
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Enthusiastic yes to this thread. Ozzie Allers laying it down on keys her with Jer
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Thereās always something shakin on Shakedown St. 
I was just explaining that scene to my ex yesterday. I want to take our son to some shows and sell stuff in the lot so he can experience it. Have him make bracelets or something. In a few years for his summer break. Heās only 4 now. And itāll probably be BMFS shows cause I canāt stomach Mayer no matter how hard I try
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Some of my favorite Jer side projects. Dawg and Jer rocking some Doc Watson heavy set lists? Yes please
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Morninā Yaāll
So I got my dates mixed up (not surprising) and the Pig Good Lovinā Brooklyn Bridge rap was from Princeton 4-17-71. Sold the Brooklyn Bridge!
Love all the trading and stories! Letās keep this thing going!
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There was nothing like a Grateful Dead show!
Thank you for sharing your experiences! I love hearing peoples stories and adventures from the road. We were living as Dharma Bums, caravaning around the country.
I cut my GD teeth in 92ā when Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman came to a small club in my hometown. Saw my first Grateful Dead show on 3-24-93 and the trajectory of my life was set. Ha! There were some really great shows in 93ā! I saw a total of 11 GD and two JGB shows. Shut out of a bunch more. Only did one Summer tour in 95, but I was able to take my 78ā VW bus up and down the east coast. So fun! A lot of firsts and lasts on that tour for ole duder. Here is the 3-24-93 show from Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Enjoy!
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late bloomer here too. spent a couple of weeks at msg in '91 
somebody in colorodo made some clown face, thank you!
hit a few diff venues, nassau col(old barn), msg, knick, central park(rat dog), beacon( trios), rfk, rich stadium, unlv, spectrum, capitol in d.c., as best as i can remember 
the last two, philly spectrum and dc capitol were both miracles, dc was a hard earned double miracle for me and my cohort, both were st. pattyās shows. philly was very visual and trippy, 
then, one night at the āold barnā, i was typically separated from my boys, and just taking in the show solo. i was on the rail, above the hockey players tunnel to the ice. When all of the sudden, a giant 10ā tall T-rex comes out of the tunnel and starts dancing during crazy fingers. definitely the wildest out of the blue shit ive seen at a show.
Then there was April Foolās Day 1993, IKO IKO with BARNEY to open the second set, just a blast. Torrential downpours kept us from shakingdown, and just partied in the car. Rain encore was moving and fitting, rest of the set, mehā¦
good thread, i got more, rfk a few times, and buffalo was out of control when they broke out the train horn ;), was there for the casey breakout too. all very late, but better late than never
thanks for offering up somewhere to share and reminisce
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Yāall are too lucky. I was young and my parents werenāt into the Dead at all(thanks mom and dadā¦
) so I didnāt get to see em til after Jerry died. Caught em in ā04 after they got back together but I wish I could have seen em before they swapped Susan Tedeschi for Joan Osborne. It was a good show, especially cause Dylan played a solo set as well and then they played together. But I could tell the magic was gone. So I got into other jam bands and just listened to old tapes and recordings of the Dead. Luckily they left truckloads of music behind before Jerry left us. Iād bitch slap a rooster if I could go back in time and catch a show from the summer of ā89. I know ā90 was supposed to be another peak for em but there so much energy, like electricity in the air from many summer ā89 recordings
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Keep the stories of your adventures coming! I remember reading about the show where Phil came dressed as Barney!
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Iāve mentioned that 7/4/90 at Sandstone, outside Kansas City, was my first show. In 1991 I saw them in Chicago at Soldier Field on 6/22 (Roger McGuinn of The Byrds opened), drove home to Minneapolis the 23rd, worked on the 24th, then drove through the night to see them at Sandstone on the 25th.
I caught a three night run of Garcia Band that fall, 11/22 Chicago, 11/23 Milwaukee (which was later an official live release), and 11/24 Minneapolis.
In 92 I saw the Vegas run in late May with Steve Miller Band and returned to Soldier Field in June to see them again. Two nights this time, but I had such a whopping dose of liquid the first night (which featured a sit-in from blueās harp legend, James Cotton!) that I was pretty useless the second.
Spring '93 I had to miss the first night of the three in Chicago (Rosemont Horizon, now Allstate Arena) due to work, but caught the next two (one of which featured Ken Nordine performing Word Jazz during space with Jerry and Phil backing him which was an incredible audience experience - forget the soundboard and listen to an AUD!). Thatās when the adventure really began. We left Illinois for Ohio to catch the next two shows when it started to snowā¦ And it just didnāt stop. This storm became known as the Blizzard of the Century. We stopped for supplies and were told that stores were closing and people were advised to shelter at home. Then the news came that the show that night had been canceled! Highways shut down and we were lucky to get a hotel room. There are legendary tales of the Holiday Inn that night. I stayed across the street but we wandered over there because they had a bar. That building was wall to wall Deadheads! There were no rooms available, but the roads were closed and you just couldnāt drive anywhere. Every square inch of space was used. Camping on the pool deck, lounging on the stairsā¦ And the bar. It was raucous. The entertainment in the lounge was a brother-sister duo playing synths - and they didnāt know a single Dead tune. Biggest gig of their career and they couldnāt appease the crowd! It was hilarious. Anyway, the 2nd show happened the next night. It wasnāt anything special other than the debut cover of I Fought The Lawā¦ which they proceeded to play into the ground the rest of the tour.
Iāll write more later when Iām at my computer so I can verify dates against the scans of all my ticket stubsā¦
Edit - Found audio of that Ken Nordine bit
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I hope no one takes offense to thisā¦ but I feel like everyone liked the dead shows so much because of all the drugs not quality of musicā¦ as a musician I just didnāt like hardly any of their stuffā¦ thereās a couple decent songs ā¦ but itās mostly about getting a head full of acid or shrooms and trying to understand the musicā¦ the point is ā¦ if you all did these hard hitting drugs at any show you would be amazed at anyone I thinkā¦ againā¦ Iām speaking only of musical qualityā¦ easy to cause a following when lsd is in playā¦ after all look at Charles mansonā¦
For me the obvious was that the grateful dead brought that old hippy 60ās and 70ās feel back ā¦ and thatās what everyone was clinging toā¦ as far as good musiciansā¦ I disagreeā¦ but againā¦ just a lifelong musicians opinionā¦ I can play every song by them with 1 hand onlyā¦ on drumsā¦ as far as guitar even though Iām not a guitaristā¦ Iām sure I could manage it on their songsā¦ just the truthā¦ be nice dead heads 
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Oh shit I remember hearing this on the Dead hour I think.
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Itās all about the experience. The collective consciousness that the music can tap into, the energy between the crowd and band. Magical. Itās electrifying at times with or without psychedelics. I get the fuck down to a good show daily. It was about improvisation and going where the music took them/us, the Grateful Dead were jazz for rock and rollers if that makes sense. Every performance of songs was at least slightly different. Not to mention all the innovations their fam came up with in sound
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Comes into a thread for fans of a certain bandā¦
And shits all over them. 
Music is subjective and very personal. You may not enjoy it but they were competent musicians with a unique approach. It was admittedly heavily influenced by psychedelic drugs (they were the house band for the early acid parties thrown by Ken Keseyās Merry Pranksters) and incorporated some of that chaos into their style. I donāt know if they ever pulled off a āflawlessā performance, but thatās not what they were about. They tried to use their songs as a springboard to elevate the experience through improvisation where the band was greater than the sum of its parts. It doesnāt always succeed, but when they were firing on all cylinders together it was a transcendent experience. Well worth the gamble to see a few shows when they passed through in order to catch that magic.
How many other rock bands were writing songs in adventurous time signatures? Or giving their audiences 4+ hours of music some nights (playing both acoustic and electric sets)? Or played rock, folk, funk, and free-form jazz in the same show?
Everyoneās entitled to their opinion but I think itās short-sighted to question their musical ability.
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I donāt think so manā¦ just because they can play several music styles ā¦ jazz blues etc doesnāt mean a thingā¦ as musicians itās what we doā¦ adapt and enhanceā¦ I too can play every single genreā¦ should I be famous? Maybe I ought to hand out a bunch of lsd at shows? Lol point is as far as musical perfection and quality other bands were better yet everyone raves about the grateful deadā¦ Iām convinced itās the drugsā¦ bands like tool make em look like a jokeā¦ again thatās the now ā¦ they were thenā¦ I get itā¦ but their were others like tool back thenā¦ like zeppelin for example
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And just check out the impossible time signatures zeppelin pulled offā¦ consistently and perfectly every show
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Electrifyingā¦ but not magicalā¦ without psychedelicsā¦ look at music nowā¦ I bet most people are happy with the mass produced garbage McDonaldās style commercial crapā¦ yet itās trash as wellā¦ itās hype I believe that enables bands in these areasā¦ but the best musicians are never foundā¦ because of the industryā¦ someone else tells you what youāll hear nextā¦ we donāt get to decideā¦ such a shame ya know? Musical integrity has been totally molested by the music industryā¦ same way weedās getting ruined by the commercial industyā¦ music is as wellā¦ sad but trueā¦ most music takes us on some spiritual journey of some sort if itās decent enoughā¦ butā¦ if you want to be honest about thingsā¦ I think youād agree the grateful dead were nothing more than an over rated party bandā¦ yes they can play several genresā¦ so can everyone else though in musicā¦ so they can play a 4 hour setā¦ thatās easy when youāre sitting down and not doing muchā¦ get up and do all the acrobatic shit some of these other guys do and that 4 hour set turns to mere songs then a breakā¦ lol donāt get me wrongā¦ they obviously had something to touch so many peopleā¦ Iād like to see what would have happened in the absence of drugs at allā¦ I bet youād never even have heard of them
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Maybe we wouldnāt have heard of em cause they got their real start at the Acid Tests. Who knows where the winds would have blown em otherwise. My love for them isnāt solely about the music but what they stood for too. Like a more loving, peaceful punk rock band. I understand theyāre not everyoneās cup of tea and Iām not trying to change your mind, just explaining from my point of view 
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Agreedā¦ and Iām not trying to sound like a dickā¦ even though I must to u guysā¦ itās just something I noticed through years of learning music myselfā¦ I always from the beginning questioned why they made itā¦the answer is always the same pretty muchā¦ itās not just the musicā¦ I get itā¦ but this could easily be replicatedā¦ as long as the people understood same values are in playā¦ especially if followers just did the same thingsā¦
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