We are here. One of the guys that founded this site saw The GD at The Fillmore in 1970 and thought they sucked when the other guy who started this site(and helped start the other 1) started seeing them(and that guy saw an almost triple digit in shows between '86-'95). And I know a guy who makes documentaries who saw even more than than the '86-'95 guy,he was at the Winterland shows in 1977. People get caught up in the way the GD sounded,the length of songs,improvisation and all that kind of stuff. But if it's all about being in the moment at the show with great songs and you can lose some of those particulars that come to mind with The GD the appeal of the rock show makes perfect sense. Now nobody ask Jonicont about that lens caps at The Fillmore East in 1970. Happened about 4 years before he helped throw The Ramones(sans Joey) down the steps. Just don't bring up Rocky Marciano.

No more of this hijacking other threads to talk about our past glories following a 9 1/2 fingered junky around the country.
This can now be the proper forum in which to discuss The Dead and all of it's many permuatations.

My GD days were fit in between '85 - '89. Maybe 20 shows, mostly in mid-Atlantic area (Hampton, DC, Philly, and the always-amazing Roanoke shows), but traveled up to Maine to see them at Oxford Plains Speedway. That was a blast.

The way the boys could turn it up another notch, then another, then another - in the same show for sure, but often in the same song - they just don't make 'em that way anymore.

Those were some of the best times of my life. High school and early college, sharing really wonderful music and new experiences with friends. The DBT/3DD experience is certainly different in many ways, but for me it's similar in many ways too: great musicians, great music, and great community.

All I have to contribute to this thread is this:

I was at the last ever Dead show

Oh, great - a Dead thread on a Truckers messageboard. Why don't yall just set up a little guest room for me right now.

I'm a Dead fanatic. I used to deny the '-atic' part but my wife has convinced me that I am indeed a fanatic when she pointed out that my iTunes library is at least a third filled with Dead boots.

I grew up in a heavy metal family, and the cousins who liked the Dead were playfully considered outcasts. I grew up on Black Flag and Slayer, so I made it all the way to college with those negative connotations of patchouli and dancing bears. It wasn't until freshman year, when my boss at the record store I worked at tricked me into liking the Dead, that a lifelong passion was ignited. He would play me particularly vicious renditions of DS, Space, and TOO, and when I'd inquire about what it was, he's "Oh, say some crazy new noise rock thing form New Zealand." I'd always say "Ooooh, I need this," and he'd smile. He did the same thing with Workingman's Dead, telling me it was some lost private press psych folk thing I just needed to have. After a few times being tricked, I gave in, and have been ravenously devouring bootlegs and reading every word ever written about the band since. That'd be about 16 years and about 225 versions of "Sugaree."

As stated on the other thread, I'm a Keith and Donna man, with 77 being my favorite year. However, I absolutely love all three major eras of the band. Favorite shows? Well, that's another thread entirely (but it's hard to dispute Cornell).

To me, like the Truckers, the Dead synthesize everything great about American music while making something wholly unique. Like the Truckers, The Dead are a band I will be listening to for the rest of my life.

My boss is a dead fan, well dead psychopath may be more accurate. she always turns her nose up at DBT when I'm playing them at work, I don't get it but to each their own I guess.

ramonz wrote:but traveled up to Maine to see them at Oxford Plains Speedway. That was a blast.

x2 - Little Feat opened as I recall. Other highlights for me were Albany '90, Cal. St. '90, Buffalo '90, Vegas '91, Deer Creek '91.

I don't listen much anymore - but, I surely have not forsaken this VITAL anchor of my musical education.

StevieRay wrote:

ramonz wrote:but traveled up to Maine to see them at Oxford Plains Speedway. That was a blast.

x2 - Little Feat opened as I recall. Other highlights for me were Albany '90, Cal. St. '90, Buffalo '90, Vegas '91, Deer Creek '91.

I don't listen much anymore - but, I surely have not forsaken this VITAL anchor of my musical education.

Cal. St 90. was fuckin great. I did deer Creek in 92 & 93. That's an amazing place to see a show.

Another Dead Head turned Truckers fan here

RevMatt wrote:I guess I can't say that I am a Deadhead because I am one of those rare Grateful Dead fans who prefer their studio albums to the live shows. I love just about every album, even the maligned Shakedown Street and Blues For Allah. I think they were a wonderful studio band. I consider Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street and Go To Heaven to be a trifecta. Wouldn't it be great if DBT covered "Alabama Getaway"?

And if we are making comparisons, Patterson is Jerry and Cooley is PigPen. If Pig Pen didn't die young he would have been embodied American rock and roll badassery. Whiskey swilling, Harley Riding, Hells Angels friend, blues singing badass. America's answer to Keith Richards.

Glad I'm not the only one. I really like 72 in Europe, but I enjoy studio Dead a lot. Same goes for Phish (probably more so).

I'm also one of those fans who always enjoyed the studio records more than the live ones but I finally saw the light of day several years back when I bought both box sets (Golden Road and Beyond Description). I'd always read how the studio albums were more of a blueprint for the songs and that the live show is where they really came to life. I understood that but since I was weaned on stuff like Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, I preferred the emphasis on the songs themselves and not the noodling. However, since I'd only heard certain studio albums of theirs over the years, it wasn't until I bought the box sets that I actually heard the studio renditions of some of their tunes for the very first time. In other words, there were some songs that I only knew from the live versions so when I heard the original studio cuts, they sounded too smothered, confined and insular compared to the live renditions which lived and breathed in a way they only could when performed in front of a live audience. That said, since Workingman's Dead was one of my first ever purchases, I still have a huge soft spot for that record and the Dead's strengths when it comes to songwriting. When they're firing on all cylinders I love the lengthy jams but oftentimes, they just have a tendency to cause me to want to nod off to sleep. That's why I'm not a huge fan of "jam" bands in general. There's exceptions to every rule as I also really like Donna the Buffalo and a few others but for the most part, the majority of them bore me to tears. When it comes to the Dead I also really like the side projects such as Old and In the Way and the New Riders of the Purple Sage a lot which makes sense because there's also more of an emphasis on the songs themselves in those bands and not so much jamming. That's not to say I'm totally opposed to that side of the Grateful Dead, I just prefer the shorter, more concise stuff most of the time. The perfect marriage to me is probably something like Reckoning which combines the best of both worlds. I do love me some acoustic Dead.

I'd put Wake Of the Flood, most of Blues for Allah, and Mars Hotel up against any albums from the era. Workingman's Dead is a given. In The Dark is more decent that it should have been. I never really listen to the others. It's pretty much all about live Dead for me.

But I reiterate, Wake of the Flood is my JAM. Love love love that album. Even (especially????) "Weather Report Suite."

Anybody else think Bobby gets a bad rap?

I'll admit that I'm a "touch-head". I saw my first Grateful Dead show in 1987 and jumped on the bus from 91' until that fateful day in 1995 when the bus screeched to a premature halt. I went to see Furthur last September when they rolled through town. I knew that if I missed it, I would never forgive myself. I think that I'm probably like a lot of Heads. Grateful Dead is as ingrained into my DNA as any music ever, and it still brings happiness and joy to my heart, but it is not something that I listen to everyday anymore, or every month for that matter. But on those occasions that bring out the Dead, it is like time is an illusion and I'm right back there in my Grateful Dead hay-day. I have had a lot of great moments at Drive-By Truckers shows over the years, but precious few have even approached the sheer profundity and magic of a Dead show. It was so cool at Furthur to see not only the gray-hairs, but also youngsters that weren't even born when Jerry kicked the bucket. It's great to see Bobby and Phil still out there, bringing the music to the fans, young and old alike. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me, Grateful Dead will always be the pinnacle that every other live music experience aspires to be. That notwithstanding, Grateful Dead is much more than music. My GD experience helped shape my world view which, in so many words is thus: Get the most out of your life everyday, because you never know what's going to happen. Thank you Bobby and Phil for keeping the music alive, and thank you Jerry, for making it happen in the first place.

UTHeathen wrote: It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me, Grateful Dead will always be the pinnacle that every other live music experience aspires to be.

This is the crux of the biscuit right here.

My GD "run" was from '83 (first show I was 15), till my last batch of shows in March '90, Brent's last tour. Great memories. One that sticks out is Saratoga '85 and the long crazy ride to Hershey Pa. for the next night, much to my parents dismay, aaahhh the good times. Saw the band once without Brent in Boston in '91, not bad, but just not the same for me. Intresting note, my first show in Hartford Ct. in '83 is Dick's Picks Vol. 6, and my last in Boston is Dick's Vol. 17.

First show for me was in '89, when I was 17. I went with my brother; the Dead in those years were about the only shared experience we had that didn't end in us trying to murder each other. I went to 30-odd shows in the Northeast from then until the end (I was at that Boston Dick's Picks show, too, RMD, and it sounds like sactochris and I probably crossed paths many times too). Reckoning was the album that changed my life; I remember specifically hearing it through the closed door to my brother's bedroom and sneaking in later to make a cassette copy on my boombox. I wore that tape out. I still return to the studio work but it's the live stuff I mostly listen to these days. Saw just yesterday that Record Store Day vinyl release of Europe '72 Vol. 2 marked down at my local record store; I think I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

uncle rickey wrote:First show for me was in '89, when I was 17. I went with my brother; the Dead in those years were about the only shared experience we had that didn't end in us trying to murder each other. I went to 30-odd shows in the Northeast from then until the end (I was at that Boston Dick's Picks show, too, RMD, and it sounds like sactochris and I probably crossed paths many times too). Reckoning was the album that changed my life; I remember specifically hearing it through the closed door to my brother's bedroom and sneaking in later to make a cassette copy on my boombox. I wore that tape out. I still return to the studio work but it's the live stuff I mostly listen to these days. Saw just yesterday that Record Store Day vinyl release of Europe '72 Vol. 2 marked down at my local record store; I think I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

I knew I recognized you from somewhere.

I owe my love of the East coast of America to Jerry and The Dead and that's a love I hold dear.

I just started to get into the Dead a couple of years ago, but then DBT "got in the way" and I only got around to get a copy of American Beaty and Live Dead (Filmore West '69) before my Dead-project was put to a temporary halt... Seems to be a few people who are real hard core fans in here: Where do I go next?

Reading this thread I come to think of when I first heard about Grateful Dead. Strange story... This was when I was in high school, late eighties, around the time when the Dylan & the Dead album was released. I was in a small record store (one out of two) in the little sleepy town where I went to high-school. I am browsing the LP section, and it is only myself and the owner in the store (old hippie, quiet guy, never says a word) when suddenly a middle aged, sort of ragged, women enters the store. She makes a quick round in the store seemingly without any interest in the records, when suddenly the Dylan & the Dead album which is on display at the counter catches her attention, and she says: "The father of my son is Bobby Weir!". The guy behind the counter goes:"Huh!?". She repeats: "I have a son, he's a grown-up now, but his father is the guitar player in Grateful Dead". The owner goes: "Uhu, OK?", and then the women turns around an leaves the store... The guy behind the counter just looks at me and shrugs and then proceed with reading his magazine... I really have no idea if the woman was crazy or telling the truth. I had to go and check out the history of the Dead and read about the Dead-heads etc. I was off course familiar with the "groupie" concept, and to me it seems plausible that she might have been a hippie in California back in the days... Well, pointless story perhaps, but I am alway reminded whenever I think about this band.

RolanK wrote:I just started to get into the Dead a couple of years ago, but then DBT "got in the way" and I only got around to get a copy of American Beaty and Live Dead (Filmore West '69) before my Dead-project was put to a temporary halt... Seems to be a few people who are real hard core fans in here: Where do I go next?

One From The Vault, Europe 72 (both volumes!), Dick's Picks 1, Dick's Picks 4, Nightfall Of Diamonds, Live at the Cow Palace, and To Terrapin: Hartford 77 are all relatively easy to find live shows that should convert even the biggest naysayer.

Saw the Grateful Dead about 70 times from 85-95. So many great tour stories to tell. Went on summer tour 1991 with Mark Lynn. I am in the View From The Vault II dvd from RFK, June 1991. You can see me at the 7:24 mark on this video. I am in the lower left hand corner wearing a tie dye and taking pictures.

Even though I'm a pretty huge fan and Workingman's Dead was one of my first ever purchases back in the early to mid-70s, I never saw them in concert until 3.31.89. at the Greensboro Coliseum and I only saw them three other times after that (Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh in 1990 with Bruce Hornsby & the Range, the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill on 3.24.93 and on 3.24.95. at the Charlotte Coliseum). For whatever reason, I never saw the need to follow them all over the country. In fact, I've never really done that with any band. I've seen R.E.M. and the Truckers on multiple dates on the same tour but that's pretty much the extent of my concert travels. It's not as though I don't have the wanderlust as I've definitely done my fair share of traveling over the years, music related and otherwise (mostly otherwise). As for the post Grateful Dead years, I saw a few of the early Furthur Festival tours and more recently "The Dead" but I really have no desire to see the band "Furthur". Perhaps I should go just to check it out but I prefer to preserve the memory of those actual Grateful Dead concerts I was witness to in my memory as nothing else will live up to them. And, even though I only saw the Grateful Dead four times, I have a lifetime of stories from each concert to tell until they put me in the ground. A few years ago, some friends of mine kept talking up Dark Star Orchestra but I'm not really a fan of tribute bands (even though this particular one has a unique spin to it) but I went anyway. I definitely enjoyed it but I felt like I was at a Civil War battle re-enactment, except it was in the guise of a Grateful Dead concert. Again, I'd rather hold onto my actual memories of a real Grateful Dead concert rather than a recreation. That aspect of seeing Dark Star Orchestra did absolutely nothing for me. Hell, I even went to see the Jerry Garcia Band twice after he died. The first one was kind of like a wake and I'm glad I went. The second one was also good but it felt more like the Melvin Seals Band than the Jerry Garcia Band, especially since Jerry himself was absent. That said, those concerts weren't nearly as strange as they may sound. Oftentimes, I'm more likely to find that spirit of the Grateful Dead around a campfire with friends picking tunes than I am at a Furthur Festival where the actual surviving members may be performing. At least that's been my experience anyway.

Saw em twice. Both times at OKC's Zoo Ampitheater. They came thru there 3 times, '81, '82, & '85. I saw the first two. The '81 show was the stronger one imo,but the '82 show took place on Jerry's 40th birthday 8/1/82. it was a typical 105 deg summer day in Ok and word got passed around that the band hadn't slept for a couple of days. They were late taking the stage, an hour or 2 if I remember correctly. Jerry seemed to struggle thru the first set, but the second took off pretty well, maybe cuz the sun was going down by that time and it had cooled off to a frigid 95 deg.
I found the show on archive.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd82-08- ... sbeok.shnf

Good times

jimmyjack wrote:

RolanK wrote:I just started to get into the Dead a couple of years ago, but then DBT "got in the way" and I only got around to get a copy of American Beaty and Live Dead (Filmore West '69) before my Dead-project was put to a temporary halt... Seems to be a few people who are real hard core fans in here: Where do I go next?

One From The Vault, Europe 72 (both volumes!), Dick's Picks 1, Dick's Picks 4, Nightfall Of Diamonds, Live at the Cow Palace, and To Terrapin: Hartford 77 are all relatively easy to find live shows that should convert even the biggest naysayer.

Thanks for the advice! I'll check these out.

This thread inspired me to throw on Live/Dead last night, and god damn, it just pops. Say what you will about Bear but the man knew what he was doing.

uncle rickey wrote:This thread inspired me to throw on Live/Dead last night, and god damn, it just pops. Say what you will about Bear but the man knew what he was doing.

The most scared I've ever been meeting anyone was meeting Bear. It was in a good way, but it was still very intimidating. I had read about him in Rolling Stone when I was in high school. I loved the story about the Wisk bottle. Very cool. He didn't come across as being very friendly in a traditional sense but he was gracious about responding to any questions people would ask of him. This was in late 1990 in San Franscisco at a JGB show after he had gotten really into making and selling jewelry and was starting to do rather well at it. He had the Brass Steal Your Face belt buckles that at the time cost $200. I wonder what those go for now.

Always thought DBT could do a ripping version of Bertha with Cooley handling lead vocals.

I was a skate punk in high school and The Dead was the the most opposite from that scene. I knew guys that were into them and would go to the shows. It always seemed more for the drugs and partying. I didn't even know any of their songs besides Casey Jones and I had no interest in seeing them. A few years later some close friends got into them and went to shows and followed them etc. I just couldn't stand them. I said no to many chances of seeing them. I even quit a roadie job while on the road partially because the road manager only played live GD shows when he was driving. I was assigned to the crew van and it drove me crazy. My ears weren't ready then.

Many years later, my brother in law gave me Hundred Year Hall from Germany 1972. First song was Bertha and I was hooked. I listened to that album over and over and never looked back. I have all studio albums, tons of live shows and Dick's Picks. I have read quite a few books and seen most videos. I have studied this band. They are one of my favorites now. The Keith and Donna years when Pigpen was still alive are my favorite. I dig all the early stuff too.

I really wish I would've gone to a show.

RMD wrote:Always thought DBT could do a ripping version of Bertha with Cooley handling lead vocals.

One of my very favorite covers is the Los Lobos version of that song.

uncle rickey wrote:This thread inspired me to throw on Live/Dead last night, and god damn, it just pops. Say what you will about Bear but the man knew what he was doing.

Got a brand spankin' new remastered vinyl getting delivered tomorrow. Can't wait!!!!

sactochris wrote:

RMD wrote:Always thought DBT could do a ripping version of Bertha with Cooley handling lead vocals.

One of my very favorite covers is the Los Lobos version of that song.

They smoke it live