Greg from Chestertown

Killer set list. Musta been awesome right on through from beginning to end. I’m happy for everyone involved.

Ah, man. That was nice. As soon as I got turned on to Little Feat, Lowell George died. We definitely missed out with his life being cut short. I saw James Taylor in 1981? At the University of Delaware field house. Sat in the front row, center. Billy Paine was the keyboardist that night.

That’s a great story.

...summer time done come and gone, my, oh, my...

HaHa! Life is all about making memories. I couldn’t agree with you more on the winter solstice. I call the day after the solstice the first day of spring. The tricks we play on our own minds to get through the cold, dark desolation of winter.

The days between?

Nice! Brokedown Palace is my choice. I am always thinking about those killer sound bite lyrics in the Grateful Dead catalog and stringing them together as a memorial ‘speech’. I have always felt that GD lyrics are words to live by. I enjoy shows because,through dancing, I shake out the negativity that has managed to make its way into my being. I let that space be filled with these lyrics of positivity. Words to live by, advice and insight about life. (Gotta get back to where you belong) Grateful Dead shows were, and Dark Star Orchestra shows are, transformative for me. They bring me back in line, a refresher course, if you will. The ‘I need a show’ factor is real for me. A handful of times per year and life is good.

I ran into my cousin last night at our uncle’s viewing. He was at the Jrad show last Saturday night n DC. He said it was phenomenal. He described it as Led Zeppelin meets the Grateful Dead. High energy. His eyes were popping out of his head while he talked about it. He was pretty excited.

Yea, reckoning is my favorite too. You can put it on and forget about it, just listen right on through. It’s my ‘go to’ for non Dead heads. 9 of the 16 songs were played the night I was there. ‘Monkey and the engineer’ was actually from that night. My shroom mates buddy was at the show in San Fran where ‘Ripple’ was played. When they say ‘that’s Otis’ , that was , I think, Bobby’s dog running across the stage. Jerry does some of the gentlest picking on ‘to lay me down’. I gave my copy to a 62 year old guy I worked with who was into bluegrass. He taught himself ‘ripple’ on the guitar. He’s now pushing 80 and does open mic nights in the area. I love it.

I enjoy this thread. I love it when someone says ‘here, listen to this.’ Dark Star is incredible. They make you listen intently to every note.

I heard the term in my travels and it got me thinking, so, I looked it up. Touch of grey was in the top forty so, technically, they’re a one hit wonder. They’re in some good company. Hendrix with watchtower. It was an interesting list but I am drawing a blank on the other big names. You know how it is. If it’s not about the Grateful Dead, it’s like listening to Charlie Browns’ teacher.

Here’s a thought that should stimulate conversation. The Grateful Dead is a one hit wonder.

This is exactly why God invented Vanilla AND Chocolate ice cream. We all have different tastes. I believe they all bow their heads to Dylan, though.

Right!? Talk about dropping in on a friend.

Nah, he’s singing along to NFA. ....you’re gonna know just how I feel...

Look at the little kid in front of the girl. Poor little fella will never unsee that.

Yup! I’ve never met you but I gathered that from the posts. I couldn’t resist. I was actually surprised that your close friends didn’t come up with that one. That was my first thought when that pic first appeared.

I remember, I think it was RFK stadium ‘95. The audience chant had three different epicenters. It was kinda funny. I guess the venue was too big. I think NFA was the epitome of fan participation.

‘There’s that tall guy again.’ I bet that’s what we look like to the band.

Right!? Gotta love a set list that reads into, into, into, into.....

You’re living the dream. Agreed on looks like rain, a bit mushy for a Grateful Dead concert but can’t live without Bobby letting loose with the vocals towards the end of the song and Jerry noodling away on his guitar. I don’t love the beginning but love the end.

Nice. I just read that Casey Jones was absent from the line up between ‘82 and ‘92 except for two times in ‘84. Nice choice for a recreation.

I love the long first sets of this era and the unfamiliar placement of songs within the set lists that later settled into different places within the shows. (Goodly English?)

Oh, one more thing that we learned about those acoustic shows. That was the first time in ten years and they said they would never play acoustic again. Time proved that to be true outside of a couple of shows. 82?

So, one week after my first Grateful Dead concert, I go back to college for my second year. My shroom mate has a friend who went to college in San Fran just so he could go to Dead shows. He calls my roommate to say Bill Graham bought the Warfield theatre so that the Dead could play there for two weeks straight. They’re playing acoustic sets, plus two electric sets to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. With a few more phone calls over that time, we learn that every acoustic set is being closed with Ripple, and that they’re making a double acoustic and a double electric album from those shows. They asked everyone to not do too much hootin’ and hollerin’, as the shows were being recorded for the albums. We also learned that they were doing similar shows at Radio City. That got us cutting class and riding up to Radio City the Monday before Halloween. We ride into New York with his Buddy and try to scalp tickets. We get robbed by ‘scalpers’, and now we’re penniless outside of Radio City while our ride is inside the show. Pretty disappointed for about an hour when someone walks up to us wearing a ski mask and asks, ‘who wants to get snuck in?’ We tell him our hard luck story, and he says, ‘ stand right here, let me find three more people’. We end up walking right through the front doors of Radio City without a ticket. This guys neighbor was a ticket taker at the door. Once inside, we got free doses, red dragons two weeks old from Berkeley. Absolutely amazing night. Acoustic set was precious. Five and a half hour show. Life changing. That’s all, thanks for letting me share.