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Favorite Grateful Dead Show Opener ...


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Guest Lisacat

a couple of the best shows i saw opened with morning dew; wash dc 6/10/73 and jersey city 9/27/72.

not a fan of dew openers. I'm just not ready yet. I don't even like it opening 2nd set.

Half step, HCS, Bertha and CR&S probably my favorite. I'm down with LTGTR too.

Prefer Promised Land as set closer rather than opener.

Don't like Bucket or Stranger for openers because I prefer to have my feet warmed up for them.

Also depends what night it is....if its first night of the run I need more time to warm up. Why is it always about the dancing? :-)

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I always loved Jack Straw as an opener...really gets me going. Not to mention the one show I rode the rail at MSG right in front of Phil and they opened with Jack Straw. Casey Jones was fun at Merriweather in 1983 or '84 I think.

Peace,

Joe

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Guest Papaphunk

Jack Straw

Shakedown

Stranger

were the first 3 that came to mind.....

These days, I prefer when a Dead band, be it DSO or Futhur will push the envelope a little....

Like a Scarlet opener and a Smokin Fire that ends the first set.

Same with China Cat .....Rider that arrives at the station many moons later to close out the first set

Or a nasty Help Slip to open things up > whole bunch of crazy tunes........ then finally arriving in the Franklins set 1 closer that has heads smiling around at each other like wow.....oh yeah....they DID open the set with Help on the Way, thats Right :D

Hoping Furthur at the Mann this coming weekend might try just this type of craziness :rolleyes:

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When a great 1/2 Step opener is followed by something like Me & My Uncle>Mexicali, you can't help but experience a bit of a let-down (of course, this is the case with any really strong opener).

I thought it was a prerequisite that Bobby follow all epic Garcia openers with Walkin' Blues.

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Hornsby said in an interview that he had suggested to open a show with drums and got vetoed.

I think that was a good idea. RatDog and Furthur have both implemented it various times to the joy of all.

...but I still say "Might As Well". IMHO it is the absolutely perfect opener, upbeat and portentious but not heavy-handed.

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I thought it was a prerequisite that Bobby follow all epic Garcia openers with Walkin' Blues.

Totally. I always wondered why Bobby felt compelled to play the cowboy tunes or questionable blues tunes (e.g., Walkin' Blues; Same Thing) after a scorching Jerry opener rather than reply with something better from his catalogue. As has been said before, it may be that he wanted to spread out his stronger material over a longer period of time.

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Guest tommyboy14

I liked the opener at the Mann on Sat cause we entered from the top side and the show started a few minutes after we got in.....

"Sitting on top of the world"

Brought back great memories from RCMH cause the whole balcony was shaking like crazy!

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Set Opener-Gimme Some Lovin

Set Closer-Jack Straw

vbf is clearly influenced by 84 Carrier Dome (one of the best Jack Straws of all time) and whilst I agree a strong 1st set closer, I think the thread is about show openers. Try to stick to the topic at hand vbf.

As for your Gimmie Some Lovin. In a topic that is clearly subjective, you have found a way to be completely wrong. GSL is much better post drums when the band is more oiled up. Jack Straw and 1/2 Step give them a chance to find there legs and throttle up into high gear by the end and both set up nicely to drop into Franklins.

:D

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I love to hear a show open with a Promised Land or a 1/2 Step. One of the nicest first set surprises I ever got, though, was catching the Dead opening with an Eyes in June of 1991 at Giants stadium. It was a great show:)

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I love to hear a show open with a Promised Land or a 1/2 Step. One of the nicest first set surprises I ever got, though, was catching the Dead opening with an Eyes in June of 1991 at Giants stadium. It was a great show:)

It is one of the great tid-bits on you tube....

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Guest Papaphunk

I liked the opener at the Mann on Sat cause we entered from the top side and the show started a few minutes after we got in.....

"Sitting on top of the world"

Brought back great memories from RCMH cause the whole balcony was shaking like crazy!

Hey fellow newb, we were there. How hot was it up in the balvony?

We spent most of the show dancing out on the sidelawn to the left, barefootin in the grass just to catch a passing breeze. I though they might open with music.....its been hot for several weeks now, too hot to even speak now

How often was Here Comes Sunshine an opener? I don't know of any Dead Base feature that allows one to look only at set openers.

I recall aspectrum 94 maybe that opened with sunshine, crowd was lovinv it!

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How often was Here Comes Sunshine an opener? I don't know of any Dead Base feature that allows one to look only at set openers.

My guess is between 12 and 15 times.

1 time in '92 (the breakout at Arizona in Dec)

Around 7 times in '93

Around 3 times in '94

and around 4 times in '73.

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Hey fellow newb, we were there. How hot was it up in the balvony?

We spent most of the show dancing out on the sidelawn to the left, barefootin in the grass just to catch a passing breeze. I though they might open with music.....its been hot for several weeks now, too hot to even speak now

But the second set Shakedown opener felt perfect.

I was to the left (the side of the entrance) too, dancing near the speakers they had set up on the stairs. I spent the first set trying to find where the "good vibes" are, and I think this was the spot. One can't see the band but can dance in every which way. Only part I didn't like right there was the lack of Phil power. I could definitely hear him well, but not feel him.

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"Here Comes Sunshine" .... opener.... 7.2.95 ... Indiana.... the night the walls came down !

I was there ... had 10th row on Phil side ... went with my buddy Stu... saw just about the entire final tour ....

That was the show where we had to go through metal detectors because some asshole called that place and said they were going to kill Garcia. Apparently, it was the only show where he was actually scared for his life to walk on stage. He sang the "Don't murder me!" chorus pretty good that opening set though.

I blame one Cameron Sears for the fiasco known as Deer Creek '95. Believe it or not, that place was considered an intimate venue in those stages of the GD ride. They first played there in '89 when it opened and word of mouth grew for each successive year. By the time '95 rolled around, there were lots of heads from around the country who wanted to attend Creek shows. Sears was the GD scheduler and should have understood that (if he was the one who actually decided on these dates). This 2-pack should have taken place on a Tues and Wed...middle of the week, in and out. Hamilton county is a pretty scary place btw...democrats don't even TRY to run for anything there.

These shows were scheduled on the 4th of July holiday weekend, which were the absolute worst dates imagineable. That meant that not only were there a bunch of heads that were coming in from all around the country, which was going to happen regardless, but in addition, tons of Indiana folks too--what better way to celebrate a 4th of July weekend?

The result was pretty much a disaster and the fences that came down during the desolation and the Indiana folks (and silly heads) cheering it on was not a cool site. The band seemed to take offense too, despite the fact that any head with a brain was mortified and looked the part, because they knew there was a good chance this would mean Creek would go the way of Frost ,Greek, and all the rest.

Indiana arrested tons of people after that show because they basically ordered the police to do just that.

Not a good memory and just another stop on what is known as 'the tour from hell'.

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It usually was a 2nd set opener in '94 and '95 ....

3.17.95 in Philadelphia is the other time it was a 1st set opener that year...

Octal...you can find out this stuff by looking at the 'every time played' section of deadbase. You look up HC Sunshine and it will list all the times it's been played (50 times?) and what song came before it and after it.

There will be an asterisk or something like it for the song that was played before Sunshine, to indicate there was no song played previous to it because it opened the show.

It's a great section of information.

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That was the show where we had to go through metal detectors because some asshole called that place and said they were going to kill Garcia. Apparently, it was the only show where he was actually scared for his life to walk on stage. He sang the "Don't murder me!" chorus pretty good that opening set though.

I blame one Cameron Sears for the fiasco known as Deer Creek '95. Believe it or not, that place was considered an intimate venue in those stages of the GD ride. They first played there in '89 when it opened and word of mouth grew for each successive year. By the time '95 rolled around, there were lots of heads from around the country who wanted to attend Creek shows. Sears was the GD scheduler and should have understood that (if he was the one who actually decided on these dates). This 2-pack should have taken place on a Tues and Wed...middle of the week, in and out. Hamilton county is a pretty scary place btw...democrats don't even TRY to run for anything there.

These shows were scheduled on the 4th of July holiday weekend, which were the absolute worst dates imagineable. That meant that not only were there a bunch of heads that were coming in from all around the country, which was going to happen regardless, but in addition, tons of Indiana folks too--what better way to celebrate a 4th of July weekend?

The result was pretty much a disaster and the fences that came down during the desolation and the Indiana folks (and silly heads) cheering it on was not a cool site. The band seemed to take offense too, despite the fact that any head with a brain was mortified and looked the part, because they knew there was a good chance this would mean Creek would go the way of Frost ,Greek, and all the rest.

Indiana arrested tons of people after that show because they basically ordered the police to do just that.

Not a good memory and just another stop on what is known as 'the tour from hell'.

We had front row for the 1993 Scarlet Fire second set opener. It was kinda scary at the 1995 scene with the huge crowd, but Jerry pulled out the slide for the only verse of Fire and that was OK by me. There is a monitor recording around and you can hear Jerry talking about people's cameras looking like guns and how could they shorten the show enough to get the hell outta there. The second show was cancelled so we went to the Indy zoo and strip clubs instead, yahoo!!

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