How the Grateful Dead's scene evolved over the years?

[Cosmic Mike]

First off my apologies if a topic of this nature already exists, just let me know if that is the case.

 

From talking to people and reading up on things here and there, it's pretty clear the scene for the dead had changed greatly over the years. In the later years, the band seemed to face its fair share of problems. As some may put it, "things got out of control." I understand people not buying tickets and gatecrashing was a big issue. I was just curious what some of the older Deadheads have to say about this, having personally witnessed how the scene had changed over the years. Did you ever think things got "out of control?" If so, in what way? What was the nature of these issues? Did you ever purposely stop seeing the dead perform? And if so, why? What do you think about the scene nowadays, whether it be DSO or Futhur or anything in relation?

 

Thanks for any thoughts. This is something I've always been curious about.

[Tea]

Good topic CM!  I could write more exhaustively on this subject but haven't quite the time to give the topic it's true treatment.  Also, I didn't start seeing the GD until 1988 so I am probably not quite your target audience here.

 

From my experience, I noticed a huge segment of people who espoused a core philosophy that had endured for many years but actually lived an edict that was the pure antithesis of community. I guess these people were always there to some degree but their numbers just seemed to grow and morph as the years went along.  The generational sensibilities of the GD culture were supplanted by a societal shift towards instant gratification, selfishness, with increasingly capitalistic morays.  It seemed to be unavoidable.

 

Stronger street drugs and a growing shadow economy started to dominate the scene which caused more and more people to try and plug into tour as a marketplace and not the experience of the music and the free, humble, nomadic lifestyle that it previously had fostered.  I'm not tryin to get all Utopian about this since there were undesirable elements from day 1.  By the time I got there, things had already become very corporate, plastic, and self-absorbed.  I guess I was lucky to be indoctrinated by some folks who had been a part of this music and the culture it created since the 60's.  I can tell you I was coming into the scene at a time where many of those people were already winding it down and looking for peace and community in a less outward fashion.

 

I stopped seeing the dead for a spell based on many of these elements and a police state that seemed hell bent on aggressively infringing on personal liberties.  This coupled with the obvious decline in the performance of the band left me pretty disenchanted.  Still, taking a break for the 1st time in 5 years only lasted a few seasons.  I convinced myself that it was all that I knew and that I had to get back to a simpler time where the cold realities of life were less frigid - I thought it was what coming home was supposed to feel like.  It was indeed wishful thinking and turned out to be fraught with some serious consequnces, although I still feel lucky that I didn't stay away for the last couple of years.  While there were some very troubling experiences personally and I guess musically, I could still find and feel the magic that this music created. 

 

Can't really comment on the DSO  scene nowadays (even less-so for Furthur).  I am unplugged from the life the surrounds it although I get much of the same peace from the music - The very same feelings I felt when I had my peak expereinces with the GD.  It's decidely different now that my life doesn't surround the music to the extent that it did.  Now it's just an occasional transport to Shangri-La before an uncermonious exit.

[Alabama Getaway]

I was not lucky enough to be part of the Grateful Dead scene but I can speak from the view of a Panic fan.

Simply put, we had a fun little family party where we all got along and lived and loved life and the music. This secret finally got out and it sounds like a re-play of what DSO Honk saw happened again, things got really big, drugs got harder and more people showing just for the party and not the music.

The Furthur scene is pretty fun in my opinion but you see some of the same element there as well, that is why DSO has really started pulling me in folks really seem to be there for the music, family and of course to cut loose a bit.

Just my two cents, peace and love ABG.

[2muchfun]

I saw the Dead from 4/77 to the last show and generally concur with the others responding.

 

The main reason for the "deterioration" of the scene IMHO is the old demon....ALCOHOL 

 

When I first started seeing them you could easily get LSD, perhaps a little cocaine or a little "smoke" but there were no "Fat Sammies" being sold all over the place.

 

In addition as the generations changed it seemed like the people showing up also evolved into those that could not handle the drugs and especially the alcohol. We called them "Phishheads" and yes...they pretty much ruined the party. Along with them came the nitrous tanks which just aggravated everything to the nth degree.

 

I am one that enjoys a good "Shakedown St." which is lacking at DSO (Maybe a good thing. Be careful what you wish for!!) but is present at Furthur. I find it more like the 1990's then the 1970's but a little less out of control then the last days of Jerry. WSP pre show's are a bit more civil with lots of candymen around. 

 

Add death threats and being greeted by SWAT teams to the hippie crack and alcohol and it just got darker to the end...

 

...and personally 4 years later in 1999 there was light...it was DSO...and it was (and still is) good.

[bs69]

I went to my first show at 16 years old in 85' with friends who were older and had been going to shows for years. By the early 90's the crowd had gotten a lot younger as there was a large influx of younger folks and a lot of the older folks faded away. This led to a void in what I will call an "apprentice system". Young people were showing up at shows without anyone to show them the ropes and tell them how to behave. I must confess that during the 90's I did not really hang out and explore the scene, I came for the show and left pretty quickly after.

[gr8fulpair]

Radio killed the GD scene. Before Touch of Gray became a radio hit, the scene still retained much of the early elements of community. After it became a radio hit, it was the cool thing to be a dead head and go to a grateful dead show. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a poser. The Roanoke Civic center show got replaced by shows at Giants stadium. No more Foxx Theatre shows in Atlanta. 15,000 people would show up for a venue that holds 2,500. From about 88 on I tolerated it, found my niches of peace and love and still had a fucking good time. DSO makes me think this is what it was like seeing GD in small venues with minimal commercialism. As said, when it was ALL about the experience of the music.

[Supplicated Velvet Thunder]

I am one that enjoys a good "Shakedown St." which is lacking at DSO (Maybe a good thing. Be careful what you wish for!!) 

 

Hehe, yeah, you do like Shakedown, you bought a shirt from me my first DSO tour

 

I have heard from a lot of people that they stopped going in the late 80s (some even before.) I have heard from other people (younger) that went from sometime in the late 70s or early 80s to the rest and most of the later seem to prefer current dead-reconfiguration and lots of the former seem to prefer DSO.

 

If someone got into the scene early on, it is easy for me to see why they would either NEVER go to anything nowadays, or that they would go to DSO. If they got into it during the madness of the 80s or 90s, it would make sense that they enjoy Furthur etc.  I know this is not a totally applicable sentiment, but it is a trend I have noticed.

 

I myself have been guilty of going to Furthur to sell the stuff I make and then use the money to go see DSO (always get miracles at Furthur anyway- which is MUCH easier than at DSO except for those couple DSO shows per tour that there are freebies EVERYWHERE) and it is mostly because the LARGE scene is... well.... terrible.  And its not the numbers, a LOT of people can be cool, its just that the Dead as they are now are actually MARKETED so things like Furthur are canned parties for the people who need to "remember" the "good ol days" 

 

and DSO is for people who are still living them!

 

hehe, love ya'll!

[2muchfun]

I am one that enjoys a good "Shakedown St." which is lacking at DSO (Maybe a good thing. Be careful what you wish for!!) 

 

Hehe, yeah, you do like Shakedown, you bought a shirt from me my first DSO tour

 

I have heard from a lot of people that they stopped going in the late 80s (some even before.) I have heard from other people (younger) that went from sometime in the late 70s or early 80s to the rest and most of the later seem to prefer current dead-reconfiguration and lots of the former seem to prefer DSO.

 

If someone got into the scene early on, it is easy for me to see why they would either NEVER go to anything nowadays, or that they would go to DSO. If they got into it during the madness of the 80s or 90s, it would make sense that they enjoy Furthur etc.  I know this is not a totally applicable sentiment, but it is a trend I have noticed.

 

I myself have been guilty of going to Furthur to sell the stuff I make and then use the money to go see DSO (always get miracles at Furthur anyway- which is MUCH easier than at DSO except for those couple DSO shows per tour that there are freebies EVERYWHERE) and it is mostly because the LARGE scene is... well.... terrible.  And its not the numbers, a LOT of people can be cool, its just that the Dead as they are now are actually MARKETED so things like Furthur are canned parties for the people who need to "remember" the "good ol days" 

 

and DSO is for people who are still living them!

 

hehe, love ya'll!

Yea I remember well young lady....Huntington WV. it was and still is a cool shirt and wear it quite a bit...at DSO shows. By the way didn't I miracle you at Furthur show?

[Darbysdad2]

Brad Remembers The Boomers At The E-Factory "Shakedown St"

[Supplicated Velvet Thunder]

 

I am one that enjoys a good "Shakedown St." which is lacking at DSO (Maybe a good thing. Be careful what you wish for!!) 

 

Hehe, yeah, you do like Shakedown, you bought a shirt from me my first DSO tour

 

I have heard from a lot of people that they stopped going in the late 80s (some even before.) I have heard from other people (younger) that went from sometime in the late 70s or early 80s to the rest and most of the later seem to prefer current dead-reconfiguration and lots of the former seem to prefer DSO.

 

If someone got into the scene early on, it is easy for me to see why they would either NEVER go to anything nowadays, or that they would go to DSO. If they got into it during the madness of the 80s or 90s, it would make sense that they enjoy Furthur etc.  I know this is not a totally applicable sentiment, but it is a trend I have noticed.

 

I myself have been guilty of going to Furthur to sell the stuff I make and then use the money to go see DSO (always get miracles at Furthur anyway- which is MUCH easier than at DSO except for those couple DSO shows per tour that there are freebies EVERYWHERE) and it is mostly because the LARGE scene is... well.... terrible.  And its not the numbers, a LOT of people can be cool, its just that the Dead as they are now are actually MARKETED so things like Furthur are canned parties for the people who need to "remember" the "good ol days" 

 

and DSO is for people who are still living them!

 

hehe, love ya'll!

Yea I remember well young lady....Huntington WV. it was and still is a cool shirt and wear it quite a bit...at DSO shows. By the way didn't I miracle you at Furthur show?

YES you DID! THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[BCE_Kirk]

By 1994, the heroin and nitrous were out of control.  I think people started doing heroin because Jerry did it.  You could always spot them because they would have puke on their shoes and clothes.  Also, more people started begging rather than trying to sell something to make money.  By the end, the food scene in the parking lot was terrible.  People only selling grilled cheese sandwiches, which was a change.  In the 80's one could find some really delicious food being sold by conscientious folks. 

[Tom Banjo]

Then the furthur scene is a lot better than it was in 94. Jerry's kids, the ones who never saw Jerry play or my generation deadhead, mostly stay away from heroin because it killed and tormented Jerry. Don't get me wrong they're still kids doing heroin and other harder drugs that don't promote the wellness of the scene but at least heroin isn't as widespread. We all got our trials though.

[Teacher Matt]

I went to Dead shows from '86 thru '95 ...

 

I loved every one of the 68 shows I was able to make ....

 

I enjoyed the scene and did not let the "other stuff" ruin my good times ....

 

giddyup

[John A]

In the 80's one could find some really delicious food being sold by conscientious folks. 

 

I got some sort of tuna salad on a pita sandwich with a ranch style dressing in Laguna Seca '88 that blew me away.  I'd eat that once a week if a local shop served it.

 

By the end, the food scene in the parking lot was terrible.

 

By the end, I wouldn't have even strolled through the scene to get a handle of what was being served.  Just in the show and back to the car.

[Brian NJ]

Then the furthur scene is a lot better than it was in 94. Jerry's kids, the ones who never saw Jerry play or my generation deadhead, mostly stay away from heroin because it killed and tormented Jerry. Don't get me wrong they're still kids doing heroin and other harder drugs that don't promote the wellness of the scene but at least heroin isn't as widespread. We all got our trials though.

Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few