Grateful Dead

Best Grateful Dead scene ever...Lobster before show...Lots of people / camping...Last of cool scenes...UltraLight fly over...

This was a great scene. Remember after the 2nd night when the copter took off with (presumably) the band in it and the crowd cheered? Great moment. Lots of band member banter too which was nice to hear.

Yes, this was an amazing scene. Totally lawless yet peaceful. Little Feat were a blast but the Dead were right on top of their game. My favorite Crazy Fingers of all time.

The first night I didn't have a ticket. But they had PA cabinets on forklifts all around the back of the place. I found a spot with one forklift just on the other side of a plain old wire fence. It was facing away from me of course but you still heard everything pretty good. There were a bunch of people there enjoying the show, and there was no trying to jump the fence or anything like that. Things were soo cool that by drums & space the security guards were sitting down. I think that's a great example of how relaxed the scene was there.

Great weather, great crowd, great scene, great shows. Definitely one of my peak Head experiences. And what a vending scene; probably only the little park across from the Kaiser in Oakland offered a better one. Roast lamb with hummus on a bagel for $3: best (legal) thing I ever bought from a vendor! "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

The summer of 1988 I was between 7th and 8th grade, and had been a deadhead since 5th grade when I bought my first tape of the GD with my own money after hearing. My older cousin had (unknown to me) been going on tour here and there for many years. She finds out I like the Dead and she says next time they come round she’ll take me. Well my parents weren’t going for this, but they said if my older sister (at the time she was about 16/17, and a total prude) went with us than I could go. They knew she would keep a tight leash on me. Well just 2 weeks before the show her a-hole BF told her that “only druggies go to Dead shows and if you go, we are through.” So needless to say my prudish and emotionally abused sister decides not to go, which means I didn’t get to go. I almost went anyway, but my parents caught me hiding in my neighbor’s car (who was going). The Dead never come back to Maine and it was one of the greatest shows! Argh! It’s almost 20 years later and I am still pissed, is that wrong? It’s the one thing I’ve ever regretted not doing. I was able to get a bootleg within days of the show, but man; I really hated her for that. Especially since she went to the Foxboro show the next summer and had a friggin’ blast.

Yeah that ultralight went over and the Band got off the stage. Veryshort first set. Really well decribed by everybody. Peaceful and the cops stayed clear. I only saw two the whole time.

This was my first show I remember that during Jack Straw Phil started dropping these enourmous bass notes during the closing jam. From where I was in the Phil Zone up front it was so powerful it buckled your knees. I never heard or saw him do that again. The band was clearly having fun as can be heard in the first set stage banter. I had a friend in the front row that kept yelling for Mickey to sing. The scene outside the show was enourmous I remember looking from the grandstands outside the show and realizing their were as many people outside the show as inside. Too bad the Dead never returned to Maine.

DKNJ: This was THE Best East Coast scene ever. Beautiful setting. Once you were in, you were staying, and thank god.We were planning to get yet another crappy hotel and we ended up camping Woodstock Style. Completely ungoverned and totally mellow. I sold enough Phil Zone stickers to have lobster dinner in portland the next day.

Thanks to tigertrance for the one he put up but we need more from the camp grounds, since we all agree about how beautyful this place was. Also I remeber the morning of the 2nd show the local paper did a story about these shows and we all came off very well. Evidently these shows went much better than "The Monsters Of Rock" the week before. I've tried to find out what paper that might have been in on the net but no luck. If anyone out there knows what paper it was(or heck if anyone saved a copy they could post that!) getting ahold of that would be really cool.

On This Night Drums "The Public Service Channel" Space "The Drawing Room Wall" Check Out My Orignal Music at myspace.com/salaversano

Wiggled my way up to row 5 or so...high as a kite on a tab or two, wink wink..."Terrapin" especially was a richly rendered wonder of aesthetic form and lyrical profoundity...remember Bob was especially focused on guitar and Brent was fervidly intense on the keyboards...and at the end The Dead took off in their helicopter, leaving us mere mortals with ringing ears and a long way home (or an infinite journey to the car at least). The blazing peak of an indelible weekend... T.S. Minton Publisher, T.S. Minton Blogs "The Mind-Boggling Blog That's Guaranteed to Keep on Boggling" http://tsmintonblog.blogspot.com

Guys (and girls), The ultralight flew over THE NEXT NIGHT, while they were playing Bird Song... a cool irony.

I agree with all previous comments that these shows were a special time. SPAC; great place, average show this year. Rochester; cool stadium, fantastic show. Oxford; lay roots in the parking lot for days, best scene I ever particpated in, two excellent shows. Funny parking lot moment: After (I think) the first show, a group of friends and I were walking around the parking / camping areas enjoying our buzzes and each others company as we meandered about running into a beautiful mix of music, drums, campfires and so on. We came across this monster dome tent in a dark and quiet area of one of the lots. We stood there and admired this thing for a few minutes making such comments among ourselves as "Man, that thing is huge", "I've never seen a tent that big", "Holy crap, look at that thing". After a bit of this, my friend noticed a note taped to the tent near the door. We approach the thing trying to read it in the dark and finally make out the one sentence, "Wow, what a big tent !!!" Seemed really funny to us that someone could read our minds when they were not even there. I guess we weren't the only ones to admire the tent that day.

maine dead rocks

bobby in pink

Lawlessness, but no need for cops, everyone policed themselves. Those were the days! Does anyone remember that there was a small planes airport nearby, and at night when the planes were coming in campers were shooting fireworks toward the planes?(being close to 4th of July) They were coming in low over the lot and turning green and purple, etc. with explosions all around. I was surprised that the cops didn't even come for that. Maybe it was just the hallucinagenics!?! More pictures: http://www.photog.com/gdead/80s/88/7-2&3/index.html

Check out this link to more photos of that great scene. http://www.photog.com/gdead/80s/88/7-2&3/index.html Don't miss pages 2 & 3 also.

Sorry, I forgot I already posted the link.

great time, great show... i met some great people..especially raven (girl), phil from new hampshire..i remember it started to rain and i made my way back to our pick up and when i got there i lifted up the back and there was 3 people in the back drinking my beer....the guy said..."hey man, it was raining, so we jumped in the back and fancied a beer, here, we have this"..then pulled out a huge bag of weed and we all got stoned sitting in the back of the pick up whilst the rain lashed down outside.. you cant buy memories like these

my first live dead exp. was a little fuzzy-I never seen the band live but me n my buddies drove down to worcester in 87 to party n try to score tix we didnt get in, but the show was broadcasted live on the radio and we got some shrooms,I remember thinking how cool it was that people were hanging on every song and writing it all down in little notebooks. anyway,I was really blown away by the whole scene and thought “I have to see this for myself” so the next year we got tix for Oxford from an older Deadhead that we knew (Iwas only 18) and we drove up to Maine for the Deadfeat shows.We got there a day early and the lot was already rockin' and thought this is gonna be cool. I didnt know too much about Dead music,but I knew I liked it.My older Deadhead friends had been schooling me on the music and was definitly ready to see the Band beyond desription. anyway- I made the typical young kid mistake of staying up all night and partying all over the parking lots(met alot of cool people though!)next thing I knew it was “day break on the land”-I was in ruff shape and it was HOT!! so I made yet another mistake and ate 3 gooneybirds(“too much too fast”)next thing I knew it was showtime and Im standing on the speedway w/ a full ticket in my hand and littlefeat onstage(dont ask me how) and all my friends were nowhere in sight! oh well I thought,i'll run into them at some point. so I walked to the back fence and saw some girl w/ an “I need a miracle” sign and gave her my ticket. she was very excited and thanked me about a thousand times! that made me feel so much better. so now it was getting dark and the crowd started gathering closer to the stage, then all of a sudden tme crowd exploded and I looked up and saw jerry+Co. cassually strolling onto the stage. they stood there tinkering and tuning and shooting the shit w/ eachother like there was'nt 70,000 people waiting for them to play and I thought “these guys are great,they dont really give a fuck”HA HA HA - anyhoo,they launched into the clap along, sing along, rockin' good time aiko-aiko and looked around and never in my life had I seen so many happy people in one place! next thing I know somebody taps me on the shoulder and it's the "Miracle girl!!" she gives me this huge bearhug and hands a smoldering bowl full of sweet blonde hash. I looked around and thought "I AM HOME AT LAST" after that I went every Dead,Jerry,+Weir show that I possibly could! And Im so glad I did-Grateful Dad-George Hargrove

Did anyone happen to stop into my place, Pajak's Pizza Barn, on the way to or fro the show? You had to pass by on the way if you were coming from the south, and we were swamped with kind customers all week. Big barn on the southbound side of Route 26 in Gray, Maine... we had SYF's on our sign, music blaring, The Movie on the telly, and I actually traded Alaska tapes for all-you-can-eat-pizza with some guys from Quebec. We stayed open almost all night long the nights of the shows. Being local, I knew backroads in, so I was able to sneak away from the restaurant long enough to catch most of the 2nd show, sneak out, and get back to serve up fresh whole wheat 'za to hungry heads as they headed home. Lotsa stories from that weekend... "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." - Ken Kesey

Spectrum glasses............................

O Man!!! One of my top 5 shows and scenes. The 2 days I spent in Maine was full of magic!!! Good vibes, food, company, and locals.

This really was a great scene. Perfect weather, perfect people & no cops. What laid back band it was too that took the stage. When the show started with Iko, then ripping right into Jack Straw I thought for sure this was gonna be one for the record books. Then it did go bad it just got mellow. The Row Jimmy was so laid back you could hear lobsters in the ocean. It was beautiful. But then the new stuff came out, & I wasn't in the mood. Every show, the same new material & I just wasn't havin it. My girl & I differed on opinion, so I volunteered to scout for freinds. I took my time, could really find anyone. This place was pretty big. Once Victim started I got kinds annoyed, so I sat for a moment, sparked a phat one & just smoked & contemplated. A brother came up & asked if he could partake, I said sure. We smoked, talked about the tour, our locales, ya know, that sorta shit. Then came Foolish Heart, I was just not psyched, he asked me if I was ok. I fealt kinds akward, but I told him anyway that I was burnt on all the new material. I wanted a 'new material' free show. He did say much, but made a gesture, I alone could undestand. He gave me the tinyest drop of liquid. It was perfect!! Then my wish was granted, that second set was pure biblical magic. What up popper, I miss you brother.

I remember my girlfriend and I talking to a 20 foot tall clown that was walking around on stilts. We never laughed so hard in all our lives. Best trip of my life. Best scene of my life.

Took 'em during the traffic jam on the way in, parked in a field and set up tents, then walked to the show. No effect -- they must have been bogus. So, we got some more, took 'em, and started to notice effects almost immediately (seriously within seconds)! Uh-oh. maybe the first ones weren't bogus after all! What a scene outside! Kind folks spread out as far as you could see! We must have walked around the place about 5 times before the show started. Minds melting, peeking spots and "synthetic something". I think I was selling "Here Comes Sunshine" posters, but ended up giving most of them away instead. I also may have given away some "Aint No Time To Hate" tie-dyes. (If you have either of these, I would love to see what they looked like.) Then we camped out on a hill by some sort of booth and grooved with everyone else -- easily more people outside than inside. Everyone was dancing and enjoying the show even though we could not get in. I remember looking back to see the hill as an undulating texture of color and smiles. Cool. Playin', Uncle John's and Terrapin were out of this world, and then the swarm of humanity headed toward the gates! They let us all in for free during Drums, I think, and so in we went, running under the bleachers, through the crowd and up to the top during Morning Dew. One of us dropped our 'cigarette' down through the bleachers during 'Gimme Some Lovin'. We climbed all the way down below the bleachers, and somehow found it STILL LIT, and brought it all the way back up for everyone to finish enjoying. Announcement: "Attention! There is a mass exodus leaving via the concessions area" as we filed out. Maybe that was the booth we were dancing next to outside. Walking back to the camp site was a trip too, seeing halos around our shadowed heads, stopping to check out all of the wares set up along the road, and just digging the fact that we Heads had completely overrun the tiny hamlet of Oxford and everything was cool. (Apparently that was NOT the case the previous weekend with the Monsters of Rock crowd). If there was ever a weekend that helped to define who I am today, this is it. Thanks guys

There on this fellow Jim Anderson's site. You can't download them (He'll sell you a print) but you can check them out. It shows what a nice place this was and how much fun it was to be there (Or is is "A Short Time To Be There" ?)http://www.photog.com/gdead/80s/88/7-2&3/index.html Check Out My Orignal Music at myspace.com/salaversano

does anyone have any photos from this show they would like to share with a proud atendee?

Thanks for the amazing pix! what a weekend it was. magical!

first show......my life was never the same again after this day.

Gotta love the first night Iko, Jack Straw Phil Bombs and Jerry's West LA at the Big Green Light on the Maine Speedway into banter from everyone on stage. I want you to Yell for Billy, Brent and Mickey and Steveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! How about Volunteers from the audience?? Oh you are to kind!!!! Crazy first night after show hanging with Friends and partying in the woods, drove the next morning for miles (take this left; now a right after the lake - look a Moose) to find ice so we could have cold beers prior to and after the show. Great Camping, scene and beautiful weather; one of my favorite adventures with my friends.

totally agree, best one ever! Perfect both lyrically and musically

What a show ........... Love Jerry

Awesome show I love Jerry

Great memory great show great friends

I can't say it was the best show musically of some 30+ shows attended between 1980 and mid 90's but it was second to none when it comes to the experience, atmosphere, environment and select musical notes. With my mind slighly altered and standing pretty close to the stage in front of Phil, the bass plucks on Jack Straw vibrated my soul. I remember like it was yesterday. The sun setting behind the stage and Phil toying with us. I can't explain why Wheel sounds so soothing coming out of space, it just is. Best time ever.

My friends and I were set up on blankets way back behind one or maybe two sets of repeater towers, so at some point I decided to venture up front. I couldn't go more than ten feet through the packed crowd without someone offering me whatever they were smoking. It was a long time before I found my way back. I still believe that these shows had the purest sound I've ever heard.