An excellent suggestion from Hal R., picking up on a thread in another topic: how did you get on the bus? What was that moment that left no room for doubt?
Probably no two stories are the same, but they're all probably pretty interesting, so tell all here!
I first heard Truckin when I was in high school and that was the only dead song I knew for a long time and I really liked it. I heard Touch of grey later when they did the (1987) video. I wasn't really hooked until I attended my first Dead show of 92 in Vegas. I knew from that point on I wanted to see them as many times as I could and get my hands on any bootlegs that I could.
Little did I know that I was going to be an adventure like Ive never been on before.
I found the dead purely by accident, a punk with multi colored hair until i entered into the military. Came home got a job and boy was that security gaurd cute. took me to a hockey game and played scratchy dead tapes all the way there. I kept thinking what is this crap. By the second date I was hooked. In fact I was so hooked, that I listened to my first show on the radio, back when they used to play the new years shows on the radio. Had no idea what I was in for. I slept over night for the tickets and drove to the lot the night before my first show july 89 and never looked back, I don't know if it was the drum circles or the food or the people or that feeling of belonging or the strawberry pancakes in the morning before the show or just the kindness. I was soooooo into it I drove all the way to Giants stadium non stop just to experience one more time less than 24 hours after my first show. 20 years later I have the same butterflies as I pull out the old stuff that has been boxed up for the last few years and prep for tour. I have never gotten off the bus, time just marches on faster that I can and leaves none for slowing down to listen to the music play
Generally, it was hearing their WB albums and seeing The Grateful Dead Movie. Oh yeah, and one of the New Year's concerts in which "Hell in a Bucket" just steadily blew me away. Big time. Unfortunately, I was never able to see the Dead in concert. Came this close sometimes, but something always seemed to happen and the tickets never came through. Did get to see the '94 Floyd tour, though. 11th row on the floor, dead in front of David Gilmour. When the fireballs erupted, I just basked in the heat, since I'd given my flannel shirt to a friend so she could cover up. Gets cold up in Birmingham at night.
26 years ago today, in fact, at this very hour 3 PM, I at 19 arrived in Richmond VA with a general admission ticket to see the Dead at the Richmond Coliseum. This was about the 8th show I had ever seen and it was different because I was brave enough to go the show with quite casual friends, In effect, this was truly my first Dead show basically alone.
The weather was a day very much like today. Fall in the south, crispy bright sunlight, upper 70s, to cool down to upper 50s on the overnight.
These were the days of Dead shows where the floor was all general admission and they were never sold out.
Anyway, I do not remember much of the pre-concert festivities, I do remember that the party materials were awesome.
The Show
I remember the inner joy when the lights went down and the band took the stage…..I was on the floor near the sound board in front of the tapers……The band tuned up for what seemed like an eternity….a full 2 minutes of tuning….endless…..then broke into a seriously musically intense Song 1 Feel Like A Stranger…..Jerry’s jam at the end showed he was seriously on tonight and I remember him teasing us with a few Franklin’s Tower licks…..then, another long tuning and I moved closer to the stage….the folks that had crowded up dissipated some……Song 2 Friend of the Devil, a crowd pleaser but not my favorite….slow song that doesn’t match my buzz….The jam was long and mellow…..more people left the floor in front of me so I moved ever closer….by now perhaps half the floor from the stage….Jerry-side…..Song 3 New Minglewood Blues…..body rush, great song, tight band, great smoking version….it was an on music night……I danced my way closer…..from Minglewood…into Song 4 BROWN EYED WOMEN….one of the best songs ever….closer and closer I danced up…..at this point I was 10 or 15 feet from Jerry and mesmerized……..I had plenty of room, owing to the huge barf splat and a naked dude dancing to left of me….no matter, I had the Dead and I was so dancing with glee….and Jerry and I made eye contact….my first direct eye contact….Jerry - such a nice person…..Song 5 Cassidy...yay…Song 6 West LA Fadeaway….Song 7 Hell in a Bucket….at this tour both songs were brand spanking new…..finally Song 8 DEAL….a great version, great first set……
Set 2….after a lot of dithering and tuning….Jerry, obviously playfully annoyed with Bobby, who Jerry wanted to pick the song and Bobby didn’t….breaks into a set opening Day Job….odd but true…..then…..and I say then with incredibly body rushes as I type this…into Playin in the Band – Jam – Crazy Fingers…..this was and remains one of the best 80s dead playing in the band jams…..and crazy fingers…..”something new is waiting to be born”…..drums…space….s smoking Truckin out of space….incredible Spoonful….Wharf Rat….again me, maybe 4 or 5 people deep directly in front of Jerry….mega eye contact….into the continuation of the Bobby play fight…Jerry starts Sugar Magnolia….then Bobby changes it to Good Lovin!.....”you may be weak you may be blind…but even a blind man knows when the sun is shining….cuz he can FEEL IT….”……oooooo got to have lovin!
US Blues encore….and me from this moment on a forever Dead head. This show, this day, changed my life. God Bless the good old Grateful Dead.
wow
all i can say was back right after harvest in 73 ish...i went to Winterland as i always did ..
i think it was a three or a five day run,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
but that did it
I had a deja vous which began earlier that afternoon and kept recurring. The mini-journey into Red Rocks is quite trippy...like another land...I knew I was walking into a time standing still zone and just kind of went with that. I was with my sis so it felt like home. Linda Ronstadt was playing before they went on and somewhere in that space I entered the bus stop zone. Flash forward to today and all the miles inbetween...think being on the bus is the moment when you can completely show up as yourself and vibrate freely with the perfect c and g sound that's in everything. They have that sound going on..that gift, so it's really when you are able and ready to tune in to the offering...
Ever since I was in my mothers womb i was a complete dead head. From the night my mom found out she was pregnant up until she went into labor my dad would play the dead to her stomach every night, not missing a night. It's in my blood and bones I feel I was developed by the grateful dead. My first show (i remember vividly, not including shows of a young girl) was absolutly amazing. It was at the Gorge Ampitheatre and I had never felt so right in my entire life. Just amazing. All people reading this would probably agree The Dead isn't just music, it's a way of life that just moves you so deeply. To just dance under the stars, and feeling as free as I felt that night words can't even explain
It's my way of life, I live for the music, and it's the best!
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Joined: 05/26/07