Grateful Dead

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Intense show, with consistently high-quality performances throughout. Hot "Stranger" to lead off, with a spontaneous-feeling "Weight" and strong "Easy" as first-set highlights. "Heart" an effective second-set opener, and the "Last Time" flowing out of "Gone" packed a punch. "Death" and "River" were both unexpected and nearly flawless.

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The day of this show, my buddy and I decided to check out Atlanta and do a little sight seeing and found an area that was had an art fair in the middle of a collegiate type area. We hung out there for a couple hours before heading towards the show noticing some flyers posted with Jerry's face that was billed as Slim Chance and the Convicts. Obviously an April Fools prank. I snagged one. When we drove back to the CNN center we noticed that the area that was the vending area from the first show was completely closed for parking so we drove around the immediate vicinity to find a different place to park than the ramp. Lo and behold behind the CNN building was a large storage area for semi trailers or train cars in a big overgrown field that turned out to be the new vending spot that was virtually ignored by the main police force though obviously there were a few about looking for people selling drugs.Inside the show, our seats we side bowl again by Brent but farther out. I remember this show being particularly good. The crowd reaction during The Weight was like a Dark Star breakout. Another perfect show all the way through. Short but sweet. After the concert we headed back to the new parking spot and the vending was at full steam including a few campers. We hun g out for a while when suddenly this young guy approaches us and who was obviously tripping pretty hard told us that he lost his friends. After chatting with him for a bit, he told us that he'd been doing the whole spring tour and he taped every show and if we would let him hang with us he'd make copies for us. We were excited because my buddy had brand new tape deck and we could record all his tapes back at the hotel room so we said sure. So he pulled out all his tapes from his duffle bag and we got to hear all ther Cap Center, Knickerbocker, Nassau, Hampton and Copps shows not to mention the Omni first and second nights. It was a stroke of luck that we met this guy and he inspired us to start taping shows ourselves.

Whoops, I said Hampton but meant Hartford.

I had seen the Nassau lists, so The Weight wasn't a total surprise, however, being in the middle of the first set and the way they did it with each member taking a verse was a treat. My favorite verse was always the "Luke waiting on the judgement day, keep Anna Lee company" verse, and when Phil sung it, I just cracked up laughing. I hope I didn't ruin anybody's tapes doing that, but it struck me as so funny, I couldn't help myself. Bless Phil with his atonal croon! That just made my night. Death Don't was powerful, very dark and spooky, which I guess is the point of the song. Eternal Consciousness Enjoyin the Ride, Haybrown

I drove down from Cincy for this show. I was working 3rd shift and had a sleep schedule of 8 am to 4 pm. I checked into a Scottish Inn about 9 am the day before the show. The room decor was a lovely shade of mildew. I crashed and got up around 5 and started doing some homework (I was also going to college at the time in addition to working fulltime). 7am before the show, I went to bed. At 7:30, housekeeping called to see if I wanted the room cleaned. I said no. They called back every half hour until I gave up on sleep at 4 pm and headed to the show. If memory serves H.W.Bush was speaking near the Omni that day and as I was wandering around outside before the show I enjoyed seeing an odd mix of Dead Heads and Secret Service agents intermingling. Right after the show, I had to drive back to Cincy on about 3 hours sleep.

Yo, you gotta love those serindipitous (sp?) moments like that - leads to the magic...

I will never forget this show. 15 years old and happy as humans are able. I was sober all night long. SO glad. I saw them quite a bit after this show, but this was the best. Horrible seats and all, but it didn't matter. SO so so glad.