Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

Still don't "get" it. poor poor pitiful me.

Yep just as good as any. Just fu*king hot

30 Years ago! Unbelievable how quickly time has flown in this long strange trip we call Life. I feel so honored that this wonderful show was released by the band as one of their Road Trips series and that it was my Virgin show. The band absolutely LOVED PHIL-adelphia and The Spectrum in particular. In describing the disc set they even say, “A lively and powerful dose of Grateful Dead from one of the band’s all-time favorite venues...” It is also one of the only buildings the played 5 different decades in; 60’s (w/ Iron Butterfly & Steppenwolf) through 2009 (w/ The Dead lineup). At their 50th show there a huge tie-dyed banner commemorating that feat was lowered from the Spectrum rafters like a retired uniform number or a championship. The Spectrum listed this as one of their top moments in the history of the building. (rememberthespectrum.com)I was fortunate enough to grow up in the Philly burbs and caught most of their record 53 Spectrum shows from this day forward until my last when they broke out Unbroken Chain. Phil Lesh during soundcheck – “NO! I wanna do it in PHILLY man!” From what I experienced in that old building (may it RIP), I can say there was always an added buzz to the air when they came to Philly. The band felt this energy and built on it, making for some fabulous shows. Even on nights when they may not have felt the best or were maybe not singing the best they always seemed to kick it up a notch to build that Philly Phever to a boiling point. Interesting notes on this one. I remember coming out of the Broad Street Subway to freezing cold temperatures and snowing like crazy. We were like WTF, this is April! We went up to The Spectrum and were banging on the doors to let us in. They actually let us in a half hour early because it was so nasty outside. After the concert we had to wait for the same subway in 5-6 inches of snow bundled up in concert shirts for friends. They kicked it off with, what else? – Cold Rain and Snow. The crowd exploded and the race was on. Great first set with a lot of good songs and energy. I tend to gravitate towards soundboards for the most part but this recording is fabulous and gives you that sense of the excitement of the crowd without sacrificing the sound. I especially loved the energy of Might As Well with Jerry screaming “And the poor boy’s on the line!” 2nd set was epic. Shakedown Street was a funk monster that came flying out, shook you up and down, and left you begging for more. My favorite song of all time and this is my favorite version. The interplay between Jerry and Brent is phenomenal. Starts about 8:00 in, crowd really starts going crazy around 9:23, and then Jerry goes off on his own again at about the 9:45 mark. St of Circumstance Bob ad-libs, “May be crazy, may be outta line now. I’m on the road and I’m feelin’ fine now.” Truckin’ – goes with the old school beginning with the whistle. Bob adds the “Ever since she went and had a sex change” line. Other One – SMOKIN hot! Who cares about a missing verse. The bus came by this night and I got on! Morning Dew Phil was thundering. Jerry gets the most quiet and soulful on tis rendition too, it’s beautiful. I loved this show and have not stopped dancing to "The Boys" since this epic evening.