Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

Drove from the city (SF) to see 3 dead shows at red rocks. First show at RR was killer, but due to rain, next two nights were indoors at McNichols. Acoustics were fair, but visually just not the same. Crowd a bit subdued, maybe bummed because not at RR or maybe I am just used to Winterland vibe. First set highs: jack straw (always for me), Mexicali, TJed and Passenger. Second set better: opened with promised land, into ship of fools. Jerry jammed on Sampson and Delilah (like he usually does with that tune, kinda like Cumberland blues, at least to me) and terrapin. Band and fade away were great to. Encore was US blues and Johnny b. Goode which they did a lot back then.

Jack Straw, MNS were nicely done. Before second set I was hoping for a surprise - maybe as a consolation being forced indoors for two shows. When Promised Land started the second set my hopes were dashed. If they were goin' to play a repeat how about China Cat - Rider? Terrapin and Stella Dew were nicely done. After the show took a bus to the Grand Canyon for the first time WOW.

Drove from Athens,Ohio in my 66 VW bus with five friends, a dog and a boa constrictor. We just happened to be in front of the doors that were opened first and were crushed into the arena. I needed the little bottles of Wild Turkey I had smuggled in my socks. I wasn't sure if it was the near death experience getting in, the long road to get there, or the beautiful girl, who offered to do "anything" for my seat in the third row in front of Jerry, but I was flying high on adrenaline before the show even started. I saw many shows in the years to come, but this one felt like a brain transplant. I was never the same boy again. I somehow fixated on the line "it would not make me tremble to see ten thousand fall." Years later and a lot of acid under the bridge, it seemed sometimes like I had lost that many friends. The one thing I hold onto though was the feeling that, at the shows in the moment it was forever and always will be.