Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

This was my first show. I got to go because my friend Bennett decided not to. I was amazed (and gratified) at the existence of teenage hippies at that late date, and that was the first thing I noticed. But by the end of the first set (the last of the acoustic sets), with the whole Oakland Auditorium surging, clapping and singing along with Ripple, and Jerry's voice carrying above it all with "If I knew the way, I would take you home..." -- well, I figured I had to find out more about this stuff. And here I am.

and I was pretty spaced from doing most of the fall tour, I remember we danced a whole right through the floor and I got to shake hands with Bill Graham. "if you get confused..."

This was my first show ever...at least the first one I remember. My Mom worked for Bill Graham Presents, so we got to hang out backstage. Since I was only six years old I ended up in the day care room with Wavy Gravy (in clown garb), and all the other little Dead Head kids. Wavy made balloon animals and we all had a blast. I remember Bill Graham on the skull too...great memories.

I told my friends not to buy those tickets. I had a spot near the front of the line. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the ticket booth. They went for a walk and spent our cash on trash. We went back to Jane and Anne's to crash and the next evening went to the show. Woo Whoo! New Year's Eve! Here we come! He ripped the tickets, shook his head and said, "Bad Tickets, man!" We hung for a while just to see what was goin' down on the scene outside the show. It was to much of a bummer so we went for a beer and a smoke. Back on the BART to Berkeley, then the long slow ride to the Wild Northland. NEXT YEAR they'll listen to me!

Unbelivably this was my 40th show of 1980. From my other posts you can tell what kind of year it was. It was my first experience with Wavy Gravy and the clown outfit blew me away. He was a very nice guy too. New years eve counts down with Bill and the band breaks into Sugar Mag. By the time Brokedown ended we were completely exhausted. I don't know how these guys were able to do what they did.

I think I went to 2 shows on this run and most likely new year. Giant shull ring a distant bell. I really don't have any distinct memories of this week at all which is highly unusual. Maybe because the Radio City show on 10/29 was so exceptional. I agree with fishnow. I rarely went to shows 2 days in a row. Unless there were only 2! I was just too wiped out to do it again in less than 24 hrs. And by this time the band definitely had their ups & downs. Usually would go to a first show. Let them get their feet wet. Then if there was an "off day" at the same venue go the next show after they had a bit of a rest.

my first NYE show.the first of 11 out of the next 12

New Year's Eve Sold Out, of course, but life is what you make of it. The Dead's crew rigged up speakers for us outside the theater in the adjacent park, and hundreds of DeadHeads hung out all night, listening to the show live, only a few yards away. No other road crew ever did anything like that in all my years of live concerts. Thanks to the Dead and their crew for taking care of us on that magical and (mostly) memorable night.

as most of you know this show is also on you tube, entire show to boot. Even includes a good view of what it was like for us outside. tent city in Oakland.

I joined that tribe at 2 in San Francisco New years eve 1984! Have some crazy vivid memories; wavy gravy, mike the magician, sitting on ken keseys lap for a story (wish i had photos bc no one believes that!) . Do you recall bein brought on stage at new years shows ! I remember the balloons always came down and the adults being awesome and making sure we all got one. Most of my childhood memories are from dead shows and always having a blast. Nice to meet another backstage daycare kiddo!

A family friend sent me some photos of her time seeing shows in winter 1980, including some old scans of photos from NYE, backstage hangin with Bobby and a ticket stub from this show and 12/14. Would be willing to provide to add to the show page!