The Spectrum
January 12, 1979
Philadelphia, PA US
Set List:
Jack StrawCandyman
El Paso
Tennessee Jed
BIODTL
Peggy-O
Passenger
Deal
Samson
Roses
Dancin
Drumz
NFA
GDTRFB
Sugar Magnolia
U. S. Blues
Previous Show
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Utica Memorial Auditorium - January 14, 1979 »Attendees of this show
i believe this was my first show with my brother, keith and donna and my best friend tells me that they were not there but i have pictures and unless i was really trippin more than i thought that was keith and donna on stage with jerry, bobby, mickey, phil and billy....
K&D were there; I don't believe Donna left the tour until Providence or Hartford or something.
My first. Nuff said.
Whoa!!! What have you gotten yourself into?
This was the first time I saw several shows in a row. It started in Philadelphia and ended a week later with this show. I thought the first set was ok. Second set was was really enjoyable, maybe because it was the first time in a week they didn't play Good Lovin'. Also found it odd they played Roses at both Philly shows. Loved the Dancin/Jerry,Bill Jam into drums. During the week I didn't hear anything about Kieth and Donna leaving. I always thought a female voice as part of the harmony added to the Dead experience. This show marked an end of the Kieth/Donna era for me. After the show it snowed again. My ride down from NY continued to the Volunteer Jam, I had to take Amtrack back.
I drove to this concert from Keansburg,NJ. During the concert I remember looking outside and seeing snow coming down. After the concert made the long, snowy drive back to Jersey.
I received some upgrades to some of the shows on this tour so it seemed like a good time to give the tour a second listen. To put it bluntly, this is not a good show. In looking over my notes from the 1st set, let me just pull out 3 words I used in describing what I heard: "forced," "competent," "uninspiring." That's not good. The 1st set is forgettable. Set 2 starts off the same way. Samson has some life to it, which is something I guess. Roses features a somewhat pretty but clearly lazy solo. Then something happens, a spark flies, FrankenJerry comes alive, and for 25 minutes we get an [at least somewhat] inspired Dancing in the Street. Now, I don't think this is a great version, but it is at least very good, and in this show at least, it is a highlight. The pre-drums jam with just Jerry and the drummers is especially noteworthy. It's still based on the Dancing theme so I include it as part of the song (thus, the 25 minute Dancing). Post-drums is ok, it's better than the 1st set but I wouldn't call any of it better than good at best. In sum, this is a show that I will never listen to again, twice is more than enough, excepting the Dancing. Subpar show, 5/10 overall
Location
After Novembers snow storm, near misses and lucky to be alive driving. Nobody could get a car.We were screwed....Anybody want to buy an unused 1-12-79 ticket