Grateful Dead

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These shows were bitter sweet for me. Even purchasing tickets was an adventure.The day tickets went on sale, my buddy and I drove down to Chicago early in the morning to get them from one of the local outlets and were suprised to be the first in line not realising that bracelets were given out the night before. About a half hour or so before the place opened people with bracelets began to show up and we were suddenly aware that we had to go to the back of the line after everyone who had bracelets. So we went from thinking we were first in line to about 300+ people behind. So tickets go on sale and the line was moving slowly. After about 20 minutes of waiting someone drove up and said another outlet down the street had no line and no bracelets. We immediately ran to the car, drove up the block and quickly entered the outlet and sure enough, no line. Of course by this time the pavillion was sold out for all 3 shows but lawn tickets were available so we bought 4 for the first night and 2 for the second and third night. Happy to have tickets at all we decided to drive by the still brand new amphitheater to check it out so on our way and passing the outher outlet, noticed that the line there was still huge. So we get to The World Music Theater and sure enough, it looked quite ominous but the lot was opened so we decided what the heck. So we pulled in and just a few workers were about and were able to pull right up to the theater itself. We climbed the hill to take a peek and sure enough, David Bowie was performing that night and we got to observe the setup. Pretty cool. So we leave Tinley Park and head back to West Michigan knowing that Steve Miller was playing that very same day at a nice rustic outdoor venue called Val-Du-Lakes on a nice hill overlooking some nice beach dunes. So we drove straight there after getting Dead tickets and watching the Bowie stage setup. When we arrived at the Steve Miller show, it was sold out but we were able to score tickets in the parking lot quickly. That concert like many I've seen there was absolutely fantastic. Fast forward to late July. Myself and my buddy who had tickets for all three shows and two other buddies just planned on going the first night so we took two cars and followed our other buddies. When we were approaching the venue, we were in the traffic jam from hell. Our other 2 buddies in the car that we followed (and was both of their first Dead show) decided to skip the traffic jam and drive on the shoulder so we followed. After cutting in front of a couple miles of stuck traffic, we made it to the exit and probably saved over an hour wait. When we finally parked, there was little to no vending. The parking hassle and no vending were a couple bad points from the get go. So we eventually head into the show to find a spot to sit and realise what an absolutely horrible venue this place was. It was like a hollowed out skyscraper with a lawn hill next to it. The show itself was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was on top of their game and Brent was playing beautifully. Every song was played with inspiration and energy. This had to have been one of the best shows of the summer. Plenty of rockers, stretched out jams and even a great post drums Crazy Fingers. Birdsong and Scarlet>Fire were awesome.

thse were great shows all 3 nights. Everyone was comin over the fence and the boys were playin good. If we only knew this would be one of the last times we'd be hearin from our friend brent.I'm truely grateful that I got to spend listenin to him on his last few days with us. That's for everything brent!!!!!

I drove down from the northwest suburbs with my wife & 5 year old daughter. We didn't have tix but figured we'd score some in the lot. I parked on the side of the road to avoid paying for parking... there was a cop nearby and I asked him if it was OK to park there. He said "Sure, go ahead". We then walked quite far to get to the venue and hung around, talking & looking for tix. Never found any, but we stayed anyways, listening from outside, dancing in our own little world & enjoying the fine clear night. During the encore break we decided to take off, trying to avoid the crowd. We walked all the way back to the car, but it was gone! Towed! The same cop was still there and I confronted him, saying that he told me I could park there. He said "Yup, but I didn't say you wouldn't get towed". What a jerk. We ended up walking to the Police Station, carrying my tired little daughter most of the way. We got a ride from some kind folk whose friend was in the same predicament. They then drove us to the impound lot where the bunch of us pooled our money to get our cars out. We got home around dawn. I haven't been back to that venue since. Screw Tinley Park!!

I as well was at this one, but was ill prepared for my first show experience. Didn't really matter though, except that we never got tickets. Probably could have gotten them if we really knew what the scene was all about at the time. Truly overwhelmed by the scene; scored some nice tabs here and just hung out in the lot all day. Went to the backside of the hill and didn't even realize the band had been playing for over an hour; it was actually midway through the second set. The music was coming over nicely and met some super kind folks here. Next day went downtown to score tickets but none found, so went back to the lot and had a blast. I remember losing our car early in the day in the lot, and standing on some guys canoe he had strapped upside down on his truck and told us we could look for it up there. We were peaking and when we got up there, realized just how many people were here. It was one of the most amazing sights I'd ever seen. We scoped it all out visually and after about 20 minutes, the guy asked if we had found our car yet, and we were like "oh man, thats right! We were looking for our car!" Finally found it, and then caught the entire show from the back hill. Really was wishing I was inside though the whole time. Didn't make that mistake ever again. Found out how it all worked and made it to 23 shows after this one. Hey space brother! You from GR??

these were good shows, & this night was solid, nothing spectacular, but solid. What made this a truely memorable night was falling head over heels in love with Lisa. I'll never forget her, that olive complextion, that brunette hair flowing down her back in ringlets that curled like water in a free fall. She & I just clicked from the moment we met each other. We didn't have tics, so she & I hit the lot early to try & score. It took us all day, but we did score tics and some insane boomers. We didn't know each other at all, but we both knew it would be cool. So, we hydrated and went into the show. We just danced & danced like two lost souls reconnected for the 1st time in ages. I actually sang the Jack-A-Roe to her & I did it as if I was the only person in the venue. It was a total riot. When they opened with Scarlet->Fire, that's when it all began. She & I embraced & didn't let go. Somehow we managed to spin while in an embrace. It was such a beautiful moment. During Drums->Space, we found this very cozy spot on the hill, layed down and didn't get up till the Quinn began. If the venue would've allowed us we would have stayed there for 3 days. That was the beginning of a beautiful romance.

Getting to the show was an event in itself. The rain had made all the parking fields bogs of what seemed like quicksand. My VW bus sunk. It just plain sunk. The show was, as always, great. But if I remember (and there's never a guarantee), the sound was muffled for a big chunk of the first set. Looking back I'm grateful I got to hear Brent's rendition of Dear Mr. Fantasy one last time. I don't know why we only arranged to see Buffalo, two in Deer Creek and this show. Why didn't we stay for the next two nights in Chicago? Brent - you gave so much to the band, the music, the culture. You gave me "I Will Take You Home" to sing to my little girls. I thank you for all of it. You are missed. Strangers stopping strangers - just to shake their hands...

My first show. One of Brents last few. I'm just so grateful I got to see him once. I have so many great memories of this show. It changed my life as becoming part of the family will often do! There were lots of issues with the arena and I'm pretty sure the band never played there again. Though I saw Bobby there once. Still I have only good memories of what would be the start of a long strange trip!

I remember that Playin' wove in and out of nearly everything in the second set. Thanks to the neighbors who shared some super KB. No thanks to lack of doses, I should've saved some from a kind bro' who needed a ride to Rainbow Family Gathering in Mn that summer. An old buddy gave him a ride and in return was blessed with 1000 hits of stealies at 40 cents apop. Only mention because it was the summer "the bus came by AND I Got On" and I basically made every show that I could for the next few years, my shows per year continued to increase and had Jerry not passed on, I and a tour buddy swore to hit the road for everything Dead related. Such is Life.

Back in my hometown area after the previous shows on the tour, only full tour I was ever able to make, but we did not acknowledge that we were back home yet so we still stayed overnights away from home. This was the first time being at this new not so great venue that just opened earlier in the year. I am glad I got there early since the highway and such horror stories I heard about later. I was not down there this night but the sound was fine in the 1st ½ of the pavilion but the upper ½ kinda sounded worse than the lawn and it was not really sounding good in the lawn, no fault of the Dead's crew. I have only been back a few times and they did so some audio improvements over time and I heard more when it was bought by another group. It did make it better but I have not been back in many years. It was the first show I taped. I had a Ticketmaster Taper's Ticket, see 2nd (at time this was posted anyway) more faded Fan Photo ticket. When I said something about it to my neighbor in the section other taper's heard and were like huh what a taper's tic let me see that. For all the people that saw it they said they had never seen one before and it got passed around as a curiosity. There are 2 Fan Photos of GDTS tix that are earlier, from 1985, but Taper is stamped not printed on the tickets. Those 2 are the oldest I have seen but this one is the oldest with it printed as part of the ticket as far as I know. Also it is possibly the only Ticketmaster one as well. It is the only I've ever seen and one did not need a Taper's ticket yet, just any ticket to get in and setup in the Taper's Section. I forget when taper's tix became required from GDTS. Not too long after, want to say a year+, I'll have to go through my tix to check. A little digressing: After I really got in to taping the next spring, was only able to see the Richfield shows in the fall and did not tape, it was nice before taper's tickets were required. You could have a pavilion or floor ticket, setup taping in the lawn or back of the floor then go wander the floor or pavilion, see the boys a bit closer, take some pix, be sure to be back for a properly timed tape flip (remember cassette tapes), etc... On a side note about requiring taper's tickets I want to facetiously say thanks to all the people that would order Taper's tix just to have floor seats since not long after that we were moved back to the first rows off the floor. At this show is when I first met my soon to be Dead Show traveling buddy. He had been seeing shows for many years, being 10 years older he had an unfair head start LOL, not really traveling much/far to see shows yet and had been taping for just a couple of years but was not super serious about it until we hooked up. This was my first of 2 birthday shows with this one being my golden birthday. After getting the taping going I went over to have my first legal beer. I did not notice that none of the tap handles were in place, exclaimed it was my 21st birthday and proceeded to order a beer with my ID in hand. I was told sorry the band requested no alcohol but Happy Birthday. I was kinda bummed and knew by the time I got out of the venue to go somewhere to have a drink it would no longer technically be my birthday but oh well my new friend in the Taper's Section has some banana and other assorted flavored stuffed papers so I got over it pretty quickly. This was also my first gate crashing experience at a concert. Thankfully it was curtailed fairly quickly and kindly from what I remember but much more police with dogs around and behind the fence on the hill the rest of the night and other 2 shows kinda sucked. I said this was a night of many good firsts and sadly a last. 3rd to last show at the last venue for Brent.

Had tix for all 3 shows but the traffic issues made us late.I had my baby daughter and her mom along, by the time we got parked the show had started and we were a good distance away from the venue, so we gave the tickets to a nice couple from Canada and found a hotel. (the next two nights were great despite the flooded bathrooms )

So we drove in a straight line there after getting cheap west side story tickets Dead tickets and scrutiny the Bowie stage setup. When we at home at the Steve Miller show, it was sold out but cheap blue man group tickets we were able to score tickets in the parking lot quickly.

I got out of detox the night before this show at 2AM. I drove from Center City, Minnesota to the post office in Waukesha, WI. I signed for mail order tix. I also picked up several tickets for shows that went down while I was in the big H.(ouch on the last night of Deer Creek, but that's what you get having too much too fast) Drove to South Chicago. Somehow navigated the cluster#%&* traffic AND Found my crew in the lot.(before the age of cell phones) I got stubbed by my bro Rick to the front row between Jerry and Brent. Needless to say it was a big gig! It just one of those things we all understand, but cannot describe.