Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
July 07, 1986
Washington, D.C., DC US
Notes:
Jerry & Brent left the stage for the end of "Playin" - Dylan, Petty & The Heartbreakers opened
Set List:
Ramble on RoseNew Minglewood Blues
It Must Have Been the Roses
Baby Blue
Desolation Row
Box of Rain
Playin' in the Band
Terrapin Station
drums
The Other One
Wharf Rat
Around and Around
Good Lovin'
Satisfaction
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Oakland Coliseum Arena - December 15, 1986 »Attendees of this show
In addition to the heat and Jerry looking so bad, I remember some guy launching himself into an enormous pile of blue garbage bags after the show.
This was the second of the 100 degree D.C. shows. The infield which was gen admin was totally mud by the second day. I remeber dancing in the Hot mud all afternoon. After the final Good Love of the day - we headed to the Jolly Tinker bar in Georgetown covered with mud and had a few cold ones in the nice AC. My buddies and I set out for NYC sometime the next morning. On the way back, my friend's engine siezed on I-95 somewhere in Jersey. A Trooper pulled up behind us as smoke poured out from under the hood and asked if we had any drugs or guns in the car - we said "No" and he asked if he could search. We were on the side of the road for an hour. After he couldn't find anything he called a tow. At the gas station we were told the car was gone. But my firiend Jaime got them to remove the backdoor of the wagon because it had about twenty Dead stickers on it. Another guy then picked us up - and we brought the backdoor with us which Jaime then kept in his dorm at school. Now that is Deadication!
Poor Jerry....Terrapin was a struggle....Dylan and Petty's sound was much better this day and they actully out performed the Dead......glad this didn't end it all, but it was a very close call...... Rossboy777
After the scorching heat of the first day, one of my evil genius friends figured out that if we went in with a long rope, (purchased at a local hardware store) we could enter the stadium and walk partway up the spiral walkway that takes you up to the upper seats and lower the rope to friends outside of the stadium below. They tied backpacks full of ice and beer to the ropes that we hoisted up and we had our icy beer inside. I think they were selling beer inside, but we were under 21 at that point. I also think taping was not allowed at these shows (Dylan?) because I remember at least one person seeing what we were doing and having us hoist his taping gear in. Does anyone else remember tabs with purple and yellow stripes. Wow!!!
Crazy day - took my mom and dad and many other friends. Because it was so hot they were letting folks bring in thermoses. I talked my way in with one of those huge ones that we used at sporting events (you know the ones filled with Gatorade) anyways I had a bag of ice and underneath the bag were two six packs of Tall Busch Beers. I stood on the thermos when Dylan came on stage and folks tell me I made it on some video (I've never seen it but my friends say they did) if anyone has access to the video they showed onstage I sure would appreciate it.
I have a tape of this show(no taping) and listening to it is one of my favorites esp. when bobby intros the band during the band during good love and screws up. During his rap he loses the flow and says "aw fuckit", " I'd also like to fuck... thank" and goes on to intro the band cleverly. then when its bobby's turn to be intro Jerry steps up to the mike and says"one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Mr Bob Weir"
....and the crowd went wild,yours included
Not sure if it's true or not but I remember seeing or hearing that heat index on the field was 117. All I can say was it sure was hot. Not the greatest shows because of the heat. Actually Dylan & Petty were better that day. One greatest recollection of that show was a very kind gentleman with a water pistol. He politely went around, asking people if the wanted to be dosed. The liquid was so clean, it made a great experience out of a bad show.
remember the fire hoses at rich stadium awsom raibows
there was no relief from the heat so we all just kept gettin high
~~~> Sadly, the worst Dead show I've ever seen. Later i found out it was only days before Jerry's diabetic coma ... i was too far away from the stage to be able to say what he looked like, but it was the most lifeless Dead show ever.
It didn't help that i was so far up in RFK, & the sound system was not adequate to the task of filling the stadium. Dylan & Petty played better, & sounded better, but even they didn't sound that good, so I reckon it was an inadequate sound system as well as an extremely sick Jerry.
Thank God he survived that one.
Location
It was hot as hell and Jerry was gray as a ghost....pretty scary to have been there...I remember phoning a friend and saying that "it might be the end...."