Grateful Dead
Billerica Forum - May 11, 1979
Grab show poster
Billerica Forum
May 11, 1979
Billerica, MA US
Set List:
Mississippi Half-StepFranklin's Tower
Mama Tried
Mexicali Blues
Peggy-O
It's All Over Now
Brown Eyed Women
Lazy Lightnin'
Supplication
Shakedown Street
Passenger
Ship of Fools
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of the World
drums
Black Peter
I Need a Miracle
Bertha
Good Lovin'
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Alumni Stadium - May 12, 1979 » Attendees of this show
beranda, Left for Dead, 2004wschamps, cube1061, MAConway, Collins, chcculle, jgosail, nicklas59, SCDeadhead, streamline, semichill, bobby, aikox2, skunjelefeti, lamarred664, DeadPhotog, shwack, aliceDmillionair, grateful_dave, kfchef, drkeith, cosmicdave, Larry Here, Brownie, grapefuldave, scoobydoo, sequoiadean, UncleBruce1971, jolie, Bear13617, croc, aligator, jzias, Old Uncle Joe, craig maceachern 2 dustyrose, TASS, boffo the chimp, softmonkey, gr8flsquid, gratefuldad07, direwolf02, MGBFanatic, kenco, That Treb Guy, Cosmic Chas, Terezi, deadheadead, djgold14, zach, cryptical1, stagger-lee, Edwin, Mark_W, ratmice, kennyony, deadhedave, Post N. Steiner, rodger allinson, mnelson
I was on this whole tour with a bunch of friends from NoVa. This was a killer show. Does anybody remember the little horse show across the street? LOL Love was definately in the air!!
Hey Stagger-
Don't recall the across the street events but I'll post pics of the parking lot (and the show) to rekindle our memory's.
What I remember most was that they waited way too long to open the front doors and the crush getting in was something that could have been avoided - it was scary.
Yeah Zach, no encore - Brent was sick as a dog and UMass was coming up for the weekend.
In hindsight, (and thanks to the wonders of the web community to actually re-hear what I mostly forgot) this was a show that let me down only because it never got the song-to-song-song segues ever going, especially in the second set. BUT, it was a sublime show for many songs done really well - Black Peter comes to mind.
I've got a bunch of photos to post but it will take some time (one at a time it seems), I had just got the camera and was the only show I ever got pictures at. Oh well!
Bear
I went with a bunch of friends from MIT (it was also my girlfriend's birthday) (You know, the photo of that girl in the parking lot looks a lot like her, but I can't be sure). I remember the floor was plywood boards over an ice rink, really hot inside. Some people moved one of the boards away, so there was a space with ice that helped keep us a bit cool.
Bear, I'd definitely like to see those photos - put them up when you get a chance!
Gotta admit uploading pics to this site is way tooo complex but I'll keep pluggin' away. I blew into B'town a couple of days before and my sister popped up with the tix for this one. Getting in was one of the worst crush experience's I ever had, mainly because the venue didn't open the doors early enough.
Oh well, the Boyz kick'd up a bit.
-Bear
My first show. Wished I had jumped on the bandwagon earlier. Wound up getting crushed into the first row, right in front of Uncle Jerry!!
if i remember corectly Phil made a coment it was like playing in a toilet bowl. Hot! whew.
To this day, many people I talk to in town can't believe the 'Dead played B'rica! This show was U-Lowell's Spring Fling '79. I was a Junior at Billerica HS and my neighbor was a Freshman at U-Lowell and got me the tickets.
I played hockey many times at the Forum, but it was quite an eye-opener when I got to the parking lot and saw the carnival in progress! There were tents set up all around the parking lot and surrounding woods.
My friends and I sat at the top of the metal frame of the hockey glass at the back of the rink and had a great view of the crowd and the stage. I remember being mesmerized by the Leslie cabinet behind Brent!
It was very hot in the Forum that night…but not nearly as hot as some of the shows at the Cape Cod Coliseum (a.k.a. Cape Cod sweat-and-see-em)!
This was my first show as well. The dead were part of spring fling at U Lowell where I was a freshman. My older brothers dragged me there.
Growing up in Lowell, I played girls hockey at the Billerica Forum. Yes, in Massachusetts girls play hockey.
Phil was right, this place is a rickety old dump. Little did I know what I was in for that night. First time seeing the dead and first time doing shrooms.
It was a great opportunity to meet the handful of other dead heads attending U Lowell all of whom I am still friends with today.
My only regret... not going to the UMass show the next day.
Speaking of Billerica... SNL used to do a funny skit occasionally with Amy Poehler and Ben Affleck where the characters were from Billerica . A real crack up for anyone familiar with Billerica .
Everyone was hoisting the boards covering the ice over their heads and methodically stacking them in the front of the stage. It was hot, but we had ice at our feet. It didn't seem to help our friend Kenny who went into heat prostration and started flippin' like a pancake on the ice. Does anyone recall this event happening? He calmed down eventually, but in the middle of Ship of Fools we had to carry him to the back of the crowd for some air. I was so glad we stayed, because Black Peter was beautiful. It was a great show!
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my only show with no encore!