first show - and the strange trip begins

I loved seeing shows at War Memorial, down near the Buffalo River. I bought tickets for this one the afternoon of the show at the venue box office. Aside from the box office personnel, there was no one in the building. Or so I thought, until I heard someone playing a guitar on the stage. I poked my head in one of the auditorium doors, and there was Garcia, alone on stage, checking out his rig. I watched him for a couple of minutes, and listened to his guitar fill the empty hall. Later, that evening, we were once again treated to new tunes we'd never heard before. Estimated sounded so weird to me I wondered what the hell that song was about. I always remember the Big River from this show as being a smoker. The lights went red for the guitar solos, which was appropriate as they were scorching.