Grateful Dead

This received a terrible write-up in the compendium. Silly me, I loved it. I was 16 and entered a whole new world. And I liked how the GD rocked. Check out how they ended the show.

"..one good thing, one good thing, when it hits you feel no pain..." the good rats were basically boo'd off the stage...it was staggeringly hot outside, no shade...very large general admission field...and an amazing memory of wharf rat

The Good Rats were one of the WORST choices of an opening band in the 100+ shows I saw between '73 and '95. The audience couldn't wait for them to finish, and when the band threw rubber rats out to the audience during their set everyone immediately threw them back at the band. The Dead show that followed was fairly mellow and spacey,as was often the case on hot, sun-baked afternoons.

remember my friend muddy,who has sinced passed away gave me a big bag of caps at this show... ended up throwing my only pair of shoes at the good rats..walked around blind and barefoot for the next couple days,,,,,,,, """ nothing left to do but,SMILE

My first show. 15 yrs old. Amazing ! Many more to come.

Some things that stick out in my memory: 1) it was a brutally hot day. 2) the good rats were not good. 3) I was hoping to hear scarlet begonias; lucky me! 4) in general, it was a mellow scene. maybe it was the heat

Drove up in Dave's Van with killer sound. Met Tracey thru mutual friends, been married 29 years. Brutally hot show, tripping as usual. Dumping jugs of water over our heads to keep cool. Threw a rubber rat back at good rats. Really poor choice to open for the Dead. Once again Jerry saved my head. Camped in a field some where. Swam in a slate river bed on the way back. Excellent trip!

I was at this show and I remember at the time thinking how disappointed I was in the boys, as the show was only OK and there was nothing outstanding. Looking back, I would give my right arm to be there, hear them again, and experience the whole scene once more. I understand this show is missing from the vault, but does anyone know if there is a decent aud in circulation? "That path is for, your steps alone."

Before we arrived in Rochester we stopped at a diner outside of town. When we asked the waitress for directions to holleder she gasped and said "You're going to the rock concert?" We had the impression that we were somehow the enemy that was supposed to pillage their village. I think the unusual opening acts were to recognize artists with Rochester roots. Greg Kihn and the lead singer from the Good Rats were from Rochester. While the Good Rats enjoyed a good reputation as a fun bar band their antics didn't go over well with a crowd that was not totally in a drunken state. To make matters worse it was hot. If you start throwing things at hot, irritated heads nothing good could come out of it. At the time I enjoyed the show but expected to have a more challenging song selection. St of Circumstance was new after seeing Lost Sailor of few weeks earlier. Scarlet-->Fire was very enjoyable. The highlight though was Bertha. At the beginning of the song I remember thinking about the line "throw me in the jailhouse til the sun goes down" The sun was almost down. The sun was setting behind the crowd and into the bands face. As the boys get to that verse they need to jam a bit to let it set more. As the sun is about to set behind the tops of the stadium Jerry steps up to the mike. I turned around and as Jerry sings "the sun goes down" it disappears. Jerry then punctuates it with "til it goes down". It was one those Grateful Dead moments that makes ya feel like you shared that moment with them and the day turned out just fine. Years later I found the show on archive and fell in LOVE with the second set all over again.

This was the beginning of my long strange trip.I was 18.Left Long Island right after work on Friday for the Saturday show.Me,my brother,two other guys and a cooler in my 65 Dodge.We drove all night,dosed and drank beer all morning in that hot,dusty parking lot across the aisle from some guys from New Jersey.Had alot of fun.It bein summer,I took off my shirt,we were all covered in dusty dirt.Every time a car would drive by it would kick up a big dust cloud.It probably helped keep us from getting too sun burned being covered with dirt.Don't remember much from the show any more,nice to see it here in the archive.Would be cool to hear it again.

The sun just about cooked us alive! Great show though and worth the 7 hour drive. The crazy thing was, for the week leading up to the show, the Rochester papers were warning the "general population" to lock theri doos becuase the Dead Heads were coming! During the show there were some sort of police types filming the show from a building behind the stage. At one point the band played facing them with thier backs to us! Too funny.

It felt like us Dead Heads invaded the town. It was like we were on display for the town to view us. The town people were out on their porches just watching us walk from the stadium down main street were you could purchase beer and food, ect. We were about ten yards from the front of the stage. There was this big black wall were we all started to paint what we felt like on the wall. It was a blast. Before the show started Phill walked out to the front of the stage bent over a bit scaned the whole crowed bent over and then gave everyone the thumbs up and gave the thumbs up all the way until he stood up straight. I was snaping picturs of that like crazy.What was cool there were beer trucks on the field with Taps coming out the side. The beer was flowing nice and cold and we needed it that hot day. The place was packed but it was very easy to walk around and go anywhere you wanted. After the show everyone past out garbage bags and all the dead heads cleaned up all the crap laying around the field. It was great to see everyone come togeteher and do that. Not sure why some say it wasn't the best show. I thought it was fantastic. I remember the ticket stub read UPSTATE JAM. It didn't have any band names on the stub. I took many pictures of this day in and outside the stadium. I can post them if anyone is interested. I'm pretty sure I can find the pictures easy. Shaky

Helicoptors ,Bad Rats , good trip ,Very Grateful Dead show ! Woke up Sunday morn in my sleepingbag in a cow pasture . Made it back home that evening after throwing away my speeding ticket from New York state's finest . " If the thunder don't get ya then..... Oh well, u know the rest.

Sunny in the stadium. Went apeshit happy for I NEED A MIRACLE EVERYDAY booming around the stadium. I kept filling gallon jugs of water from a some hose outside and then dumping the full jug on willing water beggars so hot it was. Ran into another guy smiling doing exact same thing. Fun, fun in the GD sun...

Shaky, let's get a look at those pix if you still have - I may be there. I mean I WAS there at the show and may be in your photos. Bests to you, scrammy

It was most certainly hot as blazes & a brilliant first show to see. I am the 16th comment here & the 4th naming this as their first Dead show.

Has anybody else listened to this Saint of Circumstance and how different the lyrics are? What's that all about? I need answers! Please

I have them in my computer. How do i post them here?

Funny how memories change - hometown concert, lived down the street from the show and the stadium was my high school stadium for football since it was built. Loved the Good Rats before this show but they were a poor choice for the DH community and they were Long Island guys not Rochester thought did have a following....deservingly booed from stage....and it was a blistering hot day and the concrete stadium did not help one bit....but beer was cold and the GD were great!