Grateful Dead

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This October will be the 50th anniversary of the first set of farewell concerts.

How many have there been since then?

Appropriate time for the Kennedy Center honor

That really moved things up a gear for me with The Dead. Not just the magazine, with it's great reviews, articles and news items, but also because through them I was able to access tapes. In fact, if I am a Deadhead, I would date it from about 1987, when this happened. Up to that point I had all the official albums and the odd bootleg, but from then on I was getting tapes delivered regularly. And once you discover one source, others seem to open up too. Great stuff!

I didn’t look up, but I think I mixed up the Pranksters trip.
Thanks for correcting and straightening out the ole synapses lol
Now that you mention about/for the millennium etc…and not in 90…

And also, now that mention, Brent’s passing probably would have added to the energy factor. We were at the first shows in Richfield with Vince after Brent’s much too early demise, and there most definitely was a lot of extra energy.
A lot of what now and uncertainty and ?
Will it suck? Will it be good? Things had been steadily improving the last couple years before so there was a lot of anxiety or uncertainty.
But man, once they started playing all that energy morphed into that big ole ball of “1” that everyone in the building became, and as the night progressed it was like you could feel 18K people all exhale in relief all at the same time, as we all realized that, “yeah, this is going to be different, but it’s gonna be alright” we will survive, we will get by!
So I’m sure that must have been a variable too.

Back to the bad actors thought. Again, I’m struggling to not be so ?
I feel I’ve painted an overemphasis or oversaturated picture of people?
Let’s think of it this way, it’s like BITD when grownups used to say “one bad apple spoils the barrel” meaning, most certainly most of the folks at shows were like the good apples, but now there were more and more bad ones getting into the barrel. And though there weren’t so many relatively, the bad ones were now a whole new kind of bad that spread the rot more prominently. ?
Hopefully that makes better sense?

Edit: Or lol
What BC just said ; )

And perhaps the biggest factor was just sheer size like BC said.
No matter what kind of head, there just were now too many for the scene to function healthy…

I saw almost all my 90s shows in the Pacific NW. Eugene 90, 93 and 94, Seattle 94 and 95, Portland 95. I think the scene was overall a lot healthier but the 94 Eugene shows still attracted enough fools clowns and jerks to kill the Dead's return there the next year which is why they ended up at a lame Portland race track in '95. By the third show in Eugene 94 (a huge show) it was clear that they wouldn't be allowed to return. The camp zone in the parking lot was a freaking trash dump (I was lucky enough to be staying on a "peacock farm" outside of town). Stories of messed up and disrespectful behavior throughout the town - and the locals being rightfully angered by that - were already circulating. By chance I was visiting family in the Midwest early July 95 and saw the last 2 shows in Soldier Field (brother had extra tickets he bought for friend who then changed his mind.) Wasn't there for the scene so didn't spend much time in the lot but do remember a young woman describing all the weird stuff that had gone down earlier on that summer tour and it was clear she was spooked by the vibe. The 12/89 shows at LA Forum (my only SoCal shows) were the only time I was offered "chiva" - what's that I had to ask and it was H - by a non-scene, just dealing, guy out in the lot. Politely turned down that offer.

I saw that written about in Golden Road fanzine

Paul Bodenham was publisher

The Ticketless Hordes was my name for the cling-ons

My final 3 attended GD shows were fine in my opinion 5/24, 25, 26/95. No problems, perfectly acceptable shows. Then came the Tour From Hell after Shoreline. Oy.

Oro-yes, what you say is consistent with how I saw things at the time - and how I see things now. I didn't know anyone into the band at that time, but excitement was generated by the "Spiral Light" fanzine that came out every two months or so. So I was aware of the recent return of Dark Star, and also of the increased popularity of the band in the U.S, following Touch of Grey. This was tempered by Brent's sad demise during summer 1990 - so there was also a sense of not quite knowing how this would affect the band. I can remember thinking that Tom Constanten would probably rejoin - which shows how much I knew !

I wasn't aware of the Merry Pranksters coming to Britain in 1990 - although they did come in the year 2000 for the millenium celebrations. Both Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs were part of this, and they put on a show at The Barbican in London - showing footage of the bus trip from 1964.... interspersed with comedy sketches!

Back to the Dead - I was amazed at how many Americans had travelled over for those shows. They seemed to make up most of the crowd. I saw Santana at Wembley in 1991, and I wondered if a similar scene would follow them over. It did not. No other American band I saw - I saw live shows from 1972-2019 - had anything like the same following The Dead did, that travelled over here to see them.

Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to articulate.
That the environment that we and the band were now forced to live in was perhaps the biggest factor in the diminishing returns etc.
I don’t think they liked it any more than we did, but what were they going to do, other take a break like they should have…
And of course that environment was created to attempt to deal with the over extended masses. And yeah, overall the people weren’t generally as bad as I may portray, but bad actors and behavior were increasingly evident, and often more heinous, and especially in specific places or types of places etc.

Daverock, Im guessing in your unusual situation:
1- yes, probably not your usual run of the mill DHs like some of us here.
Fanatics with the ways and means perhaps. Ya know, the more invested in something, the more folks will get worked up. For some perhaps combined into a lifetime European vacation.
I know DL saw some of those 90 shows, as I think he was studying there? I forget…
2- extra hype and excitement as they hadn’t been to Europe recently
3- I believe Kesey and co were there and even brought Futhur 2
4- the return of DS, Attics etc inserted a huge hit of adrenaline to the scene in general, so guessing over there also.
5- the popularity explosion via TOG/ITD must have had an effect over there too
6- concerts and crowds in general had changed by then
7- perspective: you weren’t that experienced in live GD madness etc (that’s not a criticism! I mean how would you be…) and the saying “there is nothing like a GD concert” worked on many levels. So unlike us, who almost took for granted usually hitting as many shows as we reasonably could on spring, summer, and fall tours (say between 5-15 a year average) it must have been a very unusual and eye opening experience, especially compared to 81!

But of course as first show says, much of this is perspective dependent fo sho!
Like many of our more aaa “mature” heads here, they got turned off in the 80s because of the environment changes etc.
if your normal perspective was the Fillmore, even a small hockey rink might become unenjoyable, especially with reserved seating and so many people, comparatively.But If all you’ve ever known is Giants stadium, and never freaked freely in Maine, or Cali, Hampton, or any of the many sweet, smaller, outta the way places they used to be able to play, well your perspective might not think things so bad?
To me no more GA was the biggest negative factor that effected our show enjoyment. Sure a stadium is never gonna give you the same vibe, but if you were able to hang out where you wanted, which as sound freaks was usually the SB, it made a big positive difference.

So the slow but steady population growth, later exasperated by the tsunami after 87, which also attracted too many civilian non heads just about for the bollocks, which led to having to play big crappy venues in crappy places, and no wonder folks used to a completely different experience in every way, gave up…

Another factor in crowd behaviour may be related to where the show took place. The shows I saw were in London, so U.S. Deadheads had to travel some considerable distance to be there. This must have made it impossible for many who followed the band to attend. I have never read a message on the board from anyone in the U.S. who went to Wembley in 1990. What distinguished those who travelled from those who didn't ? Lack of responsibilities? More money? Youth...
I don't know if this relevant, but young Brits abroad used to have a terrible reputation for behaving less responsibly abroad than they did at home, simply because they were on holiday. They were renowned for over doing it in Amsterdam in the 90's where some of them flocked for the ready availability of dope. A few hours after arriving, many of them would be incapacitated!

So...in a nutshell, the shows I saw cannot be regarded as typical simply because they took place in England.

I saw the GD and offshoots when I could from 1975 until, well, today. I was never what you'd call "hardcore" in that I never went on the road, but was, and am, a very avid fan. I guess I'm a little clueless since, other than the sheer size of the crowd and therefore venues, I never really noticed the deterioration in the "quality" of the fanbase that I've read so much about.
Well, until 1995. I was in Maryland Heights, Mo. for the show after the Noblesville fiasco. The fans in the lot were pissed. The band was pissed based on the letter they circulated, nd their general demeanor.
The 7/6/95 show was lackluster (great setlist, though)...partly due to Jerry's health, but I'm also sure due to the band's state of mind.
I appreciate the perspective of those were more intimately involved with the entire scene than I was, over time. Thanks for posting.

Nice essay Pedro!
It is about perspective I suppose.
I had so few shows compared to everyone here but that timeline felt the same. Luckily I had nice venues so the ugliness just wasn't that noticeable. That said I knew I was done after my '94 show and even had the weird feeling that either Jerry or I wouldn't be around much longer. Somehow I'm still here, lol.
Cheers