Grateful Dead

I remember the heat and feeling sick all day. Dylan and T.P.'s sound was terrible. I was AMAZED at the difference in sound once the boys took the stage. I ended up making my way to the less crowded upper deck at RFK to have some breathing room and cool off. As day turned into evening even the RFK lights for high up billboards were dancing to NFA. Still...not an overall good experience which was only exacerbated once I realized Jerry was probalby feeling worse than I was. At the time I had no idea it'd be my last show.

me and jim bought newshirts that morning RWB SYF...it was hotter than hell how DYLAN wore the full leather shirt n pants i will never know.........once the deadheads got the sprayers soaking the field...things got better...PASSING JoINTS @home plate after first set was PRIMO.....that night when I was ready to crash i stripppd down to find my underwear was red white n blue....GOT US BLUES? MAY THE 4 WINDS BLOW YOU SAFELY HOME.......tony

This was my first show actually, I was 12 and my older brother took me. I still can't figure out how he convinced my mother to let me go, I think she was happy for an all day break. I remember the heat also, vividly. I was in the midst of heat stroke and almost fainted when someone I had never met gave me their water and as soon as I drank it and poured it on my head, the tunnel vision stopped and the light poured back into my brain, the rest of the day was awesome.

Yes, it was Hot. Very Hot. Drove down to DC with a couple of friends. We were staying at a fraternity house at American University with a guy I knew from High School. After setting up shop, we headed over to RFK. I remember all the locals on their porches just sitting and watching the parade of Heads filing into the stadium. Petty was forgetable - but Dylan rocked. Did I mention it was hot? About half way thru the Dylan set, they started hosing the crowd on the field down with a water hose. We were up in the stands about twenty rows - but we were determined to get wet. We pushed our way down to the field and got closer and closer to the water. Finally, just as Dylan was singing Rolling Stone - I got blasted with the water canon for about five seconds "How do you feel?" asked Bob. Great! Those five seconds were some of the best of my life! When the Dead came on, everybody was pretty shocked at how Jerry looked - but he made it through - barely. Bobby propped him up and the Throwin' Stones (which always sounded better in DC) was my highlight.

Damn it was a hot day.......the first guy was absolutely correct...the sound for Petty and Dylan was appalling...felt like I was being beat by a stick....when Dylan introduced the band there was absolutely no audience response and it pissed him off.....but Dylan seemed to say..well I can win any crowd and he ripped into a fantastic Like a Rolling Stone...decent Dead show...took its toll on Jerry though...Rossboy777

uhg it was hot really ho

I remember the clock way up high alternating between the time and the temperature. The coolist it read was finally 90, at the end.This show is still my favorite Aiko. The whole stadium was shakin.

dancin' at the back of the field was intense, must have lost 10 lbs in sweat, somehow found a 'club' level shower area in the stadium and took a fully clothed shower between sets;place was rockin' that night

The heat (I think that's been mentioned before!!), lack of fluids, good substances and a designated driver made for a tragedy narrowly averted. What a trip!

It was brutally hot: somehow my friends and I thought to wear bikini tops with our skirts but then we all got vicious sunburns. Thank God those hoses came on. Not my favorite show, but any day at the Dead is better than anywhere else!

At the start of (I think) the 1st set -- it might have been the second -- Bob's wireless connection to his amp stopped working. While he fiddled with it, Phil started giving him a hard time: "Bobby's new-fangled radio transmitter done give up the ghost - he's gonna have to use a cord like the rest of us!" And then, to my amazement, Jerry got in on the act -- I'd been seeing shows since 1983 & had NEVER heard him speak a word on stage, but that day he was in a great mood (so it seemed), probably more clear-headed than he'd been in ages. So he says: "Bobby's having trouble with his electric guitar! Seems the fuckin' thing is broken, man!" It was hilarious. We all laughed. And then, for some reason, it occurred to me that Jerry's newly-found stage energy seemed like he'd just woken up, so I shouted: "Yeah! Jerry's not in a come anymore!" A few days later... man, I felt so bad -- not insane enough to think I caused it, but to have made a coma joke a few days before he went into a coma? Seemed karmic, at least, ya know? Other than that, my most vivid memory of this show -- beyond the heat -- was getting extremely silly while dancing & hugging with an incredibly hot girl I went to the show with during Aiko, saying how we were "best X friends" now (for obvious reasons). A pleasurable day to be sure.

It was so hot on the field. Dyan & The Heartbreakers were lots of fun. The Deads' set was cool, but it was not a good night for them. I think the heat differently got to Jerry(may he rest in peace). Peace and Love, Steve-o Stabile

Dylan came on in a black leather jacket, and when they sprayed the groundlings, he said, "That's a waste of water." A nude asian man ran up the aisle beside me. Dylan added, "We like to be hot." About three hours wait between Dylan & TP and the Dead. Night fell. Jerry walked up to the mic and said, "This fuckin' thing's broken!" And when Bobby sang "Let It Rain," it did. I drove from DC to Tuscaloosa the next day--14 hours entirely in daylight! And Jerry played his last show before the coma that day (Was it Sunday?). After that the crowds got a lot younger and higher, and nobody really felt like doing it any more.

This was my 2nd show and it was unbelievably hot! I remember being in the press booths and yelling down to Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. They all looked up but Jerry was the only one to wave. After the show I remember helicopters telling us to leave the parking lot. People were shooting bottle rockets at them and they were hitting them. That was pretty freaking crazy.

I remember some of our friends made t-shirts to sell ... the shirts said "Estimate the Profit ... Dylan-Petty-Dead". Not sure how well those sold! (Dave and Libby???) I didn't enjoy the show too much because of the heat, and I didn't care to see Dylan or Petty. But I looked down a few rows and saw a girl with whom I went to high school (a thousand miles away in the midwest!) ... we had a good laugh at the reconnection ... funny how small a world can get at a Dead show!

It was about 120 degrees in the shade and my birthday show. The friend I was with was having a heat stroke, we were already in the show; and I sat her down on the cool concrete by the concession stands, out of nowhere one of the (what I think was a) crew member came out and asked me if I needed help. This is when other people were running away, not wanting to get involved; they brought me a cup of ice. I decided to get my friend back to the hotel. We no sooner get back to the room and she wanted to order a pizza, so I knew she was OK; I went back to the show, the security guard let me back in after I told him what happened and showed him my ID that had my birthday on it.... 9 mile skid on a 10 mile ride, hot as a pistol but cool inside :-) In The End, We're All Dead!

Me and a buddy drove to DC from Richmond in the middle of the night. Neither of us had ever been yet we drove straight to the stadium with no directions. We got in a line we saw not knowing what it was for. It was for a convenience store and he was selling beer. We each bought a case and started drinking before sunup. After partaking in some happiness we went in RFK Stadium barefoot with no shirt. It was wild. Remember the chick getting naked and running around the baseball diamond while everyone kept the cops away from her? And the best part was watching people jump the gate to the field. It was like ants swarming.

That's D.C. for you. I drove my folk's Caddy up and met some friends. First road trip after getting my license. Also, my first time going somewhere and having vendors sell me beers..."ice cold Bud...$2...". Tom Petty was awesome but I was there to see the Grateful Dead and likely unappreciative. By the time Dylan came on we were very close to the front row. He was wearing Harley Davidson sunglasses with the eagle and H.D. emblem printed on the lenses...that kind of close. I thought that was odd and I also thought Bob Dylan was drunk. I remember Rainy Day Women and the staff hosing the crowd down which made it hard to light up. We met some older guy on the floor who was like the candyman or something....except for He's Gone, things are pretty vague after that. Late night journey to the hotel was interesting and scary...I think my friend's cousin hillbilly from West Virginia who was with us was packing heat which did not sit well with me at all. wtf??? ...I think Johnny Cash wrote about that...'don't take your guns to town...". Luckily nothing went askew. I am wondering why the fuck we didn't go to the show the next day? I think they added it after the fact due to popular demand...(and beer sales)

This was my first show at 17. A very long weekend that started on the mall in DC with God knows how many other deadheads for the July 4th Fireworks. We shot back and forth between the mall and RFK checking out the different scenes. I still remember my mother looking like she was going to die when my friend from school pulled up with his sister and her friends in an old Winabago and everyone in tie dyes started spilling out. I know my father saved me because I could see the "this isn't a good idea" look on her face and then the turn to my father and his "let him go" in response. I picked up my first tie dye that day and with the heat and sweat it bled all over over my white shorts until I had a tie dye matching set. The whole scene was a mind blower at 17 and I remember the feeling that I was where I was supposed to be. That made the whole deal with Jerry falling into a coma a few days later harder to take but for that day I was in heaven. I remember it as a long hot lazy day by the river. I just took the whole thing in with a smile on my face the whole time. The Dylan and Petty sets were fairly unmemorable besides Dylan in leather and the heat being crazy and people being hosed down on the field. Listening back to the show now I'm surprised that Sugaree didn't hit me but perhaps I was still in the taking it all in mode. Row Jimmy on the other hand was just perfect with a cool breeze blowing across the stadium about then. Slippery is how Jerry described it at times and thats what I recall, eyes closed enjoying the sound. From there everything just flowed with Althea and let It Grow in particular getting my attention. Second set, again the Aiko that hits me now didn't but the Looks Like Rain is still my favorite and He's Gone kept the flow going. By the time we got to Not Fade Away I was exhausted and Brokedown Palace washed over me and the breeze off the river was back in full force. Perfection! A show and a day I'll never forget and the start of a 9 year ride I wouldn't give up for anything. I was most definitely on the bus from then on. It's funny, it was a rather subtle show (in a good way) listening back now but it was the perfect introduction! Things got crazy after that but I would take more shows like that anytime!

This was my first show. I was a 16 year old high school kid from suburbia who was infatuated with a girl. As I remember it she asked months before if I wanted to go with her, "Uh... yeah!" Went to sleep out for tickets at RFK with her. I remember that being this crazy ass party. She brought me a joint she got from some dude. I had not yet inhaled. It was strawberry flavored rolling paper - ick! Smoked and promptly fell asleep on a grassy hill outside of RFK. Things went screwy in the months that followed and she asked if I would sell my ticket back so her friend could go instead. I had bought Skeletons From the Closet and was lovin' it. "No way!" was the answer. We ended up going together in my '72 Datsun 510. Got there early. HOT! Heading in she hooks up with a group of older dudes, takes a few puffs, drops me like a stone, and is gone gone gone. I dutifully head to my assigned seat. Way the hell up in the upper decks. I remember Dylan being in black leather and thinking how the hell was that possible in the heat. Don't remember Petty which is too bad. Totally remember Saint of Circumstance and LL Rain. Dude behind taps me and hands me a joint at some point and then I really started to dig in. I remember being really drawn in by Brokedown. It hit a chord deep. Was hooked after that. 50 plus shows later I found myself in the same stadium in the hot summer of '95 for another show. I wondered if she was there too. Were you Amy S? It turned out to be my last show. Fittingly, the encore was the same as the first, Brokedown Palace. Thanks for a real good time Jerry! Oh, and thank you Amy!

Ended up catching the show with my new brother-in law's brother and sister; totally on a whim, and recall leaving the wedding reception and finished July 5th at a party in Georgetown.I am from west coast, and had never really experienced that kind of heat and humidity! I remember the Stadium almost looked steamy, and I remember hiding in the shade, and Norman in the bathroom, splashing water out of a sink to cool off. After the show, I remember we accidentally wandered into some neighboorhood carnival that was a few blocks from RFK, looking around and realizing it was time to leave!

This was my first show. I was 16 and just got my license. Drove down with friends from Old Greenwich, CT. Which seemed like a journey lol. I had mostly been to metal shows before that and was surprised at how quiet and mellow the dead seemed at first. When i listened to the tape later i realized that was a pretty sick Bucket opener. Unfortunately, it was a long, super hot day, and I remember it was pretty hellish for a while during Dylan's set. But it cooled down and the Dead totally chilled the vibe of the place.

Flew in to this show with the then love of my life. He was some guy that showed up on my college campus and we started a heavy love affair. A group decided to get tickets and off we flew into DC the night before where a group of 10 shared a hotel room somewhere in the city. I remember going on one of those bus tours of the city during the day with my best friend who was also there. The bus paused in traffic, we looked out the side window onto the street and two feet from us was Tom Petty who was just walking around. We gave him a howdy and told him we'd see him later. We got a smile and a laugh back from him. To me everything about this show was extreme - the heat, the partying, the whack relationship I was in. I remember being on the field and it was the first concert I had ever been too where I needed those water canons. Spent the night after the show sleeping on an island strip of green grass outside the airport under full lighting with boyfriend. I guess we spent all our money on the airfare. Took a big break from the Dead after that...

MA

My indelible moments from these dates are the huge police presence - LOTS of undercovers busting Deadheads (I came very close myself). Somehow got into the press box for this show (I was the editor for my college paper, so maybe I had 'credentials' to go with my dilated pupils)...

I was a Captain in the Army stationed at Ft. McNair and went by myself. I didn’t want the Colonels knowing I was going, (they’d target me for a drug piss test if they knew). The fewer who knew I went, the better.

I made sure I sat away from people, (it wasn’t sold out, plenty of space in outfield seats and hotter than heck!) because I didn’t want any secondary smoke making me a possible positive result in a piss test. I was 27 yrs old. I hoped my short hair, polo shirt, & khaki shorts would convey the message that I MIGHT be undercover(I wasn’t)! A younger dude came over anyway and tried to share a joint with me. LOL.
I HAD to make sure they knew to stay away from me. I said: “No thanks, I bust people for that where I work.” Ha Ha.

They left me alone. I enjoyed the music, and avoided troubles with the Army!