• Giants Stadium - September 2, 1978
    Also: New Riders of the Purple Sage; Willie Nelson.

setlist

  • Jack Straw
    Friend of the Devil
    New Minglewood Blues
    Dire Wolf
    Looks Like Rain
    Stagger Lee
    I Need a Miracle
    Peggy-O
    Lazy Lightnin'
    Supplication

    Good Lovin'
    Scarlet Begonias
    Fire on the Mountain
    Estimated Prophet
    Eyes of the World
    drums
    Sugar Magnolia

    One More Saturday Night

Official Photos

Ticket Stubs

Concert Photos

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    Fins Up
    1 month 4 weeks ago
    My first show

    Giants Stadium 1978 was my first show almost all my friends were deadheads at the time (high school) and about 10 of us all went together it was an amazing experience being with thousands of this most wonderful fanbase that day and every show after. We are truly fortunate to be able to share these amazing experiences. Thanks for creating this community website here !

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    peggy-o146
    9 months 1 week ago
    First show

    Awesome experience . This was my first show. My older brother took me and my friend Ronny. We were 16 years old and we had a blast just walking around taking it all in. Stayed on the bus since then with last shows seen was the 1994 MSG run in NYC. Saw 4 nights. What a trip.

  • iRenegade
    3 years 2 months ago
    so I made a statement that I…

    so I made a statement that I've never seen the Dead outdoors, and One of my former best friends told me that in fact I was at this concert. I remember the Looks Like Rain, and Willie Nelson and New Riders! I think it was mushrooms and purple microdots. https://youtu.be/TBWy8GbRJ3c

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17 years
Also: New Riders of the Purple Sage; Willie Nelson.
setlist
Jack Straw
Friend of the Devil
New Minglewood Blues
Dire Wolf
Looks Like Rain
Stagger Lee
I Need a Miracle
Peggy-O
Lazy Lightnin'
Supplication

Good Lovin'
Scarlet Begonias
Fire on the Mountain
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of the World
drums
Sugar Magnolia

One More Saturday Night
show date

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16 years 9 months
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Had my picture in Time magizine from that show ,Was an article about Willie still going after all those years.How about an update 29 years later. Shah of Iran was on the cover .In the picture I'm the one with tye dye and visor.....LOL I still have it and look at it sometimes.Fond memories of the first of many to come Giants stadium shows.
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16 years 9 months
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We hung outside the gate to Giant Stadium the night before. I don't remember anybody sleeping. It was like a marathon party... til the sun came up. We all move inside, parked and fell out for a little while. I got tired of the crazy all night gate people, and wandered the lot and stadium looking for some friends from home, who I knew would be there. I waded out onto the floor and stumbled across friends from home just as the band was introduced. "we are all exactly where we want to be"... weired and perfect. This was my second show. I was ready to stow away in an equipment trunk when the Bobby announced that the next stop was going to be Egypt!
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16 years 9 months
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It was a hot wonderful day. Kieth and Donna came out and played with Willie. Jerry seemed ramped, or maybe it was me. At the end of the show, the large scoreboard was lit up inviting everyone to go to Egypt. None of knew if this was real or a prank.
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16 years 9 months
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It was my second show also. I drove to Jersey from college in Cleveland. Sorry to say that I was a little dissapointed with the boys. Seemed they were thinking about Egypt and not at their best. Given the venue and the other acts, I was expecting spectacular, but instead I got a solid, pretty good show. Still, I had a great time and still have wonderful memories of the event.
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16 years 9 months
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Hey my picture was in that magazine also do you know if there is a copy of that picture online or if you have one can you scan it and send me a copy of it thanks in advance Mark
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16 years 9 months
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Went with my friend Alyce, John E & Will (where ever you are?) in John's blue van. Traffic was stopped; we slept (well sort of) in the van at the toll booth. We could see Giant stadium where we were. I remember during Dire Wolf being in the ladies room talking to this 'person' through a reflection. Never did turn to see if she was ever there at all...to this day I still wonder. Will bought me a mirror which I still have. Scoreboard flashed "Summer of '78 is DEAD" which was more than fitting for me since it was the summer after I graduated high school and that was the end of being a child as I knew it then.... Ciao
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16 years 9 months
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A nice day and a truly dreadful show. On the way in the stadium staff lost control of the parking situation, leading to everyone trying to drive both directions down every aisle in the parking lot -- nice chaos. This was among the first of the huge halls After another year of small venues, incredible shows, and beautiful outdoor spaces, we were suddenly in this cold concrete behemoth. Sound system was weak -- poor Willie Nelson was almost unhearable. Tickets were $15 -- an insanely high price at the time. (Other shows on the same tour were $7.50.) During Friend of the Devil Jerry sang, "Went down to the levy and the devil met me there/took my $15 BILL and vanished in the air." At the end of the show they flashed the news about Egypt on the scoreboard and it all made sense -- 50,000 - 80,000 people all paying $15 each -- we had just paid for the Dead's trip to Egypt. Ugh. Highlight of the show for me was my friend Paul having some classic dosed moments. He was sitting one row behind us (for reasons I can't remember...) when we heard him say, "Um... help?" (When your pal is dosed, does that mean "help" or "HELP!") He then became totally engaged in the worst type of gazing: "Look -- there's a guy all the way across the stadium who is getting thrown out of his seat by the ushers! We should do something!" Whee! Ugh! Glen
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16 years 8 months
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wow, after being completely disoriented and having life changing experiences just as the cops were going to pick up me and my two other LOST SAILOR buddies a van pulled up said hop in sure we know the diner you parked in have a beer and relax first show eh, hehehehe anyone remember picking up three guys and driving them to the diner on route 17 that seemed like the great place to park with the mayhem, in the earlymorning hours we could see the diner from the stadium 16 hours later im not sure i could pronounce the word DINER heheh but man THE HEADS int he van the budweiser and the whole day PRICELESS also have met so many east coast heads taht it was there first show also
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16 years 9 months
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this was my first dead show although I saw Jerry at CW Post early and late show. After that I was hooked....I was supposed to go to englishtown in 77, but my ride left without me. rockaway larry
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16 years 9 months
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yes i tuned in ,turned on, and dropped for this........"nothing left to do but---> smile...."
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16 years 4 months
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I can't understand folks that said this show was bad. Changed my life forever, I heard and saw God on that day. I was standing on the floor to the bands right, about 100 feet from the stage. Within the first 30 seconds of Jack Straw I was hooked for life. The Good Lovin that opened the second set was better then the best orgasm. That tune, and those moments showed me forever that in fact we all 'got have love' I recall tears streaming down my face, watching the crowd simply erupt at the end of that tune. The Scarlet-Fire was one of the best I've heard, and I've heard many live. I was out of my body completely during the Estimated-Eyes. For a moment filling the stadium a golden face of an old man with a flowing beard, peaceful and pure love, I understood at that time I was being allowed to see something, an image I could understand, and it was God. Completely and utterly spaced, at some point I looked back towards the middle of the stadium and a hole opened in the middle of the stadium sound poured out, I could see and hear infinity, feel the universe in motion. If only words could describe...
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16 years 4 months
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When we entered the stadium, my college roommate went left around this big partition and I went right, thinking I'd catch him on the other side. Didn't see him again until about 3 hours after the show ended. I was asleep on the hood/windshield of his car in the parking lot and he came walking up saying, "where you been, man?" An OK show - it was hot and they sounded like they needed to go catch a plane. Got stuck in traffic so we missed Willie and the New Riders.
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16 years 8 months
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The sun will shine......in my backdoor someday!My first also. It was a very strange day. I thought the stadium was half empty........compared to much later Dead shows at the same place ten years later. I remember watching two people fuck underneath a blanket in the aisle. I dosed but got a delayed reaction and got off 5 hours AFTER the show!!! Somebody jumped off the stadium ramp and died. Just the very beginning of the Meadowlands security woes!!! Keith was in a comatose drug haze and Donna sucks.
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16 years 6 months
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Arrived the afternoon of the previous day, ticketless but optimistic. Kurt and I managed to purchase some tickets for twenty bucks a piece and began a long evening of commeraderie with the throngs of fellow adventurers in the parking lot. A good show. A memorable experience. I danced with a beautiful blonde girl who wore a crown of roses. She twirled in a print summer dress with bare feet. Very cool.
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16 years 5 months
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.. a great fun day.. lots of wierd,, moments,, lots of smiling.. got a nice treat from the riders and we enjoyed Willies show for sure, this was around the time of the Willie and family live album.. Donna and Kieth I believe sat in on a few tunes,,the dead came out fairly early in the day..sun was still cooking,,, most of the crowd was fairly toasted,, the band gave a solid first set,well played...second set was ok. .. they were ready to go to Egypt , I also rememberWaylon Jennings was on the bill but never showed,,all in all it was a big crazy party.god knows how I drove the Van back home that night.. floating.the bands first show at giants stadium..after catching them in places like the capitol, palladium, tower,, smaller hockey rinks,, this was differant than englishtown wich was more of a festival feel big open field...
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15 years 2 months
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Totally unexpected but night before I got a call that somebody had two tickets for this show. Got my buddy and gas in my VW bug,left Lake Winola Pa and slept along the way in the car. Got to show and couldn't find our seats. It was ungodly hot but we sat in some seats that we thought were great overlooking the stage. Soon got kicked out and escorted to our real seats-not seats actually but inside Larry Bellante's (Giant Stadium architect) private club box with air conditioning. close circuit tv, open bar, free majic dust, smoke, and friends I hadn't seen in years. Went home with highschool sweetheart. Music was great, I've always said it was the best day of my life. Made me a dead head for the next 30 years.
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16 years 4 months
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Hey rockaway larry, I was at the CWPost show and almost got crushed to death by late comers crashing the gates.
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15 years 5 months
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I still have the ticket stub from this show and it was The Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Well Waylon never showed and the Riders played in their place. I remember getting to the parking lot about 11:00 AM and the Riders were already playing. The Dead came on about 3:00 PM and played until about 7:00 PM. I remember Billy having a cast on one arm (can't remember which one) and playing the drums with the cast. I took my camera and shot a roll of film (24 pictures-back in the day). I still have the slides of the show, and if I ever figure out how to convert them to digital, I may post them one day.
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14 years 11 months
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This was my first show - although I saw a great Garcia show out on Long Island before that. We took the LI Railroad to someplace where we got on board a bus full of dead heads. I remember smoking weed on the train with all the commuters through a phone we converted into a smoking device - oddly enough, nobody said anything to us! WIllie was great, but the Dead had some problems with the sound. There was supposed to be a delay between stage speakers and the stacks in the middle of the field, but it wasn't right and sounded like an echo. I think they got it right after a while, or I got my head fixed to match it. A great memory.
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15 years 2 months
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awesome experience and party - first time I dosed for a show, and the rest is history ! remember vividly walking the field shaking hands with strangers as Jerry sang the words - and I also have always remembered the "$15 bill" twist to the FOTD lyrics ! Just visited Giants Stadium - 31 years later - and I was impressed with how small it is compared to stadiums built in the last twenty years - yet as noted above it was the early in the stadium era of the dead & rock-n-roll and it was HUGE in comparision to many venues - wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world
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14 years 11 months
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Flickster I was going to make it to this show no matter what. My Dear old mother drove from Pittsburg to Philly where I Hooked up with my old friend Bill Davis. From there we hitchhiked to the show,after a long day standing o n the PA turnpike onramp,we finally got a ride going all the way to NYC. He dropped us off right by the stadium,and being so happy we made it,and dieing to smoke a joint,we went under the off ramp and relaxed to burn one. afterward we walked up to the stadium and were surprised to find nobody taking tickets at the gate.we walked right in as the Band was finishing up One More Saturday Night. We had no idea that it was an early show(rocket scientists that we were) and now we needed to find aride back to Philly (Buck's County). We wondered the parking lot for a bit and found some friends ,got a ride ,smoked big fattys all the way back and gave my friends something to howl about.
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16 years 9 months
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Another hot day on a labor day weekend to see the Dead. New Jersey to boot. Remember Willie Nelson was supposed to be Waylon and Willie- guess Waylon Jennings wasn't doin' to well. Donna came out during Willie's set and sang Amazing Grace. This show had people talking about Egypt and the jumbotron even bid the Dead farewell on their journey after the show. Scarlet > Fire SDBD from this show is the best Love it! The Eyes was excellent too!
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12 years 4 months
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Well I don;t know, I think it must have been this show I was at because by 79 I was on the road following the dead around the West and mid west, but I remember one of the main headliners was a no show. Maybe it was the next year show but I doubt it. I remember being at shows where all the lucky folks were saving to go to eygpt so it must of been this one. I think I remember panama red. It was so crowded, man I am glad I fell into the west coast scene so mellow. never to return to east coast crazy after that.Yea it must a been this one but neither show does any one mention that one of the big names was a no show. I think it was Willie that did not show up.does anyone know which show that might be at the meadowlands, although taint nothin meadowy about this spot. More like cementland. And the mainliner one of three was a no show.
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12 years 8 months
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Sat in the public area behind the stage. Recall seeing Jerry hitting on a big doobie and laying it on the amps in between songs. Donna was talking to a guy who was painting the whole scene behind the stage in between sets.. I remember going down and saying hello to Donna.
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16 years 9 months
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Hot day but a great show. NRPS opened and then Willie followed. Waylon Jennings was also supposed to be there but he didn't show. WIllie said "Fuck him!" in response to his no show. Very funny.
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14 years 11 months
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I can remember clear as day John Scher walking out on the side of the stage telling the band they had to end it. This was during the space and all of a suddent it's Sugar Magnolia and it's over. I recently listened to the the show for the first time and it was much better than I remember. As soon as the show was over John Scher told everyone they're handing out garbage bags and we should clean up after ourselves. People booed and walked out.
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14 years 2 months
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lots of time in between songs. Great Jack Straw, S>F, E>E; listened to Sugar Magnolia & OMSN on the way to work today, with a glorious sunrise over the Cascades. :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
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16 years
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Hitched here from upstate for the night before wild party! Met one of my best lifelong friends LEDA here. We lost touch and ended up at SUNY Morrisville three years later. Knew each other for weeks before we realized we already were friends! Only in DEAD world.....
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6 years 9 months
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Went the night before, tripped through the night. Went into show, awesome! One of my best times in my life!
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6 years 9 months
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Went the night before, tripped through the night. Went into show, awesome! One of my best times in my life!
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9 years 1 month
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so I made a statement that I've never seen the Dead outdoors, and One of my former best friends told me that in fact I was at this concert. I remember the Looks Like Rain, and Willie Nelson and New Riders! I think it was mushrooms and purple microdots. https://youtu.be/TBWy8GbRJ3c

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12 years 7 months
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Awesome experience . This was my first show. My older brother took me and my friend Ronny. We were 16 years old and we had a blast just walking around taking it all in. Stayed on the bus since then with last shows seen was the 1994 MSG run in NYC. Saw 4 nights. What a trip.

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1 month 4 weeks
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Giants Stadium 1978 was my first show almost all my friends were deadheads at the time (high school) and about 10 of us all went together it was an amazing experience being with thousands of this most wonderful fanbase that day and every show after. We are truly fortunate to be able to share these amazing experiences. Thanks for creating this community website here !