Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

Very surprised that nobody mentioned the H.O.R.D.E. tour.

I caught it twice. The ABB was the headliner one year. You got early versions of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler and many others. Very cool stuff.

David Johansen, The Clash and The Who. Two days after my first Dead show. The first two bands were meh. The Who killed it.

Forget about this one. Jonathan Edwards, David Bromberg and Papa John Creach. Papa John was unreal.

Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet.. When we were driving down to see the Dead in Ventura in July, Steve Wozniak drove by us, I guess he was going down to set the festival up.

I have PTSD when it comes to large Festivals.

Got the back of my calves puked on at one (yes, into the shoes), got into a sweaty violent hug with someone freaking out on something (PCP??) just before security pulled him over the front row gates and dragged him off.. had a hell of time finding my car after 7/4/87 Dead-Dylan at Foxborough Stadium. Certainly my bad that time... I'm too old to do em anymore.

My absolute favorite festivals were the first few Delfest's, bluegrass and jambands, but even they got big and cop ridden after a while. When you have to take a shuttle vehicle from your car to the venue, ....

At a Dead Show at the Capital Centre in the mid to late 80's.. somebody benevolently pranked a cop in the parking lot who pulled his gun shouting, "Freeze or I'll shoot you in the back" Nothing happened but man.. Dead Lives Matter. The Capital Centre really did suck.. some great shows at a very shitty venue, I genuinely refer to it as the Crapital Centre.. always packed with hippie hating cops on horseback. At another dead show at RFK perhaps 86 or 89?? some fan came right up behind me and chucked a bottle (coke I think, the old school greenish ones with ridges.. thick) at a cop and it hit him squarely in the head, made this sickening loud thud.. the bottle did not break and blood gushed all over the cop.. It was horrific, we are talking likely serious brain trauma. The other two, uninjured cops drew their weapons and ran like hell after the freak that instigated the whole thing - I don't know if they ever caught him. The incident was completely unprovoked, cop lives matter too. Bad hippie, bad hippie.

No thanks.. give me an outdoor shed or an intimate theatre any day of the week.. the Greek, Red Rocks, the Beacon, the Stanley, the Capitol.. one band, no opener. Alpine Valley is about as much of a venue as I would enjoy anymore.
Nice intimate setting, great acoustics, no cops on horses, no cops with guns or asshole fans throwing bottles at cops, etc. BTW, the nitrous mafia was not a good thing... (although I sinfully indulged on more than one occasion).

Glad I did the festivals when I could and have many great memories but I think 2008 was my last one. Sorry for the doggy downer perspective, but they a are sort of money grabs in a sense anyway. Was wearing my Village Vanguard shirt today. I dig the smaller clubs. That's always been where it's at in my humble opinion.

Not quite, but almost, almost your first negative comment. I’m teasing you of course.

Sorry about your experience at Foxboro. Piss poor show, but we had a blast. We were locals at the time, knew the lay of the land and planned accordingly.

Festivals don’t do it for me either. Too many hassles.

The HORDE festival was virtually empty until the headliners showed up. No joke. Big head Todd and the Monsters probably had 10 people in the audience when I saw them. It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon on a weekday. Regardless, I got to see them play Midnight Radio live.

Papa John and the other boys played a small, natural amphitheater. Summer gig, blanket on the lawn and a cooler full of beers. It didn’t suck.

Daverock could speak better to this but I think the coupons you're talking about were ration coupons. After WW2 England had rationing until around 1955

Could have been the intense heat, dehydration or there is a slight chance the mushrooms played a tiny part.

I had fun.. don't get me wrong. Me and the wonderful Terry, my favoritous, bestest tour buddy.. such a sweet woman. She would not take the wheel when I was seeing double though....

On the bright side.. but the time I did find my car.. I was stone sober, a good thing. I remember thinking as we drove off.. now where in the hell are we going to sleep tonight?

Any good stories about seeing the stones in a bar of 150? There's got to be some Garcia band or Jerry/Merl stories out there that surpass the biggest mega festival event ever??

The only festival I ever went to was the San Francisco Blues Festival, and it was absolutely fantastic! It started in 1973, it was free for years and when they started charging it was well worth it. I went to an awful lot of them and I never saw any trouble. I did see B.B.King, Buddy Guy , JR. Wells,,Stevie Ray Vaughn, Akbet Collins, Jimmy Cotton and many many more. Whether it was in Golden Gate Park, McLaren Park or over at CHrissy Field overlooking San Francisco Bay, great beer , food , and music, they were wonderful.

Dennis, I think your ad will be for cigarette coupons just as you mention existing in the US. While I wasn’t around in 1947 I can remember such coupons being advertised in Embassy brand cigarettes in the 1960s.

Although rationing of many items was still in place in the UK in 1947 you didn’t buy the coupons they were issued in a booklet by the government. There would have been a black market in selling ration coupons but that wouldn’t have been advertised.
Talking of rationing, there was an anecdotal (so probably false) story from the early days of rationing in the 39 - 45 war where Churchill, the Prime Minister, was shown a typical food ration. He, supposedly, said that it wasn’t too bad and you could make a good meal from it. No-one had the nerve to tell him it was the ration for a week.

Limited to 22,000 numbered copies

Limited to 2 per order.

😂

I was born in 1957, so I don't have any direct memories of rationing, and I haven't read much about it either. I have vague memories of my parents and grandparents talking about it when I was growing up, but that's about it I'm afraid.

Despite having inadvertently seen him live, I obviously don't know much about Bobby Vee, either !

I have to admit I laughed quite loud when I read your comment about Churchill and the rationed meal. My wife who is working from home was on a conference call and leaned around to the monitor to see what was up.

I was just an odd ad since it had no "branding" at all,,,, just that line of text.

With the rubber ball doing all that bouncing, it's a good thing you have a 1,000 eyes. (I didn't know he was from England :-) )

Saw Soundgarden at the Roseland in New York City. No idea what year it was, I'm going to say late 90s. My cousin ran a marathon the day before, and we were pretty much is close to the stage as you can get. No seats in the place, muscle your way to the front. The difficult part was can you collapsed from dehydration and I had to walk him out wounded soldier style for fresh air about halfway through. He knew to wait until My Wave was over, which is something I've always loved about the guy - never impeccable timing - not to be confused with punctuality. For example we separated once at MSG outside trying to find Stones tickets for sale. This is before cell phones. I was late for our rendezvous because I don't know the surrounding area well and I was pretty much about to get mugged; he didn't just show up -- he showed up with his brother in law who was a NYC cop -- on duty. I have probably a dozen similar stories. Not all danger-ridden, but the point is the man has a penchant for time. Mr. Chronos.

It's a good day for 11/2/69. Midnight Hour is one of of Pigpen favs. This is a good one. Is there one better than Ladies & Gentlemen, April '71? I wonder how DaP 30 ended up with such a sloooow performance of that one....

Vee was from the Midwest, which is where he met Zimmerman/Dylan, aka Elston Gunn(n), piano player. I am sure Zimmerman/Dylan/Gunn was as challenged a keyboard player then as he is now.
A few years after giving Zimmerman/Dylan/Gunn the heave-ho, Vee was rambling around Greenwich Village and sees Dylan's first record on display in a window, and says "Hey!!! That's Elston Gunn!"

Most, if not all London buses of that period were double deckers. On the front of the bus, between the driver's cabin and the upper deck was the destination board. Frequently there were small advertisements on both sides of the destination board. It is quite possible that the advertisement that you refer to was just one half of a pair, with the product and brand name being on the other half (which presumably wasn't visible).

Best small venue story; Skynyrd at a bar sized venue in downtown Denver called Ebbet's Field right after their first album came out. Ronnie swilling Jack straight out the bottle after each song. They played everything from their 1st and Second Helping including a 27 minute Free Bird! Also saw jazz bands there; most memorable being Return To Forever with Al DiMeola ripping it up. Weirdest mash-up (festival?) Dylan and The Beach Boys at C.S.U. Hughes stadium Ft. Collins, CO around '75 I think. It rained hard! Hard Rain album recorded there?

July 73 - ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Savoy Brown, Deep Purple
Nov. 72 - Eggs over Easy, Eagles, Yes
Oct. 73 - Mountain, Foghat, Black Sabbath
Nov 74 - Iron Butterfly, Jo Jo Gunne, Spirit
Dave's 36 is it really going to be 4 discs, both shows complete? if so, ok, good one, if not and it's a chop job, not interested as much. I could dig some 91 Hornsby shows with the Dead, or some more Pig in the mix, and for sure some more 72.

saw Crack the Sky at a bar in Altamonte Springs, about 40 people there, announcer comes on and says "just back from an LSD trip - ladies and gentlemen, Crack the Sky"
Saw Mahogany Rush in a small theatre circa 76 or so, Frank Marino twirling his guitar and playing Hendrix style behind his neck while a strobe light flashed
Saw Stillwater in a bar, passed out joints to the band, they played "There's a party in my pants"
Saw Spirit in in a bar downtown Orlando, Tent of Miracles band, Randy and Ed looking great, real assholes at that show, they came to see Randy due to the Hendrix connection, but didn't care about the music, drunks
Saw Cactus at a bar also, what a great rock band "sonic rock" Rusty called it
Those were the days, my friends, I sure do miss live music, Last 3 shows I attended before the virus Captain Beyond, Hot Tuna electric and Dead 69. All very good performances. What were the last bands you all saw before this virus hit?

Bobby was from Fargo, where my mom is from, and since she was just a few years older than he, she was a big fan. He died in an exurbia town near Minneapolis four years ago, but two Christmases ago I sent my mom and dad to see the Bobby Vee Family Show. It's a bunch of Vee's family members playing his hit singles. My folks had a blast!

p.s. Somewhere around 1990 I saw Gregg Allman, The Marshall Tucker Band, and The Smithereens on the same bill at Roy Wilkins Auditorium, which is next door to the old Saint Paul Civic Center, where the GD played at least once--5/11/77. The Roy Wilkins Auditorium is still there (a few friends skate on rollerderby teams that have bouts there), and the acoustics are about as bad as one can imagine from a cement rectangle built in 1932.

So my faithful bathroom companions (my two Deadbases--never fear--the books don't LIVE in the moist bathroom, but merely come off the shelf many days) list favorite shows by year, but those lists are from way back before Charlie Miller and Internet Archive changed our lives. I'm searching the Interweb for a more recent ranking of GD shows, and am hoping to find rankings that have many listeners participating. But I'm finding mostly one-person rankings. Going through the reviews on Archive is somewhat useless, given that most people these days give five-star ratings to every single thing they hear, purchase, eat, see . . .

Does anyone know of a good ranking of shows, please? Let's say I want to see which shows from 1984 have percolated up the charts to be the consensus best shows of the year, and have been vetted by many semi-objective Deadheads. Does such a ranking exist? Or do I need to spearhead a project of people on this board and perhaps the FB page? Now that we have EVERYTHING in good quality, it would be useful to have, say, ten Heads go through an entire tour (e.g., Spring '84), and then reach a consensus on which shows were great overall, which were great for 1984, and which shows should be relegated to the dust bin of history. It would also be fun to figure out some choice nuggets from otherwise dispensable shows.

Ah The Crap Centre, it was absolutely the worst. I saw more bad shit happen there then all my other shows combined. The cops rode horses and did not play. They usually had a makeshift jail on site to book people in the parking lot.

Anyway, Seattle has a grate(!) fest every year (well, not this year) named Bumbershoot. I went 20 straight years at one point '97-'16. Towards the end it just got too commercial and I gave it up, but man it rocked in the 90s and early to mid 00s.

Thanks,,, that makes a lot of sense (advertising wize). You did only see the front corner of the bus and not the whole front.

...before the virus:
Ricky Skaggs 3/9
Electric Hot Tuna 2/19
Dianne Reeves 2/18

All at the beautiful Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA

Re: Cap Centre, never had a problem there. Saw 11/23/78 and 8/31/80 hassle-free.

Going to Jersey any day now,,,, maybe late tonite. Anyone around Hacklebarney Park, Delaware Water Gap, Raritan Bay Area? Going to be some day hiking with buddies, love to see anyone from the boards. Hiking, good diner? Will be around for maybe two weeks. Mother in Law's house needs "stuff" done and a buddy needs an extra hand for a few big jobs around his place.

I don't read email or internet stuff while away. ( I might poke this board with my tablet, but I NEVER use a cell phone) And Email I ONLY do on my desktop. But hit me with a pm if interested, I will check b4 leaving and can send cell number,,,, but will also check while in Jersey. Be nice to meet anyone.

Electric Hot Tuna! Feb 29 at Boulder Theater. Great show. Jack caught air a few times jumping up and down. Jorma was terrific, but briefly sagged a bit late in the show and Jack moved in to support him and save the song. Great interplay between old friends. The audience knew we were heading into a covid future. A week later, just before Los Lobos was scheduled to play the Theater (March 14), I decided it wasn't worth the risk. The next day, the band canceled its show. The rescheduled show for October has been postponed to March 2021 and I got a refund instead, as that date is still too optimistic.

Had to cancel on my Tedeschi-Trucks shows at the Rocks as well this summer and got a refund for their new dates in July 2021. Still ain't gonna happen by that time, at least I don't think so, at this point.

Locally, a few bands have played outdoor patios in Denver, but that's just about over as days get shorter and average temperatures drop.

Yeah, sure do miss the crowds, the music, getting out of the house. Feb 29 seems SO far away.

Biggest for me: Sun Day #1 put on by Barry Fey at Mile High stadium Denver (around '74)
Line up; Allman Bros., Marshall Tucker, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Wet Willy, and I think there was one more??
Brutally hot and muggy on the wet grass on the field. All we had was cheap Mexican ditch weed and warm beer.
Were those the days? Can't remember so I must have been there.

I saw Taj Mahal at the Ark in Ann Arbor in 2001 or 2002. 400 people. We were sitting two rows behind the piano at the side of the stage. Taj came out solo and played piano, guitar and banjo tunes for 1.5 hours. Nora Jones was the opener and played a 30-40 minute set sitting on a couple of pillows stacked up on the piano bench since she was so much shorter than Taj. She wasn't widely known at the time but was fantastic.

Last show I saw before the lockdown was Sexfist at the Gingerman tavern in Wrigley.

I saw both Phish and WSP in small rooms with less than 50 people in attendance in 1990. My truly treasured moment though was catching JJ Cale at a bar in Baton Rouge about 20 years ago. A few hundred people there, but it felt like music history to me.

Last show before covid not counting my local bar band was the Dead Co NYE run in San Francisco. Good show but JJ Cale in Red Stick was better!

I saw the fast and furious Norwegian jazz rock band Elephant 9 in January this year at the famous jazz club Ronnie Scotts. At the set break I overheard someone asking for his money back as it wasn't proper jazz. He got that right!
At the end of last year I saw Gong/Steve Hillage and a few weeks before that Hawkwind. And all was well with the world.
I'd forgotten about Mahogony Rush. I'll bet they were a blast live.

For multi-band shows, two that stand out for me are:

Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray, Alpine Valley 1990 night one of two. We all know how this ended on night two, but for many years this was one of the best nights of my life. A fairly mixed group of my friends (some from college, some from high school, some hippies, some who preferred metal) caravaned and parked with a keg and bong in the lot-- the back lots were very different than they are today with woods and trails to navigate. We all drank beer, smoked and then me and my college buds ate paper and took off on our own. Stevie Ray blew us away-- will never forget how he just owned that stage that night. Clapton was good, but how to follow that up!

The other one was a 'Blues Festival' featuring Dr. John, Buddy Guy and B.B. King, summer of 1991 (I think) at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee. This one stands out for how inappropriate the venue was. There were probably less than 1,000 people in that 20,000 person shed. Dr. John did his set, including a song with a lady dancing with a python. Buddy Guy does his set and did his "Roaming Buddy" in this empty amphitheater-- ran all the way up to the bathrooms on the concourse at the top!! I was hooked on Buddy Guy and saw him as often as I could for the next 20 years.

The next time I saw Buddy Guy was the best club show I saw-- R&R Station in Madison, winter 1992. Also saw Otis Rush in a small club in Milwaukee, c. 1998.

Two shows I saw that were both unexpected for different reasons, were by the “two” Beatle drummers, Ringo Starr, and Pete Best. Starr was playing with one of his All Starr lineups (I remember Edgar Winter) at a local casino, and while not a huge Beatle guy, a friend is, so I went. I always felt Starr’s playing was underrated, but at this show, it felt so mailed-in, so contrived. He even remarked about not needing to leave the stage to do the encore, because “you know I’m going to do it”. Kind of a let down, especially after seeing McCartney a few times, and he really worked it. Starr played some drums, but mostly just did that goofy peace sign and walked the stage.
Pete Best was touring his bar band, playing small venues and bars, and he was playing west of Toronto in a pretty run down town called Hamilton (the Dead have played there), and we went more for the novelty. Surprisingly, despite playing this shabby hall, the guy played his ass off, and it was all pretty upbeat Mersey music, and there was never a let down in the tempo of the show. He hung around for a meet and greet after, and a nice guy to boot. I have no idea why the Beatles booted him way back when (my friend almost directly asked him, but he gave a PC answer about how “great the lads were”), but his playing was pretty stellar from what I heard.

....throat cancer.

As I expected, my fellow Deadheads saw some incredible multi-bill concerts. A mis-matched 3 band concert that I saw at the Tower Theatre also involved the PSG:

1. Patti Smith Group: avant-punk?

2. Sparks: LA power popsters whose lead vocalist sang with a falsetto...may sound strange, but they've been a long time favorite. This was my 2 younger sisters 1st concert...GD were next...and quite the contrast!

3. UFO: with Michael Schenker; this band was p*ssed off...I don't know if it was because they were the opening act or if it was just being on the bill itself...either way they were the LOUDEST band I EVER heard.
We walked into the Tower about 10 mins. after UFO went on and saw the entire lobby was filled with people. I found Kenny, an usher (from whom I used to purchase 'doses' ) and asked him why everyone was in the lobby. He told me, "Dave, they're so loud you can't stand at the aisle break for more than 2-3 mins". He was standing beside me shouting directly into my ear but I had trouble hearing and understanding him. When I finally got the message I thought 'Too Loud? Impossible!' I walked down to the aisle break and sure enough...this was a pain I never experienced before...like being stabbed in both ears with sharpened screwdrivers. The only people in the theatre were 4 head-banging metalheads standing approximately 30-40 ft. from the left side PA. I think any potential new fans were lost that night as well as the hearing of the 4 Mheads.

Last 5:

1. Hank Ballard & The Midnighters - Sexy Ways; a remastered single disc compilation put together by King Records & Rhino...thanks for the remastering Rhino. Highly suggestive lyrics or outright lewd and obscene as deemed by 1950's standards? Released 1993.

2. X - Alphabetland; 40 years after their 1st album, X come roaring back in style. 11 songs, 27 mins. total...hit-n-run and they're done...all meat no potatoes.

3. Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs Of Life; a proto-blend of Country/Bluegrass/Folk/Gospel and a major influence on the Everly Brothers who in turn would be a major influence on the Beatles, particularly Paul McCartney. I've come to realize there are less than 6 degrees of separation when it comes to music. Ira's mandolin playing would go on to influence others for years to come. Combine that with the almost unearthly sibling vocal harmonies and a cover of Leadbelly's 'In The Pines' and you've got a winner on your hands IMHO.

4. Paul Kelly - Spring And Fall; Australia's answer to Dylan. He's been at it for 40 years and is virtually unknown in the States...I think everyone can name an artist or band who they feel is/was criminally overlooked or underrated. For me Paul Kelly is one of them.

5. Yes - Keys To Ascension & KTA 2 (studio); Two 2 disc releases, 1 disc studio/1 disc live for each. The 2 studio discs make up, what I think is the last great album by the well known quintet of Anderson/Howe/Squire/Wakeman/White. The live discs make up a complete show (compiled from 3 nights) at the 650 seat Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, CA and is a keeper as well.

+1 GD - Dick's Picks Vol. 3: 5/22/77 Pembroke Pines, FL ; a fellow DH posted a link for the missing songs on a long gone DaP thread, and I say Thank You...I need complete shows!

Thanks to my fellow DHs, GD and Rhino for providing an oasis of happy, controlled insanity in these very uncertain times...sorry for rambling!

I went through a Van Halen phase in high school, which quickly passed.

Still, Eddie Van Halen: props to you.

and another one's gone, and another one's gone, and another one bites the dust.

but some people keep breathing. odd.

I like many others really try to not bring politics or religion to this board. That said within our community I also believe that the minute you cut off an era of the dead's music, you have truly exited the bus and stopped the long strange trip. I am still very weak in 90's Grateful Dead, but I am not closed off to it. Someone wrote they would like to see a post Bruce 90's release. Now that I can accept. Why, because I need to explore this area of Grateful Dead. Just from the very limited Bruce shows I have heard, I notice Bruce seems to lean on his same chops over and over. I could be wrong, I need to hear more Bruce era Grateful Dead as well. One thing I will not do anytime soon is stop my long strange trip.

I have a bunch to post so forgive me if I blast a few out.

I was sort of shocked but not surprised about Eddie Van Halen. I saw Van Halen probably around 10 times the first being the 80's Invasion tour and the last being in Charlotte NC in 1996, I think the Balance tour.

Now I am going to try and weirdly bring a few posts together. When I saw them in 1996 it was because some friends of mine were opening for them. I have written about them before. Two of my friends were in the band but not at the same time. The band was Brother Cane which had some decent success in the early to mid 90's. I have posted this link before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwmYh8GubK0.

My friend Glenn was the bass player at the time. He quit and the 2nd guitarist (Roman who plays harmonica in the video) when Glenn played moved to bass and another friend Dave came in as the 2nd guitarist here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXlBlKMwNI

So Dave actually wrote the better songs than Damon the lead guitarist vocalist of the band. None of Dave's songs ever made it onto a record. OK why all of this?

All are still professional musicians. Damon has written songs for and with Stevie Nicks and others and played in Alice Cooper for about 5 years. Dave plays with Atlanta Rhythm Section, does their summer shed tours and even writes some.

Some mentioned Ricky (Rick) Nelson a few posts back. Well I saw Rick's last show at a very small club (so takes care of the small club discussion) near my hometown. The next day he died in a plane crash. The next day was 1985-12-31. So I had become a head in 1982, first with LiveDead and then Bear's Choice. But it was the Radio City Music Hall taping from 1980 (October 30-31) that I saw in September 1982 on the USA network, that hooked me. On New Year's Eve 1985, I saw for the first time Grateful Dead live (in action) on the USA network nationwide tv broadcast. They started broadcasting with the 2nd set which started locally at 2am. As it had been since the 1980 Radio City shows, I had not seen Jerry in picture or anything. He had aged so much, I guess it didnt surprise me when he got sick. To tie this all back in just a little bit, here is a picture taken 1985-12-31 of Rick Nelson's plane shortly before taking off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXlBlKMwNI

Now the third gentleman from the left is Damon, who played this show in the opening act called Headline. Just weird how the world turns.

So to go full circle, in 1996 when Brother Cane was opening for Van Halen I got to meet the band, minus Sammy. Eddie, Alex, and Michael were all fun to hang around and easy to get along with, made me feel comfortable. Sammy pulled up separately in a long limousine with a tall beautiful blond with him. He did not acknowledge my friends but more importantly the other three in Van Halen. The other 3 came out and watched Brother Cane's sound check, and joked around. I still have an unworn Mike's Cafe Tshirt I got from Mike. Some may know what Mike's Cafe is...

And to close, I apologize for the long meaningless rant. Here is Rick Nelson's last set list.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/ricky-nelson/1985/pjs-alley-guntersville…

His show was a very good show, and I am glad I went. I did have to be dragged to it by older friends...

Rant freely, great read.

My list is so pitiful compared to a lot of those that have been shared here, but I am still thankful for the very few concerts I have seen and had decent experiences at. Thankfully no puke on backs of calves for me. That would have really sucked, Jim! Maybe when it's safer to hit live shows again, I would consider attending some in-person live entertainment again. But keep the tales coming!

By the way, I randomly noticed today that the 30 Trips box (affectionately known as Boxzilla, Boxilla or The Porch Crusher) is lean on Late Era China Cat>I Know You Rider's. Other than some of the AUD splices or cd packaging (or original price or price now!) there is very little to complain about with that box. I really think it got some shows out that would have taken much longer or wouldn't have even been considered if other than as a release for a much later date.

Have a Grateful Day all!

P.S. Oh and DH Brewer check out the Internet Archive Grateful Dead forum for Mando Jammer's 1984 show by show review for examples of more good shows from that era. I think another place to start might be BCT, Silva Hall or Greek '84. But, everyone has their favorites. :-)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJEMbuh3YQ I saw Ray Charles play 3 times at the Paul Masson Winery, fairly small place. Ray Charles , bigger than life.

I did see some great festivals.. four New Orleans Jazz Fests, Clapton / Beck and Clapton / Winwood, I really enjoyed GD/Dylan, Gathering of the (bad) Vibes (the crazed sweaty, stinky slam dance hugger I mentioned yesterday).. plus several others.

The most interesting big band/small venue I saw was Wide Spread at Max's on Broadway (Baltimore). Had dinner with the band at Bertha's across the street in the late 80's before they were big. There were these stickers Eat at Bertha's and Bertha's Mussels, plus a nice tie into a rocking Dead song. Nice guys, they rocked it. Saw Zappa and King Crimson in a small place called Painters Mill in the early 80's. Love seeing bands in small venues and ornate theatres..

Jazz Fest rocked but you couldn't get me do it these days... 12 music stages and always multiple bands playing at the same time.

It is another weird happening that Sammy Hagar and Bob Weir became friends. I think they live very close to each other. And y'all know the story/rumor.

That is was Slammin Sammie that took down (stole) the beautiful murals that were hung on the side of Winterland for its closing. I dont check on this often, but last I heard those murals have never been found. They have to be somewhere. Anyway, condolences to Wolfgang for the loss of his dad, and to Valerie and the whole Van Halen family. Almost feel like hoisting a few and blistering my ears tonight.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY6-kJlxwZc. Talk about big names in a small place. I saw Elizabeth Cotton in the Sweetwater , it's a real small place.

Sweetwater even famous down here...

I expected a little more love for Eddie here, but things are what they are. People who know, know. I will say this: you talk about arguing Dead eras, man, the Sammy Hagar vs. David Lee Roth camps give no ground. I love both, which makes me an easy to please Grateful Dead fan.

Last show: Dirty Honey, right after President's Day when we came back down from skiing in the Colorado Rockies with Covid. I spent three or four nights on the couch, couldn't sleep, went to work every day. It wasn't that big a deal... nobody knew what it was then.

Before that one, Tool and Fleetwood Mac. I've seen FM enough and hate how they treated Lindsey Buckingham, but I went just to see Mike Campbell on a big stage one more time and he did not disappoint.

As far as multi-artist fests, there's been more than a few but the 1997 Long Beach Blues Festival takes the cake:

1997: Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Son Seals, Otis Clay, John Lee Hooker, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Snooky Pryor, Soul Stirrers, Chuck Berry, Ike Turner's Rhythm & Blues Revue, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Chess All-stars featuring Hubert Sumlin, Billy Boy Arnold, Jimmy Rogers, and Johnnie Johnson, DJ Gary "The Wagman" Wagner served as emcee.

Be well everyone.

\m/

Gary Farseer, pm me your email I might have a Dead item you might be interested in , free. Led. Ded. what a great lineup of blues performers, a lot of the greats.

November1968
Shrine Expo Hall Los Angeles Ca
The Jeff Beck Group
The Moody Blues
Ten Years After

November 1969 The Forum Inglewood Ca (two shows) (My 19th Birthday by the way)
The Rolling Stones
Ike & Tina Turner
B.B. King
Terry Reid

@Ledded...I envy your '77 Long Beach gig...I never went to the Blues Fest but i would listen (and sometimes tape off of KLON) at home with the grill going....as for small venues I think for me it would be The Ash Grove...I saw mainly blues acts but Firesign Theatre did shows there too...Freddy King, Johnny Shines, The Johnny Otis Show that featured Big Joe Turner & Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson plus more...one time T-Bone Walker was in the crowd and came up on stage to do a few numbers with Otis including a guitar "cutting" duel with Shuggie...But for me at the Ash Grove it had to be seeing Lightnin' Hopkins play two acoustic sets one night followed by two electric sets the nexy night...

A song for our times indeed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_rB4v75jqU

Sad to hear about Eddie today too...I had no idea he had been fighting the good fight for over twenty years...Fuck cancer

All this talk of Multi-Act shows inspired me to comb through my memory... it's been a lot of fun.

Here is a list of some of the bigger ones I can recall.

* Day on the Green 1983 #3 (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA) - Police, the Fixx, Madness, Oingo Boingo, The Thompson Twins
* Day on the Green 1987 #1 (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA) - Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead
* Aids Benefit 1989 (Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA) - Grateful Dead, Tracy Chapman, John Fogerty, Los Lobos, Joe Satriani, Tower of Power
* Bridge School Benefit 1989 - Crosby, Still, Nash & Young, Neil Young, Sammy Hagar, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tracy Chapman
* Bridge School Benefit 1990 - Cheech Marin, Jackson Browne, Edie Brickell, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, Gene LaFond & Larry Kegan, Crazy Horse, Neil Young
* Squaw Valley Music Festival 1991 - Garcia/Grisman, Booker T and the MGs, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Neville Brothers
* Bridge School Benefit 1995 - Neil Young, Beck, Emmylou Harris & Daniel Lanois, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, Hootie and the Blowfish
* BB King Blues Festival 1997 - BB King, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Storyville
* BB King Blues Festival 1999 - BB King, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Taj Mahal, Indigenous

Thanks to all who contributed to this topic... it's been fun to read and even more fun to travel down memory lane.

Seems even more poignant given the current state of the world.

Might have to have a hard think about the small venue question next.

Cheers all... stay safe.

Like Proudfoot said, it was a small window in my musical life, but those first 2 or 3 Van Halen albums were dear to me. Still give 'em listening time here and there. That's what my older brothers and sisters were into and that means that it's what I was into in the early 80's.
Eruption was a fantastic thing for an 11 year old kid. Thanks Eddie.