Grateful Dead

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Wow, this was a great show from beginning to end. My first Dead concert; man, I was just a kid and to find out years later that it might not have happened at all. Read page 397 in McNally’s book. Such a cool venue back in the day with members of the band just hanging out. I got to talk to Jerry and he gave me one of his guitar pics. My friend asked him why they never toured in the South (alluding to the bust in New Orleans the previous year). Jerry answered, “ we’re here aren’t we ?” I changed the subject and told him he was one of my favorite guitar players (being a guitarist myself) and that I thought he had a very distinctive style that set him apart from all the others. He answered by saying that the distinctive style I was hearing was really due to his limitations on the instrument more than anything. I think about that a lot. What rock star then or now would ever admit to “limitations” as he put it ? Later in the evening after the Dead had played I spotted Jerry standing to the side of the stage. I walked over and asked him why he was still hanging around. He said, “man, I just want to hear the Beach Boys” and then he handed me a Heineken out of the cooler. Others soon descended and we all did our best to empty that cooler. Jerry was good to his word and the Dead came back to North Carolina many times through the years and I went to see them whenever I could. Each time was great with memories to spare but this was the most memorable because I got to meet Jerry.

I remember watching the band to see what kind cues they gave each other to communicate when it was time to reel in from an extended improv back to the body of the song. There were none visible! I watched really carefully. Then there was the moment when they shifted from a minor chord to a major, and made the sun come out from behing a cloud. Butterfield and Mountain were great also. The Beach Boys--so-so. It was the best rock concert I ever attended.

per Chipgar, & looselucy ~~> ~~~> Jerry played pedal steel with NRPS for 2 hours, THEN played with the Dead for 4 hours !!!! I had no idea that was even humanly possible, outside on a warm spring day, rolling in the grass, jam dancing for hours, grooving my ass off. ~~~> Hooked for life / Proud to be a Dead Head ever since that day. (i had never seen a band play more than 2 hours before in my life before that day, rarely more than 90 minutes .... talk about luving your fans & the Music ! ) Saw every other GD show at Duke, & many more ... this is still one of the greatest highlights ... high energy, hitting on all 12 cylinders, PigPen wailing, boys even using their prettiest harmony singing voices ... the good ol' daze. The Greatest Story>JBG>NFA>GDTRFB>NFA ending was simply amazing ... i've never heard better in more than a dozen shows over 3 decades since then. The Uncle John's Band encore after that was just a soothing embrace of a song for fully satiated lovers ...