Chungar

My first show (8/19/80 Uptown) went something like this...
I had to leave due to a miscalculation of how much beer I could drink. It wasn't the one that changed my life. It just changed my drinking habits at shows altogether. The Uptown was amazing! That much I do remember!

It wasn't until my 5th and 6th shows at Alpine (8/82) was when I got the big picture... Caught the big wave... however you want to say it... Life changing event... on the bus forever Dead! I had seen the Dead several times before and experimented with lots of different drugs of the day. But these were my first back to back shows and the whole scene in the rolling green hills of Alpine was just so cool. 82 was before the really BIG crowds that were right around the corner in the mid 80's. So we weren't jammed in like sardines. I sat somewhere in the neighborhood of 15th or 16th row center which at Alpine is perfect. The first 14 or so rows are all on flat ground so we could see perfectly over all the rows in front of us. Almost at eye level with the band. These shows were amazing!
This was also the night of the frog candle!
After the show we get back to our car and hang for a bit. Next to us a group of people started dancing around in a circle... Very tribal! They start chanting Frog Candle... Frog Candle...
The one of them picks up this lit up Frog Candle from the center and lifts it over his head and says... "Jerry saw the Frog Candle"...
Freakin' Tripping' Hippies!!!

Chungar

And my first tapes - Holy Shit! I was so psyched to get Scarlet-Fire live! I was and still am hooked on live Dead! Once a Head... Always A Head I had those tapes for nearly 15 years and it's amazing how absolutely freakin horrible they sound now! In some cases I've had 10 iterations of the same show and some of the actual shows frankly aren't that good.
But I had to weed through all of them to get to the real good stuff! If only we had pc's, the internet and file sharing software 25 years ago!!!

W.M.DEEEZ

LOL...something about Jerry and Scarlet. On the 4/27/77 tape, he still can't get the words right. That run is still considered by some, to the best stuff out there. I've got a decent disc, and if I get the time, maybe I'll be able to put together some stuff for you....my buddy is heavy into a whole library of free stuff he got over the years...


Check this out! I found this on youtube the other day...from the night WNEW broadcast the show we had on tape. They cut out the Scarlet, but ...oh well.





Two nights before, I had my elbows on the stage taking pix. Jerry's got a sticker on that guitar that says "The Enemy is Listening"

__________________
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

W.M.DEEEZ

Hey! Look what I just found! The first part to the medley!


Listen for the lyrics screw up(s)...na na na na na na na na na na...






Edit....I just listened to the whole thing...they end it before Jerry fills in the na na's instead of lyrics...great vids, though.

__________________
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

Kanadesaga

no shit!!

__________________

Chungar

Yeah! guess it goes without saying.
Back to Don-o's reviews!

Chungar

One more note - After reading about Latava's fav's I'm really digging the Oct-Dec shows from 73. Although through out most years there's really good stuff. April-May '77 is way up there too!
Sorry, I could go on and on... probably need a separate thread just for Dead related stories/reviews.

W.M.DEEEZ

I love the 73 stuff, and was mortified when my buddy told me that Europe 72 had some overdubbing on the drums because of technical failures on that tour. (Hmmm....whatever could have caused that?)


They were always evolving, and the sound kept changing...Pigger gone made a huge change... Musically, I think Jerry got more complex, and I believe his voice hit a peak in 77, which would account for the great run.


I think I was wrong about the 4/27 Scarlet screwup...did you have the Seva benefit from Toronto in 84? That too, was broadcast on WNEW, and I drove 80 miles w/my tapedeck to record it.


It's readily available,and it had a fantastic opening set by The Band.

I believe that's the show where Jerry fills in a whole bunch of na na's, for lyrics in the middle of the song.



I don't think Don minds....this will eventually be a concert review thread...as per Don.

__________________
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone

babylonDon

I don't mind.

I'll get back to my reviews of Blues Fest soon, but I'm feeling lazy

And quit hassling Jerry about forgetting the damn words!

__________________
“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."-John Lawton

Chungar

Tele-prompter time!
Saw Days Between in Den. 94 He missed just about everything and then the beginning of Brokedown. Half the Band cracked up! It was real funny and even Jer was smiling... back on track it turned out great!