The Grateful Dead

[halfassedjediknight]

jerry garcia had some cankles

[Dutch Pimp]

i have a grateful dead poster, does that count as seeing them? love'em, but too young to have ever seen anything by them...sucks

...yes...that counts .....more than you will ever know......

[PrideOfCucamonga]

I really stinks that i am too young to have seen the dead. But i have a friend who is about my age and was able to see them (but not really appreciate them) because his parents were deadheads.

[StrwbrryFldsFrvr]

I've been to a Dark Star Orchastra show.. great stuff man!

Too bad i'm too young to have seen a real dead show. =(

[PrideOfCucamonga]

Dark star is so good, saw them at the egg in albany. great

[yokinazu]

along with alpine i always enjoyed buckeye lake in ohio, deercreek in indi and of course i thought the best place was always redrocks. i got to see them my first time in 84. i havent been the same since

[epilepticme]

Anyone into Ratdog?

[my6strings]

yes my uncle loved greatul dead and even has a video of the making of

[allrollsin21]

I believe the GD to be the greatest band ever to perform. 2nd place goes to all the many JGB incarnations. Legion of Mary in 74-75 was incredible. Get some of those recordings and puff a fatty and melt into the zone. Pre-legion Jerry and Merl from 72-73 is the most beautiful music i have ever heard.
My first Dead show was MSG 9-12-91. A Terrapin for the ages...
So about 20 shows from there until the end...
Moved to CA the year after Jerry Died

On a side note there is a tribute to Martin Fierro happening at the Fillmore in SF on 8/8/08. Martin was a member of Legion of Mary, and Zero, and he passed away this year. A remarkable man by all accounts. Steve Kimock will be MC'ing the benefit and Zero will be playing. It is fixin to be a memorable night. Kimock is impressive!

[Jerry Garcia 2007]

Well I was blessed with being able to witness 75 Greatful Dead and Garcia shows before Jerry Passed On. I was not turned on to them untill 1988 and have been to mostly east coast shows so I can not give an oppinion on midwest and west coast venues. Bur for my years I can give my oppinion on what I have seen.

Best show I have been to: 10/8/89 Hampton Virginia, Billed as the The Warlock's, This was the show that brought back Dark Star to the set list after more than 10 years. The energy from the band and the fans was just unbelievable, I never experinced that level energy since.

My most favorite venues are as follows:

Stadium: RFK, Washington DC and Rich Stadium Buffalo New York
Outdoor Non-Stadium: Buckeye Lake
Most Senic: Highgate Vermont
Best Indoor Arena: Large: Capital center/Us Air Arena Landover Maryland/ Small: Hampton Virginia.

Since the passing of Jerry I have been to see all the different bands that the band members have orginized including, The Other Ones, The Dead, Rat Dog, and Phil and Friends, and Micky Harts Band. Unfortunatlly none of these bands have come close to giving the feelings I had during the time when Jerry was around. Don't take this as they suck. They are far from that and are some of the best shows out there for this era.

But by far the Best Dead Experiance you can find now is Dark Star Orchastra. I see them every chance I get and the similarities at times are freightning. I have been to shows where if you close your eyes you will swear you are at a real dead show. The only thing that I have noticed lately about DSO is the current sound mixer appears to have never been to an actual GD show. I most recently saw them at the All Good Festival in West Virgina and finnaly saw them using a real concert sound & light system. ( not the theater/ club system I am use to ) WOW the lighting was right on and the music was perfect BUT the mixing was AWFULL!!!! If it was just this show I would just chalk it up to the Mixing person was enjoying the festival a little to much. But for the last few DSO shows I have been to I noticed the same thing MIXING SUCKED. ( Bass to loud at the wrong times, Mic's not turned up for critical lyrics, Guitar solos washed out ECT).

I do not want to discourage anyone from seeing them in fact I want everyone to go see them and support them because they are the one band capable of bringing back the experiance I remember. I just hope they are getting the feedback that I am giving, so to improve the experiance.

JG