Penns Peak

[Billy DeLyon]

Definitely a few weird vibes from the show.  All in all it was a good night, not sure if it was the near full moon, new mgmnt at the Peak or what but from jump street we encountered the never ending lines outside the venue a 1/2 hr before showtime.  This isn’t something new but we got up there a little late & wanted a little tailgate time.  So we got in line.  Heard some say better run away, others say you better stand still.  Needless to say I didn’t stand in line and got into the show in about 10mins. They were still scanning tickets & bringing people in at the end of the 1st set!   That puts a lot of people in a bad mood before they get into the room.  I understand it was sold out but that can’t happen.  Venue’s gotta do a better job

Things went down we don’t understand, but I guess in time we will. Although I can’t say I saw a fight, maybe someone could have gotten kicked out (which I’ve seen at many shows).  I did witness a mass exedous of what looked to be high school kids leaving at the beginning of the 2nd set. I remember thinking to myself “who goes home at the start of the second set?”  I feel kinda angry everyone (including the band) got screwed out of the last few songs because of a couple idiots.  Was very bizarre when they basically pulled the plug.  I don’t even remember them announcing the setlist.  Who knows, maybe they bust out a Lovelight or something to end the night & leave everyone w/ an awesome feeling to go back to their families with.  I’m all for self policing the scene (its got very few rules to guide) but it’s a fine line since many people (myself included) aren’t big fans of the police telling you what to do in general.  That’s the beauty of a Dead show, pretty much anything goes.  You start putting more rules in place & it could be counterproductive.  But if you’re acting like a dumbass & it starts to encroach on a bunch of other peoples good vibes you need to be dealt with.  Either by your own crew/friends, security, or the elder statesmen heads on the scene.  Hopefully this isn’t gonna be a new trend.  Or maybe it was just a one time thing that’s a blip on the radar.  Either way this darkness’ got to give.  That’s my rant Hope everyone has a blessed & safe holiday with your families & friends.

praise DSO

[smoseywales]

Tiger said it best.

 

It's the Touch Heads. They are an annoyance at DeadCo shows too.

 

A real shame that element got out of hand.

 

But the argument on "organic is safe" is ignorant. Curare is one of the most deadly poisons--completely natural. And alcohol is, in fact, organic and natural. There are mushrooms that will kill you.  Be smart to be safe.

[Greg from Chestertown]

It’s inner peace and clarity that gets me off anymore, service to others. ...comes a time....

[Tea]

DSO’s official statement:

 

Due to circumstances beyond the control of the Penn’s Peak or Dark Star Orchestra, last night’s DSO performance was shortened by approximately 30 minutes.

After consultation with paramedics and local authorities a matter of public concern was raised.  It was then mutually decided it would be in the best interest of all patrons to end the show ahead of schedule.

Both parties are incredibly disappointed by last night’s turn of events, but we all look forward to the band’s return next year.

[PoetryGirl]

4 hours ago, smoseywales said:

Tiger said it best.

 

It's the Touch Heads. They are an annoyance at DeadCo shows too.

 

Define Touch Head, please. 

[Tom Banjo]

I call them Phish kids. Whatever term you want to use we all know what he means. People there for the scene for the party. Not for the message, the music, and the healing. 

 

That stella blue took me places. I cried little but it reminded me of a few years ago and just how low I felt. When I had to move away from my friends because I broke down and sobbed. And here I am two weeks from welcoming a beautiful and healthy baby daughter into the world. 

 

I love you guys. 

 

I’m really upset about what a few people did at our show. 

 

Penns peak is a holy place to me, especially the pre-thanksgiving show. I feel someone brought hate into my church. 

[jambandmusic]

I/we didn't realize what was going on till reading here. I did see the individual being led away just before the start of set 2 and yes, looked a bit young and presumably experimenting. I learned a long time ago to not accept a joint/bowl & now vape from anyone I don't know because you never know. But what really bothers me is that the venue only had 2 single doors for entry and really needs to be addressed. They knew it was a sellout and should have added extra staff to get us all in on time. An hour+ to get in is total bullshit... DSO needs to help us with addressing this with Penns Peak management. Stella & Truckin were simply outfuckinstanding, Jerry was with us! 

 

[Rude]

9 hours ago, smoseywales said:

Tiger said it best.

 

It's the Touch Heads. They are an annoyance at DeadCo shows too.

 

A real shame that element got out of hand.

 

But the argument on "organic is safe" is ignorant. Curare is one of the most deadly poisons--completely natural. And alcohol is, in fact, organic and natural. There are mushrooms that will kill you.  Be smart to be safe.

 

Touch heads are in their late 40s and 50s. Besides talking too much, this group generally doesn’t cause much problems. This isn’t the group that robs tents or scams people.  I don’t know what the problem was at the peak but touch heads may have been an issue when they were 18-24 but not now. The biggest thing about age is we’ve all overdone it before and we know our limits a little bit more. I puked in my seat in Memphis 95. Sat down and puked between my legs for 20 minutes during drums when the bass was so loud it changed my heartbeat to the drum rhythm. I puked my guts out at WSP in 93 laid out in the grass unable to move in a pile of vomit. I’m much more cautious now because the feeling like you are dying surrounded by thousands of people is one I do not ever want to feel again.  Pushing the limits is a young mans game when you are invincible with much less to lose. 

[chuckvegas]

I can understand not caring for WSP all that much but puking when you hear them seems like a really adverse reaction.

[smoseywales]

Re: Define Touch Head, please. 

 

In addition to the explanation above: the term came around when the over-produced In the Dark came out and Touch of Grey* became popular among the masses, as close to top-40 as the Dead ever came, and it brought in a wave of new, well, not fans but people coming to the shows for the first time and seeing the scene as a safe place to act the fool.  Like an 18 year old who never drank before being dropped into a college fraternity.

Now it's been a few years so the term is applied loosely not just to those of that specific age (who have either outgrown acting like idiots or gone back to Jimmy Buffet and Garth Brooks) but any disruptive newcomers. The are closely akin to wooks and bros, in that regard.  The don't bother to learn the music and don't know much beyond that album, Casey Jones and Truckin'.

 

*AKA in the dark heads

[Greg from Chestertown]

So many thoughts. I was at the show the day touch of grey was released. I was at the two shows the two days before. My buddy and I just kept commenting about how the crowd was all kids. Kinda funny, we were 25 at the time.  Three shows in three days and it was like a light switch had been flipped. A couple thoughts; Grateful Dead mail order tickets. Were they able to control that? I know our mail order tickets got us in the same general area surrounded by the same people three nights in a row. The other point someone made to me a few years later, they put tickets on sale on a day when only college students can get to the place selling the tickets. If you have a job, you couldn’t get there to buy tickets. This was before the internet when people worked forty hours. 

 Before touch of grey, for example, I had a girl tell me at a show that she got fired from her job so she could go to the show. At set break, Radio City, a girl had her back pack full of books, saying she had a mid term the next day. Deadication? Unconditional love? Ultimate priority? Passion? 

 When touch of grey was a hit, for about a year, you would see people at shows that looked misplaced, like they had been plucked out of a Genesis concert or something. Almost like they were there to hear touch of grey. Clueless to the Grateful Dead culture. Naive? I remember being at a show and three probably eighteen year olds walking by single file. The last one holding on to the shirt of the guy in front of him, commenting about how he can’t see. Clearly dosed for the first time, unchaparoned, without an escort experienced in acid. My memory has all of this going away after about a year and back to a show full of deadheads, but the vibe was diluted, watered down. Some people at shows lacked common respect for their fellow man. Things were never the same after touch of grey. I think that’s more about popularity, demand for tickets. No disrespect to touch heads. I think we all were touch heads at first. Before that, if you liked the Grateful Dead, you were on the fringe, admitting to eating acid. With touch of grey, the Grateful Dead went mainstream. Decadence? Decline of the civilization? It always happens. Everything has a life span. Dark Star Orchestra is precious to me. I want this thing to thrive. ....rock your baby to and ‘fro. Not too fast and not too slow....

[chuckvegas]

Together, more or less in line

[PoetryGirl]

So my response is a reaction to the vibe of that time. “How authentic a deadhead are you? “ was a prevailing mentality. It was a big turn off. Everything I read about beatniks and counterculture from 50s and 60s was anything but that mentality. So I guess after In the Dark, the close mindedness to youngsters at the show really ruined the vibe for both sides. I was lucky to be ferried in with a lot of older heads but I didn’t stray too much from the tribe except to chat up the tapers and get a tape or a list. It wasn’t that welcoming.  By fall 1992, I was out. 

 

Therefore- I think it is important to look past stereotypes and preconceptions because fresh eyes might be the future. 

[JerrysMiddleFinger]

Touchheads? Are you people kidding me? Get off of your high horse. You were 25 when toch came out? That's cute. I was cutting my teeth in 77 and new I was late to the bus. 

 

You all talk about drugs as if there was a right or wrong way to take them. Ask yourself this why were you taking drugs and I don't care which one ask yourself why you took them. Was it the party or a tool to get to a greater enlightened state? Tell me how many times you heard the sweet opening bars of St. Stephen while taking the ride to the magical place instead of how many times you heard Brent Mydland yell about his ribcage being a jail cell. Anyone who saw the dead after 1980 is a permaNOOB and either a touch head or a custy. 

 

I remember my first show. That night in the pouring rain of Elizabethtown I walked through the parking lot looking for my friend Kory's car because I forgot my ticket in the glove compartment. Well something happened to me. I found a vinyl copy of American Beauty on the ground (before you noobs thought vinyl was cool) and picked it up. When I opened the jacket I also found there was a ticket to the next show. I got one the bus, 453 shows later I am still searching for the feeling of being a noob seeing the world's 3rd greatest rock band ever.

 

[John A]

Never heard Jerry play the opening bars of St Stephen, but have been privy to a few ribcage raps.

 

Here's what I need for enlightenment: what are the world's top 3 rock bands ever?

[JerrysMiddleFinger]

I'm glad that you ask. I don't like to try to rank them but without a doubt it's

 

JGB

Grateful Dead

Jewel - easily the 90s most underappreciated musician.

 

John A I would say that I hope we shared a few of those moments together but Brent songs were bathroom breaks for myself and my circle of friends but I'm glad you kept coming back for more.

[PoetryGirl]

Well isn’t that special? 

 

Good of luck on your search. I bet your favorite lyric based on your name JMF is “ such a long long time to be gone and a short time to be there”. 

[Grateful-Sped]

9 hours ago, Mason's Child said:

I call them Phish kids. Whatever term you want to use we all know what he means. People there for the scene for the party. Not for the message, the music, and the healing. 

 

That stella blue took me places. I cried little but it reminded me of a few years ago and just how low I felt. When I had to move away from my friends because I broke down and sobbed. And here I am two weeks from welcoming a beautiful and healthy baby daughter into the world. 

 

I love you guys. 

 

I’m really upset about what a few people did at our show. 

 

Penns peak is a holy place to me, especially the pre-thanksgiving show. I feel someone brought hate into my church. 

 

You're blaming Phans? Really? At last we know how to party . so, i'm gonna type as sober as possible, DSO honestly sounds  fcking pathetic and digusting compared to my band. and I'm being one hundred percent serious. Sorry we dont listen to music that sounds like its being playing through cans. you're a  joke dude, and im "dead" fuking serious. follow a real band that smokes real weed at their shows, drinks beer and wine and winecoolers and has a good fuking time, and has a milliondollar RV in the lot, im seriously.. dont eever potst your fuking poverty blame on these forums ever again bro, and by bro i mean never my bro

 

[Phish/Touchhead]

9 hours ago, Mason's Child said:

I call them Phish kids. Whatever term you want to use we all know what he means. People there for the scene for the party. Not for the message, the music, and the healing. 

 

That stella blue took me places. I cried little but it reminded me of a few years ago and just how low I felt. When I had to move away from my friends because I broke down and sobbed. And here I am two weeks from welcoming a beautiful and healthy baby daughter into the world. 

 

I love you guys. 

 

I’m really upset about what a few people did at our show. 

 

Penns peak is a holy place to me, especially the pre-thanksgiving show. I feel someone brought hate into my church. 

Ok so I created this handle to clear up one thing.  Im in my 40’s and was seeing both Phish and tGD in he early 90’s. Call me  Phish head , a deadhead, a touchead, whatever you want to label me as.  Phish scene was 100% all about the music until Jerry died and all the burned out tour rats descended onto Phish because they had nowhere else to go.

 

iDK if you enjoy Phish’s music or not but blaming the “unsavory” element on Phish tells me you were not around Dead tour during the 90’s because that shit was filth.  Nitrous and bunk drugs, fake tickets and shady business.  The only reason you identify this as an element of the “Phish” universe is because these scumsuckers had nowhere left to go when their Dope-Buddha Jerry got the immaculate fix.  

 

Talk about a light light switch before and after Touch came out,  you should have seen Phish lot before and after jerry died.  Night and day (or more appropriately, day and night)

[bull123]

8 hours ago, Grateful-Sped said:

 

You're blaming Phans? Really? At last we know how to party . so, i'm gonna type as sober as possible, DSO honestly sounds  fcking pathetic and digusting compared to my band. and I'm being one hundred percent serious. Sorry we dont listen to music that sounds like its being playing through cans. you're a  joke dude, and im "dead" fuking serious. follow a real band that smokes real weed at their shows, drinks beer and wine and winecoolers and has a good fuking time, and has a milliondollar RV in the lot, im seriously.. dont eever potst your fuking poverty blame on these forums ever again bro, and by bro i mean never my bro

 

Pathetic...just go away and don’t come back...punk

[JerrysMiddleFinger]

It’s 100 degrees out in the summertime and you’ve been partying all day on lot. You’ve got a solid crew of your bros who all partake in some heavy Orange Sunshine an hour or so before you head in. There are over 100k people at the show and you all have floor tickets. You get into the venue, covered in sweat, coming up super hard. You go in early to get up close. You and your bros cram your way up to the front of the packed, sweaty, hot, stadium floor. The doses are kicking in full force and everyone’s faces are at that level. The band comes out, and there’s Bobby, baring his legs and moose knuckling in his cut offs. The women start to go crazy, and you and your bros can’t stop staring at his big, muscular, tan thighs. You start to question your sexuality. You feel one of your bros pressed against you. You’re surrounded by tens of thousands of people with no way out. Bobby’s thighs. Packed like sardines. Hell in a Bucket starts up. The temperature rises. You forget what band is playing. One of your bros faints. You stare at Bobby’s thighs. You take your shirt off. It’s too much to handle.

[PoetryGirl]

Had no idea they were playing/ played Box last night. 😉

 

Wine coolers. Haha. That is so 1986. I’m sure it is only the best- give me my Bartle and James. You’ve got to be joking. 

 

Jerry loved Brent! I did too! He had such soul in his voice and passion about him. What more could you give or want? 

 

This development of people finding themselves in neurological/ respiratory crisis is scary as hell. DSO shows are a sweet place and are a sanctuary  full of good people enjoying the music. It is sacred to me and many others. So sorry this happened and hopefully it is just a freaky element passing through. Disturbed and upset, I am flabbergasted at this incident. 

 

 

[chuckvegas]

16 hours ago, Grateful-Sped said:

 

 follow a real band that smokes real weed at their shows, drinks beer and wine and winecoolers and has a good fuking time

 

Never again will I doubt how utterly bad ass the Phish and PZ scenes are.

[Poor_Sue]

On 11/23/2018 at 11:21 AM, PoetryGirl said:

 

Define Touch Head, please. 

 

I think he’s saying people who started liking tGD when touch of gray came out . Let me first say I was just old enough to see my first show in ‘94 and I’ve been a head ever since. 

HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN PINNED? 

Getting pinned is a BIG deal, and its a huge thing. If its done right, its planned in advance and its a huge surpise to the kid in question.

My pinning was a huge deal, and happened the night after 10k after everyone left and our kids got permission to stay on the land for a few days and clean up before we left for yellowstone and glacier during the off days between 10k and seattle. Camp was kicking, a few off our kids where in the kitchen getting dinner ready, some kids where getting the fire started, and me and dawn and few others where out on a groundscore mission. This was just after the sun went down, we where walking up to camp (camp goodness sponsered by cookies, that is!!!) when 7-8 of our kids are walking towards me with this distinct look on their face. Now, about my actual pinning... Catch me in the real world sometime, ill tell you over a bowl, but something like that is just to personal to discuss over the internet. Lets just say it was special. I will say this, after i got pinned, dawn gives me this huge kiss and is like "baby you deserved that."
After i got pinned we all had a huge celebration. It was a special time. We had a huge family dinner, and after dinner a sheet was put in a bottle of orange juice and everyone was ceremonially dropped by the Rev.

[Taper Ron]

49 minutes ago, Poor_Sue said:

HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN PINNED? 

Getting pinned is a BIG deal, and its a huge thing. If its done right, its planned in advance and its a huge surpise to the kid in question.

 

Lost me!