Your Early Influence Shows

[Hardpan]

Everyone has those shows that bring you back to your earliest days of discovering the Grateful Dead. You know every note and vocal inflection, maybe haven’t played them in years because you’ve listened to them so much. Been listening to some of mine lately, they’re like going home. Yesterday was 12/31/87, the Ticket To New Year’s video release, my first GD video I had on VHS and I played it a LOT. Great show. Today is 9/20/70, got on a blanks and postage offer on the rec.music.gdead newsgroup, another great one. What are some of yours?

[LangeradoSoul]

Here's a few:

2/13/1970

3/24/1990

4/1/1969

 

5/26/1973

6/28/1985

12/31/1978

[BillK522]

85/06/25  Blossom Music Center,  Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

 

I wore this tape out and yearned for Day Tripper for

years.  It took DSO to quench my desire at Frederick

25 years later.

 

Praise DSO.

[Tea]

Outside of the Live Dead album, 9/18/87 REALLY primed my urge to go see this band.  Wore that mother out

[bs69]

6-28-74 was a big one for me,  played the hell out of that tape

[2muchfun]

My root cause of finding dead was guy down the hall blasting Live Dead endlessly out his windows into quad at Stony Brook…I constantly asked WTF…in so many words…1 year later he took me to 5/4/77 Palladium….found out WTF

 

[Fireonshakedwnstreet]

8/27/72

12/26/79

4/17/82

9/6/83

7/22/84

9/7/85

 

Were all formative shows for me. 

 

[Mojo Hand]

3/31/87 - Philadelphia Spectrum - WMMR Live Broadcast

 

I was 15 years old.  My older brother recorded the WMMR broadcast.  I got my hands on that cassette and it was all over from there.  I listened to that show on my Sony Walkman every time I cut the lawn that year.  I was hooked.

 

Any of you other Philly/South Jersey folks know what I am talking about?  Pierre Robert from WMMR did the live broadcast.  He was a popular DJ at the time and a HUGE Deadhead.  You'd see him at all the Spectrum shows in the general audience.  

 

I think that show turned on a lot of Philly area Deadheads of my age.  

Edited December 9, 2021 by Mojo Hand

[Greg from Chestertown]

Supposedly the Jack Straw/Franklin’s opener that night was for Pierre, requested. I think. One of my favorite shows. Bobby flat out nailed Desolation Row that night. He was as good as he ever was with that song that night, I think. 

[DesertDead]

The one tape that I have played the most is 9/15/85, Chula Vista.

 

Had to replace it at one point lol.

[Mojo Hand]

2 minutes ago, Greg from Chestertown said:

Bobby flat out nailed Desolation Row that night. He was as good as he ever was with that song that night, I think. 

 

Oh man Greg!  I'm so happy you said that.  That song on that night!  Just something about it for me too.  As good as he ever was..

[Rude]

My boring list is 

live dead. I know that dark star by heart 

skeletons from the closet. Bmg music club ftw!!

 

europe 72. Omg that was transformational. 

 

reckoning- the spatial sound quality on this was spectacular. 

 

without a net. The 1st time we had a board of the late 80s on CD. I literally played that Althea every time I started my car. I had this 88 Toyota Supra with a targa top that was always removed and would cruise the bars to see if my friends were there and turn that Althea all the way up to be cool. It’s why I still sing come on Georgia it’s Saturday night. 

dicks picks 1. Getting that gorgeous 73 board on CD was amazing. 1st time I heard here comes sunshine. Even though it was only 1 CD it was gold and being 1st song that HCS was played a ton. 

 

I had no friends that were tape traders so I had to rely on releases back then. Then I found sugarmegs and burned hundreds of CDs and really learned the dead. 
 

dso also introduced me to so many songs I didn’t know like Masons children, pride of cucamonga as well as so many one or few time covers the dead did. 

[Wharf Rat Stu]

Somewhat of a late bloomer to the Dead scene. I have been to sooo many concerts but I did not know anyone into GD so no one nurtured me; until I got a factory job in Syracuse, NY.  I worked with several DeadHeads and I told them the same ol line, Truckin' (studio) is alright but I don't see why people go see The Dead so many times, until they took me to lunch one day. They put in a bootleg (of who knows which show) but then I quickly began to see what they have known for years! From then on, it was like drinking water out of a fire hydrant! I could not get enough. Then I got tickets to my first shows (City Island, PA, 6/23/84 and SPAC, 6/24/84) but on the 21st, an FM Station broadcasted Kingswood Theatre, Canada and I recorded it and it is THAT show I credit for all the craziness that followed. That is where, when, and how I got on the bus. 

Pooh, Epoxy, Mike, Jimmy, Hank; you know who you are, thank you...for a real good time!

PLEASE get with me!

[RowJimmyTapes]

5/26/93 Playing in the band

[BillK522]

How great were FM broadcasts

back in the Day?

 

Praise DSO.

[Rude]

I have a ton of them on my ultimate dead drive. They sound great. Plus you get to hear the local DJ chat it up before the dead starts each set. Very smart move by the dead getting a radio station to play your show on a Friday and Saturday night 8-midnight. I bet that created a lot of fans. 

[franknkeene]

1/1/79.  15 years old visiting my aunt and cousin in NYC.  All I wanted....all I knew was Truckin' going in.

 

Got:

Jack Straw   .....me: "wow that was a spectacular song"
They Love Each Other     .....me: "wow that was a great song"
Cassidy     .....me: "wow that was a great song"
Jack-a-Roe     .....me: "wow that was a great song"
Looks Like Rain   .....me: "wow that was a great song"
Tennessee Jed   .....me: "wow that was the greatest song I ever heard!!"

 

The list goes on and I forgot all about Truckin'   15, I'm now 58.

[Greg from Chestertown]

Outside of the standard fare, GD album releases, there was a record shop in Claymont, De., Jeremiah’s, that would have Grateful Dead  bootleg albums which were recordings of shows on albums. I remember one called Hot as Hell which was also sometimes called imaginary ballroom 1975 Great American music hall, San Fran. Another one was simply called Santa Monica 1982. The wheel and dark Star, I think. One was Moe’s place that I bought because  the set list had I Need a Miracle and I had just caught a show with a hot Miracle. One was called Rampen’s Revenge which had a St. Steven from ‘78, I believe. Another was a triple album called For Dead Heads only. Early 70’s stuff. I traded all those albums to Bill Wright, the DJ on WRNR in Annapolis for putting them on CD for me. You got me inspired to dig them up and go through them. Reckoning needs mentioning as my second show was one of the Radio City acoustic shows. We went knowing that they were recording for an album. 9 of the 16 songs on that album were on the set list from the night I was there. That makes it seem like a tape of a show I was at. Monkey and the engineer is from the nite I was there. BTW, I have yet to listen to Live/Dead. I’m saving that for later. It’s what’s keeping me alive. I can’t go yet, there’s still more Grateful Dead music I have to check out! That’s all, thanks for letting me share. 

[Brian NJ]

Live Dead and Roosevelt Stadium