5-13-77

[bodywhomper]

Try this on for size:


I wuz there, second row, Jerry side, dosed.

Damn. Was trying to listen and get a mindless task done for work but I found my mind left my body for a while.

[Peruvian]

Buster's link to his IWT show above got me thinking about some of the shows I was at. Between Spring '85 and Summer '91 I went to over 80 shows. The scene was becoming too much so I got off the bus. I caught the boys again in Seattle in Summer '94 for a final show. I've never seen the Other Ones, Further, D&C, etc. Some of the highlights during the years the band followed me around:

4/7/85 Philly Spectrum - 1st show - opened with Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

7/4/86 Rich Stadium - Grateful Dead opened for Tom Petty and Bob Dylan (broadcast for Farm Aid).

4/3/88 Hartford, CT - Easter Sunday and I was miracled a 2nd row ticket. Unfortunately not a great show and Jerry was so disappointed in his voice (from a cold) that he tossed his mic.

9/6/89 Nassau Coliseum - Weir/Wasserman opened for JGB (released under Long Island Sound album)

March 24-26, 1990 Knickerbocker Arena - Mrs. P and I walked from our apartment to downtown with a friend each night for these shows.

July 1990 - This tour was HOT.

6/14/94 - Last show. Lots of 'new' songs I didn't recognize or appreciate at the time.

I'm sure with some prompting I'll remember some other memorable sets and settings, so what's on your list?

[Danno]

That's funny, I got off the bus in 1990 for the same reason, the scene was too much for me. The Warlocks at Hampton (October 1989) is a memorable one for me (memorable ones, plural, I guess). My second show, MSG in October 1983 when they played St Stephen was crazy memorable (it was my favorite song and I was just a dumb kid hoping they played it and was told there was no chance). The Hartford 88 shows were memorable for me because of the crazy fog that rolled in after the middle show, the after party was insane.

ETA: all three new years runs I did were memorable, 1988, 1989, 1990.

[singlecross]

This 12/13/90 Denver show always sticks out prominently in my memory. Just entering my 2nd winter ski bumming at Berthoud at the ripe age of 19… the huge cheer at “I’m as honest as a Denver man can be” sent chills through me at the time. Also think that this may have been my only Morning Dew.

[Woodsy]

From August 87 ParkWest, UT
To
May 95 Vegas

LA show in there, along with a number more Sam Boyds & a wierd SLC scene in there towards the end...

[The Reverend Floater]

Buster's link to his IWT show above got me thinking about some of the shows I was at. Between Spring '85 and Summer '91 I went to over 80 shows. The scene was becoming too much so I got off the bus. I caught the boys again in Seattle in Summer '94 for a final show. I've never seen the Other Ones, Further, D&C, etc. Some of the highlights during the years the band followed me around:

4/7/85 Philly Spectrum - 1st show - opened with Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

7/4/86 Rich Stadium - Grateful Dead opened for Tom Petty and Bob Dylan (broadcast for Farm Aid).

4/3/88 Hartford, CT - Easter Sunday and I was miracled a 2nd row ticket. Unfortunately not a great show and Jerry was so disappointed in his voice (from a cold) that he tossed his mic.

9/6/89 Nassau Coliseum - Weir/Wasserman opened for JGB (released under Long Island Sound album)

March 24-26, 1990 Knickerbocker Arena - Mrs. P and I walked from our apartment to downtown with a friend each night for these shows.

July 1990 - This tour was HOT.

6/14/94 - Last show. Lots of 'new' songs I didn't recognize or appreciate at the time.

I'm sure with some prompting I'll remember some other memorable sets and settings, so what's on your list?

I was at that Seattle show on the last night. Drove my dad's car up with some friends, ate a bunch of mushies, then had to drive back to PDX after the show because I was on thin ice with my parents and had my last day of junior year the next morning. Only songs I remember were Masterpiece and a pretty fun Liberty, which I hadn't heard live before.

On the way home we stopped at a burger king and I unknowingly parked my dad's Subaru on the grass. I think I may have been still high?

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[The Reverend Floater]

Full Circle Time!

Since the moment I first heard it (I think I was 10 or 11 the first time I actually paid attention to my dad's tape player), Jack Straw has always been a special song for me. Can't say I have a favorite Dead song, but Jack Straw has always, always been one that never fell out of favor. For some parts of my life, I gravitated towards longer, jammier cuts of Dark Star or some renditions of St. Stephen or Morning Dew, other times it was the traditionals like Brown Eyed Women, Rooster, Deal, KYR, etc. And at other points, everything in between, even embracing Lazy Lightning for a while there. But Jack has always been magic.

When my oldest daughter was born, my wife was in the hospital for 18 hours of labor and I played the boys on my phone the whole time via a mile long play list I had compiled. I think it was a 13 hour playlist from several shows. But...of course...Riley was born during the opening notes of a Jack Straw from some random show. I remember it vividly and now, at eight, she recognizes the song and knows it was playing when she was born. So of course when we adopted my younger daughter, I made sure we played it on the way home from the hospital on the second day of her life.

So, I thought I'd ask the Council of Maggoty Heads for their very favorite Jack Straws! This thread has a lot of experience jammed in it so I have to beg the question.

Me, as much as I hate to bring this MoFo back full circle, it is really, really hard to beat 5/8/77. Fuckin' Jerry during that song was absolutely on point, as if he was playing it exactly the way I had been wanting to hear it forever, even though he'd never played it exactly like that before. Bobby's vocals are passionate and urgent, and obviously Phil was having one that night. When you bring up that show with my circle of heads, it's always the Scarlet/Fire, with Phil's booming and sliding bass. But for me it's the Straw that really stands out that night.

What say you? What's your favorite Jack Straw?

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[buttahflake]

I’m a big Jack Straw guy also, two of the best I was lucky enough to catch live, Richmond ‘85, a rare late set version that absolutely sizzles. And perhaps the best version I ever saw, Oxford ‘88, I don’t think there has ever been so many bombs dropped, Phil was going nuts.

[singlecross]

This show opener from the Alaska solstice shows 6/20/80 is a nice clean version...



For more intensity, I like 1/11/79. We used to play for Acid, now we play for Clive!

[Peruvian]

^^^Jerrys playing in that version is “on the rails”! Too bad Bob and Donna fucked up coming back in for the big “Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down”.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

My first show was 5/7/77 in the Gahden. Maybe an underappreciated show because Cornell was the next night but I thought the Jack Straw in Boston was pretty fine.

[Peruvian]

I’m gonna add 7/7/89 - Philly due to the Blow Away 1st set closer.

[The Reverend Floater]

I’m gonna add 7/7/89 - Philly due to the Blow Away 1st set closer.

Just added this one. Great call!

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[fomofo]

[rideit]

Oxford was nuts. What was Phil's joke again? I was there in an upper torso body cast, I broke out of my hospital room at 2:00 AM, and drive to the show. I got on in 83', and left after Knickerbocker 90' or 91'. I was a taper, and did about 120 shows in that time of various incarnations. I knew it was over after Brent died, a spirit within the band died with him, IMO.

[buttahflake]

Yep, only caught 3 shows after he died, it wasn’t the same, not even close. ‘83 was my first year also.
I thought the joke was at SPAC
Bob: I say Phil, my dog has no nose.
Phil: No nose. How does he smell?
Bob: Blooming awful

[rideit]

Yup, I was there for that one, but there was some other funny banter at Oxford. Anyone?

[Peruvian]

Yep, only caught 3 shows after he died, it wasn’t the same, not even close. ‘83 was my first year also.
I thought the joke was at SPAC
Bob: I say Phil, my dog has no nose.
Phil: No nose. How does he smell?
Bob: Blooming awful

IWT - '85 and '88

Mofos hanging off the balcony in '85 - Bobby: "You gotta remember that first steps a real doozie!"

[buttahflake]

SPAC ‘84, I walked up to the box office when we got there and purchased a lawn ticket for $9, the good old days

[Peruvian]

SPAC ‘84, I walked up to the box office when we got there and purchased a lawn ticket for $9, the good old days

How much was the charge for an umbrella? 🤪

[buttahflake]

I was so spun that night, I fully embraced the rain!

[singlecross]

Yup, I was there for that one, but there was some other funny banter at Oxford. Anyone?

Phil replied on mic to the “Let Phil Sing” chant that Heads should root for Mickey or Brent to sing. Bobby recommended Big Steve or Kid from the Crew. Jerry chimed in that he was looking for a volunteer from the audience then declined when several folks started climbing toward the stage.

[rideit]

That was it! And remember the motorized hang glider?

[stapes]

My first show was 5/7/77 in the Gahden. Maybe an underappreciated show because Cornell was the next night but I thought the Jack Straw in Boston was pretty fine.

Probably my fave Half Step. Soaring.

[stapes]

8/27/72 Veneta Jack Straw is a ripper.

3/29/90 for a later era one.

I know, I know. Both highly touted and well known shows, but there’s a reason why.

Like Rev, Cornell holds a special spot for me. Spun that tape to death back in the day, specifically on my first big road/backpacking trip out west post HS w/ group of buddies. Jack Straw just evokes feelings of the Western US landscape to me.