I am very curious to see how many people here saw the Grateful Dead vs how many got into them after the fact,

SO when was your first show? (if you remember the date awesome, if not, year will do!)
and do you have a good story about that show? maybe something that got you hooked or maybe the acid was real good that night, or maybe there was a really hot chick in the row in front of you?

I never saw the grateful dead, i am 21 so i was 4 when jerry died. My parents were not deadheads.

My first show was The Dead - April 18th, 2009 and then April 19th, 2009

i started listening to the grateful dead about 5 months prior to the show and knew very few songs. The song that really opened my eyes to the dead was "Let the good times roll". Brent let out this howl in the middle that, to this day, gives me chills. I knew your big ones such as scarlet begonias, fire on the mountain, ryder, uncle johns, one more saturday night etc.

I remember the anticipation my buddy sean and i felt walking into the show, just had a feeling it was gonna be something special. We were on the floor surrounded by OG Deadheads that were looking at me like i had 10 heads standing there in my Ramones T-shirt.
Finally the band started playing, opened with Feel like a Stranger i think, i didn't know it at the time, in fact throughout the coarse of the show i think i knew maybe 3 songs. Over both nights maybe 5 songs.
I can honestly say that night, April 19th was the first time in my life that i danced. I danced like crazy, every note they played seemed to pierce my soul in the most amazing way. I had never felt such a feeling of euphoria in my life. I knew i was completely hooked and never wanted to listen to anyone else again.
at the end of the show my buddy and i were standing outside smoking a cigarette and talking about the feeling we both had in our chest, this feeling like we were apart of something.

Here i am 4 years later, roughly 20 furthur shows, 3 bobby solo shows, 5ish dark star shows and 1 PL&F show and i still get that euphoric feeling every show i go to. It is truly amazing.

How About You?

My first show was Alpine Valley 8/7/82. A 2 show run, and I realized about 4 hours into the 6 hour drive that my tickets were still sitting on top of my dresser in my dorm room. Oops! Luckily, there were tickets available at the door, and all was well and it was the start of many great things.

Though my favorite Dead story is still summer tour '85 (as I know I've said before), where I met a nice guy in the parking lot at Alpine, then 2 nights later he was sitting right in front of me in Cincinnati. And last night we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Thank you, Jerry!!!

8/5/74. A large chunk of this show is on Dick's Picks 31.

First acid trip. Age 16. Dosed without my knowledge.

Phil and Ned played Seastones.

That's the story.

SunshineSue wrote:


Congrats Sue!

Cincinnati, December 1973. This freaky guy that I admired from afar invited me to this concert. We were both in graduate school at Miami University (OH) at the time. I remember the show starting way late ( later than normal) and being quite short. The only member of the band I clearly recall was Jerry dressed in his black tee shirt and then dark beard.
I was hooked on the band and all of its evolutions. The freaky guy and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary in December. I guess it would be corny to say that the music never stopped...

I use to like rap back with Eminem and stuff, then (thankfully) I grew out of it or started hanging with a different crowd or something and I started getting into classic rock. After I graduated high school I started going to as many shows and seeing that I had no idea how long the opportunities would last... to name a few Doobie Brothers, The Who, Allmans, Tom Petty, Van Halen, Tull, ZZ Top, Stones, The Police, Fleetwood Mac .... and I could go on for a while, seen quite a few in a pretty short time.

My interest at the time was to try to catch bands that had as many original members as possible, so although I had a lot of Grateful Dead music live and studio, I wasn't as attracted to say Ratdog with only 1 original member but I heard of them an was interested. So when they came with the Allman's on 8/20/08 about a half hour away I was there, and may not have been if not for ABB. I interested to see how Ratdog would be and I thought they stole the show. After that I made it a goal to see them whenever they came around and took the family to the next one a few months later... then took the family to The Dead, seen Ratdog with my bro once more and took the family to see Furthur.... then I started traveling to see them more and more while not going to many other concerts at all.... nothing else has moved me as much as a live show with Bob or Phil...... with maybe 1 exception being David Gilmour at Radio City with the lazer light show

I'm a younger buck myself at 25. Last show the band ever played with Jerry was on my 8th birthday so I too caught on after the fact. First show was Phil and Friends July 1st 2000 Del Mar Race Track. I'm Listening to it right now matter of fact. Not the strongest show by any measure but what a great time! I had been turned onto the dead when I was in the 6th grade by a neighborhood parent who saw that I had taken notice in his record collection as he had many titles and more than my own father had and he gave me a copy of Dicks Picks 12, Without a Net and Europe 72. Needless to say, I was hooked so a few years later My dad noticed that Bob Dylan would be at the track opening for Phil. Game on. Hooked ever since. Countless shows from Phil, Ratdog, The Dead and Furthur in, I've turned my wife onto the dead when we first met, first week. My son is a deadhead at 5. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Carolina Coliseum, 10/31/85. I was a senior in high school and had only been listening to the Dead a little bit for about a year. (Was a surfer/skater and mainly into '80s punk - Husker Du, the Meat Puppets, the Minutemen, etc.) A couple of days before Halloween, my older cousin who was in college at the time told me that since I was going to college the next year, it was time for me to see the Dead. So, I went. I lied to my parents about where I was going - I think I said I was going out in a date with my girlfriend. The main things I remember about the show were some dude in front of me dressed up as a Native American with a massive headdress just completely getting down, and the first notes of the screeching, space jam opener (kinda freaked me out at first - it was not at all like the Ripple and Box of Rain of American Beauty I was familiar with). The rest, as they say, is history.

SPAC 1984. Right after graduation. Pocket full of cash with no worries in the world. It was much more of a surprise than I can ever explain. Did not know much at all about the band save a few stories from an older cousin who was one of the few heads in my home town. I became so enthralled with the Drum Circle, I missed the opening notes of Dancin. One seared memory is d/s > TOO. Just could not believe how crazy it sounded to me. I will never forget an explanation I got from a total stranger after I must have sighed 50 wows. "Organized Chaos" he said. organized chaos man........ The beginning of my touring began that day. I was captured but did not know why until the next year.

Norfolk Scope 82.

I was in the Navy and had the night off. Went downtown to hang out and stumbled onto the lot.

Some girl was passed out in the hallway and everyone just left her alone.

I went behind the band when Mickey was playing the Beast and thought that was pretty cool.

Stayed sober although I wished to have avoided that.

I didn't really get into the scene until Hampton 83 and 84. Those were much more typical experiences. People came from out of state and a bunch of us all went together. Those were good times. After that I spent years playing the few live
Cassettes I had over and over.