My first show was Buckeye Lake, Ohio June 11, 1993. About a 8 hour drive for us from a couple hours north of Toronto. Only knew Skeletons from the closest when I went to the show.

A couple good stories.

We were inside the gates about 10 minutes and lit up a pipe and we were already well on our way so probably not paying as much attention to our surroundings as we should. My buddy is hitting it and all of sudden I see this huge security guard walking up to us. He is about 6'6" and 330 pounds. I think, shit we are going to get kicked out of here before we see the dead. He says to my buddy you better give me a hit of that. Takes a few hits and off he goes. We got our miracle.

Our friends who had seen shows said you have to see the Dead on Lsd. We bought some in the parking lot that did not seem to be working. We were walking for some refreshments and saw a guy that looked like he was feeling like we wanted to. He was tearing off little sheets of paper and giving it to some young girls. We asked if we could buy some and he said these are what he was on and sold us a couple each. They were chicken heads. They were spectacular and what a night. I was a dead head craving the next show. Off we trucked to Buffalo for 6/13/1993.

Haha I'm only 18, so unfortunately no GD concerts for me.
First show was 11/13/12 PL&F at Roseland. I got there way early and started talking to an old tour veteran next to me, who was awesome. PL&F took the stage, and before this guy left, he gave me a fat joint & told me to enjoy the show. I shared the joint with the people around me, and they all returned the favor for the rest of the concert. I can't think of a single thing that was wrong with that night..

My 1st show was 1976 at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke, Durham NC). Hell's Angels everywhere. I thought I was hip for a 17 year old. I'd already seen the Stones , the Eagles, Eric Clapton (with guests Pete Townsend and Keith Moon), J Geils, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Poco, Fleetwood Mac, Loggins and Messina, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, ABB. Blues for Allah had just come out and I all I wanted to hear was Help/Slip/Franklin; I got it, and it reset my musical compass forever!

This is a great topic! There are easily 3 generations responding to it. Shows that the music truly lives on and transcends many years. Thanks, Ican'tfindmyface!

my first was on my 16th birthday Buffalo 1977.crazzzzzyy tripp .a bunch of us drove from albany with my friends mom there were
5 of us in the back seat I was siitting across the laps of the other 4 we had a keg in the trunk with the hose running through to the back seat . stopped at a rest stop to grab a bite my friend dosed his moms chili . got to the buffalo war memorial , security would not let me bring in my wine flask so my friends mom and I went back to put it in the trunk could not close the trunk it started to rain so I climbed up on it to jump it closed it worked .great scene old time dead show for sure I saw a guy dressed like uncle sam and we bought smiley face paper.we ended up in the balcony which proved to be tough on mom looking down so we moved great show danced all night .now the deal was supposed to be we were gonna camp some where but it was still raing mom could not drive so her son did probly no liscence and we are all well ya know .. anyway he ends upp some how sriving us straight out on a pier and I mean pretty far out on it . when you opened the door you saw water on both sides no room to get out and walk so some how he went straight back off of it somebody was watching out for us . ended up his mom got us a room at a hotel and we all snuk in ahahaha , I was doingcartwheels down the hallway and the other guys played with the ice machine all night my face hurt the next day it was great!!!!!!!

I'm giving alilfurthur the blue ribbon so far...

Buffalo War Memorial '77 is my all-time favorite Peggy-O.

Equinox wrote:


What a grate story...Congratulations !!

My first GD show was Nassau Coliseum Halloween 79. First JGB show was Calderone Theater 2/29/80 early show.

February, 1973 @ Univ of Illinois Assembly Hall...my freshman year @ U of I. 2 shows (one of which has been running on Sirius XM this week.)
No unusual story other than spent one of the nights leaning up against the stage right in front of Phil, feeling the Philbombs resonating in my chest.
Had a mild interest in the band at the time, but my older brother had always told me, "NEVER pass up a chance to see the Dead live".....came away from the show with a whole new outlook on things & never looked back.
Thanks again, Bro.

Next show seen was June 1974 Iowa Statte Fairgrounds in Des Moines....a 3-setter with the wall of sound.
Looking back I'm thankful for the four winds blowing me to such good things so early in the journey.

Not my 1st but my 4th show. We were sitting around reading Rollin Stone and an ad says Willie Nelson is having his 4th of July picnic at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and the GD are on the bill. The only problem is we are in Bennington, VT and the only car we have is a 1964 Rambler with issues. I excitedly tell my mom about our plans to do the show and she says no you are not going...big fight ensues..I'm 18 I can go if I want to(you let me go to Englishtown last year)...mom says if you go you are moving out...I said fine and we were off on a 28 hour ride. The car is running fine but the reverse hasn't worked for months so if we needed to go back the driver would yell "reverse" and we would jump out and push it back. We get to KC the day before the show, hotel and sleep. Arrowhead has the largest lot I have ever seen and we are hangin out partying when this guy drives up in a golf cart and says "I wouldn't smoke that in front of a KC police officer" and my buddy Tom says how do we tell the difference between you and the police? The guy says I am a KC police officer, tom drops the j and says sorry, the guy drives off, crisis narrowly averted(we had a full kitbag). We then buy tickets in the lot and they are Ticketron tix but when we try to go in they tell us they are fake, ticketron didn't do the event and there are a hundred or so of us who are told to go to a different gate, they end up letting us all in for free. The crowd is a crazy mix of Deadheads and Cowboys, in fact I got a t-shirt, skull and roses but with a cowboy hat and scarf that says Deadheads and cowboys (still have it). However the combo of drunk cowboys and dosed heads was problematic because when I was in the bathroom this guy grabs me by the hair and holds my head under one of those large hand washers and has a good laugh, I escape cause he is loaded.

Now on to the show, I only saw one show where they did one set and this was it. They do some 1st set songs and then seemlessly starting with the Terrapin>Playin start doing longer jams and they are red hot this afternoon. They do Drumz but the crazy thing is Jerry doesn't leave and we are treated to about 10 cool minutes of stripped down just Jerry and the drummers.
Estimated>The Other One is everything we love about the GD. Willie opens and closes the show but the rain comes in and we go high up in the stadium and with eyes blazing we watch as the heat lightning comes at us. After the show we hop into the Rambler and drive striaght home and when we pull in my mom says...so when are you moving out and I say tomorrow and as I am walking my weary bones up the stairs she says " David you don't have to move out, I was just worried about you" at that point mom gets the biggest hug ever from me . thanks mom!


07-01-78 Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo. (Sat)
Bertha> Good Lovin, Tennessee Jed, Jack Straw, FOTD, Me & My Uncle> Big River, Terrapin> Playin> Drumz> Estimated> Other One> Wharf Rat> Around E: Johnny B. Goode
also: Missouri; Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter; Willie Nelson