The Spectrum was a living, breathing venue with too few bathrooms and a energy level that can not be reproduced at any of the 21st Century style concert / hockey venues. MSG NYC is a close 2nd.

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I just came across this pic of my 1st Grateful Dead Show.(Thank you "Loss Less Legs")
Spectrum rescheduled show 1.5.79 with tickets on floor sec 2 row 6. I may be in this pic too.
I found this along with 100 others , mostly Jerry @ www.shnflac.net/viewnews.php



Here is the banner that was displayed early before "The Dead" final shows May 2009. (Thank's again "Loss Less Legs"). My guess is someone with access to the catwalk removed it. Where is it hanging now? Will it reappear if "The Dead" come back to Philadelphia?

WoW, What a great link contributed by Spring Mountain High, "Jerry's Brokedown Palaces".

jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.c...rink-port-haven.html

I will wake n bake my way down memory lane digesting this gem of the Jerry Garcia Band's lesser known venues (and GD too).
Jerry Band Tours played many small college, theater & amusement park stages in the early 80's. If you filled in a calendar with the Grateful Dead show dates and then fill in the J.G.B. shows, it seems like Jerry was always playing a gig at home or on the road.
Cheers

Are you talking about venues the Grateful Dead liked to play at in our home towns?

Well if so I'll spot light the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis, MO. It was built in 1929 I do believe. The Grateful Dead made many stops there in the early 1970's. With multiple night runs! A two night run in 1971 and their last stop there was a 3 night run in 1972!!!! They outgrew the Fox after that and moved up to the Kiel Auditorium after that. Man what I would do for a multi-night run in St. Louis again!

Since post GD shows Phil and Friends and Ratdog made their stops in St. Louis at the Fox and Furthur's last St. Louis date was at the Fox on 11/21/11!

from buffalo, NY..

the aud, or war memorial, was the "samson" of buffalo i'd say. many of you probably saw GD shows there in the late 70's/early 80s.

it was officially torn down a couple years ago

Oh I agree do agree Furthur Flower that your St. Louis FOX Theater is hands - down an incredible stage to be on. if Furthur ever does a tour or isolated incident that includes your cities Fox treasure, then that is the one show I'll budget for. (This Phillies never been to Cardinal town) But when Furthur did play Nov. 11. 2011 and I saw the pics that Dylan Carney posted before the show on this forum, I did a spontaneous pre-order of that shows disc from the band. I just knew that the sound from that venue would pass muster.
(It CRUSHED at our post-tour paddy that weekend)

link for venue pics > > >
www.furthur.net/tours?task=details&gigcal_gigs_id=120

To answer your question my topic is referring to any city that had a terrific concert venue... now torn down and the meaning that Heads have attached to these lyrics from Samson and Delilah

If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down

Any band who left a memorable show on these stage's : J.F.K.Stadium , The Spectrum, & Civic Center venues. We miss them and can not afford a show at the bank-sponsored single venue which replaced them with no leg-room and no parking.

Phil n Bobby had some kind words to say about The Spectrum after "The Dead" encored with "Samson" May 2010 (I think). That was the last concert tour to ever go through the Spectrum and Philly-Dead Heads delivered that energy. Phil spoke about the building+ the fans +energy flow from heads being so close to the stage. We spent dozens of spectrums concerts and GD shows in section "O" behind the stage.. Charlotte NC has a Samson too. The original Coliseum was similar in tightness of seats to the ice. Energy was fun, security clueless. Gone but Not Forgotten.

Well, not a nice place to look at, but I saw a lot of concerts there. Essentially, it was a hockey rink, used as a concert hall.



In it's hey day, we not only had a lot of Grateful Dead concerts there;




But we also had Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis. Those were all before my time though.
I did get to see all the main touring acts of the 70's and 80's there.

exhibition stadium. home to some lacklustre Grey Cups, snowy Opening Days....not to mention some bad baseball. the GD gig was before my time, but still some ripple effects (Senator David A. Croll apartments which used to be the home of the fabled & doomed Rochedale "experimental" College).

Thanks for the clarification Cub!

As I had mentioned in my above post the Kiel Auditorium became the new home to Grateful Dead concerts in the St. Louis area after 1973. It housed their shows for the next 10-15 years. It was demolished in 1992. I never did get to see a Grateful Dead show there but I do remember seeing Sesame Street Live there....

However there was a Opera House that was attached to the Auditorium that was not torn down. It wasn't opened to the public but someone had brought it and opened it in 2011 called the Peabody Opera House....the next venue I hope Furthur plays at if they make a stop here!!!

There is a page on facebook called "Parking Lot of Grateful Dead Tours". And one of their photo albums is from the Kiel. I'm gonna post a few of those pictures.

I had friends who went to the 82 show there who gave me a tour shirt from the concert but i was unable to attend myself. While I was not able to see the Grateful Dead at the Kiel, I did attend a lot of other shows at the Kiel Auditorium and the Kiel opera house in the late 70's early 80's. I enjoyed its intimacy more than the Checkerdome or Busch stadium, although it was also fun going to the all day Superjam summer shows at Busch with five or six big name bands playing and 30,000 + people. The Peabody is nice but I am hoping for another Furthur show at the Fox theatre. Widespread Panic is playing at the Peabody in April.

Cub wrote:


I disagee. Although not as massive as the Spectrum or MSG, the energy level at the 1st Bank is pretty high especially if we are talking hockey style arenas.

From the GD era, McNichols was our Samson but that place was nothing to write home about.