I was there in December of 1981. Didn't appreciate it as much as I do now. Wish I could go back in time. I was only 18 and didn't really appreciate what I was seeing. Had never been to a concert where nobody sat down and everybody danced throughout the whole show for 3 hours. Never have had such an uplifting concert experience since. When I entered the Colosseum there was a guy selling acid in the lobby. Had a scale hanging from his pocket and held a big sign over his head that said "Fucking A" Cops didn't even look at him. Loved Madison in the early 80's. Different days from today.
Flew in from Buffalo NY to catch this gig. Had 2 days left to get back to Egypt in the USAF - made it by 4 hrs for flight from New Jersey. Thank you for the post and the wonderful memories.
Dear Voodoonola, you're a precious gem radiating out into the RU-vid world sharing all this wonderful material with us! Thank youvery much,my..-I'd really like to call you my brother
So a couple of things. Man this is a SMOKING HOT SHOW! If this was MY first show I would have quit my job and hit the road with the Boys! There is always speculation about which substances were being consumed during any given Era by the band. Jerry is obviously on fire, but I have never heard a show quite like this one! The warp speed Bertha at the end of set one leads me to speculate that Sasha Shulgin's infamous Drug "X" might have been given to the band this night, or that the Columbian Booger Fairy was in town! Jerry's tone is clear and I love how the band congeales behind him as he takes multiple runs at the solo. I loved how you can hear Jerry explore the solo in vastly different ways each cycle. And man does the band hit there mark, cheering him on. Brent is playing piano and organ tones that I have never heard him play before. The growl of the Hammond on "Loser" is one of the best organ tones I have ever heard! I hope a clear remastered soundboard rscording eventually comes out. One of the most underrated years in my humble opinion. There were so few videos of the boys performing when I first started seeing them in '85. It is great that we are now seeing videos resurfacing and Voodoo is a Saint. Thank you for the awesome show!
I drove from Boston and saw every show on this tour: Pittsburgh, Dayton, Indianapolis, Madison, Chicago, Des Moines and Boulder. This was my favorite 1st set on the tour. The Miracle--->Bertha close was crazy. The snow was fun too. Great tour. Mack The Knife in Dayton. Greatfull Dead spelling on the Marquee in Dayton as well. One of the top Music Never Stopped in Des Moines. Ahhh....The Dead.
My 2nd or 3rd show. I do know that Spanish Jam>Truckin>Black Peter>Round and Round>Johnny B Goode got me hooked and I've never looked back. Let's hope they can clean up the audio and release this remastered. Thanks for all the music Jerry, Happy Birthday!
Voodoonola! Thank you so much for posting all of these. Quite a treasure trove! Any chance you have the Dead at Mountain Air (Calaveras) in 1987? My first show!
This is about 2 1/2 months after my first show, 9-12-81 Greek. No video yet of that show. This is the closest approximation to the band I saw on that day in Berkeley.
And it was just three days before my first show, 12-6-81 at Rosemont, outside of Chicago, when I was 15 years old. I have one photo a friend took at that one, and of course I've had the audio since 83 or 84, but have never seen any video. So I feel the same way ... this is the same incarnation of the band when they hooked me for life, and it's a huge pleasure to watch.
the next summer they played at alpine valley Wisconsin then 83 back to Madison and they liked alpine so much they went there every year after till the 20 year ban ended in Milwaukee and played 2 shows in downtown Milwaukee in april of 1989 which were awesome and again at alpine in the summer I lived in Milwaukee and with the band and the jerry and bob stuff as well as the jerry Garcia band I was able to see like 14 shows in a little over a year with out leaving the state those were the best times for live dead I still miss jerry .....but check out "weir here" they talk about the old day's a lot a very good web show at bob weir's new studio which is way fuckin cool and high tec thanks for the time and check out weir here ....see ya.... Scott Fab Milwaukee, 2015 January 8
Yea, well said. Sometimes nailed some sweet solos but mostly NOT! Seems if he chose a better tone, was louder on the mix, and stayed away from going too low on the fretboard he would've sounded better. Just my humble opinion...though usually his slide work was really great when playing rhythm.
An interesting change for that era...seems Jerry liked being near Brent in the early 80's thru his untimely death in '90, but Jerry stayed stage left until the end. Great '84 show!
The weather was not the greatest thru this tour but the music sure as hell was. It is nice to see this stuff you close your eye's and you go back to where you were for this show and on this nite about 3 sections out on the first level on jerry's side which shortly there after was phil's. Great stuff
This should have been my first GD show. But I probably was kinda broke. It was my freshman year at the UW. it wasn't till the last Coliseum show in 83 that I finally saw the. Bummer cuz this is a great one.
It really was. This was my freshman year at UW Platteville. Not a pot to piss in but I wasn't missing this show. Didn't even have tickets before we got there. Would have snuck in if I had to.
good point about 73 show was a killer show too. they also used this venue in 78 and it's on Dick's Picks 18 must've liked the joint cuz it was a good show also.
This is just a few months after my first show (8/81). But I never saw the boys with Jerry on Bob's right. Seems with the way Bob spends so much time lookin at his fret board they probably switched so that they could keep a better eye on one another(?)
I was there too. I especially remember the crowd bouncing to the Althea groove. Baby Blue was sublime. After the show I got a roadie to toss me one of Jerry’s picks. Snow falling in the parking lot added to the vibe. I’d go back if I could.
