My Grateful Dead Experience

So I am posting this in the LSD section because the GD practically ooze the essence of the psychedelic experience out of their core. And I feel more comfortable sharing my story in this section with the people I am familiar with and so forth. Now that is cleared up and we can move on.

I had the privilege of seeing Furthur at All Good music festival this year and what a treat it was. I've been into the Dead for a long time, it is one of a few things I remember from when I was really young and has since then become a bigger part of my life, but I really wouldn't have considered myself a "deadhead" until about two years ago. I have seen "The Dead" in 04, seen Phil Lesh & Friends and Ratdog a few times, and this was my second time seeing Furthur. And I know Furthur is not the Grateful Dead but they are definetely harnessing that same energy and essence that the Dead once used. The feeling is there like no other post jerry incarnations that I've heard.

I was very pumped to see this show as this tour has been sounding very nice The first set started off with After Midnight which was dissappointing but then led into Estimated Prophet which definetely got my juices flowing because my girlfriend and I decided to dose our Shiva as soon as we heard the notes. The rest of the first set was pretty uneventful for me until Must Have Been The Roses which was very beautiful. I called the next song as Jack Straw but then Bobby sang the opening verse to Looks Like Rain and I was a little dissapointed but it turned out to be a great version. A rockin Brown Eyed Women was next and they closed with Big Railroad Blues. I must admit I was kind of dissappointed with the first set song selection and the way the band was playing, but I know that Im usually not blown away until second set with the GD.

I am starting to feel the LSD taking effect during setbreak and I can tell this is some wonderful Lucy. They open up with Uncle John's Band which puts a huge smile on my face. I am really starting to feel the music now and am letting it take over my body. I really start dancing at this point in the show as I had not felt it enough unti then. After UJB they play Celebration which was okay but then they go into Sugar Magnolia which had me gettin down again. Then they led into So Many Roads which got me thinking about Jerry and how I wish he was around for all of this. During So Many Roads I really started to feel Jerry's presence at the show and continued to feel him throughout the show. This incarnation really does hit those moments of magic that the GD were so well loved for, just not as consistently and in lesser concentrations, but enough for me to be very thankful for it. the next was a new song, Colors of the Rain which I thought was actually very good and was appropriate as it started to lightly sprinkle in hues of psychedelic colors And then OMFG!!!!!! Did I just hear what I think I just heard!!!!!! Fucking Terrapin Station!!!!! If there is one song in my life that I would have like to have heard played beautifully once in my life, then Terrapin Station is it! I can now die a happy man!!!!! As soon as I hear this I start screaming TERRAPIN!!!!! It was a very beautiful and touching version that got me thinking about my life and all the shit that I have come through and how much music has helped me through all of it. And nothing has ever touched my soul as deep as The Grateful Dead. It is the unquestionable pure love of God being transmitted through a Rock and Roll band Holy Jesus!!!! I have felt this before but never as strongly as I did that night. I really feel that these songs must carry on and hold very important for all of us. Sort of like scripture of some sorts.

I was already completey touched and then while all of this is going on, this old head grabs my shoulder and says "15 yrs ago to this day was the last Grateful Dead concert and I was there to witness it! And guess what I was you!!!!! Enjoy these moments brother they wont be around much longer!!!!!" And then he walked away. 15 yrs to the day of Jerry's last show?This touched me in a deep way. I mean his timing!!! It could not have gotten any better!!! True synchronicity at work!!!!! I shed a few tears after he walked away, I will never forget that for the rest of my life.This seemed to confirm all of the thoughts that I had about the magic of this band. And I decided right then and there that I am going on the next leg of the tour announced. Im going to just drop everything and go, I feel I must before they are gone. After Terrapin was over, Scarlet Begonias started and I started groovin hardcore!!! The Scarlet->Fire transition was sick!! They never cease to amaze me Attics of my Life was another song so reminiscent of Jerry, I very much felt his presence after I knew this was the anniversary of his last show. They closed with Sunshine Daydream which was awesome. The encore was a rockin Cumberland Blues into a beautiful and touching Ripple.

I am so thankful for this night and for the beautiful experienc that I had. I was not peaking on the acid for any of this show, it hit me much harder about midway through bassnectar which is another story altogether that I will try to get up soon. But thanks for letting me share!!!!!

 

sounds sweet : ) i've always been a little disappointed i never got to see the dead while jerry was alive...i was just a kid when he died and it was rougly 2 weeks after i had realized i really dug the band. i went to my share of phish shows but i know everyone's divided on them..and to be honest i'm not sure i really like them anymore. ever since they got paige over his stage fright the music seemed to get a little softer and older.

 

so it took you awhile to come up on the acid huh?
about how long would you say until first alerts, and how long until peaking?

i got to see further (from behind the fence - so not really in the show) a few weeks ago. i'm not a really big dead fan, but they played really well and i definitely enjoyed myself.

 

You takin your girly on tour with you?

 

That's the plan I was in a rushed state as I was typing this and forgot to mention how much this night affected my girlfriend as well. She has always liked the Dead but was not what I would call a true "head". This show turned her into a believer!!!!! And she has decided to go on tour as well!!!!! In the past I have tried to communicat my thoughts and my interest in the Grateful Dead to her mostly with unappreciative ears, but now that she has seen the light I cant get her to shutup about them!!!!! Its a beautiful thing and brings us that much closer

 

Yeha it took a good 3 hours for it to fully come up and peak. I felt that first "jolt" about a minute after putting it in my mouth. But definetely started tripping about an hour - hour and a half into it.

 

"...thinking about my life and all the shit that I have come through and how much music has helped me through all of it."

That's True, True with a capital T.

The thing about bands like the Dead, Beatles, Incredible String Band, and some others is that they really did get it that they had very heavy responsibilities in their relationships with the people they were playing for/to. A lot of people completely wide-open, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes lost, and always wide-open, trusting their minds to other people on a stage or coming out of speakers.

I loved what you said about Terrapin Station.

 

I love what i love and i want it that way.

whoa-oh what i want to know, where does the time go?

 

music is such a powerful thing, it's simply beautiful spiral. furthur ahead?

 

Yo Spriral, awesome post bro thanks for sharing. You got me even more stoked for FURTHER. I got my tickets yesterday!! Gonna be sweet!

 

Thanks man! What show are you going to?

 

Yo man, going to see them play sept. 18th, here in washington at a place called marymoore park. Pretty cool cause ill be able to ride my bike to this event if I feel like it, live pretty near by. Stoked.

 

I'm glad you had such a great time that impacted your life forever.

XD

 

What many people fail to realize is, in the later years anyway, while they were tripping on acid and grooving on this wonderful trippy dead vibe, Jerry (and others) was onstage, "dick in the dirt" as they say, from his last monster shot of Heroin, something some would consider the exact opposite of a hippie acid vibe...


ZW :coffee:

 

sad thing to think about

 

a little I suppose...^^

main thing is really, the Greatfull Dead aren't/weren't gods...they're human.

 

i understand that completely. i believe it's really important to separate the person from the myth. but heroin's bad stuff..i've seen some people really screwed up by it. they'd get themselves in a big hassle to score and then fix and then sit there like zombies for 15 minutes and afterwards complain that the shit wasn't as good as yesterday. then they'd be out the door to find more. it's always made me wonder how people with such high profile careers manage to carry on their addiction for so long without decomposing like the people i knew had.

 

it's not that they were/are gods...no

they transmitted and seem to still transmit via furthur, a divine energy that poured out of them freely, it was the music they created that was divine, not necessarily they as humans.

 

Indeed the music was divine, and that sounds like a wonderful show there. I had the privilege of seeing Furthur twice this summer. The vibe is prominent for sure.