@jamcooperative wonderful to watch you play and terrific tribute to @thegratefuldead. Tell me more about your shakedown events.

👋🏻

Most of the people were stuck in traffic, what a fiasco. Many stories of folks missing part of the show.

The last few years of GD touring took on a decidedly grim tone. Between the death of Keyboardist Brent Mydland, the influx of heroin in the lot scene, and the looming shadow of Jerry's precipitously declining health, things started to turn ugly. I got out in 1990, just before Brent died. I saw about 130 shows before he died, and maybe 6 or 7 more between 1991 and 1995. My last show was in 1995 ( I only attended because it was about a mile from my house), And I was horrified by garcia's condition and the creepy, negative vibes in the lot. I wasn't specifically predicting Garcia's death a few months later, but I told my friend as we were leaving that I was never going to a GD show again.I didn't want it to ruin my fond memories of earlier shows. I bailed out before the encore, went to a warehouse rave across the the street, and got my head back into a good space by dancing to techno music until the sun came up

@@christheghostwriter Makes a lot more sense now. I'd never been to a show and I was so hyped for the whole friendly hippie crowd I'd heard about but the scene I witnessed was just depressing. One big downer. So the drugs got heavier and what I witnessed was that particular Dead generation burning out. Got it. The new fans appear to be a lot more upbeat. I may actually go to a show. Thanks for the info.

I picked up on that very thing at an 89 show in Raleigh NC, and I was one and done due to the bad vibes. The Dead & Co. show was a refreshing revelation and had the right spirit.........

@Gear Daddy 89 and 90 were the transition years between the GD experience still being fun and the GD experience being kind of gross as Jerry's health declined and the lot scene turned ugly and dirty. The heroin thing was a big deal. Starting around late 88/early 89, heroin was suddenly cheap and plentiful in the lot. By the end of the year and the beginning of the following year, tons of 'heads were junkies. At the same time, though, the band was playing better than they had in a decade. Jerry had some clean years in that time, and he was hitting it out of the park almost every night. So it was getting weird, with the lot scene getting darker and the actual shows getting better and better in 89 and 90. They never really recovered from Brent's death in July 90. The band kept grinding for another five years, until Garcias death in August 95, but the decline in the music and the scene was drastic and sad. What freaked me out the most at the 95 show were the oblivious deadheads dancing around like everything was beautiful while Garcia was at death's door on stage and junkies were nodding out and breaking into cars in the lot. It was a level of denial and self-deception that I found incomprehensible

Except everyone looks older and there's a notable absence of tour rats. I toured in the mid/late 80s, and the crowds were like 70% young (like teens through late 20s/early 30s) and 30% older. This looks like the mirror image of those demographics

Sad…I went to the next show in Gainesville, VA on the 3rd. I happen to live very near the venue and was driving by at 8:30 AM when they started letting vehicles into the lot. There were hippies lined up for MILES, camped out on the side of the road. I went with a buddy of mine who followed the Dead from 77 to 84. He had a child conceived and born on the road. We pulled into the venue; after waiting in line for an hour, 4 hours before the show was scheduled to start. Our parking area had just opened. There were many. The first thing that happened was after everyone got out to tailgate, children started showing up with sticks with balloons filled with Nitrous Oxide for people to huff. I was disappointed and disgusted by it. Then you go up to Shakedown Street…

Learning

You two had a terrific vibe!

Going to the pgh show?

So sorry 😞.

Leave 6 hrs early! Fuck work

Not bad, i think the traffic issues kept the lot slow. Raleigh was a much bigger lot.

Bwahaha, everywhere