Go West Young Man, Why Dead Heads Flocked to SF

In http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/02/quite-little-cash-cow-jgb-early-1980.html, the famous Corry342 (see below) makes the observation that "It is my thesis that while the Grateful Dead's music moved (in effect) from West to East, Deadheads tended to move from East to West."

 I agree. So I have decide to show graphically why this may be true.  I am using as an example traveling to my first 11 Grateful Dead concerts in 1976 and 1977 and comparing this to my first 11 concerts in the Bay Area in 1980 and 1981 after moving there in late December 1980.  I have using all the shows I went to in 1976 and 1977 (look to the right if you want to know the exact shows) and the first 11 I show in Oakland and Berkeley starting in December 1980 through December 29,1981 (that's 11 also).  Note I am not counting the Acoustic Show way over in San Francisco or the killer commute to San Mateo for the surprise show, so maybe you can add 30 miles to my totals. :))

Here's what it takes to be 17 and 18 years old without a car and without a driver's license and basically dead broke while attending high school and college to see 11 Dead shows in northeast in 1976 and 1977.

Accounting for trips back home to Lewiston, ME and schools in Andover, MA and Brunswick, ME, google maps says my travels are:

Compare that to the mellow hippie boy moving first to Alcatraz Ave and then 2816 Fulton Street in Berkeley.  here's my path to 11 shows of pretty amazing GD in 1980 and 1981.

These 11 roundtrips took about:

With no car needed, alot on foot up Bancroft to the Greek for 3 of these shows or a few stops on BART over to Lake Merritt Station for the other 8.  I think they should rename that place Terrapin Station, it always looked a little trippy to me (like this)

here how it looked to most deadheads back in the 1980s

Never Miss the Middle Shows: December 27-28, 1980 in My First New Year's Five Night Run

You can check out my prior looks at this run

    December 26: http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2015/01/east-to-west-grateful-dead-live-at.html

    December 30: http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2015/12/tdih1980-grateful-dead-coolest-ever.html

and

December 31: http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2015/12/my-first-new-years-eve-1980-acoustic.html

The second-half of 1980 is a great underrated space in the history of the Grateful Dead as the late summer smokin tour ends in the famous Lewiston show less than a mile from my family home I moved to in the Summer of Love in 1967.  Then the acoustic set shows and finally, my first of three years seeing the five nights of New Year's shows at the Oakland Auditorium.

December 27 was my first "smokin" New Year's run show where the start the show with three openers in a row with Feel Like a Stranger, Sugaree and Minglewood.

But where this show shines is set two, a seamless gem that is worthy of more attention 

12-27 Feel Like A Stranger, Sugaree-> Minglewood Blues, Loser, Looks Like Rain, Tennessee Jed, Passenger, It Must Have Been The Roses, The Music Never Stopped 

China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider-> Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Drums-> The Wheel-> Truckin'-> Wharf Rat-> Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad-> One More Saturday Night, E: Johnny B. Goode

12-28 Mississippi Half Step-> Franklin's Tower, Me & My Uncle-> Big River, Bird Song, Little Red Rooster, Althea, Jack Straw Don't Ease Me In,

 Lost Sailor-> Saint Of Circumstance-> Terrapin Station-> Drums-> The Other One-> Stella Blue-> Sugar Magnolia, E: Casey Jones

JGB's After Midnight>Eleanor Rigby>After Midnight Reigns Supreme in Oswego February 17, 1980

JGB Brought It This Cold Night in Upstate New York with After Midnight and an Eleanor Rigby sandwich and also Positively Fourth Street, Catfish John, Deal, Let It Rock, It Takes Alot to Laugh
and the show was endless. As is the Student Newspaper Coverage of the Show. I'd see the show nine nights later with Rick Sullivan (who I still talk to 40 years later!) from the front row at the Ocean State in Providence  and see Tiger Rose, Promontory Rider with Robert Hunter in the JGB, but I'd trade it for this show. Heres 2-17-80   According to JGMF http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/02/quite-little-cash-cow-jgb-early-1980.html, this show brought the Band a cool $10,000.

Note that Dead wordsmith supreme Howard Weiner devotes Chapter 4 of his Positively Garcia book about this show, calling it one of the best Garcia Band shows ever (4th!) and since you really should support Dead writers, I'll only give you a snapshot of his writing below. Just buy his books!

Also please thank Keith Gatto for recording this show. It's a wonderful audience.

This is flac encoded & tagged version of shnid: 9017

Jerry Garcia Band
Laker Hall, SUNY Oswego
February 17, 1980

MAC(taped by Keith Gatto Nak 300s>Sony TC-D5)>DAT>CD>WAV>SHN.

Disc One
1. /Melody
2. FOTD
3. /How Sweet
4. /Catfish John
5. Deal
6. /Positively 4th Street

Disc Two
1. That's Alright Mama
-set 2-
2. /Money Honey
3. Sittin' in Limbo
4. Let it Rock
5. After Midnight >
6. Eleanor Rigby >
7. After Midnight

Disc Three
1. Train to Cry
2. Harder they Come

And here is the wonderful coverage in the Oswegonian

The Epitome of The Grateful Dead Experience, Hartford, May 10, 1980

Jeff Fishman, in his review, in The Taping Compendium, called this shows the The Epitome of The Grateful Dead Experience. Jeff felt that the first set sucked and the second set was incredible.  I think Jeff was half-right. Because the first set of this show is great as well making this one of the most underrated shows of 1980. Listen here

Where it really gets special is the Seven Songs before drums and Space. Note there is only a SBD of set two  China Rider still rather new in the Brent era opens before 1980 versatile workhorse Feel Like A Stranger seques into a rare predrum Comes a Time leading to Estimated>He's Gone>Uncle John's Band.  All of these can be heard on this page.

I missed this show after seeing 7 during the May 1979 tour as I was (gasp) becoming a responsible student and I only got to see Portland, Maine the next night, 25 miles from my college.

The Grateful Dead Is Still Worth Taking A Chance On Estimated>He's Gone>Eyes of the World Show, San Bernardino, December 12, 1980

After Lewiston and the Acoustic Shows through Halloween, the Dead played some remarkable music in the Deep South (see Shakedown>Franklin from 11-26) and ended up with a few southern california California gigs before heading home to Oakland for my first five night stand. 

On this night at the Spectacular Swing Auditorium, home of many a magnificent show, and the birth of Terrapin, we see the only time the Dead couldn't make up their mind, and played He's Gone AND Eyes of the World after Estimated Prophet. Files here   http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/03/second-set-structure-1972-1982.html  and http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2018/03/eyes-of-world-exceptions-in-eee.html  give more insight into Estimated. Oh and http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/03/estimated-one-time-only.html  You can tell i like to write about Estimated.

Alabama Getaway > Greatest Story Ever Told ; Friend Of The Devil ; Mama Tried > Mexicali Blues ; Althea > Little Red Rooster ; Peggy-O ; Looks Like Rain ; Tennessee Jed ; The Promised Land

China Cat Sunflower [6:24] > I Know You Rider [5:23] > Estimated Prophet [10:33] > He's Gone [11:16] > Eyes Of The World [9:38] > Drums[10:29] > Space [9:43] > Truckin' [8:19] > Wharf Rat [9:23] > Around And Around [3:58] > Good Lovin'
Encore Don't Ease Me In [3:02]

Best 1,000 Seconds of 1980: Alligator Alley, November 29, 1980, Shakedown Street>Franklin's Tower

Shakedown Street>Franklin's Tower

This is primal so it requires perhaps the best audience tape ever.

It's on my Dad's 45th birthday and he even lives in Florida.

Like May 22, 1977, Dick's Picks 3, the Dead play it and it remains elusive and less-known, if at all.

The Night before

82 Reviews on  an audience recording on archive https://archive.org/details/gd80-11-29.wise.sacks.2409.sbeok.shnf

Dave knew this little southern tour since he put Atlanta on a Dave's Pick. he knew to use a Matrix too.

Near Nirvana: The Nine Times China>Rider and Scarlet>Fire Were Played In The Same Show

I like lists at Christmas, so today I present the nine times that China Cat Sunflower flowed into I Know You Rider and Scarlet Begonias streamed into Fire On The Mountain in the same show!

Luckily I saw two of these, at the New Year's Eve show 1980 in Oakland and the next summer at the Saturday show at the Greek 9-12-1981.  You can listen to any or all of these below.
All the China Riders were in the first set (first electric set in 1980) followed by a second set Scar Fire.

So of the more than 300 times the Dead played Scarlet Fire starting in 1977 to the end in 1995 only 9 were played in the same show as China Rider. You had to be lucky to see one of these babies

Note that three shows in a row in 1980 and 1981 also had a Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance in them for a trifecta evening.

These were special nights when you got the double dose. I hope you were there too.  Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for reading my cryptic notes on my life and yours with the Dead


1. 2-3-79 Indianapolis

2. 11-8-79 Cap Center, a rare later era mid first set China here


3. 10-22-80 Radio City
4. 12-31-80 (I was there) Oakland. Here's the fine Wagner Miller NAK aud.
5. 7-8-81 St Louis Kiel
 6. 9-12-81 (I was there)  The Greek
 7. 12-9-81 For the third 1981 double dose, the Dead move from 9-12 in UC Berkeley to 12-9 at U Colorado. Poetic for the Band
8. 9-4-83 Park West Mountain High
9. 3-28-85
Also see  http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2016/04/scarlet-less-fires-and-fire-less.html  and http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2016/01/china-less-riders-and-rider-less-china.html for more Dead rarities involving these four master classes among Dead tunes.

JGB hits UMass, Blasts Sugaree Solo February 20, 1980

For the first day of Christmas, listen to this sweet Jerry Garcia Band Sugaree solo. Howard of Positively Garcia says this is the one, even with the fair recording.

The Grateful Dead Lives On Boston Garden, May 12, 1980

In honor of Grateful Dead night at Fenway Park tonight, I present this little fun show with a wacky opening sequence.

I missed a show at the Boston Garden because, gasp, I was studying hard for finals. Wow.  Saw the night before in Portland though.   This was a pretty nice little tour with some interesting song selection  (see http://www.deadlistening.com/2010/05/1980-may-10-hartford-ct.html)  and http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2016/04/this-weekend-we-rock-portland-or-may-11.html.  There is a caution jam in here too.

Jack Straw>

Alabama Getaway>

El Paso

Althea

Lazy Lightnin'>

Supplication

Far From Me

New Minglewood Blues

China Cat Sunflower>

I Know You Rider

Feel Like a Stranger

Ship of Fools

Estimated Prophet

He's Gone

drums

Saint of Circumstance

Wharf Rat

Sugar Magnolia

U.S. Blues

Huh?

http://www.angelfire.com/nd/satnight/gd51280/index.album/img_0002?i=2&s=