My First Show: June 9, 1976 Boston Music Hall

Today is the 40th Anniversary of my first Grateful Dead concert: Wednesday, June 9, 1976 at the Boston Music Hall in Boston, MA with somewhere between 2,700 and 3,500 people.  Wow. I was so lucky to go.

Of course, it was my "11th" overall concert.

Jimmy Roux and I had floor seats nearer the back, while Ralph had balcony seats.  Ralph says he went to the very middle of the balcony in the center in the front on the stairs and no usher or police asked him to move the entire show.

Never having seen the band, just having a few Bootleg LPs like Make Believe Ballroom, I had no idea what the band would play.  I recall all the first set songs were "about" ten minutes long, especially if you include the 6 minutes of Dead Air following a 4 minute Big River.  This show is a monster and still among my favorite shows I ever attended.

Some highlights:

Cold Rain & Snow, Rarely played after 1972 (3 times in 1973, 1 time on 10-20-74 and starting here)
Cassidy  (4th version ever)
Scarlet Begonias  (rarely played this early in a set)
The Music Never Stopped  (4th version ever)
Crazy Fingers  (4th version ever)
Looks Like Rain (one of the most beautiful ever)
Ship of Fools (4th first set version ever)

St Stephen>reverse Eyes of the World>Let It Grow  (first St since 10-31-71, only St>Eyes, only reverse Eyes, 5th orphan Let It Grow ever, only Eyes>Let It Grow)
High Time (first since 7-12-1970 Fillmore East)
Dancin In The Streets>Wharf Rat>Around & Around (3rd Dancin since 12-31-71, 3rd disco version)

Franklin's Tower (only standalone Franklin's encore)

Of course, I called "first in'' on dead.net (9 years ago)


Matrix FLAC

The Music

Deadlistening Guide: Greatest Review of this Show

The return of St. Stephen is only one stellar aspect of 06/09/76. The entire second set completely out performs how it looks on paper; and it looks mighty fine on paper:

St. Stephen> Eyes of the World > Let It Grow > Drums > Let It Grow, Brown Eyed Women, Lazy Lightning > Supplication, High Time, Samson, It Must've Been The Roses, Dancin’in the Streets > Wharf Rat > Around, E: Franklin's Tower

The first set is no slouch, looking like a dream set that might have been penned by some fans in the parking lot before the show. Cold Rain opens. It was only played three times in ’73, and once in ’74 on the last night of the farewell stand at Winterland (it was the opener that night too). Cassidy was played only once before, early in 1974. And then we get Scarlet Begonias, Music Never Stopped, and Crazy Fingers, all in a row. Whew! But set two opens with the song that most fans probably didn’t even allow themselves to think about ever hearing again.

The crowd’s reaction to St. Stephen is priceless stuff (equaled again upon its second return in 1983). The song’s jam demonstrates the 1976-typical slowly spinning kaleidoscope of sound right from the first notes. It swirls and swirls going further and further out – Jerry finding one beautiful space after another. They all key back together for the last verse as if they’ve been playing the tune every night since it was last played on 10/31/71. When they shift from “What would be the answer to the answer man?” into Eyes it is dreamy perfection. Is this really happening? You will be in the giddiest of Grateful Dead spaces here.

This Eyes is perfectly described as jubilant. The super up tempo treatment of the song is pure pleasure. Also, it has another new 1976 twist: they build the song backwards with the long exit jam coming before the song itself. This one goes on for 8 minutes before the first verse, and it serves to prolong the giddy zone all the way through. Your dog might even start twirling around the living room to this song, his or her little puppy paws rising and falling like incense smoke overhead.

Grateful Dead -August 4, 1976Not good enough for you? Try refraining from joy as the band eases out of Eyes into a light and dreamlike mist that sounds bound perfectly for Wharf Rat, only to have Bobby magnificently draw out Let It Grow. It fades into view like a ghost out of the fog. Brilliant. The Let It Grow is overflowing with more of the wonderful interlocking spinning wheel glory of 1976. In and out of Drums on a dime. And then there’s this perfect little Brown Eyed Women. The song hardly ever gets a second thought when it comes to “best of” conversations. But, I’ve always found this one somehow a cut above. The quickened tempo has a lot to do with it, I’m sure.

Read more: http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/04/1976-june-9-boston-music-hall.html#ixzz4Ava6V9q5

Road_Trips_Volume_4_Number_5

Google Links to 6-9-76

And a recently discovered May 1988 Issue of Dupree's Diamond News has this great take on this show and 1976 in general

Don't Murder Me: Only Show in New Hampshire

Originally posted 1-16-16

In the backwash of Hanover, the Grateful Dead came to town. 

It was May 5, 1978 and it would be the only time that the boys ever played New Hampshire in the 30 year history of the band. 3,499 other deadheads and Dartmouth students were there.

http://thedartmouth.com/2012/05/22/deadheads-camp-outside-thompson-arena-for-1978-concert/

Edit 11-14-2017. My pal Craig MacLean took this photo of Phil, pre-show, who had walked into the crowd to visit a friend high up somewhere. Cool huh.




Sirius decided to play the show this morning as i drove to work immediately after I finished my blog post on the Beatles songs, s I had to write my New Hampshire piece because the Dire Wolf sounded so great in my car (best version ever played in New Hampshire). I think Jerry loved to play Direwolf especially when the Dead were in the woods like here and on November 5, 1977 in upstate New York. I loved when it was played second in the set (or open like in the 12-31-80 acoustic set Blog piece here)

This was my first show after starting college (Englishtown was the day BEFORE college) and I attended along with Jimmy Roux, Mike Barr ( i think), Katie Moody and I did run into Andover deadhead Lundy Bancroft the set break (not hard with only 3,500)

It was followed by Cassidy, Candyman, and later a heavy set-end Passenger, Brown Eyed Women and Lazy Lightning/Supplication, all greatest ones ever in New Hampshire. Ok, joking aside, this is a well played and great sounding show. It was my 12th Dead concert after 3 in 1976 and 8 in 1977, and although it might only rank 11th out of my first dozen shows in terms of my enjoyment, that speaks to the greatness of 1976 and 1978 and should not lessen the fact that this show rocked!  Thanks to Charlie Miller and his band of mischief elves that get these boards so he can do his magic on them.Archive Flac

The archive comments include "one of my most memorable shows", "listen to Phil go up one side of NFA and come back down the other", "Werewolves for Cinco De Mayo?" and "best Estimated I've ever heard".  This is indeed a boss show.  

Don't forget the second set Bertha>Good Lovin, Estimated>Eyes>my first of 69 Drums>Spaces?NFA>Stella and of course the encore which you hear now.  I only got to hear Werewolves twice, this night and a week later at the 5-11-78 Springfield "Mescaline" show, which were the 4th and 6th versions of nine that Spring between April 19 and May 17.  The Dead would only play it three more times on Halloweens 1985, 1990, and 1991.  The 1985 version opened the show, the rest were all encores.   

I recall the building at Dartmouth (Thompson Arena) was small, new (build in 1975)  and sounded good.

The FLACs and the MPs are here. Enjoy listen. Rinse. Repeat.

Nashua Telegraph June 9, 1995

Only Time I Saw the Grateful Dead when it wasnt announced, 12-12-81

 This was a fun show, only time I saw the Grateful Dead when it did not say that on the marque.

I recall going to the Horse Racing track and then a long line and a delay  then a real fun night

Corry did it best here a decade ago

http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/03/december-12-1981-fiesta-hall-san-mateo.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe09jIA_5Yg

April 25, 1981 Berkeley Acoustic Benefit: I Can't Write This Better than Corry

I forgot they advertised this show on April 5 on page 19 of the Pink Section

I met Wavy around this time, he came into Rasputin's Records where I was working looking for some obscure folk or country record and I recognized him right away and we talked for awhile, but not about the Dead I think.  What a great guy.  Great memory.

Until I add something substantial , just link to Corry's great memory of this show

http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/01/april-25-1981-berkeley-community.html

I am fortunate to know folks like Corry who are real professionals and historians.

I am just a old guy who was a fan.

My thoughts:

Last show I saw December 31, 1980 was the last of the 1980's Grateful Dead Acoustic sets. Great Dead thinker and writer Howard Weiner says it was the best one, but it was the only one I saw.

Corry writes about the Spring/Summer 1981 "trades" where I saw John Kahn play the acoustic benefits here and in May at the Warfield, while I saw Phil played in the Jerry Garcia Band August 22 up in Fairfax.  Also Brent did not play here. 

Songs played here that I did not hear on New Year's Eve are Deep Elem, Dark Hollow, Friend of the Devil, El Paso, Ain't No Lie and Oh Boy. The last time the Grateful Dead played Oh Boy was April 6, 1971 at the Manhattan Center.

First time I saw a show at Berkeley High School. Nice to walk a few blocks from 2816 Fulton down the street. 

A Corry Highlight:

FYI, I count this as a Dead show.  40 minutes :)

Here are his handwritten notes from the show:

May 13, 1983 at the Greek: My 7th Straight Greek Show

I was not able to break my Oakland Auditorium record at the Greek as my streak stopped at seven with this show.  I saw Garcia in the blazing 1975-1982 corridor, and by 1983 I began to ship shows (sacrilege I Know you Rider). This one has a hot middle of the show Bird Song, Let It Grow, China>Rider, Estimated>Eyes so you can't go wrong on the Friday night show

Of note,these were the first Greek shows where the heat came by and busted [some] for smiling on a cloudy day/

Ed Perlstein (buy his work), getty images can sue me for my zero dollars in revenue from my blog

1980-1982, 15 Straight New Year's Run shoes at the Oakland

1981-1983, 7 Straight Greek theater Shows

SET 1

1. Cold Rain And Snow
2. Greatest Story Ever Told
3. West L.A. Fadeaway
4. Hell In A Bucket
5. Loser
6. Little Red Rooster
7. Bird Song
8. Let It Grow

SET 2

1. China Cat Sunflower >
2. I Know You Rider
3. Estimated Prophet >
4. Eyes Of The World >
5. Drums >
6. Space >
7. Throwing Stones >
8. The Other One >
9. Wharf Rat >
10. Around & Around >
11. Good Lovin'