Recording: Of all the sources, this one sounds the best to me in terms of what I like to hear.

In 1993, I started listening to the Grateful Dead. I was really won over by their blues material with Pigpen, and then later Bobby. As a teenager, I abhored my homelife and was gonna attempt to go to Grateful Dead show in Pittsburgh in June 1995, but the older heads being wiser than me ditched me once they realized I was underage and gonna try to run away from home and go on tour.

I graduated in 1997, I hit my first show and attended the Further Festival at Deercreek in Summer 1997. It was awesome, but I really wanted them to play together again. in 1998, they gave me my heart's desire.

This was the first post Grateful Dead reunion tour. I was a pretty ragged living deadhead. My first major girlfriend had broken up with me and I had no prospects for anything but getting away from Ohio and I made plans to do the whole tour. I kept running into flaky hippies who once I hired to drive would change their mind, but finally made it to Montage Mountain for my first show of the tour.

It was rainy, damp, and yet folks seemed pretty stoked for this show. I found fellow deadheads who needed a ride to the next show and I found some work (I needed to finance tour somehow) and made enough to buy a ticket in.

Montage Mountain was seemingly enveloped in a cloud. Deadheads were excited and we pounced on every note.

Hell in the Bucket opened up the show and I was a huge fan of that number (I was listening heavily to Spring 1990 tour at this time). I could hear Lesh perfectly, Weir was hitting all the right notes, and did his trademark falsetto as the song peaked in the end. I was thrilled! I loved how the two lead guitarists, Karan & Kimock weaved around each other during the Bucket jam. It wasn't Garcia, but it was a great way to honor him.

Hornsby really did great at singing Scarlet Begonias and this is where I fell in love with Steve Kimock-his solo on Scarlet. Starting around 2:47 in scarlet, he made the hairs on my neck stand up and gave me chills and brought everyone to their feet as they screamed in ecstasy. None of us had heard Scarlet Begonias been given such wonderful treatment in many, many years, and it was spectacular. The Fire On the Mtn revamp was novel, and on first hearing, I liked it. I later did not, but first couple times I appreciated them trying to innovate and the fresh jams linking scarlet to fire.

The Mountains of the Moon was absolutely sublime and crushing. It was seriously beautiful and enchanting. Phil did it great honor, and I'm not a huge fan of Phil singing. With the rainy misty weather, it felt like a prize for making the journey to this show from outer fringes of Dayton, Ohio.

I loved hearing New Minglewood Blues and Bobby's slide guitar. Getting down and dirty felt goood. I thought Karan's style really lent itself to this song. Hound Dog was a funny number for Bobby to do. It was great to hear LL Rain, especially since it was raining. But to be honest, this is one song that never quite was played the same after Garcia died. It was good, but not the same. Raibows Caddilac featured excellent playing by Hornsby & Kimock.

The real meat and potatoes of this show was the Birdsong>Drums>Space>the Other One>wharf rat>Touch of Grey.

That deep, jazzy, psychedelic playing of this new band in Birdsong really did it for me. I gained a whole new appreciation for the drums section of the show, something I usually skipped on my cassettes of the Dead. This was tribal, intense, exciting. Mickey played call & response on his talking drum to the audiences delight.

Phil led the way on the Other One, and his bass lines that led the way on the them and the Phil Bomb really delighted me.

Bruce sang Wharf Rat like he wrote it. It was touching and beautiful. The band let us know that we were all deadheads and together again as they played 'Touch Of Grey', we all shouted "We will survive", and buddy, we all meant it.

We all shuffled out of there, hot, sweaty, damp from the rain, as the houselights came on and "Happy Trails" played on the PA.

We grabbed some grilled cheese in the parking lots, and with the two new riders we recruited, 'Tennessee Jed' from Jersey and a weird guy from upstate NY, we headed towards Pittsburgh and Starlake amphitheater, with Brian at the wheel and myself being in charge of navigation.

Summer Tour 1998 officially began!








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