I picked the absolutely wrong day to indulge at Rocks.
Listening to LOGGER >STAR SPANGLED almost sets me off 23 years later.
I didn't know it at the time but LOGGER had a history. They played it a few times pre-70 if memory serves.
This 85 version is loose and reckless. A few of the other ones are more direct and you can get the feel for the tune a little better.
I had this list of tunes I was carrying around all weekend and I got most of them this show.
I like this recording for the vocals. I don't usually listen to audience recordings but this has enough separation from the crowd that there is not a lot of yeah! woof!
Minglewood- Bob his bad self. I hadn't memorized this song yet but used to walk around singing the chorus pretty regularly. BORN IN THE DESERT.. RAISED IN A LION'S DEN..
B.E. Women-It was at this show that I discorporated from my body. I had the very distinct feeling of being aware of the entire Western Third of The United States in a single moment. From there the Dead just transported me to different moments of time but not just time travel but terrestrial travel as well. So that i was completely absorbed in the music. If the band had stopped playing for too long that day i might not have made it back. I am pretty sure this is when the Space ship question was raised in my mind but did not receive resolution until many years later at the Cap Centre when I awoke in an ER room under a bright light and was 100% sure that I had been abducted. That truly was my last trip or as Weir said, Remember to hang up the phone after you receive your message.
Brother Esau- I enjoyed this song so much, yet another tune that dropped from the rotation.
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse, Not sure there was a phrase that more summed up the way I felt about the vibe during this time period of history.
LOSER- it was at this point that I went from inside the Amphitheatre to somewhere in the valley between.
Not sure how I got there and the sound was not as good from there but it was just me and some other brother trying to keep balance and dance between the rocks and tumbling down stones.
Did I mention they played the entire BLIND FAITH album over the P.A.that day before the show started.
This was the show that got me planning in terms of the Tour schedule.
THIS IS ONE BAD-ASS LOSER!
I don't know in hindsight was that good? It took me 9 and 1/2 years to get my Undergrad. Most of the people in my Neighborhood thought I was a crack-head but i honestly never thought that was remotely enjoyable.
just this wild-eyed hippie living in a typical city involved in a typical daydream.
Dupree's-not sure i knew this tune very well back then . Now I just laugh because it was so important historically to those early years. 68-69
To me this song is a gem in 85. It really works and drips psychedelic. Why didn't they play Golden Road? -cause Garcia still had Dupree's!
"Judge that seems to me to be about right"
Excellent placing for OMSN just like 6/22/85
and I do believe Jerry telegraphs a coming SHAKEDOWN..
"Come on Ronnie,, IT is Saturday Night"
Man, so funny my politics always seem to be the opposite of the prevailing wisdom.
Ask anybody who knew me how Anti-Reagan
I was at the time but the important thing is time reveals who was true and who was in error.
"You can fool some people some times
but you cant fool all the people all the time"
SetTwo
SHAKEDOWn-My favorite year for this tune not so much because it was perfect but because it was a tune as funky as I felt at the time. Freak Flag flyin'
Nice jam before the final reprise.
CrAZy FiNgers>Never gonna hit the 75 versions but this was Jerry's cowboy tune. and Shakedown >Fingers was a great pairing that I don't recall making it out of 85.
Wow, i forgot they played SAMSON this show.
Do I love to dance to this tune!
I was half-naked dancing my butt off looking at the Continental Divide in front of me.
and then a real treat anytime I got UJB and PLAYIN' together it just was one of those ultimate GD moments.
Uncle John's so sweet, How was anybody listening to anything else in 85. I llisten to the pop music of that day and it still sounds like crap.
This tune is timeless. They were building momentum right up until RFK 86.
Standing on the side of a Mountain dancin' to Uncle John's has got to be one of my best GD moments.
They forgo that final UJB reprise straight into PITB
and they bring the Playin'.- A time connector song. If you saw the 'So FAR' video/movie , you know what I am talking about. Always felt PITB was Americana but to the time of the NATIVE people. Turtle Island.
The prophecies of the Native People speak of those who do not live with the land eventually going as they came. I have always felt the Almighty used the Europeans to bring the Gospel and one day he will remove the Europeans and give this land back to the tribes. I was pretty sure it would involve some pretty scary and intense things but now I am not as certain.
I know the visions I had where of thermonuclear war.
So I do hope for the sake of the children and the children's children that this is not the way it has to end.
9/7/85 -This is definitely one of my favorite pre-drumz set list of any show I attended.
Drums>Space -All these years later.
Fantasy>Hey Jude-This was so natural at the time i didn't even realize this was the 1st time they went for this. Brent was like a creative genius. Yet, he seemed to be in the DJG dog house. I really started to love his musicianship, his vocals, and how he started to become a frontman for the band.
Playing is a perfect way to drift into Drums in fact it is almost like Playing>Space>THEY COULD HAVE PICKED UP A CHINA DOLL IN THAT LAST TRANSITION into>>>Drums
people ask me "How do you know the Bible is true" well the Bible says THE EARTH IS UNDER A CURSE.
"Half of my life I spent doing time"
I found this out the hard way during my back to nature period. I got heavy into Rainbow Family and even shied away from indoor shows. Well, I was camping in the woods and got stung by of all things a freakin' Caterpillar. No joke my arm or was it my leg looked like somebody hit me with a baseball bat.
I noticed that it was a lot easier to grow weeds then food. Everything was eating and being eaten. Even my salad seemed to be screaming HELP, Don't murder me!
I could understand how scientist believed that death was the catalyst for life. (e-vol-ution) but the Bible clearly states NO DEATH BEFORE TRESPASS. So when sin entered the world thru Adam & Eve death came with it as well. The devil thought he had won because he knew the payment for trespass in God's economy was the death of the trespasser. But the Almighty in Genesis 3-15 let's Adam know that from the seed of the woman that Satan will be crushed.
A perplexing statement since only men have seed.
Yet this one statement points to God sending Jesus to live a perfect life and make atonement for the debt owed to a holy GOD. By-passing the fallen seed being born of the Holy Spirit to a virgin.
Rather remarkable because God sacrificed Himself while we were yet fallen creatures.
Did Adam get it? Yes, because He called his wife EVE= the mother of all the living.
Listening to the Fantasy>Hey Jude that transition into Hey Jude is so sweet. Jerry just starts shredding.
Think about that PIGPEN did a Hey Jude back in the day. Don't think that didn't cross the band's mind.
TRUCKIN-They don't really jam into Truckin so much as shift gears. Somebody told me that this song was a big reality check for the band. I always felt like this tune was the most likely for Bobby to flub on vocals. But give him credit how many tunes did he and Garcia have to remember vocals for.
I was already so blissed during this show and then the last Jerry ballad of the night is the rarely played COMES A TIME and that transition is flawless. (almost has a Ship of Fools flavor) until Garcia sings the first verse.
My friends this song would usually rock my world even just hearing it on a tape. but live outdoors, sun setting quickly (early show on Sunday)
This was it. I looked around and realized i needed to start heading back toward the tribe. So i was making my way towards where I imagined I had left the Amphi-theatre listening to the music but realizing I was in need of getting back down to civilization plus i really wanted to thank the band for everything that day.
so the rest of the set i was engaged in trying to retrace my steps. Somehow by the end of Baby Blue I could see the parking lot but I was almost the last one out.
My buddy looked at me and said "They played just about your entire list" I just had that deer in the headlight look. it was getting cold and dark and we hitched back to the campground. Some dickhead stole my friends tent which sucked because it put a damper on what had been a crazy wild beautiful day.
What a show this was.
Great rap by Weir during Lovelight.
Johnny B-Hot ! Hot! Hot!
Baby Blue- Love/hate- Beautiful this evening.
Foreshadowing of the coming Dylan/Dead and RFK -86