#89039  by Grateful Dad
 
Anyone have special memories of the Spectrum?

The band played some great shows there over the years and I know for all the times they played there there have to be some great memories of this building soon to be demolished.
 #89042  by Tennessee Jedi
 
Grateful Dad wrote:Anyone have special memories of the Spectrum?
The Flyer's banners melting - something I will never forget !
:D
Image
 #89043  by tcsned
 
Grateful Dad wrote:Anyone have special memories of the Spectrum?

The band played some great shows there over the years and I know for all the times they played there there have to be some great memories of this building soon to be demolished.
Awful venue but some awesome shows there. I remember the ones back in '85 or '86 that were especially good. I remember driving back to Blacksburg in '85 (I think) through a heavy snowstorm so I could make a biology mid-term with a good friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident soon after that. Of course, 3 days of fun in the parking lot didn't help my test performance any. They always seemed to play great shows there. I haven't counted but I'm sure it's either my most attended venue or second most next to Hampton.
 #89048  by mkaufman
 
I can't remember all the shows, however, I do remember:

5/13/78

1/5/79 - I took my wife to her 1st show. We weren't married yet. I was 18, she was 16. We got to our car in the parking lot and it was snowing like all hell. Some guy knocks on the window of my car and asks if he can have a ride back to NY. Turns out it was someone I graduated with in high school and he lived just down the block from my girlfriend. We drove home in a blizzard. Her parents were up all night.... I think the trip took over 6 hrs to get back to NY.

5/4/81- I have vivid memories of this show. I bought a Ticketron ticket and it ended out being where the soundboard was, so they moved me to 10th row center. It was a really good show and on the ride home, I listened to Ron Davis on the New York Yankees strike out 8 batters in a row!

There were more...

mk
 #89052  by amyjared
 
Awful venue but some awesome shows there. I remember the ones back in '85 or '86 that were especially good. I remember driving back to Blacksburg in '85 (I think) through a heavy snowstorm so I could make a biology mid-term with a good friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident soon after that. Of course, 3 days of fun in the parking lot didn't help my test performance any. They always seemed to play great shows there. I haven't counted but I'm sure it's either my most attended venue or second most next to Hampton.
I would agree. We actually called the place the "Filthy Rectum" because of this! I watched cops on horses "try" to walk through the queue of people 10 wide waiting to get inside. Not sure why, but the cops thought they were tough. People were getting kicked by the horses, who were a bit freaked out. Also, always lots of shady scalpers there. But man, some of my favorite shows! I loved that one in '85 where they opened with Midnight Hour>Walking the Dog>Big Boss Man! That was my fave of the year, up until that Richmond show.
 #89054  by tigerstrat
 
Had an absolutely amazing time at the Sept '88 run. Only made it in the 1st and 4th nights, but the scene and the people I was with were so fun I hardly minded missing nights 2 & 3.

faves:
3/24/73
11/6/79
4/26/83
9/12/88

Rest in Pieces!
 #89056  by FretfulDave
 
Well, I didn't see a show there until 1982 but the first band I saw there was The Grateful Dead and the last band I saw there was The Dead.

I had a bunch of little stories about general Spectrum days in the 80s and things that happened after the shows but decided it was too long.

A memorable one was the 10/18/1989 show we went to when the big earthquake hit San Francisco the day before and they started the show with Shakedown Street. We were wondering big time if they would.

I'll always remember the Grateful Dead banner that would hang in the rafters with the number of shows on it later on. In Flyers colors too!

9/13/1993 they did the first verse of Dark Star, jammed and never came back. That was very cool for us. A first for each one of us at that show.

The place was a hassle to get into but we had a quick way out and a shortcut to the Schuylkill Expressway on the way home. So yeah, memories.

Peace,

Fretful Dave
 #89062  by ebick
 
The 2nd set of 4/6/82 is some of the best live Grateful Dead I have ever heard.....
 #89063  by TheMissingDigit
 
Great sound. A favorite place to see a show. Venues just don't have accoustics like that anymore... Some of the best mixes I have aver heard in a venue. Dead or otherwise.
 #89066  by Chuckles
 
That run of three shows on Easter weekend in '85 was very emotional for me. My grandmother, to whom I was very close, had recently died - first grandparent I lost - and I was staying with a college buddy in Bryn Mawr. I was listening to a Dew when I got the news of her passing and the Dew on Saturday night was very emotional. Then, Easter morning, my bud's mother actually had Easter baskets waiting for us in the morning (we were 20 years old! :lol: ), complete with a huge chocolate bunny just like the one my grandmother got me every year. She had no idea, but it was an amazingly touching - if on the face of it a little silly - thing for her to have done for one of her son's burnout buddies. So, Mrs. Pratt, wherever you are, God bless!

Oh yeah... and all three of those shows rocked hard. Loved that Sunday trio to open, plus a nice Supplication Jam!
 #89126  by mttourpro
 
Those 85 easter shows were my 2-4th shows and were what reallyy got me on The Bus. I was never the same after that.
I think it was one of the shittiest places to see shows but they always played well there.
 #89131  by jackr
 
Was there for a good number of shows back in the late 70s early 80s. Always had a great time.
 #89141  by tcsned
 
amyjared wrote:
Awful venue but some awesome shows there. I remember the ones back in '85 or '86 that were especially good. I remember driving back to Blacksburg in '85 (I think) through a heavy snowstorm so I could make a biology mid-term with a good friend who was killed in a motorcycle accident soon after that. Of course, 3 days of fun in the parking lot didn't help my test performance any. They always seemed to play great shows there. I haven't counted but I'm sure it's either my most attended venue or second most next to Hampton.
I would agree. We actually called the place the "Filthy Rectum" because of this! I watched cops on horses "try" to walk through the queue of people 10 wide waiting to get inside. Not sure why, but the cops thought they were tough. People were getting kicked by the horses, who were a bit freaked out. Also, always lots of shady scalpers there. But man, some of my favorite shows! I loved that one in '85 where they opened with Midnight Hour>Walking the Dog>Big Boss Man! That was my fave of the year, up until that Richmond show.
that was a classic first set. I still listen to that one a bunch. Short set but well done. Jerry was getting his blues on.