Grateful Dead Music Forum

wisedyes wrote:Worst show I was ever at? Probably the first night in Philly in the spring of '85.

where they bust out Walkin the dog Big Boss Man?

jerry may not be so healthy there but thats one of the sickest shows i've seen

I was also a bit surprised to see the 4-6-85 Philly show listed as I was there and it was FAR from the worst show I've seen...that 3-night run was show 2-4 for me.
Killer stuff as I recall. The plain white was just right! ..

The blizzard show at Richfield 3-14-93 was the worst show I've seen outside of some 95 shows. And I remember thinking they would really crush given all the BS people went through to get there...

In retrospect, the first show I saw at Pittsburgh Civic Arena 11-29-81 was also pretty poor. They just returned from Europe and it was the first show in a while with no acoustic set. They huddled up after almost every tune. I'd never see that again, thankfully.
They did open with Shakedown and close with Satisfaction, so I guess it wasn't all that bad. That's about all I remember from it except that it was really long and they played Truckin and Must have been the Roses.

Hartford 88 - horrid
Jerry had a cold. I believe I walked out of the first night show.

No, the "Walking the Dog"/ "Big Boss Man" show was the 3rdnight of that stand at the Spectrum. The second show was pretty good too, I just thought the 1st night was very lame.

I consider myself very fortunate, I didn't see too many bad shows. The last show before Garcia had his diabetic coma ( at RFK Stadium in DC summer of 1986 ) was pretty horrid as well, but given the circumstances, I'll give them a pass on that one.

I wasn't there but listening the the Rainforest Benefit they did with a bunch of guest artists around 87' at MSG is painful! Jerry sounds sick and his voice is totally shot and he is struggling to sing.

SeanO

The worst show I ever saw was the 1st night of the 2 show Giants' Stadium run in 1994 (I think it was 8/3/94).

It was not just jerry who was off his game-- it was an all-around crapfest.

Wisedyes,
That was the last venue for me as well (RFK 1986) but I didn't have tickets for the second night.
Damn it was hot and I was right down front for Petty and Dylan, and some people were good enough to share some water with the wife because she was more delicate than me; but we retreated to the shade of the stadium risers for the Dead. That was the farthest I'd ever seen a show from and while not bad, it didn't grab me like usual.

jdasa wrote:The worst show I ever saw was the 1st night of the 2 show Giants' Stadium run in 1994 (I think it was 8/3/94).

It was not just jerry who was off his game-- it was an all-around crapfest.

boy oh boy if this is the show with a bird song in the first set, it is just sickleberry, Jerry runs thru his midi patches like a swiss clock... and a Attics encore, my brother was there he didn't see a thousand shows, I was glad he caught that one, I think it was his last. i have seen a few shows on here that were pretty good!
Also my 2 cents worth a bad dead show still blows away a great Phil and friends show or Ratdog show, except the parking is easier now!

astroman99 wrote:Also my 2 cents worth a bad dead show still blows away a great Phil and friends show or Ratdog show, except the parking is easier now!

From a later years perspective many bad shows were caused by JG deteriorating before our eyes. From that position, I'd take a great a great 'Dog of Phil show over watching the boys....

Now if you take it from a 70s perspective when thing just weren't clicking for a show or set I'd have to agree.

astroman99 wrote:

jdasa wrote:The worst show I ever saw was the 1st night of the 2 show Giants' Stadium run in 1994 (I think it was 8/3/94).

It was not just jerry who was off his game-- it was an all-around crapfest.

boy oh boy if this is the show with a bird song in the first set, it is just sickleberry, Jerry runs thru his midi patches like a swiss clock... and a Attics encore, my brother was there he didn't see a thousand shows, I was glad he caught that one, I think it was his last. i have seen a few shows on here that were pretty good!
Also my 2 cents worth a bad dead show still blows away a great Phil and friends show or Ratdog show, except the parking is easier now!

Ok- I remember the Birdsong being somewhat acceptable, perhaps the highlight of the two show. But the rest? ugh.

It's a very boring conversation if we include 94-95 or even 93. The band was in obvious decline, a few random peaks, but no more high plateaus in sight.

What's more unusual and interesting (and much easier to laugh at) is those OFF nights during their otherwise strong periods. And I wish I had one to contribute just now... I tend to collect the better stuff- go figure.

tigerstrat wrote:It's a very boring conversation if we include 94-95 or even 93. The band was in obvious decline, a few random peaks, but no more high plateaus in sight.

What's more unusual and interesting (and much easier to laugh at) is those OFF nights during their otherwise strong periods. And I wish I had one to contribute just now... I tend to collect the better stuff- go figure.

agreed