Grateful Dead Music Forum

I was talking with some non-dead friends (yeah, they exist!) and we were talking about live music. Now, I've seen the boys a lot, but I've also been to countless other shows, everything from Classic rock (Stones, Who, Clapton, Floyd, Springsteen, etc.) to Punk (X, Pixies, Dead Kennedy's, etc.) to jam bands (Allman's, Phish, Mathews, Panic, etc.) to Blues (BB, Buddy, Albert Collins, etc.) to jazz (Miles, Branford, Sonny Rollins, etc) to folk (Dylan, Joni, Joan, Tracy, etc.) to rap (Tribe called Quest, Ice-T, Public Enemy, etc) to Metal (Van Halen, Megadeth, COC, etc.)

The others were talking about "great" concerts and when I asked them, they all mentioned different things (tight band, length of playing, cost, showmanship, venue, etc.) that they used for criteria. I remember that some dead shows that I loved others didn't like and vice versa. So, I ask of you: What criteria would you use to judge a "great" show (Dead or not) and what were some of them?

If the guitar guy was on !

how little I remember of it?...

It becomes a combination of the vibe, the crowd, the band. For me, it is the entire event, not just musicianship here and there. Bands and musicians will always have good nights and not so good nights, but all the ingredients need to be present for a truly great show.

It also never hurt a thing when the Dead went into the zone and were channeling that unexplainable energy.

Dave

Most non-heads i know judge a show by how close to the album they sounded!
deadheads are just the opposite!!