it's like riding a bike

I remember my first Dead show --July 4, 1986, but not my last. Sometime between when I got married in September 1993 and when Jerry died in August 1995, I guess. But I went again last night for the first time in 10 or more years, and it was great.

The show was at the Meadows Music Centre, somewhere in Hartford, but I don't know where. It doesn't matter. You don't want to go there. I wish I could have found a picture of this place online, because no words can adequately convey how absolutely unattractive it is. Bumpy lawn increasingly covered with detritus; flat, ugly exterior; bright corporate ads everywhere. Hideous.

The set list is here, if you're inclined. The first set was good, but a lot of the songs were not very familiar to me, and the crowd was way too talkative for my taste. It was better once the sun went down. The second set was, as they say, blistering. Lights, etc. were minimal. Not as fun and trippy as I remember from back then.

Here are some selected vignettes:

At one point, while it was still light out, some guy bumped in to me. When I looked up, I realized that he was large, bearded, about 25, wearing a grass cowboy hat and a hula skirt, and missing one arm.

I spent the whole breaking talking about movies to some cute guy, like I was a single gal again, and that was fun.

Later in the evening, this very sweet kid, about 20, came up to me. Excuse me, ma'am he said, and already I'm dying because he ma'amed me, and I am the old hag that I've been fearing I've become. I don't want to interrupt, but I left my ATM card in the car, and I'm so so thirsty, and please, could I have a sip of your water? I figured the poor kid was dosed out of his head and I gave him the rest of the bottle. Oh, wow! Wow! That's so nice of you! You're so great. I have some pot. Do you smoke? I told him I was fine and sent him on his way, but I was pleased to see that, 10 years later, Deadheads still share. Even with old hags.

All that water I'd been drinking made me have to pee, and I was thrilled when Kelly asked if I needed to go with her to the bathroom, because, me being me, I was afraid of getting lost on my way back, but on our way out, the band broke into Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, and I got brave. I told Kelly to go on without me, that I was heading into the crowd, then to the bathroom, and I'd find her. (We were set up right near the tapers, so I figured I couldn't get too lost.) I made my way down to the front of the lawn and found a spot on a big cement platform at the top of a wall. I danced with strangers until drums/space, and it was great.

I saw a woman wearing a gauze dress and angel wings taking a shower in the bathroom sink. Then she (and her husband, who did not stop bombasting about George Bush at the top of his lungs all night long!) were very near us, and she was twirling about, and then, later, we talked, and it turned out she was really nice, and kind of like me, and we ducked the rope into the tapers' section, got away from her blabby husband and the chatty folks I'd come with, and happily danced quietly through the encore. She asked where I live...maybe we live near each other and could hang out? But we don't and so we wished each other long and happy lives and went on our way.

Here's all I want to know: How long until next summer?

Posted by volfie at August 4, 2004 02:09 PM