ejd@petrus.UUCP (Ed J. Donofrio) (07/23/85)
Well whether most of you felt the shows in Ventura were either poor, average, or great, I just want to say that Ventura must be one of the best damn times I've had at a Dead Show. I'm an East Coast head and that was my first west coast show. I stood on the floor both night fairly close to the band and was impressed with the amount of space left between people to dance on the floor. Maybe it's me but I can never seem to get anywhere near the band on the east coast without putting my 5'8" body up against someone else who is most likely taller. As for the shows I agree the first set first night was great. Those first three songs blew me away. Sugar Magnolia and US Blues was alot of fun to dance around to. I thought that bad sound was coming from lesh's bass (maybe I'm wrong), but it appeared that a roadie wheeled up another instrument (looked like a big computer) right next to him in the first set, but that noise still didn't go away. I thought besides that one sour note that happened fairly frequently it sounded pretty good otherwise. The second day I agree that Comes a Time was pretty excellent. It seemed Garcia put a little more effort into all the words and I actually heard them all. That's it for the other one was special for me since I never heard that version, and it seemed to have alot more energy leading into the part I'm familiar with then I've heard before. Seeing my first west coast show was made complete by dancing around to Estimated Prophet out in the California Sun. And lastly I really enjoyed being able to leave the show and go jump in the ocean. --Ed Donofrio