bottom@katadn.DEC (10/26/84)
In the beginning I have to admit that I was skeptical. After all what kind of a band could achieve such loyalty in their fans? Especially in light of the type of albums they recorded. I don't buy their albums and still won't. But when a good friend of mine said "Hey, the Dead is playing in your town and we're coming up for both shows and you should go to one of them" what could I say? So I bought tickets and went. That's when it got to be interesting. I didn't go to the Thursday night show, but planned to go Friday. Thursday I had a class so I took a drive by the Civic Center and I could not believe my eyes, there was the biggest collection of tie-dyed stuff I'd seen since 1968. Friday came and we went. It was a gathering of the faithful, more hippies than I'd seen at once in years. The band came on and said absolutely nothing!! I have never been to a concert where the band did not speak. They played, very well in fact, and the crowd got down. I couldn't believe it they [1mALL[0m danced. Not just those on the floor, but everybody was dancing around, and when the band hit some significant note or phrase or something people began to jump in the air and scream. It was a sight. Such enthusiasm at a concert!! I guess this sounds a little like a madhouse, well it was in a way, but to be fair I should say that the police had no trouble with anybody. I had no idea that the people would be so[1m POLITE![0m It was awesome just how nice the whole crowd was. The local paper ran a very favorable story on how the Dead has this cult following of 'Deadheads' who are very 'Deadacated' and how they were all in town to see the band. Deadheads? You bet. I'd rather get stomped on at a concert by a Deadhead who will stop to say sorry than the type of fans that stomp on people at Twisted sister concerts. And when the Dead come to town next time....maybe I'll go to both shows, but you can be sure that I'll be at one. -dave-