30 Years Ago Tonight: Last GD Show at H.J.K.

Sad because it wasn't that the band got too big to play the smaller venues, it was that the rot outside the venues (i.e. Shakedown) got too big for the band to play smaller venues.

IMO the Shakedown/lot scene ruined the Grateful Dead at least as much as the Persian did.

Even the hallways were jammed packed.  

I agree Lance.

But we sure had a good decade there at the Oakland Odd.

yeah really Lance- those Persian carpets were really worn out.

Probably had fleas too.

Cool place. Saw a couple Primus New Years shows. 

Many of you can still see the walls melting 

I was only there once.  I saw a P&F show there with Ratdog opening.  Or maybe it was the Dead, or maybe The Other Ones.  One of those post Garcia mash ups.

Sweatiest hallway walls ever, outside of perhaps the old Boston Garden. 

I was there, loved that place.  I've got some great pictures from the '88 and '89 runs that I should dig up and post, always loved the way the hallways were done up in that place.  Here's one of the '89 Mardi Gras parade that someone else took

I'm the guy carrying the dancing bear that's holding a rose.  Our buddy who owned Grateful Graphics got us in the parade.

I remember the Minglewood Town Council handing out flyers during this run pleading for people to start behaving themselves in the neighborhood so they could continue having shows there.  As I recall there were March shows already scheduled that had to be canceled because the locals just wouldn't put up with it anymore. 

Never flew out to CA again for a show after this, wasn't worth the trip to see them in big place that was indistinguishable from something back east.

>1989 was the last year for the Kaiser, Frost and the Greek.<

yeah, they slammed the door on my face.

I was there, was sad to see an era go.....

1989 was the turning point for other things too. Last Alpine Valley shows (the experience of camping at Alpine and seeing multiple Dead shows was unique), the band started using those shitty MIDI sounds, they banned camping and vending and brought back Dark Star (IMO, to make people think less about no camping and vending, because they both happened first at Hampton 89)

I think it's a stretch to think that there was an agenda behind bring back a classic of the repertoire.

But you're spot on about the MIDI; I was pretty hopeful about the possibilities but it never really panned out.  If I wanted to hear a flute player I'd go see Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Saw several amazing Dead shows there between 79 & 86--this was the last

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKJ8PL3Uhoc

Also caught the Kinks there in 1980- great show.

Like other toys the Dead used, they really only used the MIDI stuff 1989-91 then seemed to get bored of it, by which time Jerry had a foot already out the door.

Sucks because most of the shows I saw were in 1989-91

Caught the 82 New Years run there with Etta James and the Tower of Power magical times for a very young east coast dead head. Bill Graham getting into a screaming match with people in line waiting to get in. Volleyball nets set up before the shows. Camping in the park across the street.  OPD giving us directions to Chinatown and then casually mentioning that we should probably have a gun if we were going to walk over there. A little glimpse into what it was before I joined the fun.

>>> I've got some great pictures from the '88

would like to see pics from '88. rumor has it Jerry was doing serious deep knee-bends during the Fantasy>Jude.

Not many pics of the band, mostly the scene outside and inside.

Last time I worked for BGP-Fillmore Fingers. All 3 shows, bar backing downstairs. Partying everywhere!

>>>Bill Graham getting into a screaming match with people in line waiting to get in<<<

Hey, that could have been me, although my "interaction" with Bill outside the doors that night in '82 wasn't really a match, it was more of a beatdown; he screamed at me, I was screamed at. Pretty much ruined my night, but that was a turning point moment for me.

One of the many great things about the advent of Phil & Friends was getting to go back into that old dump ten years later, older, wiser and without all the foolishness of the later-era Grateful Dead scene making it too much. I had some real good times in that place in the early years of P&F.

The cool thing about nowadays is that the old dump is still there. Dark, but there, and can be seen when driving by on the freeway. I look every time.

The last I heard was they were going to gut the inside and turn it into some type of retail/office mall, which isn't great but it's better that seeing another great old building of my youth torn down.

This thread got me to dig up a "documentary" from NYE 1980, with lots of cool footage of the venue and us from the good 'ol days.

There are some old friends in this video who I wouldn't meet for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4OfXQbjYg

I was there for this last run at the Kaiser. It sure was fun to be on tour 81-85....Spring, Summer, Fall. I feel lucky to have seen many shows during those years. 

Latvala used to go there to see gospel bands in the 50's. Guys in suits carrying fainting women out, the whole deal. He said one of the things that attracted him to the Dead when he first saw them in '66 was that they were the first band he saw that had the same vibe.

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/01/31/renovated-kaiser-convention-cent...

"After lying vacant for more than 13 years, the historic 105-year-old Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center at Lake Merritt could open its doors again next year as a restored theater, office, retail and restaurant space, with a terrace overlooking the lake and a new promenade."