Posted by 
Behold, here is the ticket stub from my first Grateful Dead concert. This small piece of cardboard represents a dividing line that delineates two eras of my concert-going life. There are concerts that came before June 11th, 1993, and there are concerts I’ve seen since.
(dramatic, solemn pause)
I was travelling with my best guy friend Jojo and my best girl friend Anne-Marie. We were travelling in my red Toyota minivan which was decked out in peace signs and funky flower-power curtains with a mattress and a camp stove packed in the back. The parking guys directed us onto a grassy field, I turned off the ignition and jumped out with a smile, someone handed me a balloon and I promptly fell headfirst into the bumper of my van. A thousand people jumped forward at once to help me, each one arriving a moment too late but no matter, the van had a rubber bumper and I was a-ok.
It was my first pre-show lot scene and I loved it. I met lots of great people and had so much fun. Countless smiles later we three entered the show with time to spare.
The venue was a pretty, sloped meadow surrounded by trees. At the bottom of the small hill was a stage that seemed to grow right out of the ground. Sting opened the show and I enjoyed it, huge Police fan that I am.
Between the opening act and the feature presentation Anne-Marie and I walked to the treeline for a quick bathroom break, making sure to get our bearings first so we could make it back to Jojo and our patch of grass. In retrospect I guess there must have been porta-potties available but I remember everyone just walking to the treeline.
Just as we were finishing up the Grateful Dead started playing. Anne-Marie and I started running back to find our spot, which we knew was at the base of a light pole.
With the opening strains of Jack Straw electrifying the air Anne-Marie and I started galloping together like a pair of gazelles, bounding gleefully hand-in-hand across the field and over blankets; two free-spirited souls all but floating through the air, and laughing all the way. We soon realized that there was in fact a whole line of light poles and we had no idea which of the countless poles was the one where Jojo sat alone waiting for us.
Hopping, skipping and jumping among and over the surging, happy crowd, our leaps would land in magical unrehearsed twirls and we would spin together with ballet-like hugs of joy, she and I both exuding an unspoken confidence that providence, serendipity, and a spirited gallop would deliver us to our friend. So joyous and graceful was our jaunt that it felt like we were flying thirty feet per step, and I was sure that the crowd was clapping for us and our miraculous feat as much as they were for the Dead, and with a triumphant final leap we landed right next to Jojo, where the three of us fell into a heap of happiness.
I swear to you, that journey from the trees back to Jojo and our spot stands out as one of my all-time favourite lifetime memories. I could describe it for hours and hours on end and never even approach conveying my glee. When I sleep just right I have dreams about it.
The show itself was sublime from start-to-finish and with absolutely no other Dead shows to compare it to it was hands-down the best Grateful Dead show I had ever seen. That blissful run across the field, the musical exploration, the travel, the beautiful, placid venue, the entire scene not to mention the bombshell of The Grateful Dead…my live music life shifted that night. I was now looking at a concert-going future that involved extensive travel, seeing bands several times in a row, familiarizing myself with a demographic as much as the musical entity that defines it, and pretty much exclusively seeking out bands that made it a policy to play different setlists each night.
After the show Jojo and I made balloon animals for donations in the lot (making balloon animals in the street was our self-made summer job at the time back in Ottawa). We went through a lot of balloons but didn’t make a nickel. That strategy was going to have to change if we were going to make it to the next few shows as the three of us were on a very, very serious budget. I think I crossed the border with somewhere between $65-$80US in my pockets, and of course I didn’t have a dime in the bank.
I have no idea where we slept that night except that it was undoubtedly in the van somewhere with no cost and even less permission.
I
Jack Straw
Foolish Heart
The Same Thing
Lazy River Road
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
When I Paint My Masterpiece
So Many Roads
Promised Land
II
Eyes Of The World>
Playin’ In The Band>
Uncle John’s Band>
Corinna>
Drums>
jam>
The Wheel>
All Along The Watchtower>
Black Peter>
Sugar Magnolia
e: Brokedown Palace
The Grateful Dead have released official video of the entire concert so you can now witness the beauty for yourself:
Todd Man Out 