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Had to be there

David A. Howells | 05/15/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw the Editorial review above. Well I WAS there at the Foxboro Stadium (Sullivan/Patriots Stadium) Dylan and the Dead concert on 4th July 1987, as a Welsh/Brit, 19 year old, from Swansea, whilst on a five month visit to the States. A kind lady from Easton Mass., now sadly deceased, gave two tickets to my friend and I, and we accompanied two local girls to the concert in their car. (We drew lots for the two 'spares' in Peggy's back garden and the other lads with us were devastated not to win). It took hours to get from South Easton, near Brockton, southern Mass, to the stadium, such was the whole carnival feel to the day and heavy traffic. At the arena we stood to the left as Dylan looked out to the crowd from the stage, maybe half way up the stand. The whole atmosphere in and around the stadium was "tie-dye" (everyone had one) and there was an unmistakeable smell of pot everywhere. People were having BBQs in the car park. Knocking at Heavens Door is often played, by lots of bands. This one at Foxboro was one of the genuine classics to be there for. The concert was in several ways historic, first of this tour with Dylan, enabled the Dead to live perform with Dylan on some newly live performed tracks, now taken as granted as some of their best/classics, and fantastically received, the "era" was very much Grateful Dead's height of celebration of an old band (steeped in americas musical 60's history) still going and appreciated even more than originally by a new generation of USA youth, I felt, and this CD which I treasure, probably like other CDs of great shows, will of course, as a recording of these events then, never quite live up to the real event nor tell the full story. Listen to it with thought of the whole historic feel of the occasion, and the fact that this particular summer was the Joshua Tree historic breakthrough tour by U2, so if there were two bands that encapsulated 1987 in USA, it was U2 and the Dead. I hope this eyewitness and personal account of the day (4th July 1987) and my own experience of it helps others enjoy and appreciate how important this CD and this Grateful Dead tour was for the memory of the legendary Garcia/Weir/Dylan and the entire Dead's legacy on American culture not just musical but social. Buy the CD, and imagine the scene I described, in the moment it was then, just fantastic.Dylan & the Dead"