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From: rcd@opus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Grateful Dead Concert complaint
Message-ID: <989@opus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Dec-84 02:15:14 EST
Article-I.D.: opus.989
Posted: Wed Dec 19 02:15:14 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Dec-84 01:23:59 EST
References: <561@aluxe.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 50

> In April I went to a Grateful Dead concert for the first time
> in about 10 years.  10 years ago the crowd was generally quiet and sat...
>...
> Well, this time, 10 years later, it was a whole different story.  The
> crowd insisted on standing for 90% of the concert.  The people in the
> aisles stood and blocked the view of people who were sitting
> in the seats that they had paid for...

Sorry, that's just the way it is at a Dead concert.  You can't dance
sitting down!  If you want to watch, stand up--but most of the show can be
had by listening anyway.

> ...But
> what really pissed me off was all the noise.  People cheering, clapping
> and just making a nuisance of themselves...

If this was an East-Coast show, you might try one further west.  I'm
serious...the character of the crowds very much reflects the locale.  I've
heard noisy crowds, but none that interfered much with the music except
perhaps at the beginnings of the sets.

> What happened over those 10 years.  The Grateful Dead were revered
> back then.  In the '60s and early '70s they were symbolic of
> anti-war feelings, long-hair culture and a communal feeling...
> ...
> Well I was warned that the concert would not be as I remembered.  The
> Dead still had it, but the crowd was indeed a bummer.

This is the jumping-off point for what I really have to say.  If you'll
think about it, the Dead are about the most apolitical band of any real
standing.  (They're not amoral, mind you, but politics has never really
come to the fore.)  "Throwing Stones" and "My Brother Esau" are some of
the most political songs they've done, and those have appeared in the last
few years (out of 20 for the band).  How did you get the idea that they
were symbolic of anti-war feelings?  I'm suggesting that it was YOUR
interpretation.  Similarly, you were primed for not finding the recent
concert to be what you expected.  That priming, plus the old "You can't go
home" effect, bummed you out.  Of course there are enough irritations at a
rock concert to get to you if you have any inclination to be bummed out.

The Dead, more than any other band, create art in which your mind fills in
the subject, the mood, and the interpretation.  There are good and bad
concerts, and there are good and bad crowds--but your head will have as
much to do with how you like the concert as anything.

Personally, I find the communal feeling stronger at a Dead concert than
anywhere else in everyday experience.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.