The Dead Concert

On May 7 John and I went to the Dead concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver. John is a huge Dead fan and this was the first Dead concert either of us had been to. The tailgating in the parking lot was crazy - lots of people selling all sorts of things. We were afraid to eat any food they were selling, since we were not sure what you might get as an extra bonus. But they were all nice, friendly folks. The concert started a little late, but no one seemed to mind. I was amazed how full the arena was. And how smoky it got. I have never seen so many people smoke in public like that (not cigarettes). Everyone was. John and I were trapped. We had bought binoculars so we quickly made friends with those sitting around us and the binoculars made a trip up and down the aisle for others to look though. Our tickets were up high, but we could see well. I am not a huge fan of the Dead, but they gave a good show. My favorite was when they covered the Band's "The Weight." You can see the entire set list for this show here. 

Pictures we took with my camera phone looking though the binoculars. 

What I thought was neat and smart thinking on their part was the fact that they record the show as it is happening and presell disk to folks at the souvenir booth for $25. After the show you go and stand in line for your disk (you are given a wrist band if you pay ahead of time). I could not believe the length of the line. It was huge (see pictures below)!




John was able to get his 3 disk containing the entire show relatively fast (it was rather disorganized IMO). He was very happy and I had to take a picture of him with his prize.  



After I took this picture someone offered to take one of us together. right before she took the picture I accidentally dropped the CD's John had just gotten. It freaked him out so bad (as you can see in the picture, panic written all over his face). Lucky for us they did not break and he is playing part of this on his radio show tonight.  I am amazed at the quality. The CD's sound really good (better than they did hearing them live IMO). We wonder how they can burn 500X3 CD's and get them packaged and out in less than 30 min. after the show ends!? They must have some serious CD burners. 

This was the first concert we went to last weekend. We spent the rest of the weekend in Denver and had a chance to go to a Rockies baseball game as well to celebrate my friend Laura's birthday on Saturday. Sunday we went to the Fleetwood Mac concert and had a chance to visit the psychedelic poster exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art (look for a post on this soon).