by Doug Spaulding, Jenkintown, PA

Of the dozen or more Grateful Dead concerts I saw, principally during my college years in the late ’70’s, one stands out as second to none.

As a member of like-minded students in a co-ed fraternity at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH, a friend had advanced notice of a 4/19/78 Dead show in Columbus. In the pre-Ticketron days, he was able to go to a local small-town AAA office (through which tickets were being sold) and at the time the Columbus AAA office opened, managed to obtain a large block of tickets in the second through fifth rows, center. There were many remarkable things about the show including their first-ever performance of Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” (as their encore).

Opening with “Bertha,” I particularly remember with great delight how the band seemed to stretch the end of the song a bit longer than usual as security attempted to clear out the last of the people who had rushed up the auditorium’s two aisles from the back of the auditorium. (The venue had a very strict no smoking, no standing in the aisles policy.) As soon as the last person in the aisle was being sent back to their seat by the security guards, the Dead finally broke into “Good Lovin’” with big smiles all around as everyone rushed up the aisle a second time to the dismay of the security guards who were pinned to the stage had to do it all over again. We, of course, were well ensconced in our seats enjoying one helluva show.

My friend is convinced that, because there were so many people from Kenyon there, the tightness of the crowd and the positive energy from everyone knowing everyone else somehow got picked up on by the band. The show ended up being more like a small party among a group of friends than a big concert experience. Clearly, proximity to the band had a lot to do with it, but the experience remains one of my most memorable musical moments.