Rochester War Memorial
Jerry and Bob, Rochester War Memorial, 9/2/1980
Bobby flanked by the drummers
Slideshow below.
Another school year for me upstate began with a Rochester show by the Grateful Dead during the first week of September, this one downtown at the War Memorial, a big general admission arena. In the back of the arena there were some plaques and memorials. I guess being able to get in to the Nassau Coliseum shows with my camera and telephoto lense back in the Spring gave me the idea I could do it here again. I had a hard time shooting over the crowd but managed to get right up close to to the stage for a while. I remember being right up there for “Lost Sailor,” when it was a little quieter for awhile. The song was played at all three of the Rochester shows I attended.
Some of the photos I took are above; I picked one with Jerry and Bob from a few rows back, and other samples of the ones I took from up close are in the slideshow.
Like some of my other Dead shows, this performance was later the subject of a soundboard release by Charlie Miller, who seems to pick the same shows I like the most (although that’s many hundreds of shows). The second set packs in so many tunes, plus interesting and beautifully melodic jams with string synths in the Space section, a fine Morning Dew and a rockin Sugar Magnolia set closer.
Another example of the Dead playing with great energy at a really high level and another top notch show in this era. In the following month they would do the classic acoustic shows in NY and SF.