08/18/2026
The Grateful Dead at the New Haven Coliseum, April 23, 1984. I only saw the Dead twice, and this was the first time. Here’s what I remember from that night. I went with my friends Dave (now serving time for identity theft and fraud), Matt (currently a MAGA conspiracy theorist/Islamaphobe) and Pat (still solid, great guy!). I drove to New Haven (from Stamford, CT) in one of the worst rainstorms I’d ever been in. Mind you I’d only been driving less than a year at this point and while my buddies were doing b**g hits and drinking beers, I was white knuckling it all the way, probably driving 30 mph because I couldn’t see anything. What was normally a 45 minute drive probably took us two hours! And when we finally got there we went to three parking garages before we found one with space. We were late and pi**ed. We had great (free) tickets because Dave’s girlfriend Robbie Lynn babysat for Jim Koplik, one of the biggest concert promoters in the country. He also hooked us up with Genesis tickets! By the time we walked into the coliseum most of the first set was over. But it didn’t matter because it was like I’d entered this strange, dark, mysterious world that smelled of patchouli and incense. Girls in long skirts with flowers in their hair were spinning out in the hallways, away from the stage but still totally tuned into the music. People were smoking joints everywhere. Everyone seemed friendly and warm. And the music! It sounded so good and when we walked onto the floor and saw Jerry and Bob and the band it hit me so hard. Everyone was dancing! At intermission I turned to Pat and asked ‘do you remember where we parked?’ And he just shrugged. It had still been raining and we parked far away and ran as fast as we could. Took us a long time to find it afterwards! They started the second set with Iko Iko and the whole second set was magical. I didn’t become a Deadhead (I never understood how someone can just listen to one band) but I finally understood them better after that! It was a great night
