Turning Back the Clock: The Grateful Dead in Richmond
Anytime the Grateful Dead came into your town, it was an event. They rocked just about every venue in the country at some point in their long career, but along the way they planted their flag in certain places that became havens for big crowds and bigger moments. San Francisco was home base, and New York was their earliest East Coast hotspot with legendary rooms like the Fillmore East and MSG hosting a long list of all-time great shows.
There were many cities along the way that became regular fixtures to their traveling circus. My hometown of Richmond, VA usually doesn’t come up on that list of special destinations, but we were lucky enough to have them stop by a total of five times, including a couple of historically significant shows taboot (taboot).
The Dead has an amazing history in Virginia overall. Most eyes go towards MSG for their East Coast home away from home, but there’s only one Mothership. The Hampton Coliseum – barely over an hour to the east of Richmond – rivals the Garden as one of the most magical rooms they ever played. During the days of simpler ticket sales, Mothership tickets were available at Richmond box office locations, so Hampton shows were practically hometown affairs.
But let’s take a deep dive into the hallowed archives to remember the times the Grateful Dead came directly to the River City. A story with tremendous peaks and dark valleys; quintessentially Dead, through and through.
A Landmark Night in Dead History
May ‘77, likely the most famous run in Dead history. Cornell gets the lion’s share of the glory, but the whole month is loaded with amazing music from the Dead at their most reliable. Many heads have their personal favorite from the run, but the gem from 5/25 in Richmond gets a lot of attention in die-hard circles. Their first time playing in Richmond is filled with those magical moments that keep this music alive long after they’ve left the stage.
Photo courtesy of Dead.net
Most big rock shows in Richmond at the time happened at the Richmond Coliseum, but sticking to the theme of ‘77 by playing smaller theaters and college crowds, the Dead made a stop at The Mosque, an opulent room in the heart of Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus. Later renamed the Landmark Theater and now known as the Altria Theater, this immaculate space frequently hosted theater productions, but legendary performers like Jimi Hendrix and The Who rocked the ornate walls from time to time.
By the time this warm spring night came around, the Dead were riding a musical peak that you can still feel when you listen back. Honestly, any show from May ‘77 on its own could be considered a classic, but this night in Richmond stands near the top of the pack.
Photo of renovated Altria Theater, courtesy of altriatheater.com
The set kicks off with a pitch-perfect Mississippi Half-Step. The venue’s doors are not far from the shores of the James River, an extensive reservoir that helped establish Richmond as an early trading stop in the development of America. As the band crosses “the lazy river”, the unified energy in the room comes together to take the ride right alongside them.
The first set is filled with peaks, with things really kicking into high gear during Cassidy. Jerry and Bob continue trying to outdo each other as they power through fantastic renditions of Loser, Lighting > Supplication, and Brown Eyed Women, creating a lot of crossover with Cornell, but for my gold money, I think this first set outdoes the more laid back vibes of Cornell’s.
Then set two kicks off just as it did at Cornell, with a truly transcendent Scarlet > Fire. The Cornell version is often called the best of all time, but this one gives it a serious run for that title. The transition gets to that same incredible space of free-form exploration, somehow never going off the rails as it careens further down the road into deeper spaces before touching down oh-so-sweetly into Phil’s firey bass bombs. It’s as comforting as it is exhilarating. A true wonder of musicianship and everything we love and expect from this band.
The magic doesn’t end there. After a splendid Prophet and a stretched out He’s Gone, the band explodes into a furious Other One. For an era known more for its disco jams, this OO shoots for the stars in something that rivals the days of 72. Everyone is firing on all cylinders; the drums rumble across the entire landscape as Phil and Jerry battle for dominance. Meanwhile, Bob and Keith manage to tie everything together in an exquisite act of musical gymnastics.
If that wasn’t enough, they navigate out of the space into the tender chords of Wharf Rat. Richmond has many great things going for it, but like in many other cities, people suffer from homelessness at high rates and face tremendous hard times, both then and now. As Jerry belts out the story of August West, it elicits images of our riverside town, the hardships it and its community have faced, and the fortitude we all possess to push through, to get up and fly away.
Photo courtesy of RVANews
The band comes full circle with the OO reprise making the perfect exclamation point. An equally immaculate version of The Wheel and a double dose of Chuck Berry wrapped up this legendary night. One of many in the history of the Dead, but one that ties Richmond to that story forever.
This night was memorialized as Dave’s Picks Vol. 1. That release presents the night's soundboard beautifully, but it’s long out of print. Do yourself a favor and dig into the archive to hear the matrix mix from Kevin Tobin. The acoustics of this wonderful venue helped the AUD recording reach a deep level of connectivity that pairs perfectly with the crystal clear Betty Board.
Holding it Down at the Coliseum
The Dead wouldn’t return to Richmond until ‘83, and this time they moved to the more traditional rock venue of the Richmond Coliseum. A stark contrast to The Mosque’s opulent designs, the coliseum was a cavernous brick building with steep sections of seats. Not the most welcoming venue, but it was the biggest room in town with a capacity of more than 13,000.
Photo courtesy of Richmond Times Dispatch
Their first coliseum show on 10/8/83 was a solid early 80s effort. Jerry is in fine form both playing and singing, and the first set is filled with 80s mainstays and a few classics. The second set starts off modestly with Keep Your Day Job, but gets serious in a hurry with Playing > Crazy Fingers. Sandwiched between a post-Space Truckin and Wharf Rat is a rare bust out of Spoonful, something to keep in mind for later.
This ‘83 show is a solid pick with lots of heavy rockers and high energy to match. I find the circulating soundboard to be on the flat side, but the AUD from Clugston/Miller captures this night with great clarity and wonderfully captures the room’s energy.
The coliseum became something of an annual stop with the band returning during the same October weekend the following year. This period in the Dead is strongly underrated for my tastes. So many times the focus is on Jerry’s drug use and poor health, and you can often hear that in his singing voice, but even during these rough patches, the music could come together into joyous moments. 10/6/84 is a hidden gem from this era.
Photo courtesy of Arena Digest
Set two kicks off the same way as that fateful night at The Mosque, with Scarlet > Fire taking the reigns. This one has a decidedly different flavor with Brent in the mix. Jerry might have been hurting from his addictions, but Brent was always there to lift him up and push his playing into new wavelengths. Brent’s tones might be an acquired taste for some, but jams like this transition prove why he was every level a player as each of the other band members. The dreamy tones of the 80s wouldn’t have happened without those fingers.
This show gets overlooked in the discussion of the early 80s. Virginia shows have their own unique energy, and this show captures it perfectly. The second set source mastered by Dave Usborne makes the lack of soundboards irrelevant. Listen to this recording for a truly immersive live Dead audio experience.
History Made Again in ‘85
The coliseum’s place in Dead history would be cemented, for better or worse, a year later when they returned for a two-night stand in November ‘85. Night one is rightly seen as one of the finest shows of that entire year, but the cold and rainy night would prove to have something more sinister in the air than the usual traveling circus.
At the time, Richmond police had become notorious for cracking down on drug arrests during rock shows at the coliseum, and Deadheads were prime targets on these nights. Police monitored the entry gates on horseback, and reports say more than 200 arrests occurred, including from undercover police on the floor mid-show. Hundreds of fans also broke into the sold-out venue by crashing through a back window.
The scene around the venue was chaotic, but the music on stage became infamous despite that, or perhaps because of it. While the chaos unfolded around the venue, the band delivered a unique set filled with some of their most heartfelt tunes. The setlist looks tame on paper, with a second set filled largely with ballads and covers, but dig into the tape and you can hear the magic in the air.
It was a bust out kind of night, and the crowd was dialed into the energy from the start. Jerry rolled into High Time early in the second set when we’d normally be set for take off. Instead, he went for the heartstrings on this one, going as high as he could when he sang, “Come on in when it’s raining,” as the rain fell over the night’s chaotic scene outside. The crowd roars in response. Everyone in the room is connected to the moment.
The night was loaded with excellent sequences. The elongated Sailor > Saint with Drums > Space wedged in between created a monstrous soundscape and an all-time performance for this standout pairing. Rare cover choices in She Belongs to Me, a set-closing Gloria, and the reappearance of Spoonful kept everyone guessing. Throw in a slamming Samson and a quintessentially 80s first set, and this one truly shines in the sea of the Brent era.
The night was selected for immortality via Dick’s Picks Vol. 22, but tape aficionados should again do themselves a favor by listening to Kevin Tobin’s matrix mix. The official release presents the music well, but the matrix mix lets you tap directly into the night’s off-the-wall energy.
Night two doesn’t quite hold up to the chaotic majesty of night one. Although it does feature several musical highlights, including an oozy Prophet > Uncle John’s Band and Jerry going for Dew in the wake of Space; not one of his best showings, but even in these moments that seem lackluster compared to the best performances, you can still feel him giving it his all. Even when he didn’t have much left in the tank to give, he would still give you all of it.
A Lasting Legacy
After the drama of the two ‘85 shows, the Dead were banned from the coliseum. By that time, no other venue in town could handle their huge popularity, and so came an end to the Dead’s time in Richmond. Hampton still had some legendary shows to give, and Washington D.C. was an annual stadium stop all the way up to ‘95, so the locals usually didn’t have too far to go.
In the years after Jerry’s passing, Richmond did host several post-Dead projects. Ratdog played the Raceway Amphitheater just nine days after the news broke of his death. Phil came into town on two occasions, including a return to The Mosque (which had been renamed the Landmark Theatre) with a memorable night in 2001 with “The Q” lineup where a water line broke and wrapped the show up early.
While we haven’t had an official Dead offshoot come to town since 2009 when Ratdog played the Innsbrook Pavilion (now closed), our city’s community has never wavered. Regional cover bands like Barely Dead and Better Off Dead frequently come into town, and the local group Suggesting Rythym regularly draws energetic crowds ready to boogie down to some homegrown jams. Go to the shores of the river at Belle Isle, and the bright Stealie of Dead Rock looks over the skyline.
Richmond no longer has the reputation that led to the chaos of 11/2/85. Now, we’re a haven for the live music community, and the city is catching up with the construction of new venues, all while our longstanding theaters and rock boxes let songs fill the air on a nightly basis.
With many more musical memories to look forward to, it’s still always a pleasure to turn back the clock and hear how the Dead cemented themselves into our hearts and our town.
Featured photo courtesy of Dave Parrish Photography
