LEWISTON, Maine — Forty-four years ago, the Grateful Dead and their caravan descended on the now-nonexistent Maine State Fairgrounds in Lewiston.
It was the final show of their 1980 summer tour.
The Saturday concert was a hot one – but fans certainly got their money’s worth. The band played 27 songs over about a four-hour span.
SET I:
- Alabama Getaway
- Greatest Story Ever Told
- Sugaree
- Me and My Uncle
- Mexicali Blues
- Tennessee Jed
- Feel Like a Stranger
- Friend of the Devil
- Far From Me
- Little Red Rooster
- China Cat Sunflower
- I Know You Rider
- Promised Land
SET II:
- Shakedown Street
- Lost Sailor
- Saint of Circumstance
- Althea
- Playin' in the Band
- Uncle John's Band
- drums
- Not Fade Away
- The Wheel
- Uncle John's Band
- Playin' in the Band
- Sugar Magnolia
ENCORE:
- One More Saturday Night
- Brokedown Palace
Rod Sturdee, a member of the Down East Dead tribute band, was at the concert. He came from the University of Maine at Augusta, where he was a freshman studying music theory at the time.
He remembers the band left it all on the stage.
“It was just, I don’t know, the air was electric that day. And I remember everyone was thirsty and it was hot and there wasn’t enough drinking stations, so they had sprinklers going everywhere, off on the edge near the furthest back points. And so we’re all running back through there to get soaked down so we weren’t roasting to death," Sturdee said. "But it was a four-hour show. And they had a big break in the middle, of course, but it was one of the longest shows ever for them. And I remember reading an interview with Phil Lesh where he said it was one of his favorite shows of the whole 80s just because almost every song, the versions were as good as they ever did. I don’t know, they were just on fire that day.”
The Grateful Dead were notorious for allowing fans to tape-record their live shows, often dedicating a section for people to do so. Many recordings of the Lewiston show can still be found online today, which concert attendee Drew Berry said has helped the legend of the Lewiston show live on.
“There’s a wealth of good recordings of that show, and sometimes that helps build the legend. So, if it’s available and well-recorded, people will say, ‘Ah that was the greatest show.’ And of course, you’re not going to say that about some scratchy old recording that you can barely hear. So there’s a lot of things that go into that," he explained. "But we’re very fortunate there were a lot of people there to record. For whatever reason, in that outdoor setting, the recordings almost universally came out great. I knew people who recorded up there and we’re very lucky to have those recordings. The band – there’s no official recording that I know of that exists of that, so it’s all due to people recording it from the audience.”
Berry had just seen a Dead concert with friends in Philadelphia before moving to Boston for his freshman year at Boston University. Instead of preparing for BU orientation, he found a concert ticket and hitched a ride up to Lewiston. He detailed the experience in the journal entry below, which he shared with NEWS CENTER Maine.
I arrived at BU on September 2nd, a Tuesday. After settling in for a few days, I was at the campus bookstore picking up some study materials, when I noticed a small ad posted to a bulletin board: "Wanted: Riders to Lewiston Dead Concert. Have Room for 2." I had completely forgotten! Could I get tickets? Were the spots still open in this guy's car? I scribbled down the phone number and ran back to my dorm to make the call. Sure enough, the guy still had room. "Got no tickets, though. Try the ticket place in Kenmore or Store 24. They probably still got 'em . We're leavin' Friday night, after class. Show's Saturday." I was in! I bought a ticket at a place in Kenmore Square (Out-of Town Tickets, I think). A miracle! I hooked up with a ride, tickets, and......no explaining to do, I was ON MY OWN!
"Jumping into that situation where you just left home, you’ve gotten some newfound freedom, and you go on an adventure like that – not even with friends or anything, just taking off and just going – it kind of harkens to the on the road days or something like that, not to make it overly dramatic," Berry told NEWS CENTER Maine. "You don’t have chances like that, you know. You have a chance once where you get some freedom, and those first few times you’re out on your own – it’s kind of fun.”
The Grateful Dead and its fans are very committed to the history of the band and its shows. The band, which now exists as Dead & Company, often revives specific songs or setlists that were previously played in certain cities or venues when they return to a place.
Grateful Dead fans are also a very active community on Facebook. Founding member Bob Weir posted to social media Monday to mark the anniversary of the Lewiston show, and the love for the band and the show was palpable in the comment section.
"Don't you just love that the band would play these small New England outdoor venues, and then just shred it for us?.!! Thanks everyone for filling in some blanks! NE shows rock!!!!!!!" - Dan Alfieri
"My hometown and senior year in high school- there were only 3-4 Dead heads in my class and the Dead coming to play 1/4 mile from my childhood home was a dream come true! What an epic show!" - Ralph Davis
"What an absolutely memorable show! Literally everyone who went has a story involving “getting there” - the Wheel - the doses and starting the academic year slightly bugged eyed! Whatta amazing show! Best times !!!" - Peg AtPop
"Six of us packed into my friends Buick, and 6 hrs later we arrive in Maine from NY City. And the doses, ohhhh the doses. I'd keep telling my friend, did you see that. Then I'd say ... What colors? He'd say ... Green and Yellow or Orange and Blue and it was always the same that I saw. Lol We snuck right up to the stage, and I remember checking out Jerry and thinking that he looks so cool with his sunglasses . Great times" - Joe Flo
"I would argue the best Sugaree in History. They were playing out of their minds this show." - Matt Folan
"The Grateful Dead and a holiday weekend. The way life should be!" - Eric Boston
"Lewiston, Maine..my first Grateful Dead show..most of my friends had been seeing the Dead at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ and other local venues in NJ/NY but I was always working as a kid. But finally the opportunity came when I was up in Boston attending Northeastern University. A bunch of life long friends decided to hitch up to Maine for the show. We split up into pairs knowing most cars wouldn't pick up groups of people, and we'd find each other at the show. I buddied up w my friend Doug and we decided to get an early start and launched out of Boston around Midnight (after a party!). Getting rides in the middle of the night was near impossible and we only made it 10 or 15 miles outside of Boston and set up a tent for the night. We awoke to golf balls hitting our tent..we had set up on a green! Golfers weren't happy! Back to the highway in the morning we get picked up right away by a fire engine filled with tye dye freaks from MIT! They owned this old fire engine and would take it out to shows. They took us right into the show and we eventually connected with everyone else who hitched up. Sadly we missed Roy Buchannon as one of the openers but caught the last of Levon Helm before the Dead came out and rocked Maine hard! We still reminisce about this adventure to this day. Forever Grateful." - Bill Transue
"My driving privileges were suspended in Maine for not paying a speeding ticket on the way to this show. Often wonder if that suspension is still enforced." - June Hafner McMorrow
"It was a great day. Hot as hell. They came on early afternoon and played what seemed like forever. Over 4 hours, which made tape trading tough. 2 and a half tapes." - Steve Dinsmore
"One of my all time favorite shows, the Fairground was a perfect sized venue for the Dead at that time. I still have one of the show posters (Dead go to Heaven cover shot) that I took off the fence as we were leaving!! Lewiston Me. excepted us with open arms, which was nice because this was when the scene was starting to get ‘sketchy’ and some venues started to ban the Dead." - Steve Tass
"After this show, the next day, a bunch of us who were on that summer tour, we went to some ocean beach nearby for a end of tour party/camp out. Anyone here go to that?" - Albert Astrella
"I worked at a bank and they recruited some of us to work the ticket booth. I guess they thought bank employees would be honest with money." - Carol Emerson
"I watched this entire show a few rows from the stage. Phil drove the show end to end. He was maestro extraordinaire. A few weeks later, we were waiting on line to buy tickets for the 3 set Radio City run. This band was committed to bankrupting me & my limited college student budget." - Howard Horder
The Lewiston show wasn't the only show the Grateful Dead played in Maine.
According to a post on the band's social media pages, they played 16 shows in six different places across Maine throughout their career. The caravan even came to Oxford Plains Speedway in July 1988 for two holiday weekend shows.