when this year's spring tour was announced on the hotline, I got a phone call about the details. I was real, real excited to hear that it would include Albany (even if they weren't coming to New England at all), because I love Albany. That is really a wonderful place to see Deadshowz. Albany makes deadheads feel very welcome, the people there seem to like to have us there - and it's not every town these days that welcomes us.

It's the only town on the tour that I considered going to. Having three kids in school, I can't take off for faraway destinations. I'm not interested in going to Nassau, which is the other closest stop on tour. I really wanted to go to Albany. What is so very sweet too, is that one of the nights they would play in Albany happened to be the 20th anniversay of our first date.

Since it is such a well-liked venue and such a relatively small place, tickets are pretty hard to come by. I have never successfully mailordered for Albany. But I was feeling real positive about getting us in the door for this special occasion.

When I made out my mailorder, I included a photocopy of the ticket stub from that 1st show we went to and wrote all kinds of messages around it. I also highlighted the fact that these shows were our "20th anniversary with eachother and the Dead" on the outside of the envelope, hoping that we would get tickets to at least one show...

I met a friend in the grocery store one day and he told me that people were starting to get tickets back. I watched the mail for a week until finally I got a letter addressed to me in my handwriting. From past experience with mailorder, even though my heart wanted to start pounding, I knew to check inside to make sure it wasn't a rejection. I felt the envelope. I could FEEL the tickets inside! YEHAAAA!!! I opened the envelope. Six tickets. We were in for all three nights. YEHAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Where are they, where are they? One night is 2K and one night is 2D - and I'm about flipping out cause I'm hoping that that means 11th row and FOURTH ROW CENTER! YEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It is totally a different show being down there with them right in front of us. I felt my energy was feeding directly into the band, even moreso than ever. It was special, yes indeed it was. Guntis and I kept looking at eachother in disbelief that we were actually so close to the band that we love so much, watching their fingers and their faces, dancing and seeing the music being played to us.

I'm surprised there are not more contacts being made amongst the bandmembers. It seemed they rarely look at eachother - mainly just at song transitions where there's timing involved. Coming on stage, they flash smiles at one another, and then they're down to business. Monday night in Albany, they entered with springs in their feet and smiles on their faces. Mickey is definately the one (at least that night) who looks at the audience. People waved at him when they could tell he was looking at them - and he would nod his head and smile in acknowledgement. Jerry is looking great. The last time I saw him was in Albany last year, I was planning to go to the cancelled Boston run. He moves around a bit to the music these days - little Jerry dance steps! He's not smoking at all - which is probably not news to the net, but it's news to me. Yeah! I want that man around for a long long (long long) time! Jerry does look into the audience once in awhile. I went up to the rail between sets and saw the 2nd set openers (Here Comes Sunshine, Looks Like Rain) from there. I was directly in front of Jerry between the monitors, in the direct line of his gaze whenever he looked down at us. I know there was eye contact being made - for all the years of pleasure he's given me, I tried to send all the love and appreciation I feel towards him with my eyes and smile whenever he looked at me. I threw a rose on stage to him. Bobby looks over the crowd - it seems he never focuses on the audience. Only once did I see him look at someone. Between drums and space, an obnoxious woman kept yelling "Bobby .... Bobby .... Bobby". It was way un-cool. Anyways, I think she would have kept it up all through space if Bobby didn't acknowledge her. He did look at her, for a good ten seconds, with absolutely no expression on his face at all. Billy, Phil and Vince were intent on their music and I didn't see them looking out whenever I looked at them. I mainly looked at Vince whenever he was singing or jamming - his eyes were closed with the intensity he put into his craft. Oftentimes Phil sings along even when he's not at his mike.

I asked other people who we sat near how they got such good tickets. Some were luck of the draw, but many many were there celebrating some special event like we were, had written that to GDTS and had gotten primo seats. A Grateful Dead show is always a special event for us Deadheads, but I think the band wants that extra energy boost of extra specialness in the crowd right down front. They were definately feeding directly off of our energy, as we were their's. That was just so totally cool. Thanks GDTS!

Debess

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