GO TO NASSAU

In October of 2002, The Grateful Dead released "Go To Nassau".  The two CD set was a compilation of two of the three shows that they played at the Nassau Coliseum on May 14, 15 and 16 1980.  Two weeks before these concerts, the Dead released the 11th studio album of their 15 year career, "Go To Heaven".  Many of the songs played during this three night run came from their new studio album.
Songs  new to the rotation were "Althea", "Far From Me", "Alabama Getaway" and "Feel Like a Stranger".  In this version of "Stranger" the Dead sounds like The Talking Heads.  The release features some great versions of old favorites like "High Time", "Looks Like Rain", "Peggy-O" and a sweet combo of "Playin' in the Band" into "Uncle John's Band".

The CD set starts with an energetic "Jack Straw" into "Franklin's Tower". "Franklin's tower their hangs a bell", of course the bell in this song is the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, which is were the Nassau team was at this time.

Thirty-two years ago, the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers were playing in the Stanley Cup finals. Games one and two were in Philly.  The Islanders returned to play game three and their first Stanley Cup game at home on May 17, 1980, the day after this set was recorded.

The Islanders won their first Stanley Cup that year, and would go on to win four in a row. The Grateful Dead would continue to play Nassau, but every year the shows were earlier and earlier in the hockey season so that they would not interfere with the Islanders' playoff runs. The Grateful Dead ended up playing Nassau consitantly in the spring, though they didn't play there from 85-89. They played Nassau Coliseum 42 times which is second in New York State to Madison Square Garden. 

I can be followed on Twitter at @potvinrocks and this is a link to the download the final night of the run HERE