The Dead, Bob Dylan, Robert Hunter | St. Pete Times Forum 07.30.03

First day for teachers at school 07.30.03. Dylan and the Dead are at the now-Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, and I have tickets waaaaay in the back. I had talked earlier in the summer with a teacher who thought her husband might have tickets, and did I want them. Then I didn’t hear from her. Just before leaving school, I decide to check my e-mail one more time.Kim writes: “Do you want these tickets? Come and get them.” So I meet her husband and get the tickets — for a corporate box — close to the stage — with food, booze, and comfy chairs, and not crowded. Man!Dylan is good. First Dead set is great, then Robert Hunter solo, then the Dead back on. Here is the setlist:

Set 1: Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Friend of the Devil Intro > Blackbird > Friend of the Devil (1), Gotta Serve Somebody (1), Like a Rolling Stone (1), Milestones > Why Don’t We Do It in the Road > Night of 1000 Stars > Jam > Lost Sailor > Tennessee Jed > Saint of Circumstance,

Set 2: Jam > Jack Straw > Jam > Mountains of the Moon, Only the Strange Remain > Caution > Drums > Space > So Many Roads > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower, E: Johnny B. Goode

Everything is very spacy. Mickey goes nuts on “Only the Strange Remain,” and then more space, with Herring ripping and Joan Osborne doing her Howlin’ Wolf “WOO”s, and then they hit “Caution.” I am going berserk!

And these two young ladies, maybe early 20s, are in the box with us and the others. And one offers,

“THIS IS OUR FIRST CONCERT EVER!”

WOW. Doesn’t matter what their second concert will be, it won’t match this!