Memorial Coliseum

March 17, 1977

The Grateful Dead’s only concert in Tuscaloosa is memorable for several reasons and was celebrated purposely when the first-night draft beer became widely available in the market. The version of the Dead that played to a sold-out crowd included pianist Keith Godchaux and his wife, Donna, who grew up in nearby Muscle Shoals. She was just a teen when she recorded her very first session as backup on Percy Sledge’s classic “When a Man Loves a Woman” at Rick Hall’s Fame Studios. The band ripped through versions of “Minglewood Blues,” “Mississippi Half Step,” “El Paso,” “They Love Each Other,” “Jack Straw,” “Jack A Roe,” “Looks Like Rain,” “Tennessee Jed,” “Passenger,” “High Time,” “Big River,” “Sunrise,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Fire On The Mountain,” “Samson & Delilah,” “Bertha,” “Good Lovin',” “Brown Eyed Women,” “Estimated Prophet,” “Terrapin Station,” “Playin' in the Band,” “Wharf Rat,” and an encore of “Sugar Magnolia.” Donna Godchaux had various family members in the audience.  There is a link to a recording of the night’s concert below. The poster design came from artist Patrick D. Covert, who by that point had created many concert posters including Bad Company, the Allman Brothers, Joni Mitchell, and many more. UPC photographer Kent Öztekin shot a significant number of photos that evening, as well as the following day when the band left town. There was a plain brown T-shirt created for UPC staff working the show, and reports of an ad promoting The Dead show in The Tuscaloosa News that ran with the wrong date attached.

Links: https://archive.org/details/gd77-05-17.sbd.weiner.18554.sbeok.shnf/gd1977-05-17d3t03.shn