DOSE:

1 hit

oral

LSD

(blotter / tab)

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

I actually tried LSD several times before the EVENT I am about to descibe (which was on 3-28-89 at the Omni in Atlanta- just looked up the exact date AND setlist on the internet, pretty cool) and even though a few friends and I had experienced some pretty wild things during our frequent acid trips during my 'crazy' college days of 1984-88 this one sticks out in my mind as the 'Big One.' Because Jerry Garcia died in 1995 making it impossible to attend a Dead show as so many did I have fond memeories of the few shows I did make it to, but as far as this acid trips go, this one was diferent because I had never experienced the truly powerful energy being spread around by the thousands of people (all ages although mostly young adults) who were either tripping along with me or were at least very receptive to feelings I was having on acid that I would normally hide

unless in a 'safe' area- Not a concert hall! Anyway, I will start at the beginning...

My friend had some great acid that I had tried once before when we camped on Cumberland Island. That was a very cool trip when we climbed over a tall fence and sat around in a private cemetery trying to 'come down' before walking on the beautiful unspoiled beach looking at seashells and basically appreciating nature at its finest. That had been only a few weeks before this concert, still in March, which in Georgia usually means great weather. I had been to see the Grateful Dead years before while still in high school and hadn't even gotten drunk before, so all I did was stare at all the strange looking people and hoped the band would play Truckin' or one of the other few songs I would recognize. Now, in March of 1989, I had tripped first on mushrooms then acid several times and knew just about every Grateful Dead song there was (I thought) so was truly pumped up for this concert!

My friend and I got to downtown Atlanta at least two hours before the concert so we could check out 'the scene' which was fun- lots of strangely dressed people roaming about but even before we 'dosed' I thought the energy level was positive and attractive. We took the public tranportation (MARTA) which ended up being smart, more on that later. We ate in a chinese restaurant and must have already sampled the two hits (one each) because I remembe rthings getting strange there because the restaurant was crowded with young people in tie-died t-shirts, etc. making the chinese waiters a little uncomfortable. We passed many more dead-heads and all the interesting things to look at, again the dead-heads, made the awkward 'early acid feelings' almost unnoticeable. Standing in line outside of the Omni became intense cause there was a guy beating a loud drum to a slow beat, making me nervous and letting me know that a strong trip was on the way.

By the time we slowly entered the 'arena,' bought a beer, actually found our row (which we found out later didn't matter) the music had already started. Near the aisles were young girls who stood up as the music played and started whirling around with trance-like faces. They scared me! We gave up trying to find our actual seats after both of us were fully tripping now and could have fallen down the stone steps. Counting the numbers of the rows with the blasting music was too much! The Dead finished 'Let the Good Times Roll' which seemed so-o-o appropriate to the way we were feeling! After settling into some chairs, I somehow was able to talk a little to a pretty woman next to me. She had a beautiful smile and after telling me she flew in THAT DAY from Dallas to Atlanta pulled out a large joint and offered to share it with me!

My friend declined saying he was tripping too hard and didn't need anything to increase the strong buzz. I, however, smoked the whole joint with her and noticed that YES smoking pot while tripping can increase your buzz. I started to regret what I had done during a few of the songs, but when the band luanched into 'Ramble On Rose' I sang along and felt happy again. I remember seeing Jerry Garcia's smiling face during the silly song 'Don't Ease Me In' as if I was staring at someone a few feet away and I got a warm feeling in my heart that all what would be great.

The first set abruptly ended and strong, piercing lights flashed into our eyes. Suddenly the goddess next to me did not seem approachable and I flet like an utter fool. It was cruel to interupt the darkness and a most difficult time to get adjusted to the sudden freedom of having to find something to do until the second set began.

I remember wandering around being lost by the loud chatter that was everywhere. I was tripping hard! The second set eventually ended up being great. We moved around during the show a few times, not caring if we could see the stage, just wanting to be able to hear the music and stare at the wonderful colored lights. Truly psychedilic! The most memorable song was 'Playing in the Band' which lasted the longest and was fantastic with the long jamming. At the end of the concert, the mass of people leaving or being in utter confusion like us was overwhelming. We managed to get into a taxi and leave worry free while freakish young people stared into the window, scaring me. The atxi driver commented on the odd-looking people, not knowing that we were not dressed as strangely but were veyr much par tof that scene!

My trip by the way had only icreased for three hours! I was still not even peaking! This experience taught me that acid is unpredicatable in the amount of time trips peak, last, etc. This one was intensified because of the atmosphere. When we were away from the concert experience, my peak finally leveled out and except for a weird feeling in my throat and some weird visuals, I managed to slowly come down and enjoy the experience, knowing it would only be a 'normal' trip for the next three or four hours.

We went out to eat after my friend was able to drive and sat at a restaurant listening to the loud but somehow pleasant noise of the busy street nearby. I was in a blissful state when a passing car threw a beer bottle that only missed my head by inches. It could have been a diaster! But like many of my experiences, it LUCKILY turned out differently. MAY ALL OF YOU FIND INNER-PEACE AND HAVE SUCH LUCK!

Exp Year: 1989	ExpID: 8026
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jan 5, 2004	Views: 5,326
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LSD (2) : General (1), Music Discussion (22), Festival / Lg. Crowd (24)