Ticket to New Year's
Encyclopedia
Ticket to New Year's is a concert video by the Grateful Dead
. It was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California
on December 31, 1987. It was released on VHS
video tape and on Laserdisc
in 1996, and on DVD
in 1998.
TV. The broadcast included several sketches that had been recorded in advance with members of the Grateful Dead. These are included in Ticket to New Year's, between the first and second sets.
First we see Tom Davis
, explaining to the camera that nowadays many of us don't need to use drugs or alcohol to have a good time on New Year's Eve. As an example of this he interviews Jerry Garcia
who, in a short satire of a cooking show
, explains how to make hors d'oeuvres and non alcoholic punch. The DVD does not include the punch line of the skit as shown on pay-per-view — Jerry baking a Bundt cake, and frosting it with "powdered sugar" from a ziplock baggie. Next, all six members of the band answer pre-recorded questions from Deadhead
s. Some of the questions and especially the answers are less than perfectly serious. After that is a brief scene of Mickey Hart
as Mr. Spock
using a Vulcan mind meld to read the thoughts of Jerry Garcia as Santa Claus
. The sketches conclude with the band answering more questions from Deadheads.
Then, back at the concert, the clock has struck midnight, and as the second set begins, Bill Graham
can briefly be seen, riding in over the audience on a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge
.
", which does not appear on Ticket to New Year's.
The concert also had a third set, the first four songs of which are not included in the video — "Man Smart, Woman Smarter", "Iko Iko
", "Day-O
", and "Do You Wanna Dance". The Grateful Dead performed these songs with members of The Neville Brothers.
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" concluded the show. On the video it's presented as the encore. At the concert it was the fifth and final song of the third set.
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. It was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
on December 31, 1987. It was released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video tape and on Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in 1996, and on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 1998.
Cooking with Jerry
The December 31, 1987 concert was broadcast on pay-per-viewPay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
TV. The broadcast included several sketches that had been recorded in advance with members of the Grateful Dead. These are included in Ticket to New Year's, between the first and second sets.
First we see Tom Davis
Tom Davis (comedian)
Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...
, explaining to the camera that nowadays many of us don't need to use drugs or alcohol to have a good time on New Year's Eve. As an example of this he interviews Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
who, in a short satire of a cooking show
Cooking show
A TV cooking show is a television program that presents the preparation of food, in a kitchen on the studio set. The host of the show, often a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the show, taking the viewing audience through the food's preparation showing all...
, explains how to make hors d'oeuvres and non alcoholic punch. The DVD does not include the punch line of the skit as shown on pay-per-view — Jerry baking a Bundt cake, and frosting it with "powdered sugar" from a ziplock baggie. Next, all six members of the band answer pre-recorded questions from Deadhead
Deadhead
Deadhead or Dead Head is a name given to fans of the American jam band, the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings of shows, a community developed...
s. Some of the questions and especially the answers are less than perfectly serious. After that is a brief scene of Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
as Mr. Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
using a Vulcan mind meld to read the thoughts of Jerry Garcia as Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
. The sketches conclude with the band answering more questions from Deadheads.
Then, back at the concert, the clock has struck midnight, and as the second set begins, Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
can briefly be seen, riding in over the audience on a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
.
First set
- "Bertha" (GarciaJerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, HunterRobert Hunter (lyricist)Robert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...
) - "Cold Rain And Snow" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead)
- "Little Red Rooster" (DixonWillie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
) - "When Push Comes To Shove" (Garcia, Hunter)
- "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) - "Bird Song" (Garcia, Hunter)
- "The Music Never Stopped" (WeirBob WeirBob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
, BarlowJohn Perry BarlowJohn Perry Barlow is an American poet and essayist, a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, and a cyberlibertarian political activist who has been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He is also a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a founding member of the Electronic...
)
Second Set
- "Hell In A Bucket" (Weir Barlow)
- "Uncle John's BandUncle John's Band"Uncle John's Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead that first appeared in their concert setlists in late 1969. The band recorded it for their 1970 album Workingman's Dead...
" (Garcia, Hunter) - "Terrapin Station" (Garcia, Hunter)
- "Drums" (HartMickey HartMickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
, KreutzmannBill KreutzmannBill Kreutzmann is an American drummer who played with the rock band the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career...
) - "Space" (Garcia, LeshPhil LeshPhillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
, MydlandBrent MydlandBrent Mydland was the fourth keyboardist to play for the American rock band the Grateful Dead. He was with the band for eleven years, longer than any other keyboardist.- Early life :...
, Weir) - "The Other One" (Kreutzmann, Weir)
- "Wharf Rat" (Garcia, Hunter)
- "Throwing Stones" (Weir, Barlow)
- "Not Fade AwayNot Fade Away (song)"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957...
" (HardinBuddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, PettyNorman PettyNorman Petty was an American musician, songwriter, and pioneer record producer who helped shape modern popular music, including pop and rock....
)
Encore
- "Knockin' on Heaven's DoorKnockin' on Heaven's Door"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.-Story line and song structure:...
" (Dylan) — with The Neville BrothersThe Neville BrothersThe Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...
, David NelsonDavid Nelson (musician)David Nelson is an American guitarist and musician.Although he started his musical career playing folk and bluegrass music Nelson is probably best known as one of the original members of psychedelic country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage...
, and Ramblin' Jack ElliottRamblin' Jack ElliottRamblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
Concert set list
At the December 31, 1987 show at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the second song of the first set was "Promised LandPromised Land (song)
"Promised Land" is a song lyric written by Chuck Berry to the melody of "Wabash Cannonball", an American folk song. The song was first recorded in this version by Chuck Berry in 1964 for his album St. Louis to Liverpool. Released in 1965, it was Berry's first single issued following his prison term...
", which does not appear on Ticket to New Year's.
The concert also had a third set, the first four songs of which are not included in the video — "Man Smart, Woman Smarter", "Iko Iko
Iko Iko
"Iko Iko" is a much-covered New Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two "tribes" of Mardi Gras Indians. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written in 1953 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford in New Orleans. The story tells of a "spy boy" or "spy dog" "Iko Iko" is a...
", "Day-O
Banana Boat Song
"Day-O " is a traditional Jamaican mento folk song, the best-known version of which was sung by Harry Belafonte. Although it is really Jamaican mento, the song is widely known as an example of calypso music. It is a song from the point of view of dock workers working the night shift loading bananas...
", and "Do You Wanna Dance". The Grateful Dead performed these songs with members of The Neville Brothers.
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" concluded the show. On the video it's presented as the encore. At the concert it was the fifth and final song of the third set.
Grateful Dead
- Jerry GarciaJerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
– guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker... - Mickey HartMickey HartMickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Bill KreutzmannBill KreutzmannBill Kreutzmann is an American drummer who played with the rock band the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career...
– drums, percussion - Phil LeshPhil LeshPhillip Chapman Lesh is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career....
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Brent MydlandBrent MydlandBrent Mydland was the fourth keyboardist to play for the American rock band the Grateful Dead. He was with the band for eleven years, longer than any other keyboardist.- Early life :...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Bob WeirBob WeirBob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
– guitar
Production
- Len Dell'Amico – director, producer
- John Cutler and Phil Lesh – post production, audio mix
- Candace Brightman – lighting director
- Dan Healy – concert sound
- Allen Newman – line producer
- Jeffrey Norman – audio post editing
- Bill Weber, Western Images – video post editing