• Post reply
    8,077 replies
    marye
    Joined:
    Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

Comments

sort by
Recent
Recent Oldest A to Z Z to A
Reset
  • #3351
    DeadVikes
    Joined:
    Hey Rockthing

    Good to hear from you. You are right, a couple of months did make a difference with the sound and performance from year to year. Shoot, I was always thought from one night to the next, you could hear a big difference sometimes.

  • #3352
    JimInMD
    Joined:
    Re: At the Risk of Double....

    There's no rules here, feel free to ramble on and off topic, on and off the pick of the day. Great posts.. sorry about the record skip.

    I am better suited to hang here than some of the other threads, no era or keyboardist is out of bounds and a very positive vibe. It all flows like a very well tuned show... Just my two cents.

  • #3353
    rockthing
    Joined:
    At the risk of double…

    At the risk of double-posting...

    Strider 808808>

    Wow. A Joseph Epes Brown reference! Thank you! Black Elk Crying For A Vision from a mid-70s omnibus made a huge impact on me in my late teens, but I've only recently got round to picking up The Sacred Pipe in its entirety. You actually studied with him!? m(_ _)m

    The Ken Babs book sounds interesting. I know what a Water Buffalo is, but not the expression about shooting one.

    So many Dead-related books. I've got a ton wishlisted, but there's only so much time in the day. I've been interested in the Owsley book for a while, but have yet to pull the trigger.

    I wanted to hit that 7/31 show last weekend but just couldn't get it going for one reason or another. Couldn't remember if I already had a copy, or if I only knew it from legend.

    DeadVikes>

    3/24/73. That's always a good idea! :D

    Oroborous>
    Oooh, 2/14 at the Carousel. That's cookin', ...or cleanin' I guess in your case. ;)

    Not sure I'm familiar with 5/14/78. Had 9/2 on repeat play last week, or so. We often talk about years regarding the Dead sound, but a few months can make a big difference with these cats. :) Thanks for the tip... as if I need any encouragement..... up to Brown Eyed Women now, listening to the matrix and downloading the mono AKG source. Lovin' it! Never had any problems with '78, myself, other than the stunning disappointment of the GIza shows :0 IDK, I usually associate 78 with the great groove they've got goin' on here in the 5/14 show. Wow. BEW is hot, and that was just the first guitar solo. Damn. Cheers, folks. Whatever I was supposed to be doing this morning has just gone out the window. lol. :D

  • #3354
    rockthing
    Joined:
    Hey Now. I guess this thread…

    Hey Now. I guess this thread /is/ called "Pick of the Day", not simply "Now Playing with Discussion", but I'm just gonna bore you with stuff I've been listening to lately.... and then you probably won't see me again for a month, so, hey, decent trade-off, I'd say.

    First off, right now I've got 3/24/93 Chapel HIll rollin'. (I'll explain later) It's weird how in the second set the band totally sees-off Jerry's attempt to start Crazy Fingers out of the Playin' Jam. Phil basically sounds like he's just thrown his hands up, and completely stops playing. In fact, basically every just stops, er... dead. Only Vince seems game to find something to do. When Jer finally gives up, they launch into Box of Rain. After they finish BoR Jerry immediately starts Crazy Fingers again and they actually do it, and do they ever.

    Whadda ya figure's goin' on there? Did Jer "forget" the pre-written set list? was it like a super-tease, or did Jerry just get vetoed on his audible? The Playin' jam was sounding cool and a spaced out transition into Crazy Fingers would've been killer. However, Box of Rain into drums would have been, let's just say, unusual. It seems Billy's got some bidness to take care of, 'cause it pretty much immediately turns into a Mickey Beam solo.... as did the 3/25 drums, but Space takes off into a Spanish Jam that seems to go on and on, thankfully. When they launched into GDTRFB I was thinking, wait, what song were they just playing, did I space out?... well, I guess in a way I got spaced out. ... Now that I think of it, there may have been a "We Want Phil" chant starting in the Phil Zone, but it's not audible in the SBD, and I can't remember if that was actually before Box of Rain, or not.

    The Crazy Fingers is actually really cool, btw. SPOILER ALERT there's this momentary, and initially slightly awkward, little Playin' reprise before someone gets on the intercom (you can hear the ambient noise disappear for a second... yes I'm listening to a board for once) and seems to call it off. All of these questions seem to typify the sort-of cool, detached, risk-averse nature of this period. Haven't found an AUD source from the Dean Dome that has much life to it. Might be some new ones. It's a basketball arena designed to amplify cheering voices, not music, I'd imagine.

    Anyway, just wanted to take a peak at Jer the last time I saw him, in Vegas back in '94, and the same YouTube uploader also had the second night from Chapel Hill, which is notable for its nice Terrapin, and perhaps more so for the stellar Morning Dew. Jerry keeps trading sly grins with someone, and getting an outright laugh out of watching Bobby do his thing. I actually read the comments on YouTube videos 'cause, wow. there are some opinions out there. One dude mentioned this Crazy Fingers from the 24th and how the first night had "always" overshadowed the second. In my mind it had been the other way 'round, which sent me to the Archive this monsoon-drenched morning. Yeah, nobody goes back to listen to 90s Dead, I know. Even the band seems bored sometimes, but there are diamonds in the rough. More often, however, there are outright wth? mysteries like the one above.

    The other one... on heavy rotation has been the 50th Anniversary Skull & Roses 180g vinyl. Missed the propeller variant waiting for the credit card roll-over date. Anyway, wow, the bass is boomin'. I mean, it's not overpowering booming, but there is a LOT of Phil. I A/B'ed it with the single disc CD, and even though there's a lot of Phil on that too, he's allotted a lot more low frequencies on this version... which is odd, because people will tell you that you can't put too much bass on vinyl or it'll cause the needle to skip. No fade in, but Bertha also starts a few seconds earlier than on the CD version. There's some little warming up noise before they hit it. Pretty superfluous, but, hey, 2 more seconds! I have not heard the OG Skull and Roses vinyl, but I actually debated on picking one up from Discogs instead of getting the anniversary edition, which ended up being released three weeks late. The price is comparable. Maybe next month.

    Speaking of records skipping, I've had the 5/4/72 Olympia Theater vinyl for, what, less than two months and Bertha is already skipping. I think I screwed it up with the generic replacement stylus that I installed back in April. Apparently the Sure stylus/cartridge division has gone belly up. I've kept the old needles lying around, and found one that had been swapped out really early for some reason, so I went back to that. Otherwise, I can't figure out what the problem could be. I play my records, but consider myself more careful than most when handling them. Hard to say. I might have damaged the record, or stylus myself, but it looks like I'm in the market for a new cartridge. The vinyl had no problems at first, but I have records I bought 30 years ago that still play fine, while this one is skipping after 5~10 spins.

    The difference between Phil's bass frequencies on the Olympia Theatre record versus Skull and Roses, is beyond description. Phil is fully present in the Olympia Theatre release, but he couldn't deliver a bass bomb if he tried with the frequency range he's assigned here. Wanna compare with the Europe 72 album, but actually don't have a copy of Europe '72 in any format. Just ordered a green label '72 pressing. It was a mint for one in decent condition, but so will any 50th anniversary that might come out next year be. These are supposed to sound amazing. They've already done a bunch of Europe 72 reissues recently, so it might get the Live/Dead treatment.

    Two non-audio notes about the Olympia Theatre box are regarding the photos used for the inner sleeves. At first they seemed really dark, and not particularly interesting. The photo of out-of-her-mind-on-Owsley Donna was of interest for how calmly she appeared to be peering out into the spotlight, but a closer look reveals a rather wild set to her jaw, or perhaps I'm just projecting. The other photo that finally grabbed my attention was the Side 1 photo of the band, completely washed out in red lighting taken from stage left, almost behind them. Bobby is standing out front in the spotlight singing and Jerry and Phil appear to be standing behind(!) Billy with Pig at the organ stage right harmonizing with Bobby. So, Jer and Phill would totally just retreat into the shadows when they didn't have any singing parts in those days? Fascinating. Might depend on the stage. You don't see that in the Veneta footage, but there really weren't any shadows that day, were there.

    Anyway, my answer to a question nobody asked.

  • #3355
    Oroborous
    Joined:
    5/14/78

    Good Housekeeping tunes!
    Kept the mother rolling with first disc of 2/14/68 etc. shizzle fo sho!

    Next chance I get we will get down to tge funky sounds of 3/24/73!

  • #3356
    JimInMD
    Joined:
    5/14/78 - 30 Trips

    Great show... It's been a long time since I listened to it.

  • #3357
    DeadVikes
    Joined:
    5/14/78-OB

    The 30 Trips show, yes, this one smokes. On it!
    Thanks Oroborous.

    I was going to offer up another Spectrum show, Dave's Picks #32, 3/24/73. Maybe tomorrow.

    My #39 still has not shipped, 😩.

  • #3358
    Oroborous
    Joined:
    How’s bouta pick?

    Maybe 5/14/78?
    Got my server back, up and running and need to HEAR, some good sheet mon.

  • #3359
    Oroborous
    Joined:
    Thanks Strider!

    For the reference, I’ll definitely have to check that one out. Love Babs, what a character!
    I’ll bet his memoir will be very interesting after all he’s lived.

    And thanks for the rest of your sage words of wisdom.
    You should write a book!

    Been really digging 71. Was sorta a flyby year for me until nice folks like you and Doc helped show us the light.
    His job was to shed light, not to master...

  • #3360
    Strider 808808
    Joined:
    Babbs

    Who Shot the Water Buffalo is a great book by Ken Babbs. The title has a funny twist , double meaning. Any of us old time wild land firefighters knows what it refers to. Once they get to that point in the book.
    Pick of the day. I have been staying on the 50th anniversaries of 1971 Dead shows since January. Otherwise taking a break from Grateful Dead music. Kind of like smoking ganga all the time. The effect may become lack luster. As was said in the old days, “space your trips”. Although yesterday I did watch the black & white video of Robert Hunter sitting in with the Garcia Band 1980 at the New Jersey Capitol Theater. Tiger Rose “where the children play ringolevio”.
    Speaking of books, “Ringolevio” by Emmett Grogan was one of Jerry Garcia’s favorite books.
    On the subject of the mountain west states. Ironic that the people who lost the most , true Natives and in the case of Montana where I lived from 1975-1981 the Blackfeet treated me the best. Very similar here in New Mexico where I’ve lived most of my life. But respect has to be earned and that doesn’t happen overnight.
    As an old professor Joseph E. Brown who taught Native American Studies at the University of Montana used to finish his class by saying, “Be of good heart”.

user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Submitted by marye on
Forums
Currently Listening To...
Bolo24 says: An Idea, Perhaps? Since we're all going to have a fair amount of spare time on our hands for the foreseeable future, what about starting another thread where we all listen to the same show/release on a given day and then share impressions afterward? Folks can submit suggestions and one person (not me) picks what we'll all listen to - call it Deadnet Picks or something. Anyway, if this idea is deemed to have merit, I'd suggest one of the loyal regular posters take the lead and do the picking - y'all can decide who. Might be fun. If it does go forward, I nominate Dick's Picks 18 for the first listen. Been talked about here lately, and, had it been a single show rather than a compilation, we'd probably be talking about it in the same conversation as Cornell, Veneta, etc. Or perhaps even Gainesville?? Stay safe and healthy, friends - this planet needs as many Deadheads as possible.

....end second set Morning Dew followed by a Sugar Mags? Hmmm. Punchy.
They tried to top that Mind Left Body, and actually did it!!
Three song encore. Because why the fuck not?
Stay safe my friends. Wash hands.

. this is a Primo Setlist for my liking, it’s mind blowing to say the least how the Dead played from the start of the performance and then bring everything together starting during the second set and the entire Third Disk!!! “H0LY Toledo” !my brothers & sister’s! This Is the “good Old Grateful Dead” at one of their best musical eras in the bands entire career, IMO at least.
Interesting’Dark Star’ for sure, I dig it!
Love the Morning Dew absolutely Bella!
Rock on everyone, have a grateful day! 🙏❤️💀🌹

user picture

Member for

8 years 10 months

Submitted by The Good Ole G… on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 08:23

Permalink

It's been fun to visit Oklahoma City '73 again.

Got Distracted during Set 2 yesterday (damn real world stuff!) so I had to revisit the Dark Star this AM.

Mind Leaving Body right now

It's a great way to start the day.

Oh, the places we can go.. next up Cape Cod '79

Have a Grate day everyone!

Jerry quoting a little bit of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring at 9:18 in Morning Dew.

Huge Morning Dew after Major Dark Star.. that’s some good Sunday Morning Music.

And then as mentioned here… Triple Encore of Eyes > Stella, Johnny B. Goode.

Yeah that’s some majorly good Dead.

Great Pick.

Alright, time to time travel some more.

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 11:06

Permalink

I also went with the Oklahoma Dark Star onwards for this Sunday Morning. Yes, this is perfect morning music. Great catch on the Bach! I would never have noticed that. I'm beginning to understand why this show is so revered. I just needed some good focused listening...

user picture

Member for

8 years 10 months

Submitted by The Good Ole G… on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 12:04

Permalink

I wish I could take the credit and that my ear was that sharp to pick that out on the fly.

But the credit goes to Tom Ferraro and his review in the Taper's Compendium Volume 1 (which is great by the way).

He mentions it and then I had fun listening for it and lo.. Jesu was there.

Great way to start the day for sure.

Nice pick today GOLLUM!

Set 1 was a nice follow up to my Sunday Morning voyage through October '73 and I've made it to Franklin's Tower which is a massive 17 minutes long... I'm excited to hear where it goes.

So far so good.

PS - You should check out the next night SBD if you find yourself with time to spare... The Set 2 China > Rider & PITB are EPIC. I plan on listening to Set 1 of that show later and might just listen to the aforementioned songs again. That Franklin is over 21 minutes long for a total of over 35 minutes of Franklin's Tower in 24 hours.. who can pass that up?
(Another nod to the Taper's Compendium, this time Volume 2 for pointing out that tidbit as well).

Have Fun & Good Listening!

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 20:06

Permalink

Thanks for the tip on the Cape Cod 10/28 show GOGD. I listened to the tunes you mentioned and loved them. That show certainly seems at least as good as the 10/27 show. But anyways 10/27 seems mighty fine! I liked the Stagger Lee, Sailor-Saint, and OtherOne-NFA the most. I need to listen to the Dancing- Franklin's jam a few more times. That Dancing jam is queer bird, and I'm not sure what to make of it. So, Brent's getting some weird sounds from his keys the first 9 minutes, and then there's like a loud velcro rip sound, and his keys are back to normal?! I need to listen to it a few more times- it's a queer bird and I need some more time to digest it.

I'm into a 1979 rediscovery phase, ever since the 12/26/79 discussion here a few weeks ago. I always loved the "Friend" and UJB from that show but never got beyond that. Now, I'm finally seeing the greatness of the whole show. It's my favorite Brent show now, by a long shot. (thanks to this forum!) Now I'm giving the 2 fall/winter 79 Road trips some much needed and overdue love.

Have a great Memorial Day, all.

user picture

Member for

13 years 4 months

Submitted by JimInMD on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 21:15

Permalink

I was gone all day.. did I miss a Gollum pick?

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 21:35

Permalink

Yep, you missed the great Cape Cod Clambake. I figured you was probably out white-water rafting though the Blue Ridge mountains again....

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 22:05

Permalink

That's a great Minglewood! I don't know of a better "Stagger Lee" I forgot how much I liked that song...

user picture

Member for

17 years 3 months

Submitted by Vguy72 on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 22:36

Permalink

....then they are smack in the middle of a Shakedown Street. Swear to God. They are playing it. Masterful stuff.
At 11:12 they resume the Dancin' theme. That's a Shakedown Jam. At least that's how I heard it, and I trust my ears.

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 23:21

Permalink

Yeah, that's a beauty. Love the thundering Lesh-heavy Other One

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Sun, 05/24/2020 - 23:58

Permalink

Great set- exhausting, especially when loud and through headphones. Phil really laying it on thick-mmm...bedtime

GOLLUM: So much good stuff in Fall / Winter ’79 for sure!
It has it’s own unique sound like so many periods of the Dead.
Definitely enjoyed the Clam Bake… CAUTION JAM > THE OTHER ONE! I listened to that like 3 times yesterday, that’s some killer jams.

Speaking of 12/26/79 - I didn’t realize there was a soundcheck of Black Throated Wind in circulation, just stumbled on to that this morning. Gonna listen to BTW from '79 right now. Far out!

Might need to revisit 12/3/79 DaP V31?

BOB T: You’re thinking 6/14/76 today? There is a nice PITB on there…

What’ll it be today.. ’76, ’79, ’88.. so many choices!

...1979 is one of my favorite dead Era’s ! Love Cape Cod 79’ and December 79’ is primo dead for my likings! Brent brought backsome ‘gusto’ to the dead’s music and performances, it’s almost like the dead had come back half circle in their approach to playing their old & new selection of songs and it worked wonders as we can hear in the 1979 releases & recordings, the latest being ‘Dave’s Picks #31 as mentioned earlier! A primo release in the series that I can enjoy over & over again. I swear it will “still your face right off your head!” Is it better than ,Dicks Picks #5,?! I think not but it’s grande in its own way! More 1979 please !
Have a grateful day everyone! 🙏❤️💀🌹

LMG has '79 fever too!

While we're waiting for a consensus in regards to today's pick

'79 talk has me taking a look at the ole collection and I like the looks of the following:

11/6/79 - Philly Spectrum - Road Trips Download - (Started listening to this.. it's good:)
12/3/79 - DaP V31 - I need to relisten as I recall only listening once and moved on.

Also mentioned by BOB T -
6/14/76 - Box Set

And - Thanks for the Dylan tip VGUY. Listened to Postcards of the Hanging last night, never really paid attention to it.. Baby Blue from 12/3/81 is killer!

Probably should listen to some honest Bob.. but I got Dead fever.

What you all listening to today?

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Mon, 05/25/2020 - 11:02

Permalink

6/14/76 would work perfect for me. I just listened to 6/10 and 6/11 last week, so it's due up for me anyways. It would be a nice mellow way to end the Memorial Day weekend.

Dave's 31 (12/3/79). GOGD, I also listened to this just once and moved on. I was frustrated by the mix. Bobby's guitar is just too low for me, especially on Scarlet-Fire. That's a big pet peeve of mine. Maybe I should give it another chance -perhaps the ears adjust(?). Maybe I just need to lighten up a bit and go with the flow?! But, aren't we lucky we have the 12/26 and 12/28/79 shows as excellent Betty boards! The Healy Road 79 Road trips also sound great!

user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months

Submitted by Oroborous on Mon, 05/25/2020 - 11:34

Permalink

Perhaps my favorite 79...another of my actually good sounding go to tapes back in the day. Used to like to play Bass along w it’s it for practice.

RECAP:
- Vault 1 8/13/75 ✔️ Haven’t heard this gem in forever. Forgot just how awesome and tight this show is. Choreographed sure, but so what, it flows so nicely, and hey, no me & my uncle, lol. There’s a reason this was chosen for the first Vault pick!
- 7/1/78: NOT
- 5/21/74: ✔️ Still haven’t caught up on this box either, yeeshk....
- 5/23/72:✔️ Finally got a copy of most of this. Cool DS of course, but overall they seem a tad off this night, compared to the rest of the tour. Need to hear again as I was ripping stuff while listening...
- 10/19/73; ✔️ I’ve gone on and on about this one so I’ll just say one word today....MAJESTIC....the whole dam show just builds slowly, majestically, to a powerful whole. Majestic jams, majestic DS. Prolly my favorite Dicks
- 10/27/79:✔️ yet another of the 30 trips shows that I’m not yet really familiar with. Still have so much of that beast I either haven’t heard yet, or have only listened in the background. So it was nice to sit a bit with this one from that great funky ass 79 fall tour. Nice relaxed but tight first set. Good second that’s already been covered well here...still think 11/6 is my fav from this tour? I dig 11/9 too, but I’m extremely biased on that one...
So maybe I’ll try to sneak both 11/6/79 and 76 in today? Hup, hup, better get going!

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Mon, 05/25/2020 - 20:29

Permalink

I never feel like skipping any songs on these June 76 shows. Each one is a smooth seamless trip. Nice soothing Playin' jam. Heading into the 13 min slipknot.

user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months

Submitted by Oroborous on Tue, 05/26/2020 - 07:14

Permalink

Spring 90....shoot chip, you don’t even need to ask!

user picture

Member for

8 years

Submitted by DeadVikes on Tue, 05/26/2020 - 17:50

Permalink

Throughly enjoyed this one again today. Such a laid back Eyes and Dark Star. Brandford really kills it on Lovelight. Knocking on Heavens Door is sweet. I think I saw them close with this one twice........Man, do I want to see some live music.

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Tue, 05/26/2020 - 19:00

Permalink

another one I've neglected. it's going down smooth.

user picture

Member for

8 years 6 months

Submitted by Lovemygirl on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 04:00

Permalink

I concure! ...Another ‘primo’ performance from the entire band! ;)

user picture

Member for

16 years 11 months

Submitted by bob t on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 05:36

Permalink

No one chose anything so want to go with this one? Not trying to be the "decider of the day" bob t

user picture

Member for

16 years 11 months

Submitted by bob t on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 06:15

Permalink

Back in I think 1987. It was my 3rd tape with Help>Slipknot on it but my first one with no Franklin's Tower.... I was very confused... Before I had Deadbase... bob t

user picture

Member for

13 years 11 months

Submitted by Gollum on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 08:57

Permalink

A quality pick!

This whole "pick of the day" thing is making me realize I have big problems with my collection. So, I looked for the Cow 76 release this morning. I found the case and booklet on the shelf in pristine quality but all 3 CD's are missing - ooftah! I then checked the most likely locations: 3 CD travel cases crammed with Dead CD's. No luck! So the discs must be misplaced among my extensive piles of CD's. A major project to locate them now. At least I have disc 1 downloaded with the great PITB jam.

Another example: I wanted to suggest 6/14/91(View from Vault2) last week as a pick of the day. This might be my favorite show from 91 but I think it is overlooked since it was chosen as a video. I have the last 2 discs downloaded but am missing the first one. I can't find the case or disc 1 CD. So I couldn't suggest it as a pick. Also, it is no longer available as a download. (the Philly 79 show picked last week is also not available as a download)

I think I just assumed the big standalone releases would always be available, either as downloads or in the used CD bin. Not so, I'm afraid! None of these 3 shows are available through nugs, iTunes, or deadnet. Used CD stores are a thing of the past.

Mind you, I am not groveling for copies. There is a fair chance I can still locate my missing shows. I guess there will never be a better time to reorganize than during this lockdown. Till then, there is the archive.

But I digress, on to 12/31/76!

user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months

Submitted by Oroborous on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 11:53

Permalink

like so many of the “big” shows perhaps their legendary status can sometimes out weigh their overall performance?
Don’t get me wrong, I love any Spring 90 show, and 3/29/90 is a real Bobbie Dazzler, but after many years I’m wondering if it’s the best ALL AROUND show of the tour? Personally, I think I like 3/24 better, but I’m extremely biased. There was a reason though why they released the 24 and 3/15 as early single show releases...
So 29 has a great 1-2 punch with Jack/Bertha, but 24 has LTGTR, Help>Slip>Franks that are first rate.
I’ll take Loser and Desolation from the 24, but the 29 does have that Bird Song. For a first set closer I’ll take a ONSN over Promised land.
The second set is a little trickier; yes it’s all great, but I think the overall cohesion and playing is better on the 24. Eyes somedays, listening seems to kinda drone on with everyone sorta just playing along with one guy noodling at a time. I’ve often felt this way when they’ve had special guests...nothing against the guests etc, just I think it was harder for civilians to play with the Dead than many realize, so the uniqueness and hype are greater then the performances. Like Estimated even has a rare hiccup for this tour. Of course I’ve never met a DS I didn’t like, and being the only one of the tour it is a big deal, but part 2 is perhaps quick and out, along with the wheel, into yet another Throwing Stones though it is a beast, and a Lovelight instead of yet another NFA.. Nice Knocking to bring it back down after all that energy and send em home peaceful.
Again, great show, but I argue the overall flow of 24 is smoother, tighter, deeper, especially pre drums, with a better Wheel, scorching Watchtower, awesome Stella, and yes, yet another NFA, but a good one that works for this show. A Dew would of been the topper, but you knew that was going to get saved...Finally, I’ll take a Bid You Good Night over almost anything cept perhaps Attics, (never had the pleasure of a Ripple)....
Sorry, just bored and rambling while 12/31/76 Eyes is blazing in the background. Which is yet another of those long lost Chestnuts from my early days that I don’t listen to as much as I should, the ole “aw yeah, I’m gonna save that one for X (fill in the blank), but that day never comes, lol. So much Dead...but yeah, another of the true great all time classics. And a top New Yeats show comparatively! Great vibe too, not quite 76 but not full on 77, that whole transitional thing Daverock et el are always pointing out.
Makes me laugh thinking about how many dumb ass reporters trying to phone it in with usual misinformed dribble: “nostalgic 60s leftovers that basically haven’t changed but continue to hang on the the past, yaddy, yaddy, yadda”
Aaaaaa, how bout you get the shit outta your ears and actually listen? The change might of been subtle and over time, but it was always there! Man, I never believed in dosing anyone but sometimes it crosses your mind...bloody punters!

user picture

Member for

8 years 10 months

Submitted by The Good Ole G… on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 14:09

Permalink

I think I'm feelin' you on this OROBOROUS.

The revisit the other day of Dozin' had me super jazzed on Spring '90, but yesterday I found myself drifting in an out.. and my attention was wandering. I thought maybe I was just over doing it, crushing Dead all day after day.. but after reading your comments I think you might be on to something. IMO 3/24 is the stronger show and 3/29 is good and all but might get a lot of attention based on the novelty of the guest appearance & Dark Star being played vs the performance. Not saying overrated.. but I think I like 3/24 better overall, it's probably the song selection but also the energy in the playing on 3/24/90, made it really stand up and shout for me the other day. Ask me next time and I might pull a Latvala and say 10/26/89 is the best Dark Star of all time!

The 9/10/91 Branford... that show rocks!

Admittedly I'm just spoiled at this point with so much good quality Dead that I can be all Judgy McJudgerson, but yeah that's what we be doing during this here quarantine.

As for 12/31/76.. Love love love this Playing In The Band, and am excited to pop this puppy on and get all critical and shit!

GOLLUM: You're stressing me out.. get that stuff organized ;) Just Kidding!.. kinda

Be Well All and Enjoy those Jams!

You crack me up Oroborous! And I know your affinity for Throwing Stones NFA. Yes, the closing sets in those days, well shit, sure glad they were there. And the 3/29/90 Lovelight was really good with Brandford.

user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months

Submitted by Oroborous on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 17:40

Permalink

...I was just trying to defrost this place. Conversation versus consensus etc 😉

user picture

Member for

8 years 10 months

Submitted by The Good Ole G… on Wed, 05/27/2020 - 18:30

Permalink

Haha OB

Good move.

How’d the Dead manage to make such perfect music for outside listening from big giant halls?

This Cow Palace show seems made for nice weather outside, currently 70 and sunny here (sorry VGUY). And it’s a perfect fit.

I was tripping on this in April on a similar day listening to 2/9/73 Roscoe Maples Pavilion, growing up I always thought that show was Outdoors cause that music is made to hear in nature’s splendor.

You all ever flashed on that?