Grateful Dead

Caveat of bias: I attended both shows and several others on this tour. The Spring '87 tour was very high energy, and reflected Jerry 'rising like the Phoenix from the ashes of his opioid-induced haze culminating in his diabetic coma. The shows were all short, but many were very well-played.

The first night of Hartford was one of the best played nights of the tour, others including the first night of Philly, the first and third nights of Worcester. Every song in both sets is played pretty much flawless, albeit too short. This was typical of that tour. Short but sweet songs and sets. Highlights (for me) were the Midnight Hour opener, a really powerfully sung He's Gone (Jerry's vocals throughout the first night are really strong), and a gorgeous Black Peter.

The second night was the night for "Touch-heads." It was a party atmosphere, and the setlist was standard. Hard to complain about a second set Cumberland though. The post-Space Uncle John's>Dew with a JBG encore was a great way to end the second set. Overall, the second night was less "on" IMO, but was really fun. The Touch of Grey, however standard, was inspiring because we all knew Jerry was BACK.

The circulating boards have always sounded like a matrix to me, and the brief sample I listened to seems to indicate the same matrix source material. Am hoping the discs sound better...

I have a friend who has EVERYTHING. Once a year he asks me for $100 for blanks and postage (B&P), and then he goes through his thousands of tapes and picks out four shows that really float his boat. He's busy, so he can only send me a copy of a show every three months or so. He does his best not to burn me out on any one period, so he avoids sending me, say, three June 1976 shows in one year. If he does get really excited about those three 1976 shows, then he gives me the option of sending more B&P money.

When he does send the shows, he has his friends do some sweet art on the inserts, and goes through his tapers circle to find the lowest-gen copy out there. He routinely upgrades the equipment used for making the copies. For the sets that are all from, say, July 1978, he puts them in crazy-cool containers and loads the containers with old ticket stubs and tour programs.

What do I do when I get the shows? I complain.
I complain that the show isn't from my favorite year, even though he's sent me 26 of the 40 shows from 1974, and 32 of the 60 shows from 1977. 1972? Only 34 of 82.
I complain that the sound could be better.
I complain about the art.
I complain that he's too corporate.
I complain that he's charging too much.
I complain that it took many days for the shows to reach me.
I complain that he gave me only two months to send my B&P money.

Despite all that complaining, he sends me a song a day for all of November--free! He gets excited about nuggets he's heard whilst perusing his shows, and just sends me a treat every day for 30 days. My B&P money ensures that he can maintain his tapes and keep sending me songs and shows and sets, but I sometimes feel like I should begrudge him that $100 (although, come to think of it, I spent $100 on a mediocre restaurant meal just the other day . . . ) or that I should stop sending him that money, but just hope that his interest in the project continues. Maybe I should require him to tell me in advance which shows he's sending before I'll give him a nickel?

He's enriched my musical life beyond anything I could have dreamed of, but I often get this nagging feeling that he's really out to screw me.

DaP36? Believe it if you need it . . . if you don't, just pass it on . . .

& that's that!!!!

First.. great Noah Webster reference Jimbobwe, I bet you are right. I thought of Hartford Court Publishing (didn't they make school books?), but I did not research this and have no idea if there is a correlation, I bet you are right. I assumed they were claims manuals and volumes of insurance policy and procedure manuals. (kidding, but the streets in Hartford are paved with insurance money).

I'm not terribly surprised this sold out. A little quicker than I might have thought, but I suspect subscription sales were high this year. It seems like each subsequent release though the course of the year sells out more quickly.

It will be interesting to see what this does to subscription sales come November and December. ..not that I care, I'm sure to pony up for another year come November.

Crikey...maybe I'd better subscribe again after all !
Mcgrupp- liking The Dead from 1968-1974 only doesn't necessarily mean you like them less rather than more. Their music in that timespan transcended measurable limits. A bit like how the Tardis, in Dr Who, looks small from the outside and is vast inside.

Considering no one likes the 80’s this set sold out really fast.
Everyone has a choice. If you only like a subset of the band then don’t subscribe and pick up the shows you want separately. You then take the chance that you won’t get them and you will pay over the odds on eBay, Even if you do get them at dead.net then you’ll pay the going rate at the time. Subscribing at the early bird rate is the cheapest way of getting the DaP series but you will get shows from eras that don’t excite you.
I subscribe because I want them all even if some are better than others. They all have some interest to me. Of course, I never saw any shows so what do I know.

I see people asking about the Cover Art and "books" reference. Noah Webster the "Father of American Scholarship and Education" was from Hartford, CT. Apparently his "Blue-Backed Speller" books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read. I would imagine he is the inspiration for the cover, however Mark Twain also lived in Hartford for a period of his life.

Throw on 10/16/89. Another superb October, btw.

If you pretty much only like the dead from years 68-74, then you actually dislike them more than you like them. And that's OK!

I took a deep dive these past couple of weeks into Oct. '84 and was rather surprised by how much I liked it, especially the dark Playin' jams. I did the same with Oct. '94 last year. Really dug those shows. I honestly feel like 10/1/94 ranks among one of the best shows from all of the 30 trips.

At any rate, I subscribe because I want them all. Still waiting for the Vince era shows, by the way. Perhaps next year? In the meantime, I'll gladly take the '73, '74, or '77 that seems due to kick things off in 2021. 

1- 77
5- 73
9- 74
13- 74
17- 74
21- 73
25- 77
29- 77
33- 77
37-  ??

"Count me in as skeptical. This release seems like Dave’s gift to himself. I saw six shows of this tour, including the first night of Hartford. None of them were overly memorable. More like a few highlights here and there. Have not listened to any of that tour since seeing the shows. If I recall, 3/26 had a cool Midnight Hour/Cold Rain opener, a nice Birdsong and a high energy China/Rider.

Dave has done a superb job, but the supply of quality shows is certainly dwindling. I will give the subscription one more year and then likely revert to a la carte."

This is my post from a couple of weeks back. Essentially saying the same thing as Doc, just maybe not as eloquently.
I'm a math guy, not an English major. I wasn't attacked. Even if I was, I could care less.

Not bashing the band or anyone's favorite era. Just stating an opinion and my preference. I only saw the band in the 80s and 90s. Brent was without question the driving force for many of those years. As was said, seeing them live, his keyboards never seemed to overwhelm the band. Now that I hear the recordings years later, I can't tolerate that plinky, overbearing sound. Simple as that. And I certainly don't want to pay for it. To me, the MIDI and all the other gadgetry makes it even worse.

Folks on here comment about Donna's shrieking, yet they rarely if ever get criticized. I was never able to see the band during that era, but I doubt it came across that way live. Regardless, it was how the band sounded at the time as they evolved. I'll stick to that era and earlier.

One other thing that was correctly pointed out. Dave played these shows on Sirius earlier today. If the crowd noise is as prominent on my stereo as it was on the radio, no chance these shows ever get a second listen.

For all you later era fans, do yourself a favor and write down a list of your favorite songs. Then right along side of each one, jot down the year it was first performed. Things get pretty sparse after 77.

Just remember, as I was told many years ago:

Don't listen to the band through rose colored speakers.

AND

The scene was always better before you got there.

Enjoy.