• 1,587 replies
    Srinivasan.Mut…
    Joined:

    What's Inside:
    7 Previously Unreleased Complete Shows On 20 Discs
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/09/71
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/17/72
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/18/72
    Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/19/72
    Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/29/73
    Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/30/73
    Sourced from tapes recorded by Rex Jackson, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, and Kidd Candelario
    Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
    Restoration and Speed Correction by Plangent Processes
     
    Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 13,000

    Steamboats and BBQ, ice cream cones and Mardi Gras - are you ready to laissez les bons temps rouler with the "gateway" to the Grateful Dead? Meet us, won't you, in St. Louis for seven complete and previously unreleased Dead concerts that capture the heart of the band's affinity for the River City.
     
    LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73 is a 20CD set featuring five shows from the Fox Theatre - December 9 and 10, 1971; October 17-19, 1972; and two from the Kiel Auditorium - October 29 and 30, 1973. 
     
    The seven shows in the collection span slightly less than two years, but they represent some of the best shows the Grateful Dead played during some of its peak tours. The music tells the story of a band evolving, changing from one sound to another seamlessly, precipitated – in large part – by significant personnel changes in the Dead’s lineup.
     
    The two 1971 shows feature the original Grateful Dead lineup plus newcomer Keith Godchaux on piano. This version of the band would hold together for the next six months as the Dead embarked upon its Europe ’72 tour. By the time the Dead returned to the Fox Theatre less than a year later, they were without Pigpen, who’d played his final show with the Dead at the Hollywood Bowl on June 17, 1972. A year after the exceptional Fox 1972 shows, the Dead came back to St. Louis, but played the much larger Kiel Auditorium, touring behind the release of WAKE OF THE FLOOD, which came out just two weeks before.
     
    All told, the band played 60 different songs during these shows highlighted by blazing romps through “Beat It On Down The Line” and “One More Saturday Night” and wistful takes on “Row Jimmy” and “Brokedown Palace” (whose lyrics give the collection its name). Meanwhile, the copious jamming ebbed and flowed like the mighty Mississippi River on multiple voyages through “The Other One” and “Dark Star.” Naturally, the band paid tribute to one of its favorite rock and rollers and one of St. Louis’ biggest stars by playing Chuck Berry songs at every show in the collection, including Pigpen galloping through “Run Rudolph Run.”  
     
    Each show has been restored and speed corrected using Plangent Processes with mastering by Jeffrey Norman. The collection comes in a slipcase with artwork by Liane Plant and features an 84-page hardbound book as well as other Dead surprises. To set the stage for the music, the liner notes provide several essays about the shows, including one by Sam Cutler, the band’s tour manager during that era, and another by Grateful Dead scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether, among others. 
     
    Due October 1st, LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73, is limited to 13,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from Dead.net.

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  • Forensicdoceleven
    Joined:
    Never cut what you can untie……

    I’m not big into analyzing—or choosing--one show over another. I like what I like, but I am interested in what criteria folks use to judge what is “best”. The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.

    Style? Content? Quantity over quality? What is the value, if any, of weirdness? Whose tunes are “better”? Decisions, decisions, decisions, every song is like a painting. Speaking of which, Renoir-Dostoevsky-Mingus-Frost-Bradbury-Rubies. Just for the record….

    Honestly, I love BOTH shows. One is “merely excellent”, while the other is “quirkily classic”. Which one is which? The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions. By constant contemplation of excellence, we clear our selfhood of all dross and impurities. Freedom comes with the impossibility of choosing…..

    This may surprise no one, but if I had to choose a “desert island show”, it would not be either of these shows, although clearly, both are exceptionally fine, and worthy!!! Music is the best means we have of digesting time…..

    Tomorrow brings December, be prepared! He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter……

    Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk. Sorrow is knowledge, those that know the most must mourn the deepest, the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life……

    Rock on!!

    Doc
    Truly fertile music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a music conducive to dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate reason.

  • Forensicdoceleven
    Joined:
    I respect music, I do, I love it…………..

    Fox Theater December 10 1971

    Set 1: 12 songs. Opener: Bertha. Closer: Casey Jones. 6 Garcia (including two back-to back), 4 Weir, 2 Pigpen.

    Well played, somewhat Garcia-centric first set. No major surprises or weirdness. Appears “typical” for late 1971, which still means “excellent”. Even so, clearly, on this evening the goodies were delivered in the second set.

    Set 2: 14 songs. Opener: Good Lovin’. Closer: NFA reprise. 5 Garcia, 5 Weir, 1 Pigpen, 2 “group” (NFA, NFA reprise), 1 loose jam (sometimes labelled “China Cat” jam”, which lasts perhaps one minute, does that count as a song?).

    Encore: One More Saturday Night. Big jam: The Other One.

    Really fine Good Lovin’ to open, here Pigpen reveals his old soul, the only time it was played this month. Excellent big jam, as the Other One bobs and weaves along, seamlessly transitioning into and out of Sitting On Top Of The World. Typical fine late 71 jamming in the NFA suite. Rockin’ Saturday Night to close the show.

    Now, after all these decades, we are treated to the full sonic majesty of the second Fox Theater. Now, without doubt, it shall get its due respect………..

    Overall rating: Excellent!!

    Rock on!!!

    Doc
    To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth……

  • proudfoot
    Joined:
    Grateful whine

    12 5 71 should have been the one released, not what was released.

  • Forensicdoceleven
    Joined:
    Where's your will to be weird?

    Felt Forum December 5 1971

    Set 1: 15 songs. Opener: Bertha. Closer: One More Saturday Night. 7 Garcia, 5 Weir, 3 Pigpen.

    Substantial, top notch first set. Perhaps the greatest one-off ever, revealing Garcia’s old soul. Muddy Water sounds so well rehearsed, as if it had been in the repertoire forever. Garcia’s picking is so so sweet. Solid Weir and Pigpen material. Excellent first set.

    Set 2: 15 songs, plus one ‘loose jam”. Opener: Truckin’. Closer: NFA reprise. 5 Weir, 7 Garcia, 1 Pigpen, 2 “group” (NFA, NFA reprise). Encore: Johnny B Goode. Big jam: Dark Star.

    A Truckin’ for the ages. A nonverbal—but certainly not silent---version of their signature psychedelic opus. Fine jamming in the NFA suite. Really fine second set.

    We should revel in the gooey exotic weirdness of the Felt Forum show. Twists and turns, peaks and valleys, Pigpen and Bakersfield, rock and roll, Grateful Dead. In December 1971, did it get any better than this???

    Overall rating: classic of the first rank.

    Tomorrow: Second St Louis, Rodney Dangerfield’s favorite December 1971 show…..

    Rock on!!

    Doc
    Embrace your weirdness!

  • Deadicated
    Joined:
    11/27th heaven

    Billie, Peggy Lee, Bird, Jimmy Forrest , Ya Ya's, Roy Buchanon "Livestock" or the expanded version w/ HF liners.
    Weird's gotta count for something!

  • Forensicdoceleven
    Joined:
    Art is not what you see, but what you make others see………

    Fifty years ago today…………

    It was a day between, a travel day, now, fifty years later, giving us time to ponder the deeper mysteries of music, because there is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres…..

    I have been asked by a fellow traveler in 1971 Grateful Deadness to post a comparative analysis of two December 1971 Dead shows. I won’t tell you where his own tastes lead…….

    Monet or Renoir? Joyce or Dostoevsky? Ellington or Mingus? Whitman or Frost? Wells or Bradbury? Rubies or emeralds?

    Second Felt Forum or Second Fox Theater????

    Every precious gem radiates and luxuriates in its own unique brilliance. One mustn’t necessarily outshine the other. Must we be forced to choose that single one that touches our hearts, and ears, most deeply?

    The "1971 challenge" is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I generated a single page/single post rough draft early, and while it's nice, I'm not totally satisfied with it. After all, 12/5 vs 12/10 is serious 1971 Grateful Deadness. LOL it's like Ali vs. Frazier, Cowboys vs. Steelers, chocolate chip cookie dough vs. pistachio.

    The analysis itself isn't that hard, as long as you try to apply uniform criteria to both shows. And in attempting to be "objective" (always an issue while trying to analyze/criticize any art form), one has to try to put aside personal, subjective feelings and opinions. Which in this case, is truly difficult. I'm very familiar with both shows, but 12/5 has been a favorite of mine for a long long time.

    When comparing different years, one comparative factor is "style". Here, that's not an issue since the shows are only 5 days apart. Which is actually good, because that factor is quickly eliminated and therefore one can concentrate exclusively on "content". Which means things like lengths of first and second sets, characteristics of the big jams, encores, etc. Naturally, the two shows have a lot in common, but there also have some very important differences as well.

    For any and all who wish to weigh in, vote early, and often!!

    Tomorrow: Felt Forum---how much does weirdness count?

    Rock on!!!

    Doc
    What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit…..

  • 1stshow70878
    Joined:
    Nappy's Right

    There's more music on that Target sale than d-net's black friday sale. The buy 2 get one free will help but some items were considerably higher priced than RGM's recent sale prices where you didn't have to buy 3.
    Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!

  • icecrmcnkd
    Joined:
    10-18-72

    There is a digi click between China and Rider.
    I just confirmed on my copy.
    On the STL Box download page KF says that it’s on 10-19 too.

  • hendrixfreak
    Joined:
    Still listening to the river...

    The pair of '71 shows was delicious. Tons of songs, and a real nice two-night evolution to the sets. Just listened to the first of three '72 nights and, again, the band manages to make old favorites sound new as they take different angles on the jams and the feel of jammy tunes.

    Waiting in the wings: Neil Young/Carnegie Hall, Coltrane/Seattle, Los Lobos/Gates of Gold, Pharoah Sanders/Live, Gov't Mule/Heavy Load, Dylan/1970, and more.

    Happy Indigenous People Sorrow Day to all.....

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    Positive post....

    ....took me a minute. Good one.

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6 years

What's Inside:
7 Previously Unreleased Complete Shows On 20 Discs
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/09/71
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/17/72
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/18/72
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 10/19/72
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/29/73
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO 10/30/73
Sourced from tapes recorded by Rex Jackson, Owsley "Bear" Stanley, and Kidd Candelario
Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
Restoration and Speed Correction by Plangent Processes
 
Individually Numbered, Limited Edition of 13,000

Steamboats and BBQ, ice cream cones and Mardi Gras - are you ready to laissez les bons temps rouler with the "gateway" to the Grateful Dead? Meet us, won't you, in St. Louis for seven complete and previously unreleased Dead concerts that capture the heart of the band's affinity for the River City.
 
LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73 is a 20CD set featuring five shows from the Fox Theatre - December 9 and 10, 1971; October 17-19, 1972; and two from the Kiel Auditorium - October 29 and 30, 1973. 
 
The seven shows in the collection span slightly less than two years, but they represent some of the best shows the Grateful Dead played during some of its peak tours. The music tells the story of a band evolving, changing from one sound to another seamlessly, precipitated – in large part – by significant personnel changes in the Dead’s lineup.
 
The two 1971 shows feature the original Grateful Dead lineup plus newcomer Keith Godchaux on piano. This version of the band would hold together for the next six months as the Dead embarked upon its Europe ’72 tour. By the time the Dead returned to the Fox Theatre less than a year later, they were without Pigpen, who’d played his final show with the Dead at the Hollywood Bowl on June 17, 1972. A year after the exceptional Fox 1972 shows, the Dead came back to St. Louis, but played the much larger Kiel Auditorium, touring behind the release of WAKE OF THE FLOOD, which came out just two weeks before.
 
All told, the band played 60 different songs during these shows highlighted by blazing romps through “Beat It On Down The Line” and “One More Saturday Night” and wistful takes on “Row Jimmy” and “Brokedown Palace” (whose lyrics give the collection its name). Meanwhile, the copious jamming ebbed and flowed like the mighty Mississippi River on multiple voyages through “The Other One” and “Dark Star.” Naturally, the band paid tribute to one of its favorite rock and rollers and one of St. Louis’ biggest stars by playing Chuck Berry songs at every show in the collection, including Pigpen galloping through “Run Rudolph Run.”  
 
Each show has been restored and speed corrected using Plangent Processes with mastering by Jeffrey Norman. The collection comes in a slipcase with artwork by Liane Plant and features an 84-page hardbound book as well as other Dead surprises. To set the stage for the music, the liner notes provide several essays about the shows, including one by Sam Cutler, the band’s tour manager during that era, and another by Grateful Dead scholar Nicholas G. Meriwether, among others. 
 
Due October 1st, LISTEN TO THE RIVER: ST. LOUIS ’71 ’72 ’73, is limited to 13,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively from Dead.net.

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3 years 11 months

In reply to by proudfoot

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Old ZZ preferred by me, before they switched.

I have an old cassette of best of zz top

I aint asking for much
I say lawd take me downtown
Im just lookin for some kush

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I feel the same as when you said thanks for taking my money but filling my soul. This box set represents everything I enjoy about the Dead. I started with Veneta and Ladies and Gentlemen, and then Winterland 1973. I have not listened to any of the St. Louis shows. I feel like the guy from Animal House when he said Oh boy isn't this great!

Best Europe 72 Truckin'? Is there a better one than the 18 minute 4/11 show from Newcastle?

A bunch of friends and co-workers made the drive south to Phoeniz AZ to catch GD at Compton Terrace for a couple of shows...after the show on Saturday the 8th we headed over to the dump that is the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum to see ZZ Top on thier Recycler Tour...pretty much fun to do both in one day...RIP Dusty...

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16 years 8 months
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Wu Tang evicted outta Atlanta?! They're a NYC group through and through. Sounds like you're old landlord just evicted regular people and told you they were Wu Tang, ya sure it wasn't the landlord who was in the Klan? It was ATL after all, he sounds likes a curmudgeony racist ouch. And ZZ top was looking for tush, not kush? Right?! Songs about ass not grass, though no one rides for free still. :)

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17 years

In reply to by Oroborous

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Saw the Top once.
Got in for free after helping this crazy Radio dude out that was starting his own station, sort of gorilla format: play what you want etc...
We used to put windshield fliers on cars at concerts for him and he’d get us in for free.
Guys name was Bob Allen and his station was WUWU...
His big claim to fame was taking over, and barricading himself in the transmitter building, and playing nothing but Pyscho Chicken, a hilarious twist on the Talking Heads song, for several days, before they finally shut him down.
Guy was a trip! More funny, at the time I was working my first “real job” at KFC. It drove the old lady who ran it crazy!
She took it as a personal insult or something and was constantly on the phone trying to get someone to stop him lol.
Every time she’d leave, we’d change the station, which the customers thought was hilarious....
Used to get outta work, take a shower, then try and make out with my girlfriend and she’d be like “nope, get back in that shower” I could never get the greasy residue off lol. Needless to say, that one didn’t last!

I got that ish working at mcdonalds

I worked weekends but could still smell quarter pounder on my hands on wednesdays

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3 years 11 months

In reply to by proudfoot

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First set is actually pretty good to my ears

Then second set starts off ok and then slowly leaks air until...oh, just turn it off.

More on 86
6 28 86 is a fine lil show
6 26 86 sounds ok

Again, this is in the comfort of my home, not outdoors in HEAT and HUMIDITY for hours.

I have never heard Irvine 86...

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17 years

In reply to by proudfoot

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Recently listened, Felt similarly...

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In reply to by Oroborous

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Tres Hombres mofos, bummed I never saw 'em, loved the 70's stuff. This documentary is excellente: That Little Ol' Band from Texas

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4 years 7 months
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Best show of 1986. Touch of Grey & Candyman, as good as it gets. Garcia, back from the Dead, back to the Dead. You had to be there.

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14 years 9 months
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Holy Modal Rounders - 1st album
Coil - Live One
Material - Intonarumori
V/A - Journeys in modern jazz: Britain 1965 - 1972
Morton Feldman Crippled Symmetry: at June in Buffalo

Just revisiting a lot of old favourites and the newly released British jazz compilation.

#39 shipping notice received this morning

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9 years 9 months
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Cover band that had a show recently in SoCal that apparently was a mass-Covid19 event. The whole band has it and is advising anyone who attended to get tested and quarantine. Maybe a bit early for unmasked crowds with the Delta variant peaking. Just get a shot people. Preaching to the choir here where intelligent folks hang out. Be safe and well. Cheers!
P.S. Nappy, I went to the Sunday show 12-9-90 on the reservation (one of the 3 venues called Compton terrace I think) south of PHX. Very loose parking lot scene with no law enforcement anywhere in sight. Excellent show with Bruce on board. We got a first set Maggie's Farm and ended the set with Bruce's Valley Road. And a Brokedown encore to top it all off. Early start had us out of there by dark. Had a strange time going dosed to our R.E.I. X-mas dinner party immediately afterward. For some reason I wasn't all that hungry.

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Caught them several times. First time was on the Eliminator tour. Afterburner and Recycler tours had massive sport arena stage productions. Recent years they were touring theaters in stripped-down fashion.

MTV definitely changed the trajectory of their career for a while, much like the Dead. Even if you're not familiar with their music you know their beards.

I didn’t witness it personally, but it could be possible since they had a store there and maybe needed an apartment to crash at.

WU-TANG CLAN PARTIES IN ATLANTA
MTV NEWS STAFF
08/15/1997
August 15 [7:55 EDT]

The party was a celebration of the Clan's new album, "Wu-Tang Forever," going platinum, and the group decided to mark the occasion in Atlanta partly because they have a Wu-Wear clothing store there, and partly because they feel at home in that city.

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In reply to by SPACEBROTHER

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Saw them in 92 or 93, it was a good time.
Wanted to see them at least once.

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In reply to by icecrmcnkd

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....i read that Grateful Shred story. Phish started their tour last night in Arkansas. Nary a mask to be seen. Next stop is Alabama tomorrow, then two shows in Georgia. Yeah, the shows are outdoors, but a little disappointed that people don't care, even though the band put out a press release to please mask up. We'll see how it goes.
The South is a little lax on the vax.

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8 years 1 month
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I used to jave a filler from I believe the 2nd night from 71 and there is a China Cat jam in NFA that's decently substantial. Anyone else know this?

several china cat jams in nfa, including 12 10 71

What i recommend is listening to good lovin from 1 2 72. Dont look at the set list!

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9 years 7 months

In reply to by proudfoot

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...there is also the 11/15/71 monster that has a pretty notable Chincacat Tease prior to hitting Goin Down the Road; incidentally I also happened to be listening to 5/26/72 on the way back from daycare drop off this morning, and to my pleasant surprise yet another Chinacat tease popped up at the end of the NFA.

Love is Love with a Crazy Cat Peekin'

HappY Friday DeadFreaks - oh yeah and be ready for all hell to break loose when they unleash Dave's 39 shortly...

Sixtus

P.S. Spinning 7/29/88 at the moment; also an interesting Chinacat-related nugget with a 2nd set opener of
Chinacat>Crazy Fingers>I know you Rider. I always found these uncommon pairings/split-ups totally addictive and entertaining as hell especially if you don't see 'em coming

Yes yes yes, Sixtus. I agree 100%.

Yall have probably picked up on my "dont look at the setlist" vibe. It really takes things to a higher level. Such as the encore of 5 11 86. If you dont expect it, it is thrilling to hear.

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What a great tune, the Dead only played it live one time. I wish they would have played Rosemary & Mtns of the Moon, durring their acoustic sets at the Warfield Theatre in 1980, that would have been amazing. It was thought that they never performed it live until they found a stash of Dec 1968 tapes, I sure wish that some of those 1968/1969 tapes will be released someday.

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And don’t forget the first Tivoli show and (if memory serves correct) the tease works itself into a glorious transition for GDTRFB. Such a beaut.

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... is playing on Sirius XM. I've never heard the show despite its proximity to the next night. I had to go back and re listen, because the loose Lucy played on June 9th is nothing like I've personally heard before. It's super groovy, and they take it around the block more than once for a nice tasty little Jam in there, clocking in at almost 10 minutes. Sublime to these virgin-to-this-version ears. Highly recommend for a groovy Friday romp.

Sixtus

P.S. Looks like Dave's 39 is up

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15 years 9 months
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Saw them in 73, Tres Hombres tour, 79 Deguello tour and that Recycler tour which was can't remember 80's for sure, Nappy that was an awesome show, when they did that disappearing act and came back recycled. The Deguello tour was great, they came up out of the floor surrounded by a ring of fire playing I want to thank you, best tune of the night, I'm just a fool for your stockings, Billy just bending strings and sheading it and way back in 73 it was so hot in July in Florida that Dusty passed out after Beer drinkers and hell raisers, therefore, no encore. Awesome band, glad I got to partake of their particular brand or blues.

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50 years ago today……

July 31, 1971
Yale Bowl, New Haven, Connecticut

Set 1: Truckin'-Sugaree-Mr. Charlie-Mama Tried-Big Railroad Blues-Playing In The Band-Dark Star>Bird Song-El Paso-Hard To Handle-Loser-Me And Bobby McGee

Set 2: Bertha-Big Boss Man-Me And My Uncle-Deal-China Cat Sunflower >I Know You Rider-Sing Me Back Home-Sugar Magnolia-Casey Jones-Not Fade Away>Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad>”Darkness jam”>Not Fade Away

Encores: Uncle John's Band>Johnny B. Goode

Deadicated to Jeffrey Greenberg, Bob Messina, John Starks, and Rich Petlock…..

So, how did they do???

Actually, not bad at all. Solid if unspectacular show. Little bit of Pigpen, interesting first set Star, unusual Bobby McGee set closer, Sing Me Back Home, a Darkness jam, two song encore. What’s not to like about all that?

Coffee spilled on guitars, executive nannies, homicidal maniacs, rock and roll, Grateful Dead…………

Rock on!!

Doc
……unless we can play them well…..

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38 years ago today I was down in Ventura to see the Dead. The crowd sang Garcia happy birthday a day early. They opened up the show on 7/30 with China Cat. Ventura was a non-stop party, from the the time you left your home to last note played.

71...I love this show. Playin' > Dark Star > Birdsong. Ja, gerne!

83...I was at this one. I think this one has the audience chanting "one more set! one more set!"

Either the 30th or the 31st has the first Touch of Grey I ever heard, and I recall it standing out to me as a great song.

This talk of Ventura reminds me of the great opening chapter in Blair Jackson's book "The Music Never Stopped." Its all about a show the Dead played there in 1982, and describes the Deadheads mingling in the area and hanging out before the show actually starts. I found it quite transporting when I first read it on a train coming out of Manchester one rainy afternoon in the early 80s. I couldn't have been further away-although I was there in my mind.

Half way through the June 1977 box, which I normally never get to. Trying to follow anniversary shows, by the time I have finished May its already September. This year I missed out the second May 77 box. I thought the first two shows in the June box were excellent. The 1st set seemed better than the second on the 8th-something I have felt with other 1977 shows. Like 5/9.

....JGB 8.1.92. Irvine Meadows. There was a giant birthday card in the concourse. I signed it of course.
.
Set 1.
Cats
Mission
Waiting For A Miracle
Mississippi Moon
No Bread
Sisters & Brothers
Somebody To Love
.
Set 2.
Shining Star
Tore Up
Waiting For A Miracle
Drove Dixie Down
Lay Down Sally
Midnight Moonlight
.
No encore.....
.
He was supposed to be going through rehab at that time. The Deads tour was canceled due to it, but he just couldn't help but to play. Rumors swirled that he blacked out backstage after the show, but played the next night in Chula Vista anyway.
I only caught the JGB 4 times, but that one was special of course.
If any of you checked out the Phil show the other day, he looks great for 81.
Still looks younger than Jerry at 53. Sigh............

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...on 22nd in Fairfax, still billed as Jerry's birthday show and there were a coupla' huge birthday cakes which prompted some weird, rowdy food fight in the middle of that very small place. John Kahn did not make the show, Phil took his place and as added bonus, John Cipollina was running the soundboard. Show was good but not memorable except for the general weirdness; I remember Phil playing the chorus over the verses during the opening How Sweet It Is. Very strange show altogether; there was an opening act, and I swear I've never seen a band perform on such a small space: all of JGB's gear was onstage, there was nowhere for the singer to move, poor guy looked a mixed of angry and disbelief.

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Still clearly remember a woman on a man's shoulders with a cake. The crowd parted to let them reach the stage. A roadie leaned over the stage lip and secured the cake, which he paraded on stage for a cheering crowd. I was 15 years old and had just 'experienced' a few days getting to, into, and from Watkins Glen. 48 hours after arriving home, burnt to a crisp, and we took off for a two-nighter with the GD and The Band. Vivid memories of many moments at the Glen, but not so much the two nighter that followed.

But we did sing a crazed 'Happy Birthday' to Mr. Garcia. who turned 31 that night. I would turn 16 two weeks later.

Misspent youth? In spades, my friends. In spades.

Just sharing the news........

to Mr G, hope yer having a great jam somewhere/somespace...

Saw his 52 in 94. Two pretty good shows actually. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

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What would you have been doing today? Still touring with the Dead I suspect.

I read 8/1/73 was the last time he played the Strat.

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In reply to by KeithFan2112

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I would hope if he had lived a bit longer, he would have been able to take a year or more away from touring. We're lucky we got as much time out of him as we did. But I just listened to the digital single of Sugaree from 12/10/71, and WOW, fantastic sound! The single, by the way is 24 bit 192 kHz. It sounds like a multitrack, because things are so well balanced, Keith's piano has a fantastic sound. And right there in the center of it all is the man of the hour himself, singing his heart out and already playing blistering leads on the soon to be staple.

Sidenote: I've been watching the Ken Burns miniseries Jazz after neglecting it for years (who knew it was damn near 20 hours?), and the tales of genius of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke and many many others who revolutionized their instruments and gained some of their fame and notoriety when they recorded the standards that had already been standards by the 20s and 30s and reshaped them as their own. Jerry and the Dead did that, and added the Duke Ellington thing of composing your own library that makes an amalgamated new style, such as the case with Sugaree and the song was about to succeed it, Jack Straw. Sugaree fits into the mold of a heartbreak song, but is darker and the loping rhythm is precisely the Dead swing that set them apart as Louis Armstrong's swing invented a larger genre built upon improvisation and feel or groove rather than rote performance in perfect cadence. Jack Straw has such an authentic western feel and historical folktale vibe that people can be forgiven for questioning whether the Dead really wrote it. Like the miner that unwittingly praised Robert Hunter by remarking on the Dead odd choice of an old miner song Cumberland Blues, not realizing Hunter had written the "old standard". Jerry was the heart of that, but it took all of the weird characters to make the Dead into the unique beast they were. And I can't wait for this box set to unleash that beast's most potent furies and Plangentized!

Two months is a long wait, and I still have 5 days wait on DaP 39, which the Shakedown sounded good on tablet speaker. Shame the Touch> Playing> Terrapin from 4/25 was missing, but looking forward to the He's Gone> Bob Star. I perpetually forget about that song until somebody brings it up and then I listen to one, this time I chose the Merriweather one Jim caught, def Weir'd, but pretty cool with that Other Oneish riff going on around it. We'll see on the Rochester one.

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In reply to by alvarhanso

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I’ve said for a long time, probably since Brentski checked out, that they should of taken another hiatus or 2.
Look how well that worked out in 75. Best thing they ever did!

And yes JG was also a playing junkie, but compare his posture, demeanor and sometimes even his playing with the Dead, to all the cool work and side projects he did near the end. JGB was awesome, his stuff with Dawg, and a bunch of cool studio work with Ornette, Sanjay, Bruce etc. He was really shining everywhere else except the Dead!
I guess it’s the ole difference between doing things because you want to, versus you have to...
Yeah, looking back you have to wonder what if....

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3 years 11 months

In reply to by Oroborous

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He looks a bit haggard in the Essen video
I know he was hurtin in 92 when they cancelled Eugene

A wince-inducing moment is 4 13 86 during Terrapin...he walks offstage before Inspiration part.

If only he had become a health freak.

We miss you Jerry!!!

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For Jer, it appears, the last years were indeed his "obligation" to the GD and his desire to play with his own band and pop in on Grisman as opportunities arose. Absolutely. Same h***** habit, different motivations. So '89 and '91 might have been decent GD years, but the whole run of Jerry shows sure seemed to shine.

Oh well, the guy was human and it's all over now, baby blue. Except for the pleasure we still get from the tapes. So, thanks to Bear, Betty and the boys in the crew for taping!

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Nice that Mosaic recommendations are turning up here.
In my opinion the real meat of the catalogue remain the Blue Note sets. Of course being limited they are mostely oop. BUT the recent Joe Henderson set IS available, limited to 2500 sets, its a no brainer.
You will thank me.

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