18,000 happy Dead Heads could not be wrong. Deer Creek, my how you deliver.
We're closing the books on DAVE'S PICKS 2021 with not one but two - nearly - complete shows from Noblesville, IN 7/18/90 & 7/19/90. Yes, we've packed it all on four CDs, save for that second night encore which we promise you'll get to hear in the very near future. Sometimes there really is just too much good stuff.
For now, we'll invite you to cozy up with two exceptional back-to-back shows, shows with precision and clarity, shows with more than a lion's share of exploratory jams, and most importantly, shows that were simply a damn good time for all. Highlights from night one include the bookends of a spectacular "Help>Slip!>Franklin's" and an epically intricate "Morning Dew" followed by a classic cover of "The Weight." Night two, is the sleeper hit, with flawless playing from start to finish, the set list inviting you to find new favorites in top-notch renditions of "Foolish Heart" or "Victim Or The Crime," and if that's not one of the finest versions of "Desolation Row" Bobby ever did do! We would be remiss if we didn't mention that these shows were among Brent's last and they are some of his finest of the era at that.
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, DAVE’S PICKS VOL. 40: DEER CREEK MUSIC CENTER, NOBLESVILLE, IN 7/18 & 19/90 was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman.
Pole Winners
Man, Iggy as Pole Guy … you are crackin me up bro. Jack Black as Pigpen is pretty damn good too.
I couldn’t think of anything remotely that good, but I’m gonna say Jeff Goldblum as Phil and Bill Murray as Kreutzman. Sasha Baron Cohen as Micky. You know who’s a tough one to peg? Weir. Hard to find a guy who can do that mix of heart throb + cross-eyed deer in the headlights. Maybe Dustin Hoffman could pull it off. And then there’s Jerry. I got no idea who could play him.
Worst audience? One gig stands out in my mind: I saw Los Lobos once at a university performing arts center, where it looked like they brought in the same audience full of rich white people who go there to see Yo Yo Mama. (I don’t want to be more specific, because I know people who work at the venue, and they’re nice.) The Lobos were up there working their asses off, playing great, but the audience was so still and quiet they coulda been a painting. And then the band got rattled, and didn’t play well, and started making sarcastic comments about the audience. Ugh. Just a bad experience.
Glad to see the TTB getting some love. The Layla record is good, but seriously, if you want to know what they’re about, you need to listen to the live shows. Kinda like the Dead in that regard. They’ve got a couple very good ‘official’ live albums (including one from Oakland where I was happy to be in attendance) and several other full concerts available from Nugsnet, some of which are available as video. Highly recommended, at least until you can go see in them in the real.
I would post my last five....
....but it would be TTB, Crowes, Dead, Crowes, TTB.
That's a sammich.
I got the abbreviations down pat.
I still don't know how Derek does it.
Worst audience
I wasn't too crazy about the trend to flick spit at bands in the punk era around 1977.
But the absolute worst audience I have ever been trapped within was at Reading Festival in 1977. A reggae band - possibly Steel Pulse -got bottled off as they did not fit the white rock boogie template. Then the following day Jayne County - Wayne as she was then-got bottled off for being different. A racist and homophobic mob - what was I doing there? Definitley time for me and hard rock to part company.
TTB and Los Lobos
No question, my two favorite, currently working, live bands. Even with a dozen people, two drummers, etc., TTB turns on a dime. And between Derek's guitar work and Susan's vocals (and Mike Mattison's), horns, backup vocals, they've got the soul/R&B revue and flat-out rock thing down.
As for the Lobos, what to say? Great people, I've met half the band. And deep knowledge of multiple instruments and incredible range of material. And best of all, they've got soul and spirit.
I hope my tic to see Lobos in Boulder in March happens. And I plan to seek a tic to TTB at the Rocks next summer, having missed 2020 and 2021 there. It's only 20 minutes away.
One more for TTB
I've seen TTB 5 times, mostly in smaller places. After the last time, walking out my girlfriend and I said at the same time "this band never disappoints".
I second the recommendation of the Oakland show. Great stuff. I like their studio albums. The second disc of the Layla show is a desert island one. Not a bad second on it.
TTB
I went solo to see TTB at the Morris Theater in South Bend, IN in 2016, got myself a 4th row ticket on Derek's side. One of the best shows I have ever attended. That said, it also featured quite possibly the lamest audience I have seen. Nobody was up and shaking their bodies despite a stellar performance. I was on the aisle so I can't say nobody was up shaking-- I was. When the band came out for an encore, a lady off to the right asked if it was ok to be up and dancing and Susan replied, but of course. They proceeded to melt our faces with a sweet Bitches Brew jam. I left with this opinion-- Derek Trucks does something amazing every song and TTB is my favorite working band today. Non-GD that is, though today TTB is much stronger than any current GD-related band.
I second Hendrixfreak-- Los Lobos is my second favorite. Just had Colossal Head in for my commute this morning. Love those guys.
Love me some Lobos as well....
....I've seen them four times and never left disappointed. Keeping TTB on my concert bucket list for sure. Currently on the east coast, but I see two dates at Red Rocks in July. I've never been there. They might just give me an excuse to go.
Vguy, you haven't lived
til you see a great band at Red Rocks under the stars (or while it's snowing). I heartily recommend a light but solid dose when you make it there. I've seen the GD, the ABB, Bonnie Raitt, Santana, Dylan, Fogerty, Phil & Friends, all starting with Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger in '74. Dosed heavily to GD, ABB and Santana.
The joy is not universal. I caught Lyle Lovett one time. Big Texas swing band starts up and I'm on feet dancing when someone yells "Sit down!" I look around at 10,000 people: not one of them on their feet. I'm friends with a lady who walks the rows selling beers and she comes by: "Who ARE these people" she whispered. We were in the wrong crowd. Later, it started raining and, guess what, everyone decided it was okay to get up and move. Too bad; I'll never risk a Lyle Lovett show again and he's awesome. But his crowd sucks.
Anyway, compare that to the "kind" crowd for GD, ABB, etc., and even in today's over-regulated concert environment, you'll be glad you made the pilgrimmage. Then you can go climb a mountain.
Red Rocks and rain
does it rain there as much as folklore says?
Bob Weir said something along the lines of "the annual Red Rocks rainout"
Nice and rainy here in Seattle today
Hendrixfreak....
....is Red Rocks as cool as The Gorge? I've been there a few times.
Okay to dance at Lyle Lovett ?
I think a lot would depend on how good your moves were. If your going to block someone's view, you need to give them something good to look at. Otherwise it might be thumbs down, I'm afraid. You really would be depending on the kindness of strangers then.
I dance like no one is looking....
....shame goes out the window when the music hits just right and I really don't care.
Rockin' Bones
Well when I die, don't you bury me at all
Just nail these bones up on the wall
Beneath these bones let these words be seen
"This is the bloody gears of a boppin' machine."
I had something of flashback this morning, and it occurred to me that the first gigs I saw weren't heavy bands in the early 70s, they were in Blackpool theatres with my parents in the mid 60s. Notable ones were
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Frankie Vaughan
The Black and White Minstrel Show.
Ouch...
The Black and White Minstrel Show. I remember seeing that on BBC television when I was very young, probably the late 1950s or early 1960s. As one can imagine, the name had nothing to do with the fact that this was before the advent of colour television. The George Mitchell Minstrels had a lot to answer for. Even way back in those days, how could anyone think that this was remotely acceptable. How times change.
Dancing in the Streets. 7/22/84
I remember in Blair Jackson's Golden Road magazine when he wrote a review of the 7/22/84 show in Ventura, there was a photo of about 5 or so guys dancing on the roofs of the portable toilets. I was at the show and I don't remember seeing that. It was a great show. Ventura was a blast!
dancing at shows
Alpine Valley late August 1990, bill of Robert Cray Blues Band, SRV and Double Trouble and Clapton. A big group of friends caravaned down to Alpine, we set up a keg in the lot and other extracurriculars. My buddies from college had some fine paper that we consumed along with a couple of lady friends and we were off and on our own.
I vividly recall that day-- Cray played a fine set and then SRV came out. Well, nobody was topping SRV that night. We were on the hill and SRV starts Superstition and none of us can help but get up and dance. Then the calls for us to sit down started. We looked around, shook our heads and moved down the hill to where folks were taking in the wonder that was SRV on that final weekend. Blew the proverbial roof off the place.
I have always appreciated the generally laid back outlook at Dead shows. Dance or don't dance; people are free to move about without much hassle; go to the bathroom and your spot will still be there and you will be permitted to get there. I went to Phish on Northerly Island in Chicago about 8-9 years ago. Three set show general admission on the lawn and you literally could not sit down the entire time, even during set breaks. You would get trampled. Go to the bathroom during a set and getting back to your people was not doable. Phish fans were very territorial. And we were nowhere near the front. Alas, I haven't seen them since.
Gyratin' at the Rocks
Daverock, you hit the nail on the head. 9,999 people do not want to see me gyratin' to the music. It involves nothing more than shuffling the feet forward and backward and moving the buttock-ular muscles left and right -- and that cannot be a pretty sight. Of course, the place is packed, so there's no room to move and I'm not a dancer. If you take away the word "dancing" and substitute the god-given right to stand up and move to a swing band, that's a more accurate picture.
Vguy, I'm dyin' to see The Gorge and may next year as a friend from Steamboat here is moving to the Columbia River next year and eventually I'll visit. So I cannot compare them. Indeed it rains (and snows) at Red Rocks shows. There were times in the 1979-1987 GD years when the show went on in pouring rain; other times, when well before show time it was clearly going to be a full washout the show was moved to McNichols Arena (famously, August 1979). One time, the day was sunny and hot (80s) and we were in line all day for the ABB to score front row center GA seats. Just before showtime the temp drops to ~40 and freezing rain began to fall and continued all night. Fortunately, I had whiskey and morphine, which took the edge off. They built a little cabin of plastic sheeting around Gregg and cut a hole in it so he could see the rest of the band. Classic stuff. I was not in attendance at a legendary Neil Young show when it snowed like hell. At the eastern base of the Rockies, the foothills can produce anything and frequently do.
So, yes, Red Rocks is rightly notorious for its weather. I always take an old daypack with wool and rainwear and hidden drugs and alcohol. Yet, if one goes often enough, you'll get a warm, star-filled night.
Some classic moments: we're back far enough to see over the stage to lit-up downtown Denver. The GD are jamming. Lightning erupts over the city and a big flash occurs. The crowd goes "oooo." Bobby looks over at Jer, unaware of the cause of the crowd's appreciation, with a look that says, "Ain't we somethin'?"
Nothing will touch their first shows there in July '78. We (and many others) were loaded to the gills with purple dragon blotter all afternoon, so when the sun eased off and the lights came on and the boys assembled and broke into Jack Straw, it was pretty sweet. I was 20 years old, long hair, t-shirt, jeans, sneakers - standard operating procedure.
The Gorge vs Red Rocks
Apples to Oranges, both spectacular.
I’d give the nod to the rocks, biased I’m sure, but if your at the Gorge on the right night with the sun setting over the River gorge in the west, it is pretty sweet.
One thing about the gorge is it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere.
Both worth the time/resources to check out a good band.
Both highly recommended!
SRV
Jim, second to last SRV show. I traded tapes with a guy who recorded SRV's last show and I had that boot for so long. He wasn't sharing it around and that show deserved to be heard by SRV's fans, so I eventually shared it on a forum and then cds of that show started turning up. He absolutely crushed it that weekend.
Eerie story here. I went to the GD at Tinley Park in July and bought a sweet pink star tie dye in the lot the last night and wore it to Brent's last show. It turned into my 'Last Stand' t-shirt. I then wore it to the SRV show and didn't wear it for five years, bad karma. Getting ready for the Grateful Dead at Soldier Field 1995, I absentmindedly grab the shirt and halfway to Chicago, curse myself out for wearing it. I haven't worn that shirt since. It still lurks somewhere in storage in my house, though I can't recall where. Probably in great shape for a 30 year old shirt with fewer than 10 wears. Humans can be a superstitious lot, even folks who are not (I do not consider myself to be).
SRV's Last At Red Rocks
My sister caught that one and I have what must be a tape of the simulcast from some radio station (guessing Boulder?). Still kicking myself for missing that opportunity. She had never seen him or heard all that much of his catalog and came away saying she'd never heard one person make so much amazing sound.
SRV is my third most collected artist in a tie with Clapton, behind ABB, and WAY behind the GD. No bootlegs but most of his published catalog. Trying to make up for lost shows I guess.
Cheers! And let's all meet up at The Rocks this summer!
Ouch indeed
Simon - yes, it was weird how acceptable The Black and White Minstrel show was in 1960s Britain. Widely accepted by my parents generation - they were regularly on television during my childhood. I wasn't endorsing it by mentioning, by the way - terrible stuff.
Hendrixfreak - sounds good-I hope I didnt cause offence with my comments - just joking - but if I did - apologies. 99% of the gigs I have been to, people have rubbed along quite happily. I have behaved in every way imaginable at shows I have attended over the years. From dancing, sitting attentively, to being carried out unconcious. And that was all in the same night. I tend to sit and stare now. You would think nothing was going on. But it is.
Meeting at Red Rocks in July for TTB....
....I'm putting that in my calendar.
P.s. put that shirt on ebay and sell it.
DaveRock, get outta here!
If I didn't laugh at myself, I wouldn't be laughing at all... seriously, I'm only another hapless fool who's managed to survive due to dumb luck alone. Note my use of the term "gyratin'" -- that kinda captures it. My "dancing" is basically a public safety issue...Getting a load of shit is the only attention I get these days, might as well man up and take it!
I see there are no tix on sale for TTB 2022 Rocks, yet? When I looked for 2021, the prices were sky-high and all from scalpers. I'd love to make a plan to meet up, but getting tix or committing to ridiculous prices is not in my playbook. I thought of going up day of show with a little cash and seeing what I could do. Gotta admit, I can no longer spend a day on the stairs and then race to the best GA seats. I did that for decades and I'm done with the scrum. Plus, unfortunately, GA has been moved back to beyond Row 20 so they can get more $$ for the first 20 rows from fan club peeps, etc. Fuck that! It's a public park and now it's just another whorehouse, governed by whichever promoter scum is working a particular show. Not that I'm bitter or anything.....
Hiya all...
I was on another dead-based wedsite and someone mentioned that if you go to Target online and enter "Grateful Dead" in the search box a bunch of Dick's Picks & Road Trips pop up and they have a buy two get one free sale going on right now...I went and looked and sure enough they were there...gonna spend my Xmas $ a bit early I guess....
Watch out, though, on the Target thing
It has a warning
EXPLICIT LYRICS
Lol
Check out Billy Strings on you toob....
....search Help On The Way/Slipknot!/Franklin's Tower.
Anyone in Canada...
...get their copy of DaP 40 yet? Mine usually take about two weeks to arrive, but this one still hasn't shown. Just looking for a little confirmation that I'm not the only one (or that I am the only one and should be worried about missing out on this wonderful set of shows).
Wassup up in Canada?
Still no Daves40??
Marye
We need thee
Please
ShaggyFraggle
I received mine here in Southern Ontario after about ten-twelve days of shipping/sitting gathering dust at Customs. This one was slower than most of the other releases, likely due to the inertia that is the Customs folks. Good luck on receiving it, but perhaps it’s time to call in the “A Team” > MaryE.
Gobble, gobble
Turkeys,
Hope ya have a grateful day!
Remember to be thankful for something!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone
Last 5: 1) 2/27/69, 2)Louisana Fog, Charlie Musslewhite, 3) 5/2/70, 4) Best of Muddy Waters, 5)3/1/69. Last 5 beers. Old Rasputin
I'm thankful....
....that I'm not deaf. Seriously.
Happy Thanksgiving dead.net.
Ones that got away
I am thankful for the GD that is available
There are some jams that got away, though
7 14 70 has a sweet jam going in good lovin when about 2 to 3 minutes into said jam....middle of closing lyrics
11 20 70 The Other One....
4 7 71
Set 2 of 1 22 71
Being deaf would suck
with all due respect to those who truly deaf
Last five...
Chuy's Tape Box Vol 1 - Los Lobos Live In Santa Barbara '84 (Concert Merch Table Only Item)
Ava Mendoza - New Spells
Brother Jack McDuff & Bill Jennings - Four Classic Albums
Southern Bred Vol 8 Texas R&B Rockers
Dance Craze - The Best Of British Ska ... LIVE!
That Mike
Wouldn't you know it, I checked the mail today and Dave's 40 finally arrived. I suspected it might show up the moment I put my inquiry out to the universe. But I also just relocated to Montreal (doing a postdoc at Dave's alma mater) and it takes twice as long to get anything done here. Or maybe that extra disc just weighed down the postal service.