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    Who's ready to boogie with a little Brent-era Grateful Dead from the Gateway to the West? DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 47 features the complete unreleased show from Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 12/9/79 and you're going to need stamina because this one is high energy from start to finish.


    By the time December 1979 rolled around, Brent Mydland had fully cemented his place in the Grateful Dead canon with his twinkling keys, harmonic tenor, and songwriting skills. No more is that evident than at this show boasting 25 songs including soon-to-be classics from GO TO HEAVEN like "Alabama Getaway," "Don't Ease Me In," "Lost Sailor," and the Brent-penned "Easy To Love You." It's also packed with whirling takes on fan-favorites like "Brown-Eyed Women," "Shakedown Street," and "Terrapin Station." And you've never heard a 2nd set quite like this with eight songs before "Drums" including an improvised "Jam" launching from the end of "Saint Of Circumstance." It doesn't stop there though, with a blazing finale of "Bertha>Good Lovin'" and perhaps one of the best versions of "Don't Ease Me In" the band ever did play. We've rounded out Disc Three with an extra nugget from '79.


    Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, this release was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

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  • daverock
    Joined:
    Crazyness

    Gary - I think it works sometimes. I can still remember sitting in a mates house listening to The Other One - Me and My Uncle- The Other One from 6/8/71 for the first time ( since memorialised on Dicks Picks 35). Jaw dropping.

    I also like that T.A.M.I. show - the one with James Brown and The Stones on.
    My favourite Hendrix on film has always been Woodstock. I like the whole set, but that final 30 minutes is incredible.
    Speaking of which, I noticed the other day that another live Hendrix show is being officially released soon, from August 1967.

  • Vguy72
    Joined:
    The Sphere opens tonight with U2....

    ....event parking prices were released. A hundred bucks. Disgusting.

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Mr. Ones & DR

    T.A.M.I was an incredible production and always worth a watch. DR -I have always enjoy the Les Paul Tributes. He still doesn't get the credit he deserves.

    Oh Yeah, as far as the Magic Bus and Magical Mystery Tour, complete influence from Kesey, thru SF mid-late 60's. Not to throw fire bombs...but where di dark side of the moon come from? Dark Star! I assume everyone has watched the 1964 trip to the World's fair, "Magic Trip." It was really great to see them finish that project.

    Some might not know of Jerry's bus tour in either 63 or 64. He came down south looking for the True Grass. He recorded the radio shows, and some television too. Now me reading that is from the 80's. He spent a week in my state. Weird thing 10 years after, I was taping off the radio and television.

  • Gary Farseer
    Joined:
    Crazyness

    Now I remember in the mid eighties The talk from older than me heads was discussions of the Wildness of DS>El Paso or maybe Me and My Uncle, so a lot seems to be perspective. All I know/presume is that the majority of heads know what its like when they are just hitting a peak and then quickly changing directions. It's like OMG, and then it vanishes, the ride stops short. Great for ticket sales (need to finish that thought). Like for me a Stranger>DS (with drums/space)> DS>Stranger. Last for an hour and 20, would be nice. Some of that is kidding. Shakedown could replace Stranger.

    Bob was interviewed a few year back and he described it in an awesome way. Basically, each tour we get the opportunity to bring forth songs and jams, each one allowing to create new music but also to go back to other jams which have been left unfinished.

    Again, to prolong the musical conversation over decades is interesting to ponder. I should have seen some of the GD bands, besides Ratdog and Phil&F's.

    Is a movie a concert with other interactions or does a straight concert on film allowed.

    Like those discussed and yes for me it is The Band. But as far as straight concert I really like Jimi Hendrix's Blue Wild Angel and the Who's what is it like 1970 at Isle of Wight's performance. I guess my favorite concert recording would be the Who's 1989 PPV. The DVD is fantastic but still have video tape of the PPV, now why would I do that?

    Edit: not including GD

  • Oroborous
    Joined:
    DS>>El Paso

    It wasn’t so much the El Paso, as they tended to like the completely different psychedelic Segway/juxtapositions, it was that Garcia was clearly gonna go Dew…talk about Maximus pleasuris interruptus lol. Fuggin Bob lol

    OBEAH: sounds like you need to take a deep dive into fall 91…the last truly good consistent tour?
    Fall 1991, make a great box…David?…o David?
    9/6/91
    9/8/91
    9/16/91*
    9/22/91
    9/24/91
    9/26/91*
    10/31/91*

    Favorite/must haves*
    7 Shows
    66 one time songs: really good selection!
    16 Repeats
    6 Threepeats
    (Not including D&S)

    The three peats are: Dar Star, Attics, Let It Grow, Saint, Stranger, and Good Lovin’

    The repeats are: Spoonful, Dark Star Jam, Wang Dang, Candyman, Maggie’s, Standing on Moon, Last Time, Stella, Samson, Eyes, TOO, Bertha, All Over Now, Heaven’s Door, Minglewood, and A&A. Hey, no matter how you slice em, Bobs ALWAYS gonna have repeats!

    9/17 and other Oakland and Richfield are probably worthy, but then you start getting into more repeats and perhaps too big a box?

  • proudfoot
    Joined:
    another random

    I see The Last Waltz mentioned by Senor Unos

    If you remember SCTV and the Schmengi Brothers...they had a sketch called "The Last Polka"

    good silliness

    DaveRock has doubts about Dark Star into El Paso...the reviewer in Dupree's Diamond News back the 90s wrote it is "f^cking brilliant!"

    one person's brown acid is another person's Monterey Purple, I tell ya

  • itsburnsy
    Joined:
    Talking Heads

    I used to tell my kids, "there was only ONE good band in the 80's, the Talking Heads" An obvious exaggeration, but maybe not that much of one. Looking forward to the movie, were the punk, were they psychedelic, who cares, their music is good and weird

  • Mr. Ones
    Joined:
    Concert Movies

    Just off the top of my head, it seems to me that The T.A.M.I Show (yes this was a Television Broadcast first), The Last Waltz and Stop Making Sense usually show up near the top of the 'experts/critics' lists. I would add Neil Young Heart Of Gold from approximately 18 years ago, Woodstock (C'mon Man!!), and just a personal favorite, Monterey Pop.

    My Wake of the Flood is "out for delivery"!! Damn, I can't WAIT to put it on the 'box'!!

    Music is the Best!!

  • Obeah
    Joined:
    Simple! + DaP48

    Thanks VGUY I will most certainly check out that recommendation today - I'm stuck at work, and Spotify is my chief source of diversion when I'm here, so I appreciate that heads up and the guidance for getting to the money shot :) All this talk about Simple has def fired me up to want to have a good listen. And any time I hear "Harry Hood" in the same sentence... well, you had me at "Weekapaug"

    As to Dave's 48, hmmm! As I've noted, it's been a Keith-heavy year for official releases, with TWO shows from Vol 45; another from 46; and then five more with the HCS box set. (And there's WotF, too.) Now, the last two "season finale" Dave's releases - Vols. 40 and 44 - have both been Summer 1990 picks. We last had a Pigpen/TC-era release with Vol 43, but before that we have to go back to Vol 30, a gap of 13 picks, so it feels too soon for another one. That would seem to indicate that for this year's "season finale", Vol 48, conditions are ripe for either another Brent release, or maybe it's finally time for Dave's to enter the Vince/Bruce era.

    If the former, it's worth pointing out that there are no Dave's Picks at all from '82, '85, '86, '88 or '89 (ofc '89 does have lots of official releases, unlike those earlier 80s years.) But for the latter, I always wonder about sales. With Dave's 45 (a double release) taking months to sell out, and 46 not sold out at this writing, does Rhino want to bankroll and produce 25,000 copies of a show from '93 or '94? My own guess is "no". Fall 1990 already has some official releases, and so does June 1991. But there are some good Shoreline shows from 1991 including the August stand. The Oakland run in Feb 1991 was notable (NSB breakout on 2/19; long show with Olatunde on 2/20; CNY show with the final post-space Eyes on 2/21, a night where Garcia was clearly 'on'.) And there's also the Halloween run that year - both 10/27 and 10/31 are excellent. So my own feeling is, if Dave's is going to enter the Vince/Bruce era with Vol 48, then we'll see a release from 1991.

  • daverock
    Joined:
    Stop Making Sense

    I thought that was great, too. I played it for various visitors back in the 80's but it didn't really rub off.

    If you had been lucky enough to see The Police on their first British tour, you would have seen The Cramps. Lord have mercy. There was a life changing band.

    Off the cuff, 5 music films I have watched a fair few times over the years have been, in no particular order
    Rock N' Roll Party Honouring Les Paul...........Jeff Beck and guests
    Elvis '56.........................................................a collection of T.V. appearances
    Going Back Home.....................................Dr Feelgood
    Rumble in Brixton Stray Cats - or Live in Japan- Brian Setzer Orchestra
    Ladies and Gentlemen.............................The Rolling Stones live U.S. 1972

    I watched Sunshine Daydream a few weeks ago. I had come to think this show was a bit overrated, but there is some fantastic music cherry picked for this release. China Cat/Rider and Dark Star - Sing Me Back Home are stunning. I'm not so sure about Bob's move into El Paso - that sticks out like a sore thumb. There just to show nobodies perfect, perhaps.

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Who's ready to boogie with a little Brent-era Grateful Dead from the Gateway to the West? DAVE'S PICKS VOLUME 47 features the complete unreleased show from Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 12/9/79 and you're going to need stamina because this one is high energy from start to finish.


By the time December 1979 rolled around, Brent Mydland had fully cemented his place in the Grateful Dead canon with his twinkling keys, harmonic tenor, and songwriting skills. No more is that evident than at this show boasting 25 songs including soon-to-be classics from GO TO HEAVEN like "Alabama Getaway," "Don't Ease Me In," "Lost Sailor," and the Brent-penned "Easy To Love You." It's also packed with whirling takes on fan-favorites like "Brown-Eyed Women," "Shakedown Street," and "Terrapin Station." And you've never heard a 2nd set quite like this with eight songs before "Drums" including an improvised "Jam" launching from the end of "Saint Of Circumstance." It doesn't stop there though, with a blazing finale of "Bertha>Good Lovin'" and perhaps one of the best versions of "Don't Ease Me In" the band ever did play. We've rounded out Disc Three with an extra nugget from '79.


Limited to 25,000 numbered copies, this release was recorded by Dan Healy and has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering. Grab a copy while you can.

Dave:

Give us some Greek shows/boxes (pl).

Favorite Lazy Lightning/Supplication is the 1982-05-22, appears a Cocaine induced Jam, I love it! Think date is correct, not going to dbase to check.

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Yes All the years and changes were GREAT. The Grateful Dead were always Great and everybody has their favorite years and Eras With Personal changes and different lineups they always were an Amazing live Band Having seen them so many times there are a few shows that were a bit Sad to see They were around 1985 and 1986 and again in 1994 and 1995 when Jerry was in a bad place, I do not like to talk about these shows as some of them I travelled many miles to see. and the long ride home was hard to handle. I saw them between 120 and 130 times and 98% of the time they were the most amazing experience of my life. Every Silver Lining's got a touch of Grey. In the end the Grateful Dead 1965 to 1995 are the most amazing 30 year run in Music history

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In reply to by Chuck

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Very well said Chuck. First shows for me were 1986 and just a couple of weeks before Jerry's coma. I felt lucky at the time to see the band a couple of times. I always thought it was gravy from 87 until close to the end. Still get inspired and blown away by their music from the 30 year run. Looking forward to #48 next month.

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Recently listening to Three from the vault, St Louis 71, and Europe 72, I am just asking about the multitracks recordings if there is anything about Fillmore East 71 (a full show 27 or 29) or the final run at winterland in 74 (full show) - St louis is a good show but the sound is not as shining as the others. I return to the capitol 71 shows, they are so good, great shows as a quintet.

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In reply to by proudfoot

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Cocaine never appeared in my orbit when I was young, so I never took it either. I'm sure if it had appeared during my teens I would have had a dabble - I believed in living adventurously. I suppose I could have had a go later in life, but I never felt it was worth it, all things considered. I am not sure what the characteristics of a coke inspired jam would be.

I would watch a biopic of Jerry if it was on the telly. But I would have very, very low expectations.

My understanding is the Fillmore 71 tapes were chopped up to use for Skull Fuck and other things.
Supposedly that’s why they did Ladies and Gentlemen: to use the best of what was available…

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In reply to by Oroborous

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No Bueno!

It was around, luckily we were too poor for that. (It was expensive then)
Occasionally, maybe for special occasions, or weddings or NYE etc, but fortunately only rarely.
If you’ve never, don’t bother.

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...headed to Goose the next two nights at the seaside pavilion in Boston; looks iffy with thunder expected for most of this afternoon/evening, but tomorrow looks good. Will be the start of their Fall tour here before they head to Europe in November for the first time. I've been on this ride for the past 18 months or so, and I have to admit it's been amazing so far with no limits in sight. Each show is literally the best show you've seen, until the next one. Where have we heard that one before?? They are on a true roll. For any who may be skeptical, this is a full-hearted prompt to go and dip that toe into the waters to see what its all about. A lot of stuff on The Tube with a U, and Bandcamp has all of their shows and albums to listen for free (it's all also on Nugs).

Also saw that Phish announced their first festival in many years, holding a spot for next summer already.
In Delaware of all places!
Hey Garth, we're in Delaware....

Be Well People!
Sixtus

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In reply to by Oroborous

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In the mid 80's we a had massive gak parties. Some lasting several days and going thru massive amounts of cocaine. My last dalliance was summer 1986, sort of lines up with other events of 1986. I was born with a heart condition, thought I should stop as the heart palpitations might lead to an arrhythmia. Just before that, Crack started to come out. Remember being in a friend's friends house that had turned into a Crack lab. Man were they a factory. Started to change my views about Coke. Trying to put puzzle together on 86. Only time I smoked crack was in Manhattan, August 86. My brother and I had just left the Blue Note watching Dizzy Gillespie. We were already high on white lightning (name for blotter - and yes there is that deeper connection to Bear and The Human Be-In). We were walking the streets around 2am and we come across a cat hanging out on the front of a brownstone. He was smoking and we started talking. We ended up buying bag of pot from him. He also pulled out another joint and fired it up and then passed to us. After smoking it he told us it was laced with crack. There was only one other time that I was that high and that is the show I wrote yesterday saying I would write about it next year on anniversary of show. We were so incredibly high, that at 3am on a packed subway, New Yorkers were freaking out watching us. It was a ball. I have posted about that night a couple of times here with a lot more detail. So somewhere summer/fall 86 was my last ride. Not sure of timing, remember the party but not the time. Know it was shorty after NYC August 86, but then when was the crack house event...timing of Jerry getting sick. It is all a big blur now. But dang, that feeling of doing two quarter gram lines up each nostril was absolutely amazing. That is, a buddy of mine took a gram divided into four lines and each took two.

Hmmm, I do remember an ear nose and throat doctor soaking my throat with cocaine before she sent a camera up my nose and down my throat. That was 2004, so I guess that counts too.

Everything has its purpose but all things in moderation. Guess that is why I never crossed the line and became an addict to anything.

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In reply to by Gary Farseer

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My memory fails as to his direct relationship. He was a technical type within the Organization. Now where placed I am not sure. Under Bear directly, maybe under Betty. In the documentary, he talks about the very last show of E72 and maybe some other things. He was the last tech in the recording truck, that is, recording switching tapes etc. This last show was pulling him in, blowing his mind. When Morning Dew came, he left and locked up the recording truck and went to go watch. He gives a deeply passionate discussion of that Morning Dew, that it was so incredibly emotive. That Jerry was crying, he began crying and was absolutely blown away with that version. He never went back to the truck and felt fortunate the remaining tape was able to record the whole show. That is my understanding, and from memory 4-5 years old, and my memory is not that great. May have to go back and watch Long Strange Trip, think it is still on Amazon. Might need to re-listen to that show as I became overwhelmed by the last years offerings and didn't make it through the whole E72 box this year. But can renew the listen as I am still digesting HCS and #47, and a lot of other stuff also. I also went thru the From the Vault 1-2.

Here is a direct write up over at rick turner. Anyone want reference website, DM me or look up Grateful Dead's Wiz.

May 12, 2020
Dennis “Wiz” Leonard’s Notes on Europe ’72

Here are my old friend, Dennis “Wiz” Leonard’s tech notes on the recording of the Grateful Dead’s great live album, “Europe ’72”. Most of my blog is my own writing, but I asked Wiz if I could share this, and he graciously said, “yes”. This is the clearest explanation of how Alembic did live recordings that I’ve ever seen. Wiz now works at Skywalker Sound…he went way big league!

Dennis Wiz Leonard Europe ’72 Technical Liner Notes By Dennis Leonard
“Less is more!” This was the motto of Alembic and many of the sound artists in the S.F. Bay Area’s growing community of folks trying to advance the state of the art in both “live” and “recorded” sound for rock ’n’ roll. One can hardly mention this philosophy to recording without touching on the Alembic PA system and its unique qualities.
The new paradigm for live sound: the Alembic PA. In 1964 The Beatles played at Shea Stadium using a circular array of Vox Grenadier Column speakers, a box quite similar to the Shure Vocal Master Column. This approach to sound for a stadium was doomed even if all the girls did not scream. Fast-forward to ’67-70 and things were not much better.
The Alembic PA was the first really hi-fi approach to a live system. It had direct radiator low-frequency elements rather than horn-loaded boxes, which were the standard. It was an electronically crossed-over three-way system using McIntosh MC-75, MC-275, and MC-3500 vacuum-tube amplifiers and Ampex MX-10 vacuum-tube mixers as the front-of- house console. It eventually evolved into the famous Wall of Sound. This was a philosophic approach, brainchild of The Bear, put together by some of the most talented engineers in the Bay Area, and the same philosophy was applied to the task of recording bands.
Alembic Recording did not have a truck to pull up to a venue. We had gear, and we often built a studio at the venue in a room somewhere backstage. Sometimes we would haul the gear to the gig in a rental truck, then unpack and build the studio for the gig in the truck, take it apart when we were done, and take it back home.
Recording Europe ’72 was a monumental task, and we came up with a great solution to building a truck which we could fly airfreight to and from Europe. A video-production company was letting go of a pair of cargo containers built for them to ship a portable video-production remote unit by airfreight. This was perfect—when set back-to-back, these two rode in the top of a 747 airfreighter. Each container was built around a reinforced floor, the sides and top latched on and off.
We moved all of the components of our Ampex MM1000 16-track into a video chassis that put all 16 sets of AG-440 electronics down below the transport which was then on a 45 degree angle. This was not only more robust, but it was also going to allow us to run 14-inch reels. This took place in an all-night marathon. When we started, Ron Wickersham was not sure all of the original cabling would work. We were lucky it did! At around 5 am, the new machine was rolling; no cables needed to be cut or spliced from the original wiring loom!

Another obstacle was that the capstan speed in an MM1000 was derived from line frequency. Ours was a 60-Hz machine and we were going to 50-Hz land. Ron came up with a solution which would also solve another problem down the road: He built a precision 60-Hz crystal oscillator; we drove a McIntosh 275 vacuum-tube amplifier and picked off a tap on the output transformer, which would give us 120 volts with enough current to run the capstan motor at our precise 60 Hz/15ips, also now immune to line-frequency fluctuation. The other problem arose when we tried to get Ampex to give us their 207 tape on 14-inch reels. Ampex 207 had a thinner backing; instead of the traditional 30 minutes one got out of a 10.5-inch roll, 207 would give us 45 minutes, so a 14-inch reel was going to run 90 minutes—very desirable when recording a band with long sets, like the Dead. Ampex would not build the reels; we had to do those ourselves. Remember, we were running the recorder’s capstan on an oscillator, so for building the reels we hooked up a variable-frequency oscillator. We would ramp the machine up to 60ips to pack the tape. Each of the 14-inch reels had a splice in it. Ron and Sue Wickersham and I spent a few nights at Alembic having a 14-inch- reel-building party.
The recording rig was quite simple: “less is more.” We recorded the Dead quite often, so a lot of what we did for Europe ’72 had been tested and proven.
We built the rig at Alembic. One of the newly procured containers had the 16-track and an outboard equipment rack, the other . . . a custom built cabinet which was our tape library, and this cabinet also had our monitor console, Revox two-track, cassette machine, and Orban reverb units mounted on top of it. A carpenter met us at Heathrow airfreight in London. When the gear arrived, we took the sides and tops off of the two containers (which were left there in storage for the tour) and had them forklifted into our rental truck for the tour. The container floors were about ten inches high, so after the two were in the truck, the carpenter secured them and built us a filler floor so that the recording truck would not have a split- level floor.
We wired the truck up and hung drapes and the 4310 JBL monitors, as well as many other things at the first show venue, Wembley Arena.
The flow of the rig, starting inside the venue, consisted of the following:
Two nine-pair snakes plugged into a custom Alembic split. AC from the stage ran to the truck with the two nine-pairs. Once inside the truck, the AC power was conditioned in an automatic, motor-driven variac made by General Radio. This was to, hopefully, prevent severe voltage fluctuation. The split plugged into the rack, which held a patch bay and minimal gear. We had a couple of Ampex MX-10 tube mixers and some limiters. The limiters, by the way, were used only on vocals for our monitor mix; we did not want to do anything to the vocals on the 16-track record master.

One of the big “less is more” philosophic bits of Alembic magic was the use of transformers in the input section of the MM1000. Ampex offered modules which plugged into an octal socket on the back of each 440 record amplifier. We used these sockets for the transformers, which would allow us to take microphone level right into the tape recorder, totally passive—no electronic noise added and no record console electronics to fail.
The MM1000 fed a very small, 16-track Alembic monitoring console built by Ron. Janet Furman was our technical engineer and not only fixed things, but also set up the 16-track to the custom equalization we were using with the thinner-backed Ampex 207 tape. We could monitor, solo, and build a two-track mix on this. We recorded to a Revox B77 and a Sony cassette machine, and we also had some pretty simple spring reverbs for our two-track mixes.
Shows seemed to generally fit on two 14-inch reels and a ten-inch reel or two. Tape changes were quite interesting: We did not have a lot of room and had practiced this quite a bit, and it took three of us to do this at high speed. In an effort to not run out of tape during a performance, we had an indicator-light system of communication. Under Jerry’s monitor wedge there were three small lamps mounted on a piece of wood. The lights could be lit from the truck. A green, yellow, and red light: Green = we are rolling and in record; yellow = if you can wind it down and stop, we need to change tape; red (if, in fact, the band did stop for us) = changing tape, not in record.
This, of course, did not fit in with the way the Grateful Dead worked. There were not going to be any rules. Early in the tour, I tried a “yellow,” asking for a possible wind-down of the jam so that we could change tape. Even though this had been an idea we had discussed Stateside, Jerry was having no part of it! As I switched on the yellow light, I looked at Garcia on our 13-inch B&W TV monitor. He looked up at the camera, knowing I was watching, and simply smiled and nodded no in a very friendly way. Don’t fuck with the music!
We did some tape changes while the band was playing. We really did not want to interfere with the flow of the music.
I was in the truck for the tour, parked in front of the Ampex 16-track. Since we had no record console in the path to tape, the 16-track itself was actually the only place to make any level adjustments, so with our custom MM1000, all 16 of the AG440 record amplifiers were clustered together in two stacks of eight, easy to keep an eye on. Betty Cantor did our live two-track mix in the truck; she was around eight feet away. The band really had no set lists in those days, so as the show went down, I would write one on each of the tape boxes. Bob Matthews was at front of house. We would chat on our intercom after songs, and he, Betty, and I would decide how many stars to give a song: Three stars meant it was a really good performance! The star system was used when we got back home in order to focus on candidates for the Europe ’72 album.
Twenty-two shows in two months (57 days) is a vacation tour. The current tour-booking standard is to average 4.5 shows a week, and the Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour was booked at around 2.5 shows per week. It does not get much better! Although it was an amazing time, with many days off, we took recording this tour very seriously and there was no relaxation on a show day at all.
It was a high time for everyone. The music was just amazing and for me not seeing any of it except on a small B&W TV was OK. I did, however, get inside on the last night. Due to circumstance, I was alone in the truck. We had, only minutes before, put a fresh 14-inch reel up and had 1.5 hours before the next tape change. A microphone onstage needed attention and I had to go inside. I did this with a bit of trepidation; I really did not want to simply leave the truck, but no one else was available and the mic needed to be fixed. The band was in a spacey jam and was very unlikely to produce levels which would be a problem on tape.
I locked the truck, went inside, and quickly fixed the bad mic, which was just a bit loose on its stand. As I went for the stairs to leave, the band dropped into “Morning Dew,” which has always been a favorite tune of mine. I decided to stay. Dynamically, the levels in the truck—which was now “running itself”—were going to be fine, and I had to stay! I parked myself behind Jerry’s rig for the song, a time I will absolutely never forget.
Fast-forward to Alembic Studios, 60 Brady Street, San Francisco. The band is choosing the final songs for the album. I am walking down the hall towards the control room. Jerry bursts out, very animated as he catches me, “Hey, Wiz. Guess what? ‘Morning Dew’ from the Lyceum is for sure going on the album.” (Big smile from Jerry.) He says, very emphatically, “And no one was in the truck!” (Bigger smile.) The Grateful Dead’s music was built on taking chances, embracing the unknown, letting serendipity have its hand. So the fact that, while no one was in the truck, a true pearl was recorded was not unusual at all! It was just an affirmation that we were letting the muse guide us in an invisible and mysterious way.
The tour was a truly magical time. It changed my life forever! If I were to be marooned on an island with only one piece of music I could ever listen to, “Morning Dew” from Europe ’72 would be it. Jerry’s solo says it all!

Oh… One more anecdote, I got back to SF after a quick trip to Vermont to get my dog Zach… Got back to Alembic in time to meet the gear, we were now at 60 Brady street… Big M (Bob Matthews) grabs me and says, “Hey remember we had to fast wind some tapes off, so I want you to play the tour, the whole tour, so all the reels are playback packed at “Tails out” the control room is yours” So I said, “hey I’ll just live here till it’s done, ok?” Big smile from Big M… What a drag, I had to play the whole tour, update thoughts (Star System) on quality and I put another pair of 4310’s in the back of the control room and played the room miss through them… (Surround sound) sat and did a live mix for I am not sure how long, I would play and sleep, sleep and play… But it was pretty constant… Stop every show to clean the heads….. Then I moved up to Fairfax and really slept..
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13 years 5 months

In reply to by Gary Farseer

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I'm with Oro on the snow, no bueno.. it's a terrible drug that ruined many a life of the people I grew up with. It seemed my high school friends that didn't go to college all got 'high paying' jobs (for our age) in contruction, landscaping, cable companies, UPS, whatever.. and all started doing blow... and all experienced serious problems. Going to school, we couldn't afford it that much. A friend in 87 or so turned me on to the idea that the stuff was no good.. stay away.. Danger Will Robinson. And pretty quickly I heeded his advice.

As to Chucks comments.. well said. I saw a few shows where I walked away wondering what could have been or what happened. One was that last show at RFK in 86. Well.. they got much better after that, then they got worse but still had their moments.

In the end we got what we got.. if I have one regret it's that I wish I would have gone to a few more shows. In hindsight, I probably went to as many as I could afford. A very positive experience on my life, I am grateful for that.. and grateful that I got to meet many of you here, and for those I have not met yet.. I at least get to read about your excellent stories, views on life and takes on music and all good things.

Oh, I really liked that interview with Whiz on recording Europe 72 and the most excellent 5/26/72, which they played on SiriusXM last night at 9. Serendipitous it comes up on these threads today. I will listen to it in its entirety very soon...

Be well people.. rock on. or as Mr. Burns said after his first dead show:
Excellent!

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10 years 3 months
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Very timely as I am 8 shows into my first foray of EU72 currently.
Starting Frankfurt today. Looks fantastic on paper.
And dang, quarter gram line? Heart murmur for sure.
In '77-'78 could have shared that much in a long evening with a friend and felt fully satisfied. That was the purest era for sure and, like you, I realized right away it wasn't for me or my heart. Luckily cost was a factor. Could have a whole week's worth of weed for the cost of a one time high. And the next morning was not very nice either. Guess that's why we are all still here, lol. Saw so many go down that wrong road to their detriment.
Cheers

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3 years 1 month
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I'd be thrilled if they release anything from 68, 69 , or 1970. Its gonna be a knockout!

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16 years 10 months

In reply to by Oroborous

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Oroborous,
in the snow... Anyway lucky with the ladies & gentlemen...chopped like in cooking!
fortunately they cooked a good album with Skull & roses.
Hope they save most of winterland 74.
another multitracks recordings era,1980 with these beautiful acoustic sets at The Warfield & Radio City Hall. let's try a song list with cocaine...JJ Cale, Dylan, cocaine Blues (little white wonder), of course Casey Jones, Nick Cave 15 feet of pure white snow, bowie station to station, the thin white duke, the clash Kola Kola. Only use it in party sometimes, interesting drug when you don't really need it.

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16 years 10 months

In reply to by 1stshow70878

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from the best.
Cheers Firstshow

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3 years 1 month
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42 years ago today, I was having a blast, as the Grateful Dead put on a great show to cap off the the best run at the Greek Theatre ( they were all great). Again, time to release this 1st run as a box set. After the show we stopped at Everett & Jones Bbq, down on San Pablo Ave, for some great Q. What a fine way is o spend a Sunday, ( or any day). Those were fun times!

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10 years 3 months

In reply to by sheik yerbones

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..that's the way you spell New York - from the great "Cocaine In My Brain" single by reggae artist Dillinger circa 1976.
Black Sabbath Volume 4 was dedicated to the great COKE - cola Company of Los Angeles, and featured the track "Snowblind". It could also have been why they started playing so fast live around 1973- sounding more like The Ramones than Cream by set ending "Paranoid".

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4 years 2 months
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Cocaine, it has been said, is a hell of a drug. I don't know how any of us survived the '80s. Oh, wait, that's right, some of us didn't. God, I hate that shit.

(You don't have any, do you? Asking for a friend.)

Speaking of getting really fucked up, I've been reading Alan Paul's new book Brothers and Sisters, about the ABB in the '70s. Mostly about how they overcame Duane's tragic death and reborned themselves and somehow made their best record ever. (Not sure I totally agree with Brothers and Sisters being their best record--if it's not the Fillmore live thing, then wouldn't be Eat a Peach?--but it is a hell of a fine album.) Seems like the whole ABB was in and out of rehab during those years, and they weren't the only ones.

Anyway, I'm at the part of the book where they're getting ready for Watkins Glen, and Paul is writing a lot about the kinship and collaboration between the Dead and the Brothers. Those guys really loved each other at that time, and took every opportunity to play gigs together and to jam. I was surprised to realize how many times they jammed on stage together, sometimes for hours. Not sure how much of that stuff ever made it on tape, but it sure would make a nice box some day if somebody could pull it all together.

Just re-listened to DaP 47. Still digging it. The single drummer, '72-73 years are always going to be my go to Dead, but it's nice to have stuff like this: different keys, different tunes, different feel.

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15 years 3 months
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My favorite Greek run.
I liked the staggered start times: 7pm on Friday, 5pm on Saturday, 3pm Sunday. All great shows, none of them in the vault.

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12 years 1 month
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Phish site has Story of the Ghost 2-LP Vinyl [Big Secret Pressing] up for preorder.

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4 years 4 months

In reply to by Cousins Of The…

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your revelation that those shows are not in the vault...

OUCH.

:_(((

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14 years 10 months
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A DH friend took me to hear Bombino last night, and my brain is still a simmering puddle of goo. You had the dream where Ravi Shankar and Santana merged into one entity, then joined the GD on stage in 1968 for a 90-minute "Eleven"? That's a Bombino show.

He just started a tour in Minneapolis last night, so he's coming somewhere near you soon. Get some.
bombinomusic dot com /tour

Be kind, rewind.

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10 years 3 months
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The dead net "store" has found some things in the corner of the warehouse.
Dave's 31- 43 (except 37)
Fillmore West 3-1-69 vinyl and a couple other vinyl offerings
Giants box '87, '89, '91 and the Listen to the River box
Some glassware, gnomes, trading cards etc., no hatchets Dennis.
Limited quantities.
Cheers

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11 years 8 months

In reply to by Deadheadbrewer

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most folks probably got the notice, there's a limited leftovers sale just announced "That's It for These Ones"... some stuff was gone within minutes... Giants box for example.

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7 years 1 month
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I LOVE Dillinger!!!.......I got a greatest hits CD of his (Ultimate Collection). So much great music on it. "Marihuana In My Brain", and my personal favorite, "Repatriation Time". Unfortunate that he succumbed to the white devil. I also have a RSD release from him which I have not opened yet.....CB 200.

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17 years 6 months
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Doesn't help the blood pressure to have received the "That's It" email at half six this evening! Even the ruddy Turtle had booked it by then!

If only I'd been prepared to eat sh*t all those years ago and realise taking a stand about rude and obnoxious behaviour was only ever going to have one winner! lol.

I read an article earlier about the Swatch/Omega MoonSwatch launch. The author is not a "flipper" by nature, finding the whole profiteering nature of special limited release handling by some to be a tad stinky.

For instance, how can someone have 10 plus of an Item on release day when the item was limited to "one per person, per store, per visit and where queues were around the block with many not even getting to the pre-entry before stock emptied? That sort of thing...

Anyway. He saw his £150 purchase almost immediately get genuine offers on the resale market in excess £3000. The watch wasn't "limited", just reserved for instore purchase ony, and there are actually very, very few Swatch outlets in place in the world! Basically, there was simply a supply / demand thing and he chose not to flip what is essentially a disposable plastic gimmick.

(FYI, I actullay got one on my birthday because I love manned space flight and this was a chance to own a fun little memento / homage to the orignal 60's Omega Speedmaster used "officially" in the Apollo program. I did NOT pay £3000.. Things have levelled out in the secondary market and although I did pay over reatil price for a genuinely "limited" piece (with a unique second hand to represrtnt his year's Floral Moon), the long and short is that the premium easily covered the cost of transport to and from the nearest Swatch outlet where stock was in no way guaranteed. Far from it!

Back to the author mentioned above. General consensus was that to not flip £150 to £3000 was definitley right up there as being almost religious in being true to one's principles, but also just plain stupid. Both of which I have to agree with.

There was a point... Oh yes.

Basically, I'f I'd just taken a little sh*t from the new GD customer service guy back in the earliest days of the store being moved to Warner's, I wouldn't be getting a little bummed about missing chances like today to fill the gaps.

Problem was that I'd been so ruined by the days when the extended family ran the show and were never anything less than amazingly nice, that the clueless dumbass (not bitter still eh?) who I spoke to really jarred me and drew an extreme "well thank you f*ck you!" from myself.

The lesson being that by all means, stick to your principles... But then ask in the long term"whos really gonna get screwed in this instance? If it means your'e helping others by standing shoulder to shoulder, go for. But, if it's just going to make your life harder... Man, what's the actual point? Don't confuse Principles with Pride I guess.

Right. That's my thesis ejaculated out into the wild for no real reason other than to get it off my chest. :-) Love y'all!

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10 years 3 months

In reply to by rasta5ziggy

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Rasta5Ziggy - that's the only song I have ever heard by Dillinger, and one of the few reggae records I actually bought. I came across it when I was living in a hostel around 1976. Across the road was this record shop that blasted out reggae at top volume out into the street. I think reggae records were the only ones the shop sold. I can remember there was a huge poster of Peter Tosh in the window, from the cover of "Legalize It". I thought that Dillinger record was one of the coolest things I had ever heard in my life ! Still got it, in fact.

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17 years 6 months

In reply to by Doingtheneedful

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“Pridefulness, that shit will fuck you up”
or something like that?
Marcellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction
One, of many great scenes, I use the line often…

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9 years 2 months

In reply to by daverock

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If anyone buys any of the CD’s, let us know if they have numbers on them.
If no numbers, then maybe they are extras made as replacements for people with defective/damaged CD’s or promo/freebies to be given out by Rhino/WMG.
If numbers, and these items were truly ‘lost’ in the warehouse, then that confirms once again that Rhino/WMG is still not very good at keeping inventory.

When I got the email I clicked on DaP1 vinyl but there weren’t any available. Probably wouldn’t have bought it if it was available. But would have been tempted.

Missed the trading cards too..

Apparently, Pigpen was upside down in the first pressing of the 1965 Pigpen Cards. All were found and destroyed by their crack Quality Assurance Team except two that accidentally slipped into packages and into circulation. They are quite rare and I have to have one.

I will trade 3 hatchets, two aprons and three Cosmic Firestarter's for an upside-down Pigpen. If you have a 76 Donna, I will throw in the rare Cosmic Mushroom Foraging Tool and an unused pair of Skeleton and Roses socks.

PM me with any reasonable offer

Cone Kid, I was thinking the same thing.. replacements or extras made for damaged or lost CDs.

For what it's worth, nobody messes with me when I have a Workingman's Hatchet on my side.

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17 years 5 months

In reply to by JimInMD

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....by Ween going into commercial during the Thursday Night football game!!
My ears perked up. That was cool.
Dusted off my Spring TOO box. Nassau Coliseum 3.28.90 sounding mighty fine. 👌

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10 years 1 month
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DHBrewer - You mentioned Bombino!, so I checked his music out - very intriguing. A band I listen to with the same sensibility is Tinariwen, who are Tuareg people from the Sahara region of Mali, who specialize in “Desert blues”. It is music that transfixes Western ears with its exotic rhythms, and excellent guitar playing. I read Nils Cline (Wilco) played with these guys, was how I came upon them. (Think musicians similar to those that jammed with the Dead in Egypt, or any of Mickey’s excellent World Music collections). A number of albums out there, excellent stuff for when you just need to change the channel for a while. Thanks for the heads up on Bombino!
Happy Friday all.

Love the wide ranging music tastes brought forth here. From left field, here's something local. Last night had the great privilege of landing in the front row of folding chairs in the hosts living room, a house concert with no more than 40 people total, for John Doyle and Mick McAuley, (formerly of Solas) trad acoustic Irish music of the first order. What a treat on the side of a hill in central Vermont, pot luck beverages and desserts, dogs and kids. John is an extraordinary guitar player, Mick played guitar, squeeze box and pipe. We hung with them on the back porch at intermission, they mixed it up with the guests. They are in Boston this weekend. It's astounding that "Listen to the River" box has not sold out.

Earlier this morning I turned by AXS TV and Sammy Hagar's television show "Road Trip" was on. I had seen this one from before, year 2016. Sammy is with Bob and Mickey doing a little jam at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley. He then goes to Mickey's lair to do some improv with Mickey. Mickey's home studio is incredible, basically has Mickey's half of the stage set up, all his toys. Before they go improvise, Mickey says, "no you dont have to be on drugs to jam." To which Sammy rambles a bit and then says "I don't do cocaine, but I know what it smells like." Funny but interesting.

Also wondering if any have seen the 20 minute film found on Showtime titled "When Carry Grant Introduced Timothy Leary to LSD." Funny film, but also historically accurate as Carry Grant explained himself. He started dropping in 1958, kind of an intersting date. Don't think he was a part of any CIA/government expeiments. I think he was turned on by his psychiatrist. Interesting world we live in.

Edit: here is a quote from online magazine??? Observer.

Undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s greatest leading men, Grant – star of such varied classics as Charade (1963), North by Northwest (1959) and Monkey Business (1952) – liked to partake in the use of the psychotropic drug, LSD. This is no urban myth – or fake news – this is a documented fact, straight from his mouth (and told to publications so elicit as Good Housekeeping magazine). During one of his hallucinations he “imagined myself as a giant penis launching off from Earth like a spaceship.”

Haven’t we all?

Enter Timothy Leary. The two men corresponded through letters and his adoration of the silver screen actor led to experimentation with the drug. Leary, as you are no doubt aware, was a proponent of LSD use during the Sixties, urging everyone to “turn on, tune in, drop out.”

Preliminary sketches and pics made about 5-6 months shows it is "the best, most thought out entertainment facility built to date." My words.

I wish the Sphere would have consulted and used Meyer Sound for the permanently installed PA. They went with holoplot. Holoplot building on the years of research by Meyer and Ultrasound.

Quick quote from there website.

A revolution in sound control

HOLOPLOT Technology is science-based, software-driven, hardware-enabled – and offers previously inaccessible features, application benefits and value.

The synergy of the innovative X1 Matrix Array, advanced proprietary algorithms and integrated software applications, enables two core HOLOPLOT technologies: 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis. 3D Audio-Beamforming allows for precise shaping and steering of beams in two dimensions to easily create sound fields that optimally cover audience areas of any shape and size. Wave Field Synthesis enables an exceptionally authentic sound localization with lifelike distance and directional perception of audio objects, creating realistic and deeply immersive soundscapes.

HOLOPLOT Technology is a revolution in sound control – a completely new way of designing and experiencing audio for both functional and creative applications.

Funny how bad our society is and constantly dreams up the next wave of stuff to capture the ear. Their sound system is based in science. Cant wait, and wonder, why Meyer sound doesn't come out and over marker themselves, I would, and say "Meyer Sound systems are now developed and engineered completely by science and optimized Artificial Intellegence."

Holoplots systems look like complete copies of Meyer, developed or stolen by germans, except a shot I saw early this year showed they had small, maybe, 1 inch tweeters. So each of those tweeters can point directly at an individual seat within the Sphere or any other venue in which it is installed. Not sure about Meyer, but Meyer doesn't really show the deep workings within their systems online. I am not charging but sort of hypothesizing that Meyer had a german mole within the company.

Just another Weekend Chatter thoughts.

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10 years 3 months

In reply to by Gary Farseer

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My understanding - which might be wrong of course - was that Cary Grant took LSD as part of what was called "psychedelic therapy" under the guidance of a psychiatrist. He was clearly an advocate, but not a recreational user in the way people were in the 60's and 70's.

It's curious, reading about the history of LSD, how it became almost appropriated by Timothy Leary, and to a lesser extent Ken Kesey, who went on to define it's culture, and to some extent how it should be taken. There was nothing in the 1950's to suggest it would become a recreational drug of choice associated with rock music and young people. There is a school of thought that says Leary and Kesey were partly responsible for knocking psychedelic research back decades.

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17 years 6 months
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I never took any notice of Timothy Leary or Ken Kesey when carrying out my own extensive research into the effects of LSD on my grey matter. 🧠

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15 years
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caught Tangerine Dream Monday night at the Orange Peel in Asheville, Nc. A small to medium sized venue holds 1000 people SRO. There were seats set up on most of the floor and mostly people sat for the show. There were of course several standing as seats were an extra 15 and the standing area was actually a really good view. I ventured back there from my seat a couple of times and the sound was intense but not too loud to annoy, but you could feel the low notes and was said that the room sounded great in E so the ending jam was in E to E flat, some bone shaking vibrations that were tremendous. I hadn't felt anything like it except maybe when Mickey would hit those low notes on the Beam, right through you and could feel it in your chest, so good. There were 2 screens, one on each side of the stage, that had some really cool graphics going on, melting and fractals swirling along with the music.
The set list was taken from their website as I only recognized three of the tunes that they played. Love on a Train from Risky Business, Raum and Phaedra.
Improvised intro>Los Santos City Map>Continuum>Love on a Train>Raum. A pause for lots of applause. Then right back at it, No Endings>Betrayal(Sorcerer Theme)>Rare Bird(1st time played on tour)>Portico >Choronzon. More applause as the three members took a slight pause and accepted everyone's love. The band is really jelling now. Logos Velvet (first time played on tour) Tangram Set (another first)>Cloudburst Flight>You're always on Time>White Eagle>Phaedra. Off the three went for a much deserved break as the 400 or so patrons and I voiced our approval of their performance. Right away, not but a minute or two out they came and showered love on us as being an excellent audience who actually listened. Then as is customary with Tangerine Dream, the encore was an improvised session that lasted about 25 minutes, sometimes turning on a dime and leaving the two screens blank or frozen in place. 2 hrs plus a 25 min improv nice show, highly recommended. Check out their facebook page for more info if interested. Quite a trippy show.

PT - great review, cheers. The last time I saw them was the last time they played in England with Edgar Froese - must be about 10 years ago. Good to read that they are still out there.

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