Grateful Dead

For Bluecrow---and any other interested parties:

I'm aware of the recently posted "2/5/1970". With all due respect to the person who uploaded it---and for which I'm grateful---I'm skeptical. The lineage is not well documented. It is an audience recording and I need to check it out further.

Also, the setlist does not match the known lists for circulating copies, were are very reliable.

The fact that both Mason's and Alligator were played narrows it down to the December 1969 to February 1970 period. This period is actually very well documented EXCEPT for the possible Honolulu show of 1-22-70 (maybe a good candidate?) and the Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston shows of February 20 to 22 1970. I suppose it's possible, but for now I withhold judgement.

I shall report back with any developments.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders......

Rock on,

Doc
Give light and people will find the way......

Aside from personal feelings about this year, 12/26/79 Brokedown Palace deserves some love in any universe.
Peace

Check your PM TN John.

It wasn’t at bt.etree or trader’s den.
I can’t get to LL because it was hacked months ago and no browser (Firefox, chrome, safari) will let me access it.

Thanks for reporting back gentlemen - I'm not a torrent person and was passing on some interesting news I saw with thought it will be more widely available. I had noticed the set list wasn't a match. love a good mystery.

tail end of KPFA GD Marathon is/was a sweet copy of Avalon 4/4/69 - maybe from the OSF tapes(?) you mentioned Doc. np The Eleven.

Hey rockers!!

Tried to post last night but the Hey Now Squad got me. Careful comparison reveals that recording to be the real deal. Not the greatest recording, but hey now it was 1970 technology.

So, with all due respect and apologies, rock on!

Doc
If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late......

What’d you say about spring ; )
Shit, where’s the advil lol

I jinxed it. 15 inches here Oro! Drifts up to my knees. 2nd biggest overnight snow in the 11 years we've been on this side of town. In the top 10 for 29 years here in Montrose. March is our snowiest month. After I finish shoveling it's Dead all day!
Cheers

SORRY...detest/have no use for/dislike that stuff falling out of the sky...just MY old person's view on cold, shoveling, slipping, and piles of black on the roadside, but enjoyed it if you can.

currently sunshine 62 degrees cloudless skies

Yep, couch is key today lol
We prolly only got 10” but since it rained so much first it had that Sierra cement base that just wrecks what’s left of the shoulders : (
But hey, it was starting to get droughty, so like that joyful little Garcia uptick at the end Keasey spoke off, I guess we’re happy for the moisture!
AND, now we get a dead in the bed hall pass lol…at least until it snows more ; )
EDIT: funny/not funny, yeah, TOO was out there less than two minutes when she twisted her ankle, messed up the opposite knee falling, and her thumb also. Funny only because now I can tease her and say “some folks will do anything to get out of shoveling ; )

Spinning some true spring Garcia - Live 15 Garcia and Saunders at the Keystone Korner 5/21/1971.

haha - getting HN trying to write about your snow

we want that stuff here!! all we got was a lot of w i n d and d u s t!

Take care of that lady Oro. So sorry to hear that. Anything like that at this age is tough. We don't bounce like Bumbles do, to quote Yukon Corneleus.
BC, we'll send it down the San Juan in a couple months. Have your raft ready, lol.
Cheers

Turn off the GD HN filter, FFS

Some point next few days perhaps give this one a listen and let’s us know your mind!

We are pretty beat up for our age, but luckily she’s a tough ole gal lol

Bc: sure you could use it on the ground too, but at least the snow I shoveled will melt into brush creek, flow the couple miles to the Eagle, and about 15 more to the Colorado, where it’ll provide for south western Lawns, cemeteries and golf courses lol
Cheers!

Sorry to hear about the Mrs OB.

Hope that snow melts soon.

Will get 4/8/89 going this week.

...hoping it's just muscle aches and a bruise or two; be well!

I have a copy in stock if you need or want.

a year earlier I would have been at both of these but life was moving to a new place and I was focused on that. haven't ever really checked them out. will do.

the 4/4/69 on the KPFA marathon was a fresh Charlie Miller remaster of an existing lineage that originated with Latvala. So not straight from a OSF master reel. up on archive as of today. sounds very sweet.

Oro - hope the missus is doing well. bumps and bruises get tougher and tougher to get past. and don't get me started on how water in the west gets used. so I'm thinking of happy trees and mushrooms in the high country come summer :)

onward!!

Thanks.
I got Hey Now’d sending you a PM.

I can hold off for now and will try to acquire it in the future if it appears at etree.
I can get to the shn flac site on an iPad (didn’t log in), but on a computer it’s blocked because it’s not secure according to various browsers.

I'm getting to this now.. I love one of the comments on setlists dot net

I remember the rain, and the cops and far too much very strong acid.

That got my attention.

I am trying to participate more but even the simplist things wake up the heymeow police.

One of five attempts are seeming to get these days, with one arm in a sling, it's like they have special a filter to screw with the disabled. This filter censorship thing is BS

Add two more heynows to the list.. nothing seems to be getting through

(Miller SBD) 2nd set starts with Box of Rain?
Angry Brent gets a 9 min. Blow Away.
Solid show. I think I remember Bobby giving an interview saying 1989 was some of their best later stuff.
Cheers

Says thanks for the well wishes.
She’s fine, perhaps hurt her pride most, just a little sore is all.
Think Jim got beat up worse by the Hey Know Police! ; )
Sounds like the bastards turned it up to 11.

Box O Rain was the encore fyi…

I’ll try more later, when I’m done shoveling for the fourth time in 3 days…

Encore got tucked after Set 1 to save space if you were burning to disc, like you would sometimes see in the cassette days. That can fool ya. DaP 49 did it for the 2nd Frost show. The most recent Miller transfer of the Healy/Pierson Ultramatrix has it in correct order. Haven't quite got there yet. Just hit drums and need to break for another task.

For those who torrent, summer 89 and fall 89 are at etree as single torrents.
Summer 91 was there too.
Was there last weekend and grabbed them in case they are upgraded from what I already have.

Been marching through spring 89 (everything I’ve not heard up to 5/27/89)
Just a few shows left then I’ll report back…

Like that exact moment they drifted from China Cat into I Know You Rider

Regardless of the year, words cannot describe.

(did the really make it through HeyNow?)

If I was to give someone a very brief indication of why I liked The Dead, to someone who had never heard them, I would chose a version of China-Rider. For me, one from between 1972-1974. As the first one I heard was on the old "Europe 72" album, that would be a likely contender.

Though I did not relisten to a few shows previously heard, I did rehash several, and some shows multiple times. I started at 2/5 and went in order, finishing with the excellent 5/27 show.

Overall this is a very good, consistent period, though still not as fully gelled as the awesome summer and fall periods. I think this can be attributed to it being yet another transitional period. With the newer songs from the previous year still percolating , as well as several new tunes getting hashed out, (interesting during any era) combined with tech changes and evolving personal roles, it is an interesting period.
One that I hadn’t previously really looked at, and now glad I finally did!

I think generally, the earlier shows of the year are perhaps more consistent than is historically sometimes the case,( but historically similar) in perhaps being a teeny bit subdued, comparatively.
Their all good, enjoyable shows, didn’t hear a dude in the bunch, but hey, they can’t all be top shelf. So I found a nice progression through the spring that really started to gel and peak during the spring tour proper. I hopefully, Iprovide a nice jumping off point for anyone interested in what ever tour I’m stumbling through.

3/28/89: vguy suggested this on POTD awhile back and I liked it as much now as I did then. In fact, it’s in my top picks. A fine show but perhaps just a pace or two off the leaders?
So much of this can be subjective, and though I try to critically listen to all the shows, over time etc, it’s really hard to pick a “best” etc.
So I try to do the leg work for folks who may have a cursory interest about a tour, but not the time or sanity to waste going through the whole thing lol.
So hopefully, I provide a nice jumping off point for anyone interested in what ever tour I’m stumbling through.

I was at the Pittsburgh shows and we felt they continued the promising progression since the big 86 collapse, but though we liked the shows, I recall thinking good but…
years later, with the DL release, I was grateful to get an attended show, but still had some dissonance, perhaps another right city street, but wrong house?
This time around I was really scratching my pointy head at first, but long short, feel the first show kind lacks, except for the fun post drums sequence etc.
The next night however, I felt was a tad above the tour status quo and in the running for a top pick? (But still think perhaps they missed the mark slightly, maybe it was about the tapes? But again, this can all be so subjective).
More importantly, this show or perhaps end of first night can really be seen as point of demarcation from earlier, to the hieght of this period!

4/5&6/89: I think 4/5 is most definitely a tour tops and recommended.
4/6, Conekids first show I believe, is good, but another perhaps just below that top dog line? Another good tour status quo show on the sixth, but not quite the lightning of the fifth?

4/8/89: though we were at this one also, and really enjoyed it, my memory was of a good but ?…And I had a tape of the first and a couple songs from the second, but hadn’t heard the whole show until a few years ago. It perked my interest but I didn’t get back to it until now, and wow, really glad I did! Have a story for this one but I’ll do that later…yeah it’s in my top picks and maybe not THE show but there’s just something about this show, the vibe? The flow, The set list (mostly), and like the whole tour Brent is strong, and because if it’s uniqueness I think this might be my favorite Blow Away of the tour? Vocal harmonies too which were generally really strong over this period!
Well, you can check it out if you please.
I highly recommend a listen and it’s on my top list.

4/9/89: another great show. Fun stuff and more consistent tour status quo, but as throughout the tour you get the occasional vocal flub or miscue, especially with some of the new material. I found this show another, good, but just a step off the pace…

4/11, 12, 13/89: more overall more of the same, in a good way, though the second night seemed a bit of a creeper and the first night (a fine previous DV pick) seemed the strongest of the three, and yet another close but….

4/15/89: same here as several. Good but…not…quite…? I really liked this show and it’s on my second string list.

4/16&17/89 were good, but perhaps on the tour downside or just past the peak section of this period? Very subtle and the kind of thing I think you can only really get if you do whole tours.

IRVINE: more of the same but perhaps a bit looser and thus a bit less tight?
Again, subtle feels and paying attention to misses etc. Perhaps just a touch of California laid back no worries sun fun, as they do sound like their having fun, actually that’s a prevalent vibe through: they were having fun again, getting new momentum etc.
Perhaps a lab opportunity too as they continue to prominently roll out the new stuff for good or sometimes for ill, and definitely here for the Cali crowd.

FROST: boy Frost shows sure seem to both inspire but with some of that laissez-faire Cali home vibe. And these are no different. They open with a good Jack and proceed with a fun set list, though Just a Little Light is still a work in progress. Solid second set which I had a tape of, with cool PITB and yet another cool drums into space, that was stepped up all tour and with the midi addition has become more “other” less trad drums, which I’ve always really dug!
But finally hearing 5/7 I’d have to say I liked that one more, though there were some obvious whoopsies lol. Bird Song was sweet and has been throughout the tour.
One of the spring highlights for me, but I’m sure not others lol is the midi space fest as they really go to town having a ball with the new toys! Really, the whole sequence from He’s Gone through Black Pete is some of the best stuff I heard so far this year!
Another good show, on my second string list just because of the slop factor, comparatively speaking…

Which brings us to show completely off my radar 5/27/89
This was perhaps the biggest surprise of this trip.
And unlike many of these larger multi group bene shows that sometimes get played safe etc, this one has great energy and illustrates how things have progressed nicely over the course of the year during this interesting transitional period, just before and leading up to what I and some consider one of the best stretches in their thirty year history: summer 89 through summer 90!

So, top picks in no real order (whichever I listened to last was best ala Jim ; )
4/8, 4/5, 4/3, 3/28 and 5/27, with second string 4/9, 4/11, 4/15 and 5/7…
That may be a lot, but that’s because if how overall comparative this stretch is, thus not only one or two that really jump out.
I think if you have any infinity for this era you’ll at least enjoy any of these picks, find them a good jumping off point, and hey, sometimes you might even get shown the light ; )

Well, it was fun, but glad it’s over as to really dig in you have to keep at it and by the end I was doing like a weeks of two a days, and 3 DHBs at the end. Actually, more DHBs as I’m rehashing some of my top picks in playoff round lol. Hey, sorry, getting hockey fever lol.
ONWARD!

Prolly cleanse this WE with more 74, then perhaps a week of 69, maybe a bunch of April 69, then a little more May 79 and/or pickup 84 again…

Maybe not 74 China Rider good, but the one from 4/8/89 ain’t no slouch 😀

Yes, my first, and the best concert I had seen in my life up to that point. I was sold, where’s the bus, I’m getting on.

And the laid back atmosphere of Ann Arbor. The cops didn’t even come into the parking lot. I was amazed at what I saw going down on Shakedown Street.

So glad I went. My life changed for the better.

thnx for the reminder, it did get alot of airtime back in the mid-90's {it hits many of fav tunes + black muddy river}, THNX again, just pulled the DL>CD's out of the treasure chest, and it's gonna be tomorrow's LISTENING Party!
everyone enjoy your WEEKEND!
PEACE ALL!
uncle_tripel

Hey rockers!!!

April 6???? Go back twenty years earlier, then come and we'll have a friendly chat.........

There are three side effects of acid: enhanced long-term memory, decreased short-term memory, and I forget the third.............

Doc
Memory is the fourth dimension to any landscape.....

Spring 69
It’s go time lol
What can you PLEASE recommend for us that we HAVE NOT heard yet?
You line em up and we’ll chow em down!

Here’s the shows from this period that haven’t been POTD, or released. (My POTD list may not be accurate)
4/12, 18, 20, 21-23, 25, 5/2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 4/13?

Here’s the POTD already
3/15, 29 4/4-6, 11, 15

Here’s what I have that’s been released
2/11, 2/22, 2/27-3/2, 4/17, 4/26&27

Ok, balls in your court big guy, what’s you got for us?

Hey rockers!!

I wrote a long response but got Hey Now'ed.

Start with April 13, 18, and the Ark shows. Skip May for now, but go backwards to early February. And check out Moraga in May, lol...........

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.....

Doc
The purpose of life is a life of purpose

But I like to go in order to feel the transition.
So I’ll poke around in February a bit first, maybe hit the box and await Futhur orders when the flux capacitor in the com hubs monkey wrench is unwrenched!

Make sure you check these out:

2/7: Pittsburg. Kinda fierce and kinda crazy good.
2/15 Philly. A very "large show" pretty much everything that could be expected at this time. MIller put out a pretty decent remaster last year.
2/21: First Dream Bowl. Short but solid.

And you haven't even touched January yet. Start with the 17th--some very good recordings of this out there, then take a stroll through the Avalon shows.

Enjoy the exploration!

Doc
We're on this planet for the briefest of moments in cosmic terms, and I want to spend that time thinking about what I consider the deepest questions.....

10/31/69, 6/27 & 28/69

It has been Black Peter time at my house this week OB. Trying to dig out of a terrible flu bug.

Hell of a post on spring 89. Recordings available are hit and miss and don't match the multi tracks from summer through fall 89. Still some great shows there and would love to see them put one out for official release. I believe the one and only release was from the download series #9 from the Igloo (18 years ago).

Hope we get some release news soon.

Come on it’s time to go

1/17 and 2/21 we’ve done, former good, latter excellent!

But amazingly I don’t think I’ve hit all of the January Avalon run, so that’s where I’ll start. Then 2/7 and 2/15, maybe I’ll rehit 2/11…anything else we haven’t done in March that’s worthy?
Would like to hit the Ark shows as I’m not sure I’ve heard all and think they should be done all at same time. I’d like to try to get up to RT 4.1 for this trip, then I’ll probably go back to 79 and/or 84? But I marked down 6/27&28 and 10/31/69 and will hit those later in the year when I need a 69 cleanse again lol

Ha, my only purpose in life now seems to be to battle poor health, and try to listen to every Dead show I reasonably can….well, at least I’m kicking ass at one of em ; )

DV: rut roah, seems there’s been some real bad flu this year.
Hope y’all feel better soon!
And big kudos to the Edina boys on the big state championship!

I mostly went with the Ultramatrixs to keep things consistent.
I found them mostly good, but no idea of what’s available overall?
Yep, we were at the Pittsburg shows (DL 9).
The first is sorta anaemic, but the second night (3rd) was good.
Still wonder if another right city, street, but wrong house?
As good as the third is, I still think others might be as good or better, especially 4/5! Really, there’s no dog in the bunch and several could be considered a top pick depending on who’s picking ; ) Hopefully interested folks can find a show or two here to dig!

Ok, January Avalon
ONWARD,

Pittsburgh 4/3 was the first time I had to call in “sick” from the hotel pay phone.
Trick was to find out how much the call cost (remember no cells so people still used pay phones, and have proper coinage before so call could go through and they’d not know it was LD , AND, no one was dumb enough to call from the room lol
“Hello, Louie, I’m afraid I’m not feeling so well…” while tripping freaks are laughing and yelling in the background lol. Yeah, I may be dumb but I’m not stupid ; )
And because I’d just started that new job and actually liked it, had to blow off the excellent Ann Arbor shows, had tix and a ride with BOO469 and everything, sigh…
4/8: went with a gal who was just a friend, but we probably should have been more, and not sure how after this show we weren’t lol. Between the song list and the X we probably were hugging the whole damn show lol
Yeah, wasn’t playing on tripping as I had to drive back that night (more on that later). But long short some guy came by in the lot and figured, hell we’ll just split a quarter 2.5 ways and be fine. I feel bad cause I kinda messed with the guy about if it was good etc. We’d just spent much of fall 88 going down that road a lot so felt pretty confident about our experience, but boy, oo-eee that was some good sheet. Id never before or since had X that strong, holy crap lol. And the poor gal with me had never done it!
So as you know, that comes on very fast comparatively, so we dropped right before going in and man before we were even out the lot shit hit us like a freight train. I remember she started getting the fear as we approached the one busy street we had to cross then up the steps and in, but she was having a hard time.
It was all gloomy and noises and I think steam coming outta the manholes lol, like instantly being plunged into a scary movie! But being a pro, I knew it’s get better after that first big rush and knew set and setting if we could just get inside all would be well with the world!
So after careful tender sharing of this key data, we finally got the nerve to go, once inside we were so high we just walked right in the back abd stayed there the whole night. Thank goodness the ushers didn’t kick us out lol.
But once inside, we immediately could feel the love and as I say, I think we swayed and hugged and danced the night away in a awesome blissful state.
Probably why I didn’t “know” this show better lol.
But the story doesn’t end there. Even after, another anomaly, we were still too damn high and there was no way I was going to make back to WNY from Cincinnati that way, so don’t recall who/how etc, but somehow we ended up across the river flopping in somebodies? hotel room on the floor with only just enough floor space for us to curl up and crackle a few hours before leaving.
Now the part all these years later that frosts my ass, is that we didn’t go to Louisville.
Not sure if she had to be back, but I had that relatively new job so I had to be back Monday after calling in previous week from Pittsburgh. But 4/9 was a Sunday, and back then my CC Cassady skills were epic, so if we’d have gone and not tripped etc, it would have been tough, but I’d done it before: (drive all night after a show and go to work next morning.)
Probably paranoid of crossing the mason-hippie line lol
But whatever, as it’s all so long ago, yeah, that’s one I wish I could redo.
Thank goodness for the archive though so we can relive all these wonderful shows, joyful ecstatic moments and some of the fear and danger too, now comfortably and safely from our homes! We are pretty fortunate in so many ways!

Thanks man! Great run.

Love those 89 stories, keep them coming.

Still trying to dig out of this crap, it is not going away.

Had this year's back in the fall.
Took a week. Worst one in years.
Hit me almost 3 weeks after the flu shot when I thought I'd be fully immunized by then. I always blame it on kids going back to school making a germ factory, lol.
Cheers

Thanks man.

So, we are getting close to mid March and we haven't had a box set announcement. Looks like we will not have a Spring Box. They might be setting us up for a fall release to coinside with that fall 74 run. We will see.

In the meantime, cuing up 11/5/77, Dicks #34.

I'm in. Snow day here but nothing like the front range. Got our biggie last week. I-70 closed and the Denver skiers asked the state patrol how can we get there from here and they simply said you can't. Always a better ski day after the storm anyway, lol.
Cheers

Edit: Fired up the Minglewood opener loud. Jerry's tone and first solo tells me this is going to be a good one. "Some things you just know." Dick's 28-36 is just a hot run. I'm drawn to those frequently.

but Rhino's Central Scrutinizer gave me a giant hey now foot up the ass

# WOS 50th Box Set designed like a mini Wall of Sound

Love it Jim! I want it. My money is ready.

Yes, 1st show, totally agree 28-36 are great. Hard to believe at the time they didn't sell well so they decided to close up shop. Always makes me nervous when the Dave's don't sell out.

Listened to the whole release today and it is a good show with the Toronto filler. Always interesting to me how much more I like 11/6. Not that the other shows are bad they are not, just not as good as 11/6. Of course just my opinion. Too bad they didn't have any more shows after 11/6 until late December, they were smoking hot.

Hope you dig out of the snow out there in CO. Hard to believe I am playing golf in MN tomorrow afternoon.

Interesting you should mention 11-6-77 DV. While listening to DiP 34 yesterday I had planned to go to the neighboring shows on DaP 12 & 25 soon.
That filler on DiP34 from 11-2 Seneca was jarring at first when it popped up with Might As Well since the sound is so different. So I played all that last to keep the continuity. Good stuff!
Oro, you dug out yet? Too many storms in a row for old bodies.
Cheers

I started the day with DaP 33 10/29/77.
Now, I switched to Phil's 50th birthday show.
Cap Centre 3/15/90
That Spring '90 tour was so much fun!
Peace

Got a big bee day coming up fast and treated myself to new headphones - Sennheiser HD 650. Most of my close listening at home is on headphones. Still in the break-in period but boy-oh-boy they sound awesome to my old ears and both the build and fit are a noticeable step up from my old Senns. And they were seriously on sale. Right now on DaP 41 Baltimore 5/26/77. Beautiful day here after some solid cold rain (no snow at our elevation) over last couple days. We really needed that moisture. I know the mountain dwellers among us are snow fatigued but there sure will be some happy trees and mushrooms in the high country this season.

Onward!!