Forums
"When we began discussing audio projects to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead back in 2012, we knew we wanted to do something completely unprecedented. We could think of nothing more exciting or ambitious than a career-spanning overview of the band's live legacy focused on what best tells the story: complete concerts. Our first criterion was the very best live music to represent any given year in the band’s history. We wanted to make sure that there were not only the tent-pole shows that fans have been demanding for decades but also ones that are slightly more under the radar, but equally excellent. For those who listen to the entire box straight through, chronologically, the narrative of the Grateful Dead's live legacy will be seen as second to none in the pantheon of music history." - David Lemieux
We are more than pleased to announce the Grateful Dead's most ambitious release ever: 30 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN. Available as both an 80-disc boxed set and a custom lightning-bolt USB drive, the collection includes 30 unreleased live shows, one for each year the band was together from 1966 to 1995, along with one track from their earliest recording sessions in 1965. Packed with over 73 hours of music, both the boxed set and the USB drive will be individually numbered limited editions.
The 80-disc boxed set is individually numbered and limited to 6,500 copies, a nod to the band’s formation in 1965. Along with the CDs, it also includes a gold-colored 7-inch vinyl single which bookends the band’s career. The A-side is “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” from the band’s earliest recording session in 1965 with the B-side of the last song the band ever performed together live, “Box Of Rain” recorded during their final encore at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995.
The box also comes with a 288-page book that features an extensive, career-spanning essay written by Nick Meriwether, who oversees the Dead archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with special remembrances of the band submitted by fans. Also included is a scroll that offers a visual representation of how the band’s live repertoire has evolved through the years.
The USB drive version* will be shaped like a gold lightning bolt with the Grateful Dead 50th anniversary logo engraved on the side. The drive includes all of the music from the collection in both FLAC (96/24) and MP3 formats and is an individually numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies. Digital version of the book also included on USB.
Shows will NOT be sold individually on CD. This release is sure to sell out quickly so pre-order your copy today and stick around as we will be revealing a mighty fine selection of music, art, and much, much more right here.
(Looking for a smaller 50th Anniversary commemorative keepsake? September 18th will see the release of a four-CD version of the collection titled 30 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN: THE DEFINITIVE LIVE STORY 1965-1995. More on that here.)
ROLLINGSTONE.COM SONG PREMIERE AND EXCLUSIVE DAVID LEMIEUX INTERVIEW
Head on over to Rollingstone.com for the very first listen of "Morning Dew" 9/18/87 Madison Square Garden, David Fricke's exclusive interview with archivist David Lemieux, and the reveal of 30 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN's '69 and '84 shows.
*Helpful hints for using your USB:
Running the 30 Trips Player / Reader program:
On Windows – Navigate to the USB drive and double click the PCStart.exe file to run.
On MacOS – Open the GD 30 Trips drive, and double click the MacStart to run.
Viewing the digital book:
You can either view it within the program that comes on the drive, or by opening the PDF directly.
To view the PDF, open the PDF folder on the drive and the USB_bk_spreads_08-31 file within. Selecting the option within your PDF reading application to view as a “single page” might be preferable to viewing as a continuous document.
Importing music into iTunes and other library programs:
When you import the songs from the USB into your library, the information used to identify the track will likely leave them sorted incorrectly. Please use the song list found here to re-number the songs for each show so that they playback in the correct order.
PDF
Text
I guess....
We're not going to see this thing until it's already sold out?
i will take you home
Once i had kids that became my favorite Brent song, another that might make your rotation (gender aside) is Lennon's Beautiful Boy.
Old Man Not Down...
The Rhino deal...yeaaaahhh. This has been a match almost made in heaven if you're a guy like me that enjoys the nicely packaged, historical write ups, photos, top-shelfie Dead. But I offer you a sample from the WharfratWhitey Vault. A fairly well known ditty that goes like this: 'I wish they would do some general non-limited releases like Crimson, Truckin' Up, Ladies & Gentlemen, Fillmore East 1969, etc.' You guys remember this popular ditty of mine. Give me a reason to go to my local record store more than twice per year(RSD, RSDBF). Peace.
@ Clovett / Elvis' 'Can't Help Falling In Love With You'
Quite possibly the most beautiful love song ever written. That's a great "set-list" for your daughters. I'm happy to see folks starting their kids on music when they're so young. I think music for kids is as important as reading. You need to "feed" the ears as well as the eyes.
It's not easy to find but I would suggest adding Rickie Lee Jones 'Rainbow Sleeves' to your kids lullaby "set-list". I'm a cantankerous 55 year old, but my eyes still tear up when I hear it. It's absolutely gorgeous.
Kudos to you!
What Jerry Would Really Say About The 50th Merchandise
I'm feeling great about the Band's 50th, loved Santa Clara, excited about the box set and all the other offerings! For those of limited means, check out Archive.org of course where there are tons of free soundboards the band lets stream free. If you have a bit more, get spotify which allows you to stream all Dick's Picks, Road Trips, All Europe 72, plus most studio and other live releases.
Earlier in the thread people complained about the Bands money grab. For the cynical Dead Heads who project some nostalgic, Jerry would never allow this nonsense, recall that Jerry sold his artwork on ties for Petes sake! And for those who think the band/Jerry in the good old days wanted to give it All away and not live well, check out this quote from Garcia. Peace to all, and enjoy the celebration and the ever evolving grateful dead derivations!
Fuck ‘people’s music’.” laughs Jerry Garcia from a reclining seat in the plush, wood-finished business offices of the band. (The comfortably expansive cluster of rooms are located in a streamlined San Rafael complex.) “I mean, I thought it was a dumb discussion even when it was the big thing awhile back to talk about how music should be free… that music belongs to the people and musicians rip them off. That kind of thing really irks me.
“It’s like, in order to get so you can play music you have to sacrifice a lot of what would have been your normal life. You know what I mean? For lack of a better phrase, you have to pay the dues to get so you can play music. It’s not a thing you just do. If that were so, everybody’d be making their own music and there wouldn’t be professional musicians. There’d be no need for them. For someone to deny the fact that you spent a certain amount of your life working on some sort of discipline and learning how to play… that’s the rip-off. That’s the state versus the individual. Anytime someone comes down on artists and claims their work on any level, I think that’s pure bullshit. There’s been too many great musicians who died poor. People’s music… it just ain’t so.”
CD box set versus Hi-Res option
I went for the box option. Here's why. While I've noticed that hi-res sources can sound better than cds- and I have about 200 hi-res discs in my collection, so I am definitely a believer- I believe that often much of the improvement comes from the advantage also provided by well-done re-mixes or re-masterings that are frequently done for hi-res releases. For example, the use of the Plangent Process for the HD Tracks Studio Albums package would help to improve the sound over prior releases, so that could help to confound listening differences between those tracks and earlier cd releases for the same albums that people have noted. Even apart from these kinds of changes to the source, improvements tend to be heard more from recordings that were otherwise particularly well-made to begin with. For example, a strong orchestral recording from 2005 or 2015 can sound remarkable on SACD, but I have a highly-regarded Universal (Japanese) SACD release of Regatta de Blanc and because of the limits of the source material, even with remastering the improvements are modest- certainly not a must-have difference. The musical content is awesome, but not the acoustical portrait.
Crucially, nearly all of the 30 Trips shows are two-tracks (which tend to simplify the acoustic presentation a bit), and the earlier years obviously have variable and often more limited recording quality. While the Dead's official live releases typically sound great to my ears, that's compared to bootlegs or mp3 streams online. I haven't heard them, but for these reasons, comparing the HD Tracks multi-track studio releases of the Dead, or even Wake Up to Find Out (a multi-track from 1990) to two-tracks from 1969 or 1974 or even 1982 (hell, that one could be from a cassette!) is probably misleading.
Maybe if you have an amazing audio system or amazing ears or are listening VERY closely, the difference will be significant, but otherwise, I think one is primarily getting convenience and hardly any sonic improvement from the hi-res set, while losing the book and other physical niceties of the box set. The only possible wild-card audio advantage here would be if in your case you have both a cd player a stand-alone DAC unit and the latter one sounds significantly better than the first.
The USB set is a fine choice, but for convenience purposes and not primarily audio differences, I would venture.
Re: comdata55
I wish we could see the box as well. Its the music inside that's important though.
If memory serves, I think they had some significant box design modifications for E72 between the mock pictures on dead.net and the final box. I don't think we knew what it looked like until it showed up on the porch. So there must have been some changes along the way.
Since this box has even more discs, I bet there was (is) a logistical battle between size and elegance. It has to fit through the front door after all, right. I hate to speculate, but it could be they don't have a finished product to show us yet.
..or Lemieux got into another scuffle with a surely seal after the last seaside chat and wants the bruises to heal before filming again. Pick your poison.
CD set vs. USB
Dschian makes a good point. If you don't have (or aren't planning to purchase) a top quality playback system, the USB version will probably not provide anything beyond convenience, and might actually sound worse than the CDs.
On the other hand, if you do have a fine playback set up (and you know who you are), most assuredly the 96kHz/24 bit USB version will take this set to another level. Try a simple test. Take a nicely mastered LP and record excerpts at different resolutions and word lengths. I have found that every increment up to 96k/24 makes a difference (although 88.2 to 96 at 24 bits is subtle).
Some of the soundboards are DAT - 48kHz/16 bits. It is impossible for a 48kHz signal to sound the same downsampled to 44.1 kHz for CD. The original DAT will have more space between the instruments. Whether or not the originally analog recordings sound better is entirely a function of the mastering done. I presume top quality engineering here, in which case it will be much better.
The point made about the need for a playback system that will handle a high res signal is well taken. Nonetheless, if I was a young person with a modest stereo, I would buy the USB version for the future. For those happy with a mid-fi system, the CD is likely a better choice.
Double Blind
Ziffle, try your listening test as a double-blind trial. That is, the person playing the excerpts doesn't know which resolution he is playing, and you don't know which one you are hearing. I'll bet your results are surprising. I did this exact test (using LP clips, as you suggest) at 16/44.1 and 24/96 and was pretty confident I could hear the difference. But - surprise - I was wrong about half the time, which is statistically the same as guessing. Make sure you listen to at least 50 A/B clips. More is better. Use good headphones, studio monitors, whatever you want. I'd be very curious to hear your results.
Re: JimInMD
oh it is definitely all about the music in this ginormous box, i just really love the box designs they put out and love seeing all the extras. It's more of a, I know we're not getting this thing for another month and a half coupled with my impatience for it to get here already, lol.
on another note, i finally sprung the news of the purchase to the wife over the weekend. she wasn't exactly brimming with joy but she also didn't say cancel the order, so i think that one goes in the win column.
As far as the dimensions go, I hope I have to take the front door off the hinges when this thing arrives...or maybe hire a crane to hoist it up so it can be pulled in through the second floor double windows...
Agree , size and front door
For $50 shipping it should be bigger than Europe 72' Steamer Trunk.. $50 is a lot for shipping!!
Spring 90 boxes are a decent size, but I would hope for similar design to Steamer Trunk, in regard to holding the discs. What's up with some updates about this box ?
Sirius had some killer 1982 he last few days. Red Rocks and Manor Downs.
He's Gone > Truckin from Red Rocks (7.28.82) killer transition at the end of He's Gone and jam out of Truckin is pretty sweet. Call me crazy, but I may like this more than the Scarlet Fire from Manor Downs
Shipping costs
As long as you live in the U.S., and place your order before 9/18, Boxzilla has free shipping. The only unfortunates who have to pay are the Heads outside the U.S.
Rock on
Re: mbarilla
Listening to a snippet from Manor Downs now on Today in GD History.
Completely violates my don't sneak a listen if you have something on order rule.. but I have heard that show before.
There's a lot to like here.
Have a good weekend everyone..
7.3.88
I just listened to this show for the 1st time the other day. Then I made a comment on here that 7.3.88 will be the next 80's Dave's Picks, completely spacing that its on the Boxzilla (30 shows are hard to keep track of but still surprised no one corrected me). I never listen to a show after its been announced for release, so I slipped on that one. I don't really care though. It's a fantastic show.
By the way, I didn't buy the boxzilla for the 80's shows. Nor did I buy it for the 70's shows. I bought it because there are THIRTY FREAKIN SHOWS! Every show is different...different setlist, different songs, different sound, different line-up, different era...variety is the spice of life.
cd or usb
I'll toss my 2 cents in again. The USB stick MAY sound better, BUT, once again where are you listening to it? If you're sitting at home in front of a great sound system, maybe, you'll hear it. If in your car, mowing the lawn with mp3 player, washing the dishes or sitting at work you will NOT hear a difference.
I see some say USB might be more convenient, yeah it might if you only listen to digital playback, but,,, if the usb chip gets,,,, oh what's the technical term??,,, oh yeah, fucked, by dropping in toilet, stepping on, zapped, then oh well there's a 700 buck collection down the drain so to speak.
I would get the CD's. First they will be easier to sell down the road if you wanted to. Second the odds of all the cd's being fucked is almost nil (could you have a bad one or two, sure,,, but not 80). Third, you can make your own usb stick once you have the collection. If ease of play is your thing. I rip my disc to mp3. I have a series of memory sticks that I load with different things in my car. Just pop in the memory stick and bang, good to go.
Now if you got an extra 700 to piss away (technically I do, but I really fuckin cheap :-) ) then I'd buy a usb set just to sit on. Someday someone will pay you a premium for it. Not enough to retire on because even if it tripled in price where's 2100 bucks get ya.
The funny thing is when the offer first came out I read it that the usb chip was included with the cd's. Seemed reasonable to me, hell what's the chip worth 30 bucks? Why wouldn't it be included in a 700 box set? I was like yeah, I wouldn't have to rip all the disc myself!
@mustin321
I couldn't agree more! I'm looking forward to all of these shows as well as the many unreleased shows I still haven't listened to on archive.org. 7/3/88 is a great show. I just listened to it yesterday and was lucky enough to have been there.
Also Willysin4wd and DaveStrang: Both songs are great suggestions for the lullaby rotation. I don't know if I've got the pipes for Rainbow Sleeves and I'm not sure I'd make it through that without breaking down. LOL, I just listened to it for the first time this morning. That is a beautiful song and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was penned by Tom Waits.
Rainbow Sleeves
If memory serves me, Mr. Waits and Miss Jones were romantically involved several lifetimes ago. Glad you liked the song and it can be a strain on the vocal cords…now I gotta work on the 'waterworks'.
listening to JGB Seattle and Portland 93
two of the few JGB's I had the ability to attend.
So incredibly beautiful
PAY DAY! 3/06/1969 dark star
Finally ordered mine this morning! I wonder how many of these bad boys are left......... hmmmmm ;)
Your 2 cents Denis
Ha ha ha i like your words made me laugh, and i could'nt agree more. It would be so nice to have both, although my next purchase is A PONO PLAYER because Neil rules! now i just can't wait until the epic saga arrives!!! Thanks Dave and Rhino...keep e-m commin but please not for a while as im broke ok. PEACE ALL
I Need A Miracle
I can't even think about ordering this until next week. Please let there still be some of the cds left to order when my time comes!
@ Lowspark75
You might want to order it now. They won't charge your cc until it ships. When you order, the charge will show on your cc for approx. 24 hrs and then it's taken off. I believe they do this to verify your cc is active/valid. Hope this helps and hope you get one.
Individual Shows
The copy states, "Shows will NOT be sold individually on CD." This does not preclude individual shows being offered for download, which is what I think will happen, once the sets are sold out. Anyway, I have ordered the CD box set. I don't like downloads and want the book with the extras.
USB version
If I'm not mistaken, the USB version also includes the book.
I Am Selling 10 Shows From 30 Trips
I am selling any 10 shows from 1979 - 1995 for 330 bucks. PM me your email address if you're interested.
Peace
KeithFan2112
It's gone and then, magically, it ALAWYS,reappears!
Warlock's Box just became available, again....due in mid-August. My take? They find batches in warehouses..? Hey Now!
Its only fair
Since the E72 shows were sold separately (physical copies) after the declaration of this is it - buy it now - I think the precedent of going back on what was said in the initial advertising and offering single shows has been set. At least an offering of 10 each - I would certainly buy 20 (can't justify $700 for not even wanting most if not all of '88-'95).
Can't wait till this sells out or the PTB pull the cord and say it is sold out so we can see what happens next!
I appreciate it, DaveStrang, but..
Completely powerless to order this for at least 2-3 days, probably.
sold seperately
Read the advertisement, there will be no copies of these shows sold on CD. If they do decide to sell individual copies of these shows, that will be false advertisement and will make the original run of boxes no longer limited editions. Just like E72, if they decide to sell individual shows of this box, that would open rhino up to some not paying for it. You can't advertise something as limited and then say it's not limited, that is false advertisement and will bite them in the arse if they do try and sell these again. But if they want to, go ahead, I will ask for a refund and keep the box, thanks rhino. On a separate note, let's hope the box is a better box and better sleeves than E72. The first time I opened the E72 box and tried to get a cd out of the sleeve, it ripped, causing a lot of people to ask for replacements. Let's just hope they learned a lesson on the first big box.
Personally, I don't care if it's in an old orange crate and wrapped in toilet paper, I just want the music on cd.
30 Trips sticker!!
Wasn't expecting my Da15 till tomorrow! Came with a nifty little sticker too! My Sunday just got that much better :)
@ olddeadhead
How right you are. It really gets old reading comments from people who think it's ok for a company to lie about a product. This has been for sale for quite a while anyone who wants it could have bought it by now.Possibly more importantly it speaks to their ethics if it's ok for a company to lie what about the person in the mirror
Limited EDITIONs
The current EDITION is limited. Any change to any element of the release would then count as a NEW EDITION. My E72 Steamer Trunk Box was limited. The Music Only edition was not. The individual show releases are not even Box Sets, much less identical to the E72 Steamer Trunk Box! I picked up the Springsteen 73-84 Limited Edition Box Set earlier this year. Now each remastered album is coming out individually. This is happening with lots of similar limited edition catalog re-issue boxes.
Many fancy vinyl re-issues these days begin with a limited edition run on colored vinyl. Subsequently, the pressing plant runs of a much larger number on black vinyl for the "unlimited" edition. Rhino/GDm could simply press a run of this box in a blue cover and call it a new edition!
If you feel strongly about limited/unlimited issues you should get a law degree before you start yowling. Your feelings from your heart are not applicable, this is about technicalities.
"will NOT be sold individually on CD" is pretty clear and unambiguous. It also leaves a lot of options open.
Enjoy your Box. The CDs sound the same regardless of how many other people are able to buy them.
Rationalization
is a wonderful thing ...for self deluded minds. And you don't evenneed a degree in psychology to get that lol
Early dementia
I knew it sounded really really familiar, but couldn't place it. So, I googled it. Col. Potter's imitation of Father Mulcahy on M.A.S.H., right? Also, very apropos.
ding ding ding!
wjon, yes indeed. Loves me some Google. And some M*A*S*H.
On another note: Made a casserole tonight, just finished dinner with the family. Almost every ingredient was from my wife's farm (the zucchini, the kale, the eggs, the goat-yogurt, the thyme, the oregano, the garlic, the piracicaba) - everything but the cheddar cheese and the ritz crackers.
Now drinking another gin and tonic. I told my wife to put the following on my tombstone: "He liked the Grateful Dead, and casseroles." Maybe it's the gin and tonics, but damn, I am SO grateful for this life. Family, farms, food, love... music, and when I die, I will be among the GRATEFUL dead.
Tonight after I put my daughter to bed, headphones and more DaP 15, which is GREAT.
Wishing you all the best.
#FeelingSappy
God, that could be right out
God, that could be right out of a Norman Rockwell. You sound totally happy and grateful, and I hope you find yourself there countless times again before that tombstone needs to be used. Nothing wrong with sappy. Salud!
@DaveStrang
Yes, besides loving the Grateful Dead, I also am a huge fan of Traffic... and really anything Winwood was ever involved with.
Rockwell
Ha wjon, funny you should say that - we live in Berkshire County, just a few miles north of the Normal Rockwell museum in Stockbridge. May have to grab breakfast tomorrow at Joe's Diner:
http://www.paintinghere.org/Uploadpic/Norman%20Rockwell/big/The%20Runaw…
@ Lowspark75
It's hard to believe he was only 16 when he started with Spencer Davis Group. I've always liked 'Shootout At The Fantasy Factory'. I think it's highly underrated.
product sku
081227955892