Grateful Dead

I think this show got me on the bus for life. I remember furious jamming and chain dances on the floor. Jerry broke a string and continued playing while another string was placed. Furious drumming in that old gym hall at WPI in Wormtown-I attended Assumption College just a couple miles away. The band was crazed that night.

Deep Elem Blues, Friend Of The Devil, Silver Threads, Black Peter

Someone has discovered that the piece of tape you are quoting these songs from is actually from a different show and there's video of it. Check it out: Reviewer: light into ashes - - January 15, 2013 Subject: misdated tape - this is actually 5/3/70 Wesleyan University has a partial video of the 5/3/70 show: http://archive.org/post/539606/5-3-70-wesleyan-video-and-sbd-tape A comparison with the video revealed some surprising things about this tape - it's not from Worcester at all, but from the 5/3/70 acoustic set. On the 5/3/70 video, Weir can be seen saying that Phil & Mickey are still on their way from upstate New York, as he says here. The unknown harmonica player is also on the video, which shows him playing in Deep Elem Blues & Silver Threads. (Those are the only two acoustic songs on the video.) Also note the announcement at the end, about the free food running out at the first-aid station. The first-aid station is also mentioned on the video, and on the 5/3/70 audience tape. That show was also notable for free food being brought to the audience by the Hog Farm & other associations. So I think it's beyond doubt that this tape is misdated. It does sound like an SBD to me, but it was recorded outdoors on a hasty stage setup; the audience does not sound 'indoors.' I wish we knew how this fragment got into circulation under the wrong date, and why it cuts off so soon.

This was my first Dead concert. We sat above the band on the oval running track with our feet dangling above the heads of the brand. We went down to Highland St and bought a case of beer for Pigpen. Great version of Friend of the Devil but 3/4 of the audience left before the second set. If anyone remembers the pyrotechnics at the end. One of the Roadies gave us firecrackers and we lot them as the finale finished. I was three months out of combat in Vietnam. Vitamin L was involved. The next time I saw them was their sound check at Watkins Glen with 600,000 other folks.