Grateful Dead

Working my way through the Box.

I like to remind myself of the date, year, and venue. Hear the room and picture it in my head while I listen. I only saw the Grateful Dead in the 90s towards the end.

I avoid videos though, too "restrictive" maybe...

...started with
May 20 1973
at UC Santa Barbara stadium

really enjoying garcia's
1st set guitar work vs. yesterday
at Des Moines State Fairgrounds

Peace for All!
uncle_tripel

In a way, listening to the Dead-live recordings-is something of a disembodied experience for me. I don't relate the shows to physical events that actually existed - which may be strange as Phil once said in interview, around the time of going to Egypt, that place was important in influencing the show. Apart from the shows caught on video, every show I listen to takes place at the same place, which is my living room. With one attender.

One of the best listening experiences was during my one and only trip to America during the summer of 1990. We were on a "fly drive" holiday exploring the West Coast of America. I only took one tape - 9/28/72 - and it was great listening while driving (( being driven to be exact - I couldn't drive then) through all that amazing countryside. The music really did seem to reflect the country - not the people living in it at that time, but the actual landscape.
I can also remember listening to "Playing in the Band " from this show as we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge.

That lil' 5-song disc is indeed lovely! Just a fun bonus to have in the collection.

Live Recordings do have all of that extra "metadata" if you were in attendance. I can picture the Dragon dance/parades from Lunar New Year shows; the costumes at Halloween; the shimmering desert air in Las Vegas; the central lot at Shoreline back when you could arrive early and get your vehicle in there; and so on.

My younger brother is just old enough to have seen a few Grateful Dead shows, but he doesn't like collecting shows and he really won't listen to live GD *unless* there's a video. He wants to see the musicians and the crowd and the venue. He was the person who first turned me on to Christopher Hazard's channel because that's his jam.

...you will find me on a marathon listening party
of the HC Sunshine Box...
beginning at Des Moines State Fairgrounds
May 13th 1973 :)

everyone have a GRATE week!

Peace for All!
uncle_tripel

Do we like 2/28 or 3/1 better?

For some of the later GD shows, you can feel the energy of the room and those are the ones I like.
Maybe its just Healy's recordings but not always...

They are a strange beast in a way. When I started going to concerts, back in 1972, the music was only part of the experience of going. All sorts of things happen when you go to a live gig - especially when you are young. Live recordings omit all that other stuff, and all you get is the music played, presented in isolation. I wonder if this is partly why late period Dead shows are popular - if you were there you can fill in the gaps. If you weren't, they might not sound as special because they lack that "x" factor of experience.

As opposed to 2/13/70, 2/14/70 and 5/2/70 - some of the best live shows of all time. You don't need to have been there to enjoy those recordings - you just need a pulse.

The bonus disc that came out with After Midnight - JGB at Kean College 2/28/80.

Kick ass little disc, 4 songs from next night 2/29 (a leap year!) and 1 from 3/1. I got to thinking how "freaking good" this sounded compared to, say, some 1980 GD sbds and on an old Steve Hoffman forum thread heralding and dedicated to the After Midnight release it mentions that Kean is from 24 track tapes(!!) and I'm like what the heck is going on that a JGB show at Kean is being recorded with a 24 track rig?? And yes I'm very thankful that it was so beautifully recorded. The After Midnight > Eleanor Rigby > After MIdnight from Kean enters a musical space that is crazy beautiful and otherworldly and that pretty much has me with tears in my eyes every time.

9/18/87 MSG

Before that was 5/2/70 and

February 13 &14, 1970 that I now have in my collection thanks to a kind and generous person! :)