Week of May 27, 2013
Part 1 of the complete unreleased cassette master of June 3, 1976 at the Paramount Theater in Portland, Oregon. This was the first show of the Dead's return to regular performing after a 20-month hiatus, during which they recorded the amazing album Blues for Allah, recorded and wrote and performed with various side bands, and finished The Grateful Dead Movie. They had a ton of great new songs and cool new approaches to some old favorites, too. The tour lasted a little over six weeks and consisted of runs of two, four and six shows in theaters in seven cities. The intimacy of the venues and the band's collective concentration and mutual inspiration make for some sophisticated and powerful performances.
This recording came from Mickey Hart's archive. I found the master tapes in my stash a few months ago - more than 20 years after I borrowed them! Mickey was gracious in accepting my apology when I gave him back the tapes earlier this year.
"New Speedway Boogie" was written by Robert Hunter in response to the terrible events of December 6, 1969 at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. The Rolling Stones' film Gimme Shelter and Sam Cutler's memoir You Can't Always Get What You Want are good sources of info on the event, if you want to know more. "New Speedway Boogie" was introduced at the Fillmore on December 20, 1969; this performance was recorded the following night and has just been released on the 2013 Dave's Picks bonus disc. The song was recorded in the studio a few weeks later and released on Workingman's Dead. I always enjoy hearing the early performances of Grateful Dead songs, because the band tended to develop their material in live performances rather than rehearse them to death before bringing them out for us to hear.
Enjoy!
Grateful Dead 6/3/76 Paramount Theater, Portland OR
MIGHT AS WELL
CASSIDY
ROW JIMMY
LOOKS LIKE RAIN
THEY LOVE EACH OTHER
Grateful Dead, Dave's Picks 2013 bonus disc (12/21/69)
SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING->
NEW SPEEDWAY BOOGIE
Thank you for listening!
- David Gans
Producer/host