The year seems to keep getting busier for the Grateful Dead, at least in regards to their recorded history. We have a nice span of music this week, hopefully something for everyone.
The earliest item we have for you this week is this nifty Lovelight from 5/3/69 in Rocklin, CA, one of the rare times the Grateful Dead played two venues on the same day (later that night, the band would play a full set at Winterland). This is typical of the era, which is to say filled with exciting music and improvised rapping from Pigpen.
Next up, and largely by popular demand (plus it's really, really good) is some more acoustic Grateful Dead from 1970, specifically this tasty quartet of songs: Monkey and the Engineer>Candyman, Me and My Uncle, Mama Tried from 5/1/70 at Alfred College. And from the next night at Harpur College, site of one of the most famous concerts in Grateful Dead history and enshrined on Dick's Picks Vol. 8 is the only song left off Dick's Picks 8, Cold Rain and Snow, terrible tuning problems and all. And lastly from this great week in 1970 is this long, powerful Dancing In The Street from Kresge Plaza at MIT in Cambridge on 5/6/70, a free concert to protest the Kent State killings that occurred on 5/4/70.
As we're always interested in presenting comparisons of songs and renditions, here are two quite different versions of a song played 24 hours apart: Good Lovin' from 5/3/72 and Good Lovin' from 5/4/72, with both performances taking place at the Olympia Theatre in Paris during the amazing Europe 72 tour. Between these two versions of Good Lovin' and the Lovelight above, we hope we've satisfied your Pigpen jones for the week.
Jumping ahead a few years, to the Palladium in New York on 5/1/77, we have the heart of the second set, Playing In The Band>Drums>The Other One>Comes A Time>Playing In The Band. There was so much great music played on this tour, and we'll have more coming up next week, including another stunning Comes A Time. Be sure to check back.
From the first two nights of the second leg of the Spring Tour of 1978, we have Estimated Prophet>Eyes of the World>Rhythm Devils from 5/5/78 in Hanover, NH complete with a cut in Eyes, and from 5/6/78 in Vermont, this beautiful Peggy-O.
Also this week, we're pleased to jump into the cassette masters from the 1980s, specifically this rocking China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider>Samson and Delilah second set opener from 5/4/81 in Philadelphia.
Lastly this week, we've got some great music from 1991, specifically the May run at Cal Expo. The second set ballads were particularly strong at these shows, and we bring you the stellar The Wheel>All Along The Watchtower>Stella Blue from 5/3/91 and I Need A Miracle>Standing On The Moon>One More Saturday Night from 5/4/91. This is one of the most powerful versions of Standing On The Moon ever played, to these ears, particularly the ending. Also worth noting is these were some of the very few shows in 1991 with only Vince Welnick on keyboards.
We've got some incredible music planned for next week, including material from 1972, 1974, 1977 (don't miss this one), 1978 and 1980, so be sure to check back with us next Monday. If you're up to it, feel free to write. We value your input, and if you notice any errors or omissions on the site, let us know. We're human and make occasional date-related errors, but as a great man once said, "Come on, man, I'm not trying to scam anybody here."
David Lemieux
vault [at] dead.net