Welcome back to the Tapers' Section, where this week we have a double dose of 1978, and a very good complete set from 1989.
On 4/22/78, the Grateful Dead were wrapping up their first leg of their Spring Tour of 1978 in Nashville, followed by a 4/24 show in Normal, IL. We've played some of this Nashville show for you recently, and we're happy to pay you the end of the show, featuring great versions of Not Fade Away and Wharf Rat amongst other things: Not Fade Away>Wharf Rat>Sugar Magnolia; One More Saturday Night.
A couple of weeks after the end of the of the first leg of the Spring Tour of 1978 (which ran 4/6 through 4/24), the band hit the road again for another short tour of the east coast, ending in Chicago on 5/16&17. From the show at RPI Field House in Troy, NY (near Albany) on 5/7/78, we have the end of the show featuring Iko Iko>The Other One>Black Peter>Around and Around; US Blues. This is a rare 1978 Iko, and there is a cut in Around and Around. I saw an AHL hockey game at RPI Field House on 3/26/93, the night before the start of the Dead's three night run at the Knickerbocker in Albany, featuring the Capital District Islanders vs the St. John's Maple Leafs, featuring such future NHL stars as Yanic Perreault and Damian Rhodes.
In 1989, the Grateful Dead played a four night run at the Oakland Coliseum Arena to end the year, and from the third night, we have the entire first set from 12/30/89, featuring Bertha> Good Lovin' > Sugaree,Walkin' Blues , Jack-A-Roe, When I Paint My Masterpiece , West L.A. Fadeaway, The Music Never Stopped. When the band kicked into Good Lovin', it caught everyone by surprise. This was a common first and second set opener in 1977 and 1978, but not since then. Very cool.
We'll look forward to seeing you here next week for more tunes from the vault.
David Lemieux
vault@dead.net