Welcome back to the Tapers' Section, where this week we have music from 1972, 1974 and 1984.
Our first stop is on 11/19/72 in Houston, TX, a show that unfortunately is not in the vault, but for which we have a pretty good copy. From the first set we have Bertha, Me and My Uncle, Sugaree, Beat It On Down The Line, Bird Song, Black-Throated Wind, Don't Ease Me In, Mexicali Blues, Box Of Rain. There are some audio problems on the opening track, but otherwise it's a nice-sounding recording. Box Of Rain was quite new to the repertoire at the time (aside from one 1970 version), and these November, 1972 renditions are my favorites.
Next up is music from the second-to-last show on the Europe '74 tour on 9/20/74 in Paris, featuring the big second set jam of Truckin'>Eyes of the World>Not Fade Away>Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad>One More Saturday Night, U.S. Blues. My old notes from the show state "weird mix on this one," and on a re-listen, indeed it's a weird mix, but interesting nonetheless.
Lastly this week we have music from 10/20/84, the last Grateful Dead show in Syracuse, NY. They had a long history of gigs in Syracuse from 1971 to 1984, including some epic shows, but after this their upstate New York shows were limited to SPAC, and later Albany, NY at the Knickerbocker. From this show, we have the start of the second set, featuring Shakedown Street>Samson and Delilah, He's Gone>Smokestack Lightning.
Be sure to join us next week for more music from the vault. And as always, feel free to write to us at the email address below, with questions, comments or suggestions for the Tapers' Section.
David Lemieux
vault@dead.net