Grateful Dead

I see what you mean, Dave. I guess I look at it more like a sliding scale. Clearly the 4/18/70 acoustic show is not primal, and they were sprinkling this element into their electric shows.. but take 5/2/70 as an example. They did an acoustic set this show but the electric set, to me, achieves lift off. They still had some rocket fuel left in them, but it was a transitional period..

I am a big fan of early, primal dead. The problem I have with it.. is the amount of energy it takes to listen to it. In other words.. I truly love it, but I usually don't go there unless I have the time, energy and focus to absorb it. Fortunately.. this occurs somewhat frequently.

Nice thread though.. I do think we are due something old at some point. Perhaps the 50th of Aoxomoxoa will give us another visit to that era.

On a related note, I had a recent listen to parts of Dicks Picks 22 - February 23 and 24, 1968, at the Kings Beach Bowl, Kings Beach CA (Lake Tahoe). What a daring piece of music.. at various points it still gives me the chills. What I wouldn't give to go back in time and take a trip into that bowling ally on those two days. Unbelievable stuff...

...For all you Vinyl lovers.

...’The Grateful Dead’ – The Warfield Theatre, San Fransico... ; )

...also ‘Janis Joplin’ “Live at Woodstock Performance... love it!!! :)

I always think of it a referring to the period from late 1967 to mid 1969, when a massive proportion of the shows featured jamming as featured on Anthem and Live Dead. This period seemed to end towards the latter part of 1969, with the introduction of the Working Mans songs and traditional ones in the same vein. They obviously still featured the primal approach-and Deads 30 looks like a great example-5/2/70 is another one-but they seemed to be edging away into something new. By the Portchester 1971 run, it had gone completely, it my ears.

A lot of what I think of as primal shows were also one set shows-many of the great shows form 1968 look as though they were one set only.

So much good stuff here. Where to even begin.

Been on a good "winter show" listening regimen lately. Keeping up with exact anniversaries is a challenge --- but I can at least match the seasons.

Last 5:
1-22-78 (Dave's 23).
I had given this a cursory listen when it first showed up, then kind of forgot about it. I pulled it out again for two solid, at home, uninterrupted listens. I gotta say I didn't *love* it. I remember folks raving about this one when it came out. It was good, sure, but didn't blow my mind. That 'close encounters' part (which I'm sure was cool AF if you were there at the time) is really subtle, I missed it the first time entirely. Overall, I think I like the July 78 box better, which just goes to show how high the bar is for Dead releases.

2-2-70 from Dave's 6: I wanted to "warm up" for the Fillmore East 70 run, and this was perfect. Its crazy to think that two days earlier they were sitting in jail in New Orleans. Heavy on the newer folksy stuff, with a great Hard to Handle, and an above replacement level Dark Star. I set up my beanbag chair right in front of my downstairs speakers, closed my eyes, and enjoyed a blissful ride through the transitive nightfall right up until the dog needed to inform me that the mailman was coming to try to kill us, once again. Why I usually try to save Dark Stars for afterhours.

Speaking of . . .
2-13-70. If there's a more intense 90 minutes of Dead than the Dark Star / TOO / Lovelight that ends this show, I'd like to hear to hear it. This one got a properly enhanced uninterrupted headphones listen which restored my faith in the universe. One of the all time legendarily famous Dark Stars for a reason. The whole show is solid, too. I meticulously spliced together the show in proper order from Dick's 4, Bear's choice, and the "leftovers" which are available on Midnight Cafe. Its the only way I'm going to listen to it from now on. Same with:

2-14-70. This Dark Star isn't as mind bending, but it was early in the 1st set and they clearly were still coming down from the night before. The 2nd, mostly acoustic, set and the final set, which is the bulk of Dick's 4 is fantastic. The folk / rock dichotomy is really coming into focus here. What other band could pull off both styles so well?

2-12-70. I actually listened to this before the 13th and 14th. There's a really nice sounding copy on Midnight Cafe. It was suprisingly good, for a set that naturally gets overshadowed by the next two days.

Anyway I've bored you all enough with my ramblings, time to do a deep dive into Port Chester 71. I did not remember that tidbit about the 18th being Mickey's last show (for awhile) and all of the song debuts in that run. See ya on the other side.

....I'm good as long as I don't need to scrape my windshield. I spendt four years in snow country. That was three years and 51 weeks too long.

Yes, I am sure snow in Vegas sucks.

Be thankful you don't live in MN. We have so much snow here I have no where left to put it.

Did have time to listen to the May 77 show at the St.Paul Civic Center again today. What a show, probably one of my top five Jack Straw and Peggy-Os.

More snow on the way.

(expecting big pushback on that).. but it is big fun.

Run Me Out In The Cold Rain and Snow.

Now marrying me a wife, she's been trouble all my life, NOT fun.

....you mean the Dave's subscription? Schwing is already in my top five. Dave's 30 looks delicious. Happy camper here.
Forecast shows snow again tonight. One of the reasons I live here is so I don't have to deal with that shit. 😖

I’m with you Vguy...anything with an early and late show has to be considered primal...correct?

Also curious Vguy, what you are thinking about the sub purchase...keep us in the loop?

Today’s listening: Daves 26 Hill Auditorium Show

I suggest an experiment.. get a room full of people.. half will take some good acid, the other half, the control group, will be given a placebo. Then we can listen to DaP 30 and vote if it is primal.

I volunteer to be in the out of control group.