Grateful Dead

dead.net the official site

At the start of 1978 I'd sort of lost interest in the Dead, having last seen them in 74. 78 was my fifth year in college (yeah I know) and I was way more into jazz than rock in large part due to an awesome jazz club on campus, the Backdoor. The place just had a constant stream of major talent coming through. McCoy Tyner, Charlie Mingus, Elvin Jones, Roland Kirk etc. So in early January I see the Dead are gonna be at Golden Hall so my girlfriend and I say "What the hell?" and I get tickets for 1/07. Now in 78 the Dead were not that big of a draw and I wasn't expecting much, sort of a nostalgia trip. Wrong. They were great, just awesome. So after the show we immediately get tickets for 1/08. These were the Bobby songs only nights but that didn't matter a bit. My girlfriend (now my wife) cried during Looks Like Rain. We were back on the bus until 85 when the arrival of our first kid changed everything. Footnote to that is our last show was a week before his birth and she was major prego and treated like royalty by all you wonderful heads. So I love DP 18 and I especially like the Eugene show release. Stay home.

....Jerry fresh off his laryngitis. The crackling in his voice during Wharf Rat proves it. His voice was never the same, but still rocks my soul.
Trey Pistachio dropped another song. "Are You There Colleen?". With a message of getting off drugs. Methinks Colleen was his dealer back in the day. Might be wrong. Never right.
I had a dealer back in the day. Name was Chill. Called him from payphones. That was a long time ago though. Thank God.

Not much left to say LLR crackled like a thundercloud!

The first thing I noticed is that it features two nights, but unless I am looking in the wrong place, there is no indication which nights which songs are from. I could have checked in Deadbase...but that's upstairs and as I was settled down to listen I didn't bother. It looks like one first and two second sets.

I have just played the first cd so far. Coming from Europe 72, this sounds a lot simpler rhythmically. During Spring 72, you can focus on Bill, Phil, Bob, or Keith - as well as Jerry obviously-and they are all playing with energy and imagination. Here, the focus is more just on Jerry. I like his fiery guitar sound on here, but I am not as keen on Bob's sound. Donna, on the other hand, sounds nice on Looks Like Rain. I prefer this version of Good Lovin to the ones played in 72. It sounds almost calypso-a real celebratory sound.
The cd picks up pace nicely on the last three songs, with great guitar solos from Jerry. It seems a bit more like standard "rock" in a way, compared to the swing they had with one drummer and a fully functioning Keith. I enjoyed listening to it, but I will probably leave the first of the set 2s for tomorrow.

https://www.justgivemepositivenews.com/
....because.

🔥....🔥....🔥. Its a keeper.

A few momentous stand outs for me: The Music Never Stopped; this version easily made it onto a "best of" compilation early on and has never been supplanted. Fight me. Also, the Estimated > Eyes of so so good. Beautiful elongated Eyes intro, then just mad jamming all the way through, nice upbeat Eyes tempo. Great exploratory Estimated as well. I love the drop into Eyes here; expertly pulled off. The Scarlet > Fire is very awesome too. Long, jammy. Nothing new here, just adding my love.

Nice idea.
Sixtus

....listened to the first disc last night. Cold Rain, All Over Now, Duprees and BE Woman all top shelf renditions. Man. Iowa got all the good shows. Will start up disc two a little later.
Thats the show with the extended Samson due to Bob's mic difficulties, correct?

One of my favorites Scarlet>Fire's of all time.... Also love the Samson when after a prolong opening jam Weir does the woohoo type of shout out!! I've posted about the Scarlet>Fire before but there is a Jerry Keith chord interaction after the singing in Scarlet that for me is mind melting!!! Good first choice Bolo... One last ramble, for me this show 2/5/78 is in my mind is the last show of 77... The April tour after this has a different vibe..

Disc one is fun (it's a mix of several shows, me remembers...CR&S is always welcome)
Disc two is sublime. Eyes, Playin' > Wheel > Playin'. I do notice some sound quality issues at times, but they are not horrific and permanent. I remember the Playin' is good as always, and then gets reeeeeeally good
Disc three is phenomenal. As I listened recently, I remember smiling at the glory of the show. Scarlet > Fire, Truckin' > The Other One > Wharf > Around

the Madison show took place about 50 miles north of where l lived at the time. but since I was in 8th grade, I had no clue or awareness of that fact.