Did you pull the Branford statue out for this LP only or is he always at the ready? I would like to see him for a song or two this weekend.
There is a decent amount of truth to your "sometimes they get very samey" comment about '70. My guess is they were trying to build some consistency in their craft that year more than most. It is hands-down my least listened-to year and that is not saying I don't like it, just saying.
Yea, like I was saying about '68 and '69, a lot of times with '70 I'll look at the set and go "oh, the same songs again?" except I find myself having to trudge through shows much more often where as with '68 and '69, despite the same sets, they were mostly always killer. I really do love the acoustic sets, however.
Onward ho to Dick's Picks 5 and a listen through the '79 Oakland run. A welcome return to "compact" Dead after the previous few shows of 1970
Playing>Let it Grow, Help>Slip>Frank from last night over and over. Lots to like. Shame about Fire on the Mountain, tho, weird how just lurched to stop in mid flight.
12/26/79 - Oakland, CA - DP 5 This New Minglewood Blues is smokin'!!! The Friend Of The Devil is beautiful and chill
12/26/79 - Oakland, CA - DP #5 Wow, I thought Friend Of The Devil was great. This Looks Like Rain might be the best I've personally yet heard. Really fantastic version, imo!
Oh good, I thought that was a defect on the SBD I found! Playing In The Band just got started, and I hoping to hear something to get excited about. Frankly, I saw a bunch of Phil & Friends, and Furthur shows over the years that were better than what I've heard in this set, and even the "oldies night' second set from Santa Clara. Never mind the really new stuff the Mickey Hart Band had to offer.
Guess I should finally check this show out. I always liked the versions with Donna (and disliked the 80's and 90's versions with Weir's "all my life I've seen rain" bombast at the end).
What exactly happenned? Were there tech issues or something? Or did they just stop in the middle of the song
The second set just started with UJB. So far this show has been consistently excellent. I definitely recommend it. This UJB is pure joyful awesomeness
the ending jam was non-existent - the song petered out very abruptly, and it didn't seem that everyone on stage knew it going to...the body of the song was pretty damn good, though!
Ok, wow, the second set of 12/26/79 was phenomenal UJB (14 min)>Estimated Prophet(20 min)>He's Gone>The Other One>Drums/Space>Not Fade Away (14 min) Cap that off with a great Brokedown Palace and a BLAZING Johnny B Goode. For the encore we get ourselves a smokin Shakedown Street and UJB reprise. Damn, this was a great show! That UJB>Not Fade Away "suite" was all kinds of perfection. That was some of the most jazzy, blistering soloing I've heard.
Excellent show, although been a while since I've listened to it. Phil quotes A Love Supreme during one of the jams, think it is the one after He's Gone, but could be misremembering exactly when. The Road Trips release from that same run was a long time favorite of mine, too, from back in the pre-archival releases tape trading days.
I've tended to play this jam more than the 2/13 Dark Star>Other One>Lovelight jam over the years - I think the 2/13 jam is more something you have to be in the right mood for it to work. There are also a number of Dark Star>Other Ones that I tend to prefer over this one (i.e. 2/22/69, 11/8/69, 5/7/72, etc.), and this particular Lovelight isn't one of my favorites either. If you're in the right mood for it though, it can still be quite a trip. But the 2/14 jam is blistering, over-the-top 1970 fireworks. I think when you get to DP 8 you might start warming up to 1970 a little more - that release does more for me overall than DP 4. 2/2/70 (Dave's Picks 6) and 6/24/70 are some of my personal favorites from this year - which is often rough and missing a lot of shows due to recording setbacks, but which has more than its fair share of galvanizing, full-speed-ahead Dead to offer if you poke around a little.
Yea, I think it was mainly just the triple whammy of 3 thirty minute jams in a row that turned me off, haha. Gotta be in the zone for that. I tried marathoning the Euro '72 tour but gave up about 7 shows in just because they were so long, for the most part, lol. They shall defintiely be revisited later on with renewed vigor on my behalf! They were excellent shows, but dang some '72 shows are long....
Right, Trey started an ending line and the drummers were already off to the races. So Trey bowed out fast and the end of the song was pretty jarring. Maybe worse was Bruce stepping on the transition into Fire. Trey laid out a nice open phrase worth taking a breath and repeating one or two times before starting the lyrics but Bruce jumped the gun. To Trey's credit it did not throw him. More missed opportunity than truly bad in my book. Phil showed in Franklins they can hold off before the next line... but again Bruce has been pretty stiff/jumpy in the singing dept.
12/27/79 - Oakland, CA Having finished the previous night's blazing show, I move on now to the following evening. The first set was surprisingly great. All the standard first set songs, but there was a jubilant energy to them and they all rocked with a hearty enthusiasm that I didn't want to stop. Currently, China Cat Sunflower has stumbled out of the gate to open set 2 not finding any steam until the excellent I Know You Rider currently playing.
Since I've restarted my listening a few days ago, I've been keeping notes as I listened to the shows so that in the future I can actually know what the hell happenned at a show if I feel like playing one again. Here are my notes as of the Samson on 12/27/79 that is currently playing: 12/18/73 - Tampa - Great show overall. Excellent China>Rider. Almost as good as the follinwg night. 12/19/73 - Tampa - DP #1 Very chill. Great for a relaxed time. PERFECT "Here Comes Sunshine". Epic "PITB". Wonderfully relaxed "Mississippi Half-Step...". Chill "He's Gone".EPIC and super jazzy and chill Tuckin>Nobody's Fault>The Other One>Stella Blue jam 10/31/71 - Columbus, OH. DP #2 Unexciting first set. Extremely energetic second set. Killer rocking Dark Star, Not Fade Away and Johnny B Goode 05/22/77 - Pembroke Pines, FL - DP #3 A Damn near perfect show. Almost every song is a highlight. Everythign rocks and is superb and well played and energetic. 02/11/70 - Fillmore East - Excellent and compact second set. 02/13/70 - Fillmore East - LONG LONG LONG show. Three set. EPIC 90 minute Dark Star>The Other One>Lovelight. 02/14/70 - Fillmore East - Late Show DP#4 Excellent acoustic set. Killer Alligator>Not Fade Away>Mason's Children>Caution jam. 12/26/79 - Oakland, CA - DP #5 Good first set with a killer Minglewood. Absolutely blazing and incredible second set and encore. 12/27/79 - Oakland, CA Spritely and energetic first set. Worth hearing. Sub par China into a blazing I Know You Rider. Energetic and rocking Samson.
Phenomenal show, the Weather Report Suite > Dark Star > Eyes of the World > Wharf Rat > Sugar Magnolia sequence is completely off-the-chain, and then they encore with Uncle John's Band. This show should be an official release.
Agreed. I said what I said about it because my mom called right at the start of the second set. I had the music playing too loud to bring the phone in the room and turn it down, and I missed 45 minutes which I heard as background music yet didn't want to play again, haha.