Grateful Dead 1978 College Campus Show Tournament

Absolutely looking forward to this. 1978 has never grabbed me, maybe this will change my perspective.

 

That Scarlet > Dancin' would have been nice filler on the recent 22 April 1978 Dave's Picks from Nashville.

 

I listened to the first half of 1/22/78 set one last night (Miller SBD): Minglewood, Dire Wolf, Cassidy, Peggy-O.

A few observations:
- Jerry's leads are great
- Vocals (including Donna) are good
- Band is good, a bit sloppy around the edges
- Keith's keyboard has distortion problems, especially in the first song, giving it an interesting harsh tone unusual for the time
- Minglewood is the most impressive. The other three are always great to hear in this era, but I think better versions are out there.
- The db.etree entry states it is a 2nd gen cassette SBD. Seems like one of the tapes was recycled because on headphones I can hear different music playing backwards in the quiet parts between songs. Weird.

Will try to listen to the rest of the set later today.

 

Looks like fun.

 

Where he gives a look and tells the rest of the band to quiet down, he's about to ripoff one of the most soul drenching solo ever ? Yep. That one.

 

I'm in too! I've been meaning to either listen or re-listen to a number of these shows for quite a while. So the first match-up is 6/4/78 in Santa Barbara vs. 4/24/78 in Illinois?

 

So where is the "poll" and what is the exact deadline for "game 1"?

 

First five matchups, you have until midnight on 2/24. As far as your picks, you can PM them to @bmoregnr, or post them in the thread. He's going to gather the totals to see who moves on. I'm thinking of taking the route of letting him know my winner after I play each "game".

 

Yes I agree, no need to hold on to your results, post them here as you move forward. You are also correct you have 3 weeks to play the first 5 games, any order you want, any time of the day or night, just if you want your results to count get them to me by midnight 2/24. @WiseJake237 is correct with the first game, and notice the game numbers are between the brackets.

I don't think you can have multiple polls in a thread but maybe someone here knows better; I am sure it is not worth new threads to accomplish that, so I will tally up the results as posted here or PM'd to me in a spreadsheet; I did that for the top-6 years poll we did and it was no big thang.

 

Rest of set one: El Paso, Tennessee Jed, Jack Straw, Row Jimmy, Music Never Stopped

- Tennessee Jed isn't usually a song I like a lot (too slow/repetitive) but this is a great version. In the guitar break before the "Charley Fogg" verse Phil and Jerry get so far out that Jerry almost forgets to start singing again. Possibly the biggest crowd response of the set after this song too.
- Jack Straw has some lyric mistakes but a loud ending.
- Keyboard distortion still an issue throughout the set. Sometimes on the loud ensemble vocals too.
- Music Never Stopped is very good but not quite 5/9/77 or 4/24/78 calibre.

Overall a very good set although with the recording problems and standard song choices I don't know if it merits multiple listens. On to set two later.

 

One more question for the referee(s): the instructions state that in order to play we need to "listen to the whole shows going head to head with open ears". Does this entail listening to both shows in a match straight through in one day and/or state of mind? Or if you listen to one show today and the other tomorrow, would that still be considered rule-abiding play?

 

Hell no. I'm not doing more than one show per day

 

Alternating tracks, randomized so you don't know which show its from. Dammit this is science here!

 

You are all good in the hood any way you see fit. You are the referee to determine who wins, just don't get it wrong or there will be a lot of booing.

 

I've loved 1-22-1978 ever since it partially escaped from David Gans. Hearing Jerry tease and then finally do a full-on "Close Encounters" is awesome, plus the rest of the show kicks Major Butt.

 

Grateful Dead Live at Campus Stadium - University Of California on 1978-06-04

Heard it before. A major slop and screech fest. Pretty funny at times, annoying as hell the next minute. I think the band dozed/boozed up during the set break. Bobby and Donna is out of control.
Weak transition from Estimate into an Eyes that never really takes off. The most memorable moment is the reving Harley during Not fade away.
Betty board but the sound isn't that great either.
I liked the show much more the last time when I listened to it at home in the couch. But that's the way it goes. You win some you loose some

4/24 tomorrow. Long time no play but I remember really digging that one

 

1-22-78

First part of set two: Bertha [6:27] > Good Lovin' [5:40] ; Ship Of Fools [7:18] ; Samson And Delilah [7:46] ; Terrapin Station [10:50] > Drums [8:06]

First four songs are only available as an AUD tape, which turns out to be just as good as or better than the SBD, except that Lesh doesn't come across as well. Overall the entire pre-drums is standard 78 fare. Good Bertha solo.

Although many listeners consider Drums a throwaway portion of the show, I'll discuss them. This one starts with Bill playing a fast cross-stick beat while Mickey plays a bit of guiro, then there is a Samson-type beat with a bunch of tom exchanges between them, then they shift into the Other One beat. Jerry and others in the band are heard talking over the drums just before Other One starts.

Sometime later I'll get to the famous section of the show.

 

Come on man, if Dock Ellis can pitch a NO NO on acid and greenies, we can at least fill out the brack... oh wait... that's baseball...what were we talkin bout?...uhh oh yeah, the carpet...

 

6/4/78 -- Campus Stadium (UC Santa Barbara)

I think budwhite is being a little harsh on this one. It does get off to a sour and out-of-tune start with Bertha>Good Lovin', but the band gets back on track after that, and by the time they get to Brown-Eyed Women the band is smokin'! Jack Straw closes the first set and is possibly the highlight of the show - the intensity of the raucous ending jam is off the charts!

The pre-drums segment of the second set is very well-played in my opinion. No real standout jams here, although the Eyes is surprisingly nimble considering the full-on rock-'n'-roll assault of the first set. The drummers are locked in, and the rest of the band supplies some beautifully rich and rhythmically complex playing - even if it never really builds to any particular peak or climax. The "slop and screech fest" that budwhite described really doesn't start until after drums, but there is a lot of heathen growling and screaming during drums itself, and Bobby and Donna are indeed pretty out of control by this point. There's nothing really worth listening to from Not Fade Away on, although the NFA jam does feature a sloppy, impromptu Nobody's Fault jam with Jerry and Bob both on slide - if you're into that sort of thing. The encore does get things back on track once more for a double dose of rock-'n'-roll fury with U.S. Blues and Sugar Magnolia.

Not a bad show by any means, but there's not much of anything here that isn't done better in other shows from the time period - except for maybe Jack Straw. So there's really no competition at all between this show and 4/24, but I will also re-listen to that one tomorrow to keep things fair - then I'll post my results.

 

I see that Dick Latvala called Terrapin the most "potent and meaningful" version ever. I guess I'll listen again but with Jerry and the band routinely doing great versions of it in 77 and for a few years after that, I'm not sure how this one is special.

 

Vermont is better. Listen to the FOB source.

 

Nitpick: I see bmoregnr's graph gives an incorrect setlist for 2-5-78 set two, the same list that had been in Deadbase and on the Archive. "Samson" was played before "Scarlet-Fire" at this show, and "Ship Of Fools" was not played.

 

@pbuzby calls a technical foul in game 4! I used the way outdated http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/setlists.html for the cleanliness of the cutting and pasting. Good catch; shows you have your game face on.

Speaking of game faces, there might be an easter egg of a little known 1978 college campus show according to one setlist site. I'll make that a bonus question for naught and welcome any inside scoops on its story.

 

There is another show from a college campus in 1978, a portion of which has been officially released.

 

I believe the show in question is the show at Loyola College in Chicago, 11/17/78. Two tracks (Tom Dooley and Deep Elem Blues) were released on the Rhino reissue of Reckoning. I don't anything about it other than that.