Grateful Dead 1978 College Campus Show Tournament

I saw two. UCSB was my first show as well, and UCLA my second.

 

That UCLA show looks pretty boss. I think I'll start with that one instead of the W&M I was planning on.

I think the UCSB show is DOA in this tournament vs. N. Illinois. I will only say "if you had been there..." The insanity doesn't translate all that well to tape. And I believe desoxin (sic?), a rather powerful amphetamine making the rounds at that point in time, may have been the "active ingredient" in that day's festivities.

 

The St. Stephen was a nice surprise for sure. My friend and I managed to plant ourselves in the sweet spot on the floor, and the sound quality might have been as good as any concert I've heard, certainly for a basketball venue like that. Loud but crystal clear.

Got to load a few of these onto my X1. Mostly been listening to jazz the past few weeks so I'm due for some Dead. This should be fun, I think '78 is kind of underrated, the flip side of the (dare I say it) overrated '77.

 

As a long time fan, collector, and listener, I put '78 well above '77. So please- dare to tell the truth.

 

I was actually about to write that. I'm sure that the crowd had a great time at the UCSB

 

Yes, Terrapin were great in 77-79. I usually prefer '78 to '77 because of Jerry. The Wolf eat the Bean for breakfast.

I remember Eugene '78 being a top version but not necessary the best

 

omg

 

Grateful Dead Live at Horton Field House, Illinois State U. on 1978-04-24

Outstanding sound on this bad boy. Listen to Bobby and Jerry on "ramble on rose".
Beautiful show. Jerry sings great. Donna and Bobby behaves. I got no complains. In fact, probably one of the best shows from '78. Even drums are worth the time, and it's kinda scary. Not for the weak minded

I probably should mention the fantastic Scarlet>Fire but I figure someone else will be raving about it. And Terrapin. And NFA

4/24 won over 6/4 in a fast and merciless knockout
This will be hard to beat.

 

It looks like we have our first score of the tournament! From the play-by-play analysis 4-24 might be a sleeper pick at the 8 seed.

 

1-22-78

The Other One [21:42] > Saint Stephen [7:39] > Not Fade Away [14:31] > Around And Around [8:19]
Encore U.S. Blues [5:22]

For a song that I thought wasn't usually very good in 77/78, The Other One is a strong version, getting pretty out there in the jam before the second verse with some great second guitar riffs from Weir (who, unusually, seems to be trying to push them to space while Garcia has had enough after a while and brings the song back). Then we get the unaccompanied Garcia interlude, maybe the last of the series he did starting around 5/11/77, and likely the best. It takes him a couple minutes to get the effects right but for a good four minutes or so he is in the zone, with the famous Close Encounters reference.

Some Dead fans consider this St. Stephen the best post-hiatus version. Again I'm not sure about that but it is a very well-played example of the late 70's arrangement. Not Fade Away doesn't peak as high as (sorry) 5/8/77 but also doesn't have the long eventless stretches of some versions from this time, and has a quiet and pretty variation jam for a couple of minutes before the reprise. Around (with the tempo shift at the end that I believe all 78 versions have) and U.S. Blues are also well done.

Final thoughts: well, this is one of those Dead cases where only a few minutes of music (the "Close Encounters Jam") made a three hour show famous. That said, although there are no other surprises, there isn't a dud anywhere and, like other highlight shows from 77 and 78, it's a show that would be likely to turn on many people who haven't heard the Dead before - an obvious goal of these college shows. I suspect this show will hold its own against most, if not all, of the other "contestants."

(Like other Dead fans including David Lemieux, I find that "1978 Dead" started in April and that January/February were a continuation of 77, so I hope people don't mind that I lump together 77 and 78 in discussing this show.)

Next for me (after a few day's break)...5/6/78 since I haven't heard it before and U.S. Blues mentioned a special Terrapin that night.

 

You have inspired a train of thought: 1977 - 1978 Transition Points

January thru June 1977: Well polished yet reigned-in, Jerry on the Travis Bean, uniformly strong but not very psychedelic.

3 September 1977: Englishtown, an event unto itself.

Fall 1977: The Wolf returns, the band starts evolving into a more open-ended jam space, less polished but more innovative. Two big tours culminate in a trilogy of excellent shows in Upstate NY.

Late Fall 1977: JGB- monster East Coast Tour features great playing by Jerry & Keith, carries forward the energy of the GD's efforts on the prior tours.

Winterland NYE Run: Hometown magic to ring out the year. A little fatigued from the party, but the music remains.

California in January: An interesting tour begins with Jerry losing his voice and focusing on his playing. A bunch of shows circulate in less-than-optimal recordings, making a thorough assessment of the Tour difficult. It matches the energy of the small-town Cali venues as well.

Eugene in January: A special night in Kesey Country. Famous for the tape that has circulated for so long, and for the "Close Encounters" Jam. But as our diligent reporter pbuzby notes, everything from Terrapin Station through the end of the show is special.

Midwest Winter Tour: Chicago thru Iowa- every shows features great moments, sequences, sets, nights. Something happened in Eugene that lit the fuse for this adventure.

March '78: JGB Tour- the closest the JGB came to being the GD, consistently great playing, especially from Jerry who is ablaze with creativity. The perfect bridge between Dead Tours, the flame is fully lit.

April '78: Front to back an excellent tour. The intra-band communication is at a high level, Jerry's playing is leading the group to new places, interesting places, challenging places. Far more experimental that the prior Spring, lower lows on occasion, but much higher highs. If this tour were in the Vault Lemieux would be hard-pitching it the way he does Spring of '77, but with far more justification.

May '78: Starts strong, but the band begins to show that they are road weary, to the point of cancelling the final night in Chicago.

There is more to say, but parental duties call!

 

I guess soon I'll listen to more from those months and see if I agree. One not-so-positive change in those months: 20 minute Drums sessions in nearly every show.

 

Okay, here are my results for Match 1:

6/4/78 (UC Santa Barbara) vs. 4/24/78 (U of Illinois)

4/24/78 wins by a landslide... as predicted. Santa Barbara never had a chance against this show - which may have been played in a town called Normal, but otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with that word.

6/4 had some furious high points (i.e. Jack Straw), but they were generally few and far between, whereas 4/24 showcases a band that is completely on top of its game, and knows it. There is barely a moment of hesitation in the whole show. It gets off to a solid start with Promised Land, which is followed by a slam-dunk Ramble on Rose. Bobby's cowboy combo is notable here for the seamless interpolations of Stayin' Alive. The band never misses a beat, eventually climbing to furious heights with Cassidy, Brown-Eyed Women, and Passenger, after which they pull out It Must Have Been the Roses to give the audience a brief moment of respite before charging full-force into an excellent version of The Music Never Stopped, which gives some indications of the heights to which the band will soon ascend in the second set.

The trio that opens the second set (Scarlet>Fire>Good Lovin') features some spectacular playing of the highest order - with Jerry in particular sounding very fired up and ready to play. Which he does, in spades. The playing in the transition jam between Scarlet and Fire is unbelievably strong and majestic, building to a climax which eventually erupts into a steadily simmering Fire. Toward the end of Fire, Jerry begins playing with increasingly more gusto, and singing "Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn", while the music seems to build to its final climax. But instead, the band crashes into Good Lovin' at a moment's notice, and proceeds to shoot up into the stratosphere for a truly explosive and joyful climax. I believe that if I had been in the audience for this show, at this point I would have truly believed that I had died and gone to heaven. No drugs required.

After Good Lovin', the band regroups and launches into Terrapin Station - a beautiful, full-bodied rendition - which leads into a forceful Rhythm Devils and spooky Space. The Not Fade Away which follows is possibly the best point of comparison between this show and 6/4. While I agree with Dave L. that the NFA from 4/24 isn't quite on the level of the version from the 4/22 show in Nashville, it is still miles away from the "slop and screech fest" on 6/4. It's sharp, melodic, and on-the-beat, providing a high-energy transition out of Space before the set ends with a note-perfect Black Peter and a barn-burning Around and Around. Add a howling Werewolves of London encore to this combination, and you're good to go. Everything falls into place here.

This is truly a show for the ages. I've listened to it many times and listening to it tonight still felt like listening to it for the first time. In other words, game over!

 

My experience is that Drums was always far more interesting in person than on tape. Early on especially it was new, fresh, and unlike anything anybody was doing musically at the time. The original inspiration for the really extended drum segment came when Billy & Mickey did recording work for the movie Apocalypse Now, and on period tapes the segment was often referred to as Rhythm Devils, since the percussion soundtrack of the movie was released under the title of The Rhythm Devils Play River Music. In '78 it was still a journey up the river, to the heart of darkness. May I suggest you watch the Drums from the Duke show and see if it turns you on? As always, YMMV.

 

Finished the first set of this one, even though it has a bye to the second round. Since Horton Field House is going to thump UCSB, it will then face 12/30/78 Pauley Pavilion. Might be a pretty competitive matchup, based on what I've heard so far. But I'll save the rest for later. HFH in its entirety now, which will only be the 2nd time I've listened to it.

 

The school's name is Illinois State University. U of Illinois is in Champaign, Il.
The town is named after the University, which was originally called Illinois State Normal University. A normal school is a teaching school. An insane amount of teachers have graduated from the University since it was founded back in 1857. In 1968, normal was completely dropped from the name when the university expanded to offer degrees in other fields.

Besides teaching, ISU has an incredible accounting department, a well regarded theater major, and some of the finest honey's found in the state. The town itself is rather "normal." The strange birds tend to be the students, but many of them fly away pretty quickly. Replacing Horton was Redbird Arena, which has pretty good acoustics as well. But if you ever have a chance to see a show at the school's Braden Auditorium, then go. Incredible room. The signature wall is sick. Here's an interior shot of Horton, the former basketball court of the Redbirds . Notice the huge glass wall. Gladly we learn and teach...

 

I really, really, really wanted UCSB to give me something that would pull out a win over Horton Field House. I've been debating it in my head all day. But, it just doesn't get there.

Game 1: give me 4/24/78.

 

Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.

 

I like where you are going with that bring on more. It begs the question, if March '78 was the closest JGB came to being the GD, when was the GD closest to being JGB? Also how does the mescaline run fit in? Is there enough in the vault for a Mescaline Run Box set?

 

June 76 maybe.

 

ding ding; I totally agree.

 

If people don't mind, I am going to reply to results around the end of each week with what I will log as the score; sometimes these things can get buried in the thread, and sometimes the scoring will get fast and furious. This should help assure I don't miss anyone's score and will also act as a double check that I have recorded it correctly. I will reply here in the thread but if that becomes annoying for people I can start PMing. So please make sure you get a reply with your score at the end of the week which will be Wednesdays; if you don't get one just PM me and I will fix it. It will just have the game number, your handle and game winner. Consider this as the first with the next one coming Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

1 budwhite Horton Field House (Illinois State U), Normal, IL (4/24/78)
1 WiseJake237 Horton Field House (Illinois State U), Normal, IL (4/24/78)

 

I've watched parts of that video. The spring 78 drums were an interesting variation, with Garcia, Weir and other band members and roadies joining, that never happened outside of that year. From the ones I've heard so far I find that they are very cool for five minutes or so, but having them go on so long at every show is a bit much.

 

Getting excited to start the tournament today. As the top-seeded teams usually get to play closer to home in the tournament, the higher seeded teams will get played first with the better seeded teams going last.

Doing some sound checking first... from 6/4/78.




http://www.musicimages.com

 

Great info, thank you.

Back in tape trading days, when there were fewer items in circulation, tapes were often given names, for example, the 27 August 1972 show was known as "Kesey's Creamery." The show in questions from Normal, IL, was known as "Normal State '78."

I am going to formally give Normal State '78 the nod over 4 June '78, the Harley bit was fun, but it does not stand up musically to the magic of the April tour.