Grateful Dead • 1980-05-11 (2:42:18) • Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME, USA 5/11/80 Grateful Dead One of you fine folks mentioned 5/11/80 a few weeks ago during a discussion of good shows from Spring 1980. Thanks for the tip! I’d never sought out this show, even though I have loved several other dates from that tour & era for years and years. This one’s a doozy, excellent recording and Jerry is just tearing up the guitar (some really good tone from the Tiger this night). There are a few similarities to the recent DaP, like opening with Alabama-Promised Land, but this show is (IMO) a heckuvalot better. This will get some repeat listens, no doubt. So thanks again!
I've since come around to the other side of the spectrum, so to speak. I now purchase most of the archival releases. Don't necessarily keep them all. But getting well mastered shows direct from the vault is a good thing, for the most part. Bad EQ and/or messing with song order notwithstanding...
I was there. 5th GD show. A bit anti-climactic after the crazy fun Laguna Seca run 4 weeks prior. Sound was bad in there. Touch of Grey outta space was kinda cool though. Even as a newbie I understood that that was unusual. Charlie just posted the SBD of the Santana opening set! I am looking forward to hearing that one! Carlos had (most / all of ? ) the Abraxas band for that one...
I’ve had 2/23/93 on in the background today, but I really need to go back and turn it up for some critical listening. Ornette Coleman joined them in the second set (if he was there sooner I didn’t notice him until Space. Man, it gets wild. And I like Ornette’s style and contribution more than the Branford Marsalis stuff I’ve heard (though to be fair I haven’t checked out Space from those shows). Cool show, I’ll definitely be revisiting.
So I started this over. Does anyone have any insight into this show? 2/23/93? Specifically, Iko Iko. It starts with about 13 minutes of rudimentary, slow Iko/NFA beat. It’s kind of neat, but goes on forever and nothing happens until Jerry finally shows up, speeds it up a little, and goes into Iko. Was this a normal occurrence for this song in this era? Was someone other than Bill and Micky playing along? Did Jerry have to unexpectedly take a fiver or something?
A sadly appropriate tune given today's news about Neal. Tell me what you done it for, No I won't, tell you a thing...
It was a Mardi Gras show, there was a parade and extra percussion. Denardo Coleman (Ornette's son) and Sikiru Adepoju I believe.
A complete coincidence. I was spinning 11/11/73 yesterday and Jerry’s first guitar break was just the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
Yes, Ornette started playing during Space and continued for the rest of the second set. "Stella Blue" with Ornette was...odd. Also a peculiar "Other One" with Ornette going on one tangent after another before the band finally gets to the verse.
I remember when the Move Me Brightly blu-ray came out Neal made a strong impression on me, like when he was talking about what Days Between meant to him. He seemed like a thoughtful and interesting person and it prompted me to seek out his work. A sad loss.
