Was it the acoustic set from 3 April 1970- Cincy? It's often Billy's birthday, which occurs on 7 May.
Jerry's pre-coma voice was really hit and miss. It's a major bummer when you can hear cocaine and freebase on a vocal chord. Some shows/sets even, worse than others. Be good to have a Jer-vocal rating per show in the Archive. As much as people harp on his guitar skills dropping post-coma, I think that's a bit unfair and his spirit and vocals were stronger afterwards for sure. A definite Gandolf the White scenario.
Word in the community was that Jerry took some singing lessons/voice coaching after the coma. Mithrandir!
There's a genuine "Billy's birthday" announcement on 5/7/72 (included on Steppin' Out). Fake Billy's birthday announcements were a Weir tradition.
Phil's birthday announcement on the first Beacon show in the set. These are fun if you haven't seen them:
Yeah...believe it was. Always thought it interesting since it wasn’t a show I ever sought out, but some random college kid was playing. I can’t say I ever saw it to tape it and I traded a bunch. That guy was a true Touch Head. In The Dark band poster....never saw another.
Well, that's the thing: my 43-second chunks are typically spectacular moments spread out over several tracks, shows, tours or even years. But breaking down every 20-30 second segment of an 11-minute version of He's Gone is focusing on some things that are more mundane, comparatively speaking.
FYI there is a "Bone Crushing Half Speed Master 12-inch" (as the sticker on the sleeve helpfully informs) of this, a UK pressing. It is pretty "Bone Crushing" actually! No poster with this pressing unfortunately. Grateful Dead* - Touch Of Grey
The way he breaks it up reminds me of my early days of lessons, when my teacher and I would sit there with a tape picking out licks and changes. I watch them mostly for the reactions, there have been a couple where he gets caught up watching and then talking about them and never really gets that much teaching in. He's yet to do anything super serious from them. Morning Dew 10-18-74, which was the first vid of his I saw, came the closest. He mostly sticks to video, so that limits what's available, and on the other hand I don't even know how long a lesson breakdown of something like 5-26-72 would even take. I suppose starting with songs is probably the best choice.
Just listened to 3/10/81 (Madison Square Garden). A really enjoyable show. Opens up with a fantastic Mississippi Half-Step > Franklin's Tower. Little Red Rooster, Don't Ease Me In, Me And My Uncle, Lazy Lightning > Supplication and Deal are some of the highlights that follows. Garcia's solos are terrific. Earlier in the day I listened to 5/31/69 (McArthur Court). Now this show was just incredible. A quality Dark Star, outstanding in every way are of note. It segues into a version of Doin' That Rag which is really good (maybe the best version?). This is also the first time I've heard GD covering It's all Over Now Baby Blue (one of my fave Dylan songs). The Hard To Handle is an energetic opener and Hurts Me Too is another highlight.
I'd say that might be the best version of Doin That Rag. IIRC 5-24-69 is also very good. Baby Blue seems to have been common in their earliest days. When I first got into them I was almost exclusively into 66-70, I had a few bootlegs with that song on it, including Vintage Dead, which was an unauthorized release, but not a bootleg. (though my copy was totally a bootleg CD.) One of the first 74 tapes I got was 2-24-74, which has the only performance between 72 and 81, when it became common, mostly as an encore, for the duration of their career. In the meantime, they brought it back into the repertoire on 4-6-69, as part of a general trend in April-June of 69 of reviving 'oldies' from their repertoire as well as a bunch of classic country numbers, and ultimately the WD originals like High Time and Dire Wolf etc. It stuck around throughout 69 and 70. I think that version on 5-31-69 is the most slow and overwrought take they did on it (I mean overwrought in a good way, that one has the Ken Babbs intro etc.)
Posted today. I’m watching the 4/17/72 show right now, through YouTube pumped into my stereo for my own private Dead show. Next up, complete 7/28/73 Watkins Glen minus Dicky Betts tunes.
Hi guys! Long time no talk. Being as I'm finally forced to take some time off work, I've been listening to a lot of dead lately. 10/15/76 has become my new favorite show of 1976. Very solid first set with an explosive ending to Sugaree, and the whole second set is off the charts. The Other One brings the heat big time, into a beautiful Comes a Time. Anyway, hope you are all well! EDIT: and the Comes a Time-->Franklin's is absolutely rippin. GO Phil!
Don’t forget, you can watch the whole show of 8/4/76 on YouTube with great sound. One of my favorites from ‘76, although we had to walk through broken bottle, rat infested lots to get there. Phil plays a monster show start to finish. Jerry smiling a lot and having fun.