My favorite Scar>Fire - literal perfection imo Ok, here we go - from February 2016, back in my Primal Review days... 3/22/90 - Hamilton, ON********** This show. This f###### show. This mother f###### show!!! This is the 6/17/91 of 1990. Probably the show of the tour and the year. One of the greatest gigs EVER. End of story! Set one is great of course, but the second set is mind blowing! We get what is one of the top-5 Scar>Fires OF ALL TIME! Never has a more *perfect* rendition been played. You think it's all done, but then we get a mind melting Truckin>Spoonful>TOO>Hey Jude>Fantasy!!! This is followed by the most rocking Sugar Mag EVER! INCENDIARY show!!! That review leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. I need to redo it
Merry Garcia Day to all. Right now I'm home for a few, so I fired up my next 92 show, 6-8-92 Richfield. Nice set 1 with a good reading of So Many Roads as the highlight. Set 2 has a very promising set list, including a post-space Dark Star... Which is good, because I have a theme going. I had to work this morning, and so I decided to play some CDs of shows I had burned rather than my usual listening schedule. First up, because I'd read this post yesterday, I spotted this show in my CD wallet: A longtime favorite of mine, I'd downloaded back when I first discovered the Archive, a few weeks before Bobby had it taken down, but thankfully not before I was able to snag a bunch of 1969 and 1974 shows. I hadn't heard it in at least 3 years. But back when my youngest was born, I often had to take the older kids out on rides just to give their mother a break, and this was a frequent soundtrack choice. Furious is a great way to describe that Dark star, Garcia's got a real edge, and I love the dissonant thing he plays right after the first verse, it's very unusual and cool to compare to the Live/Dead version, which I listened to again a few days ago. There was an article that came out sometime in 1969 about how the GD were the loudest and heaviest of the SF bands, you can hear it on this Eleven. Good stuff. I can't answer about the Janis -Pig Lovelight because it wasn't on the CD this morning, but IIRC it was fine. I'm a fan of Lovelight anyway, I like all of them. Next up was 6-23-74, the Phil and Ned set followed by the jam via the Jerry Moore AUD. Great sounding recording, and wonderful performance. What I had not noticed was how the jam in Dark Star stays close to the theme the entire time, or at least it's fair to say that Garcia re-establishes Dark Star a couple of times in the course of the jam (around 11 minutes and then again around 17 just before they switch to Spanish Jam.) Then I started up 11-8-70, got through Truckin and the first part of Dark Star. I will take that one up again when I get back in the car, but for now it's still 6-8-92, very nice Cat>I>Crazy Fingers. Crazy fingers is in Box of Rain territory for me, I'm not sure they ever surpassed the studio version on that one. Panama Hotel mentioned it, but I read somewhere what that the existence of the Dire Wolves in that book comes from Martin's familiarity with the song. Also I'm not sure if he made it to the movies, but in the books there's a knight called Dark Star who's got something to do with the sand snakes. There's also a region called the Mountains of the Moon...I was not quite back on the bus when I last read it, I bet I would notice more stuff next time. I will read it from the beginning if he ever puts out the next book, it's been 10 years...
Jamie explained that he has to get the OK from TPTB to do the pitch correction. The truth is they could throw Joe B. Jones a few bucks several times a year and things would be just exactly perfect.
He lives here in Santa Fe and has used his resources in fun ways to benefit the community. A friend of mine works for his wife on occasion and attended a Dead & Co. show with them a few years back at one of the Casino's near ABQ (the Pueblos have casinos to make money off rich gringos). They had backstage passes since Mr. Martin is connected with the Dead.
They only one I'm aware of is the PNW box, which is technically off but I don't think by enough to really matter too much (it's not a difference I can hear, anyway). He had just had heart surgery or something and said it got by him. I do not know what before that, chronologically, was Plangent, I never heard of Plangent until that box came out but I am not the most attentive soul so that might not mean much. But since then I believe he realizes he'll hear about it if it's off at all so if he wasn't already sufficiently vigilant about it, I imagine he is now. And I'm not saying he wasn't before, I just don't know.
I actually love your review, though I would have given the Believe It or Not props for being a powerful pre-drums bustout in the middle of what was otherwise a full-tilt boogie of a second set. I was there and was left permanently scarred in the best of ways by the experience. The energy inside that arena was off-the-charts and the crowd incredibly cool and friendly. The only time I ever saw Jerry catch air was during the Sunshine Daydream and I agree this is a best of all time S>F. The way the band gallops into the transition is incomparable in all my searches and the solos during Fire just go higher and higher and HIGHEST. Overall this S>F does lose points for a shorter than normal transition jam but considering how they orchestrated it with the midi magic it's hard to complain - listening to the spiderweb of sound that comes out of Jerry, or is it Brent, Bralove still blows my mind every time. It's a really unique version all and all and deserves repeat listening. I'm adding it to my Jer'day queue today for sure! I'm editing to add for the record one of the other great things about this show for a bunch of us. Mail order (GDTS) recommended a few hotels close to the venue and the one at the top of the list was called the Royal Connaught. This was small hotel in downtown Hamilton a few blocks from the Copps. Hamilton is kind of a convention town and the Dead were it for sure. As a result this was a totally insane Mars Hotel of a situation with the entire place jammed with heads. There was even a kind tourhead gentleman offering cups of lysergically enhanced water out of a water cooler in the lobby - the safe way to get it over the border I gather. The highlight of the hotel was a three-story-high indoor waterslide that wrapped around into a large pool with a giant mushroom waterfall (yes a mushroom waterfall) and a large 20 person jacuzzi. I wish I was that guy Duff from Cornwall - as he'd spin a better tale - but needless to say the seen was hilarious and hedonistic and the whole package makes this a rival for greatest day of my life (don't tell the wife!).
It's funny - I have such great memories of listening to this show, but when I first heard it I was driving north through York, PA and I remember the area SUCKED to drive through, lol. Horrific traffic and roads!!!! But I have a vivid memory of sitting at a stoplight during the > jam and my jaw kinda dropping, lol
I was looking over notes, I listened to 10 full shows in July, up from 1 in June (5 in May and 7 in April.) I don't have my 2019 notebook down in the desk, but the 2018 one is here. I listened to 70 complete shows in July of 2018! Back then I was working on early 1968, April of 71, fall of 73, april 84, winter 79, Spring 84, Fall 91, and Spring 94. A lot of variety, and some great eras, and tons of time at the computer. I'd say I probably averaged 40-50 a month for a solid 18 months. Now I'm doing Europe 72 (though really milking it, I started that last summer,) Fall 77, Summer 80, Spring 88, and Summer 92. Not quite as many threads in the web, but mostly not nearly the same amount of time sitting at the computer. (That doesn't count stuff I listen to randomly, like the 69 and 74 stuff I heard earlier. There's been a lot more of that too, I listen to about 90% Grateful Dead and family when I have music on.)
Happy birthday Jerry! (...) I guess I should add the original CD of this album to my list which I realize would break my self-imposed cut-off of The Grateful Dead Movie and Blues for Allah (which I've already broken).
It's been a pretty Vincified day, and I need to get some of it off my chest, so just skip this if you don't want to read me bloviating at some length about my morning listening... I got up bright and early for some Dark Star action. I revisited 1972-04-14 first...excellent DS, really a classic in fact. It maybe gets a little less attention than it otherwise would being packed into the greatest month in history for Dark Star....or maybe it gets more attention because of that, or else the exact appropriate amount. Don't ask why I haven't deleted everything I've typed so far and started over...I don't know the answer. Anyway, kind of spacey jamming before the verse, almost what I'd call a space jam really, then more upbeat jamming I believe in E with a lot of dominant 7 emphasis until a really triumphant Feelin' Groovy segment after the verse. I went on to listen to Sugar Mag, intending to make it to Caution, but I felt the pull of Dark Star and put on the one from the 17th instead. This one is a much spacier version. Before the verse, oddly, they get into a space jam but only stay there for what felt like less than a minute (I didn't time it) and then go to the verse instead, but after the verse they head right for space....things start to congeal and then Pigpen comes in at around 25 minutes, which is just before it goes into the proto-Let it Grow jam with which many of you are familiar. Two great Dark Stars from a great month for Dark Star and, as I say, what I consider the greatest month for Dark Star, although there are those who propose other candidates. Them I dismiss. I felt myself to have a wandering spirit today, I did not make it to Caution this time either. I felt a hankering for more modern electric sounds, so I put on 1977-02-26. I have seen some of the renditions on here criticized recently. I must say, I had dismissed much of this show years ago with an unbecoming hastiness, but when it got released something sort of clicked for me about it. I really love this Terrapin now, for instance, not just for trivia purposes but the rock-y guitar tone Garcia has here, for one thing, is a nice contrast with other versions. The PiTB>Wheel>PiTB is out of this world, especially the first PiTB segment which is one of my favorite things. Samson is one of my favorite versions, due to the efforts of our Jerry. Help on the Way is one of the raggedier efforts, one of the things that made me slow to appreciate the wonders of this concert. But we all know that this Slipknot! is great and perhaps peerless. What we might not all realize is that Franklin's Tower is also one of the best, with really indelible solos by Jerry, especially since the chief proselytizer for this Slipknot! is not an aficionado of Franklins Tower in general....be that as it may, I was fated never to reach the golden shores of Jerry's first FT solo, as I found myself fiending for more sounds like that Slipknot! I speculated that the Dark Star encore from 1984-07-13, which has just been re-released and which I hadn't heard in 10 years or so, might provide me with an experience roughly equivalent to the one Slipknot! provided, so I jumped ship on 1977 and put it on...I was not disappointed. Garcia plays with a somewhat similar tone there, in fact, i.e. the sort of fuzzy tone he sometimes used in the 80s...it was great to hear Brent having a whack at it with him, and to be honest, whether it is entirely justified or not, I really love love love this Dark Star, even when it brushes elbows with 1972 like it did this morning. It doesn't go out anywhere really, it just sort of rumbles away in well-trodden grooves, but what grooves they are...what grooves, Pip...
Today I listened to 6/23/74 (Jai-Alai Fronton). What a incredible show. up there among the very best of '74. Great Dark Star with a terrific Spanish Jam afterwards. The U.S. Blies might be the best version, or at least the best of '74. Excellent versions of Jack Straw and Black Throated Wind, and let's not forget Let It Rock (which they really should've played more). Overall a fantastic show, always a blast revisiting it.
I really wish I could absorb music while doing other things (like working). I listened to 72 shows in a tad over a month, between June 25th and July 26th. I never did that many before, and I doubt I'll ever do that many again, although it was great to do. But it involved hours of doing nothing every day but listening, basically the Dead were my sole cultural consumption (besides reading at night which I can never do without). I loved it but I'm glad it's over, and I'm going to take 1968 slowly. I am eager to get to 1969, and I thought about doing them at the same time, but it seems like with two adjacent years that were so developmentally rich, it might be better to preserve the chronology. There are according to the Setlist Project thing some 113 shows in 1968. I have not yet figured out how many of those actually exist. But I may skip some shows this time, I'm not totally committed to getting them all in, or else save some and come back to them as I go through 1969.
I'm waiting for the day you post "Today I listened to x/xx/xxxx...to be honest, it kind of sucked..."
I’m first listen in to WD 50. I noticed the sonic clarity first on High Time. I sang along to UJB, but I’m bagged from a huge run in the mountains, so my singing became a tired old man voice who lacked wind to sustain full lines, so then it morphed into what William Shatner would sound like doing GD covers, which entertained me far more than it should’ve, but then I remembered I took a mellow edible when I got home from my run and that explained anything; there’s a symmetry to a run-on sentence after a long run.
Back for more from Egypt; I was enjoying the vibe last night and it’s been a while since I played Rocking The Cradle.
Yeah I thought it was a short year to listen to, but then when I saw 113 I thought maybe there's a lot I don't know about....that's a relief but also a huge bummer of course
Happy Jerry day y'all Listening to 6/7, 1969 and Dark Star. Paired with a nice bottle of Barbera D'Alba 2018 Quite different compared to Live/Dead. Check it out!
7/21, 1974 Hollywood Bowl. Great recording from our buddy Bertrando. Playing in the Band> Wharf Rat> Truckin' -> Nobody's Fault But Mine Jam -> Playing In The Band Excellent PitB. Love the stuff that Weir is doing around 19-20min in. And Kreutzmann's drumming throughout the big jam is just wonderful. I wonder what the Dead would have been without him? The band is on the edge and I love that. You would think that PitB would go on a bit longer but then Jerry wants to do Wharf Rat. Weir is hinting at spannish jam but Jerry ignores him. Nobody’s fault is just a minute long before it goes into a really really great Playing reprise. Love the way Kreutzmann shifts the tempo before that. Stuff like that is why the 2nd set is awesome! Nice Ship of fools to follow with great Jerry guitar and Sugar Magnolia is excellent and rocking with a great groove and good Keith piano. If a SDB was ever to be found and later released as a DaP for example... This show would be very appriciated by folks who doesn't do AUD tapes, I think.
