Today’s listening is June 1976: Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, 15/06/76. Some random thoughts and brief notes of highlights I made for the fourth show in the June 1976 box: From the 1st set there’s a silky-smooth, super-groovin' Sugaree; an exquisite Candyman, with singing and note-perfect harmonies blending beautifully, and featuring a sublime, delightfully crisp Jerry solo; an epic, soaring Let It Grow (complete with a pounding Drums section in the middle); that transitions sweetly into an energetically rockin' Might As Well to close the set. The 2nd set is most unusual—featuring a real-melodic, super-heady St. Stephen opener; segueing into an intense, mega-jammy Not Fade Away—is that a glimpse of a Dark Star tease just before NFA comes back in(?!); before transitioning into a beauty Stella Blue—I don’t think the Dead played that sequence again?! It’s a definite highlight of the box. An absolutely gob-smacking Stella Blue is an all-timer—long and languorous with an otherworldly outro, its downright gorgeous that’ll leave you slack-jawed in amazement; a fresh ‘n’ funky, insanely-groovy Dancing In The Street; a gloriously dreamily gooey The Wheel (the first time this song is used as a springboard jam vehicle into another song, rather than being a standalone opener/encore); which then transitions beautifully into a highly unique, final sequence of Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Sunshine Daydream. Whoa! Scarlet Begonias sandwiched within Sugar Magnolia is pretty wild and interesting—another sequence not heard before. Both experimental and exploratory throughout; what a superbly fascinating set. I: Promised Land, Sugaree, Cassidy, Candyman, The Music Never Stopped, It Must Have Been The Roses, Looks Like Rain, Tennessee Jed, Let It Grow > Might As Well. II: St. Stephen > Not Fade Away > Stella Blue, Samson And Delilah, Friend Of The Devil, Dancing In The Street > The Wheel > Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Sunshine Daydream. E: Johnny B. Goode. 1976/2020 Rhino Records (2) – R2 624961
Images from the April Fools Day (1980.04.01) "Promised Land," from someone named Chris Martin on Facebook, shared on LL by user drewberry1.
Afternoon listening: 11/14/73 San Diego (30 Trips) After getting thoroughly engrossed in 11/11 this morning, I decided to jump ahead three days this afternoon. A bit of an odd show, really. Love the HCS, which has a monumentally hot jam--it's a shame they couldn't stick the landing back into the song after that. The China>Rider is a very good one. The second set contains one of the most unusual sequences I've seen: Truckin>TOO>Big River>TOO>Eyes>TOO>Wharf Rat. Love it! The only downer is a patch in the first TOO due a reel flip, which happens just as they are heating up. Jerry is on fire throughout.
That tour (November 1973), and the one that followed in December, should have been officially released in their entirety.
LOL.. how did I not know about this? As dickish as Healy could be, this is pretty funny. Off to “the usual places” to check this out. Even without the Healy weirdness, I loves me some ‘87. PITB>Terrapin is never a bad thing. Thanks!
QFT. For the past year, most of my GD listening has been ‘73 with some choice ‘74 here and there. November/December ‘73 are on the short list for the best months ever. I’d settle for releases of the Madison and Cleveland shows (Longest DS ever in the latter), but I’ll happily save up for the entire two months.
Sometimes I think about doing whole years, and then I remember that if I require breaks and diversions to get through something like the E72 tour, which has to be a top contender for most consistently strong tour of all time, attempting a whole year would likely not turn out well. I mean, I guess I did all of 75 a couple months ago, although, that's not much of an achievement. That said, the temptation is always there, particularly with years like 73 and 74 that are already very familiar to me but where I also have some pretty significant gaps. And then there's also a weird pull toward a year like 76, where they didn't actually play very many shows and the second sets look (and often are) so interesting. I dunno. I've listened to that show three times now, and every time I enjoy it more. (I actually didn't think it was all that the first time around -- it kinda got lost between the Winterland shows and 11/17.) You're correct to highlight that second-set sequence -- that's fall 73 at its finest right there.
1969-04-22 heavy SOTOTW to open; great **Morning Dew**; **GMLS** Jerry is extra hot, as is band; the middle section of Other One is raging, then it cuts…most of it is missing!; DDHNM has even more markéd tempo slowdown on second part of solo; unbelievably great **Dark Star**, and longest one to date; **11** is raucous; wild **Lovelight** with a Caution jam or two…
I kind of feel the same way you did after my first listen, to be honest. It could be because the second set sequence is so odd, I haven't wrapped my head around it--coupled with the fact that the first set doesn't have a PITB or WRS to give it more heft. I'm certainly revisiting it--heck, I think I need to do a Fall '73 tour in its entirety. I'm thinking of including the Archive-only shows into my rotation and doing that right now, actually. It was such an amazing time for them.
As I recall when the patch happens they are circling around for 30 seconds or so about to make the jump out of Truckin' into The Other One. Notably, there is no AUD source of this show on the Archive, so they tracked down an audience source than is not in digital circulation for this release. Oddly, I remember @Mr. Rain mentioning that at this show Phil was so drunk he had to play sitting down.
Not at all... Epsecially since that medicated Madison goo actually was October! 10/25, so, in my defense, it was practically November. I’d still save up for three months of shows... Would be tough to put aside my beer money, but this is important dammit!