It's all for fun. Metallica's audience is not going to Dead and Co. or Phish shows, and for most music audiences, this would be a treat. I don't take what the Dead and Phish do for granted.
Now listening to 12/3/79(Chicago)onTIGDH on SiriuzXM’s GratefulDea channel via the webstream now playing Wharf Rat.
This is a nice little show. It's different in a way, because they ended up with a lot of their 'radio friendly' tunes in the set list, and not really any long jams - perfect for short car rides. Or when you're having people over for a Christmas party last year, and you don't want to accidentally play Pigpen's Refrigerator Repairman story in front of your wife's non-Deadhead girlfriends from work ("I'll take anything that's wet and wiggles"); you'll also steer clear of pocket pool references and DIY instructions to ensure "she got her leg up against the wall". Seriously though, that incident made a liar and a turncoat out of me, as I could do nothing but jump on the offended people's bandwagon with my astonished, "Oh for crying out loud, that must be why they call him 'Pigpen'. Sorry sorry sorry, I had no idea. And to think that kind of talk used to be acceptable. Unbelievable...." But I do like this show. Pigpen is up front in the mix for a change (probably the most since TC left), so you get a really nice dose of his playing at a point when it was probably as good as it ever got. I enjoyed the sparse simplicity of his playing by 1971 - always on point and never in the way. The Wharf Rat from this 3/18 concert showcases it nicely. As Jerry opens up with those dense mesmerizing guitar chords, Pigpen creeps in with this hypnotic organ drone underneath it. It comes and goes throughout the song and sounds very cool during Jerry's mellow outro soloing - very floaty. Possibly the most psychedelic Wharf Rat I've heard.
You might be surprised. I've been to quite a few Metallica shows over the years, especially in the '88 - 93 time, when I was actively attending GD (and Ph***) shows as often as possible. Never been to Dead & Co, though....
Did you happen to see the Albany 6/22/95 show? That was my last. I thought it was really good when I saw it, but I was "in a state". When I listen / watch that show now, it doesn't seem so hot, but I'm not too familiar with that era in general, so it's tough to compare that show to whatever else was going on in '95.
The Albany 95 shows are great setlists on paper. Unfortunately just on paper is the end of it. “So Many Roads” was good. The good 95 is 2/21 Salt Lake City (the porch crusher), 3/18 Philly, 3/23 Charlotte……. I think my last show - 6/30 Pittsburgh was very good. I like 3/27 Atlanta - some interesting 2nd set jams) - but many don’t. 6/25 RFK has its moments. Someone else will have to comment on west coast shows. I never listened to any of them.
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we’ve got no place t’ (record scratch sound) SHUT UP AND PLAY BERTHA!
TGDMS An amazing album, the best 6+ hour album I can think of that isn't a big box of full shows like Listen to the River or the Spring '90 boxes. I've read here and elsewhere that this is as good as it will get with official releases of the 10/16-20/74 run. While I'm still trying to collect more official releases, I've been thinking about making the jump over to the archives and go on the Relisten website. In taking a quick tour of Relisten, my eyebrows were in a constant state of being raised. Nearly every show, it seemed like, is available in SBD in one form or another. This is contrast to what I'm used to with the Phish archives. I don't even know where to begin, but I figured the October '74 shows might be a good jumping off point.
As good as it will get? Possibly not but I understand there are issues with the tapes (recording problems, cuts made to the tapes when they were working on the movie) that they'd have to sort out for another release.
Back to Dec 1990 for the 2nd show following the Europe run... they were a bit rusty the night before, but on this night they had found the groove again, and put on a pretty good show. According to this setlist, Huey Lewis sat in during Lovelight! I don't remember that at all - LOL - but apparently it happened! 12/4/90 Grateful Dead - Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA I: Jack Straw, Mississippi Half-Step> Walkin' Blues, Candyman, Me and My Uncle> Big River, Brown-Eyed Women, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Bird Song, The Valley Road II: Eyes Of The World> Saint Of Circumstance> Ship Of Fools, Truckin'> Smokestack Lightning> Drums> Space> The Other One> Wharf Rat> Turn On Your Lovelight* E: It's All Over Now Baby Blue (*w/Huey Lewis)
If Huey Lewis sat in with the Grateful Dead, I’d want to not remember it too. I wish I could forget Hall & Oates sitting in with them at the MSG 2/24/88 Rain Forest benefit……but unfortunately can’t.
Trivia: pre-fame, Huey Lewis and the News had a gig as a singles bar band, and inspired Barlow's "Feel Like A Stranger" lyric.
I actually think these were the first Archive shows I listened to in their entirety, too. I can assure you, you won't be disappointed. I agree that the GDMS rates very highly among the official releases, but these shows are full of wonderful performances. The band definitely rose to the occasion here -- there really is a sense of "if this is truly the last time, we really oughta nail these songs." This really needs to be the big box for 2024.
1st set opener! But party host (and lead guitar player) had on some sort of streaming GD channel (not Sirius-XM) so we only interrupted some Dead (it was Jack Straw) to play some Dead (second song we played was Jack Straw).
So we know TGDTM went way, way over budget (animation intro huge contributor), delays and lots of phun by Jerry in the side room , it would have another expense but why would you not make a backup copy of the multitracks before the editing started?!?!?! I remember a head who worked at Everybody’s Records (Cincy, OH) in the mid 90’s saying that the soundtrack was the worse sounding release by the GD….I was a newb and did not ask, why he felt this way.