My bad 6/16/91 story. I brought a friend who knew next to nothing about the Grateful Dead, but wanted to see what I spent all my money on. Needless to say, he was bored……part of it that the only song he knew was “Not Fade Away”…..and didn’t even know the Grateful Dead played it. He spent the drive home telling me that it’s bad practice not playing your hits and potentially alienating new fans. He said they should be obligated to play “Truckin’” and “Touch of Gray” every night, and then they could do the rest of each show different if they wanted. I couldn’t wait to drop him off at home. I thought 6/16/91 was very good, but not great. Pre-drums was the best part. 6/17/91 was drastically better.
LOL, Did you point out to him that in spite of their bad business sense, they had just performed in a sold-out football stadium? I remember reading at one point in the 80s that Toots Hibbert had taken to opening every Toots & the Maytals show with "Pressure Drop" so that everyone who was just waiting to hear that one song could relax and enjoy the rest of the show (or leave, I guess).
When I saw the Smashing Pumpkins on the Mellon Collie tour in 1996, widely regarded by many to be a live peak for the band during which they played for many hours and three encores, I sat behind a row of ten people who sat impatiently and bored out of their minds for the first hour or so of the concert, until the band played "1979". When that started, they stood up in unison, screamed and clapped, danced and sang along. When the song ended, all 10 of them immediately filed out of the arena, never to return. Baffling way to approach a concert.
Afternoon listening: 11/17/73, Dave's Picks #5. What can you even say about a show this great? The "palindrome" jam is the same sequence as 11/10, but a clear step up in performance and overall flow. Everything about this show is magnificent, and it makes a great companion piece to 11/11. It's interesting how often during that late fall '73 run that they experimented with different "nested" jam sequences, usually involving PITB and getting quite involved several times. They mostly got away from that in '74, in favor of a lot of extended Truckin jams that simply evolved into something else.
Absolutely killer release. This is the only Dave's Picks from the BEFORE TIMES (i.e. before I got on board and started buying them as they came out and, later, subscribing - #15 is where my collection starts) that I've been able to add by coming across a very reasonably priced used copy.
Seriously! At that point, the last thing the GD needed was more "new fans". They already had people trying to break down the gates to get into the shows. Short of staging their own festival shows in a series of big fields in remote areas, they had reached the maximum of what you can accommodate for a live performance. Anyway, they were unhappy with the disconnected nature of playing to a stadium. Playing to 150,000 people in a field somewhere would have satisfied them even less. I'm simply impressed that you came across a reasonably priced copy. That's a rare occurrence!
This is my favorite Dave's Picks, and, of the expensive early ones, the one that is most worth the going rate.
Yeah, I'm amazed to have found a used copy for $50 a few years ago. Snagged it immediately. Even more surprised since that same shop right now has a couple other pre volume 10 used Dave's Picks (can't remember which ones) that are priced at $159 each.
This morning’s listening is Dave's Picks #28 – Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, 17/06/76. Continuing through June 1976, with “official” releases. Some random thoughts and notes of highlights . . . An awesome sounding Pick, as good as anything in the June 1976 box. I believe down to recovered Betty Boards. 1st set: Cold Rain And Snow — I really love this as a show opener. These ‘76 versions just have a perfect tempo and groove along real nicely. Great playing by Keith on keys, in particular (I may have mentioned, a favourite feature of the ‘76 sound); Cassidy — there’s a unique vibe and sound to this one, great playing all-round; Tennessee Jed — again, great playing by the whole band, with a perfect solo from Jerry; Looks Like Rain — I can usually take or leave this song, but this one is so nice. Lovely harmonies; Row Jimmy — a 1st set highlight for me, this sounds absolutely incredible. An awesome, slight funky feel to this one. Beautiful singing, too; Scarlet Begonias — cowbell! A nice stand-alone version. You can hear them searching for an out with the jam (obviously Fire On The Mountain came the following year), which is strange when it just kinda ends. 2nd set: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower — a crazy good version. Franklin’s Tower in particular, is incredible. Absolutely rippin’; A fresh and funky Dancing In The Street comes out of Franklin’s, and then talk about a perfect transition into Samson And Delilah!; Ship Of Fools is sweet and exquisitely well-played. The smooth languid sound of ‘76 suits this one to a tee; A hot Lazy Lightning > Supplication which gets psychedelic, man. Awesome jamming; Another mellow, smooth and drippy Friend Of The Devil. I really love these pretty slowed-down versions from ‘76. Jerry and Keith sounding gorgeous on this one; A smokin’ hot, furious Let It Grow > Drums > Let It Grow > beautifully transitions into a smooth, flawless Wharf Rat, with Jerry in top form, singing and playing > segues into a rockin’ Around And Around finale, with boogie woogie keys from Keith. Overall a great show, with a blissfully creative 2nd set. I: Cold Rain And Snow, Big River, They Love Each Other, Cassidy, Tennessee Jed, Looks Like Rain, Row Jimmy, The Music Never Stopped, Scarlet Begonias, Promised Land. II: Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower > Dancing In The Street > Samson And Delilah, Ship Of Fools, Lazy Lightning > Supplication, Friend Of The Devil, Let It Grow > Drums > Let It Grow > Wharf Rat > Around And Around. 1976/2018 Grateful Dead Records – R2-565022
Curious when this year's box set will be announced. Assume will be sometime in next few weeks. Also, anyone recall Dave tweeting pic of a vinyl test pressing for an upcoming release? He was asked if it was the RSD release and said it wasn't. On edge of my seat!
That's where you respond with, "Truckin' and Touch of Grey are their 'worst songs,' idiot. Real fans only like Drums/Space and Dark Stars greater than 30 minutes."
1969-04-26 **Duprees** about as good as it gets; **Mtns of the Moon** Garcia switches to electric, but goes into China Cat rather than Dark Star; Cryptical>Other One>11>Other One>It’s a Sin is mostly pretty hot, though ragged at times; *Morning Dew* is hot but ragged; hot but ragged **SOTOTW** with extra good Garcia; ragged but pretty hot Minglewood; Silver Threads is very ragged, Garcia on steel; Baby Blue is downright sloppy; St. Stephen in this era all sounds the same to me, **Lovelight** is very long, pretty hot; **VLB (w/Caution overtones)>Feedback (w/What’s Become of the Baby recording)>BYGN** some of the best GD music there!
I believe so. In fact that's why I know about it. I think it was the 2nd solo, something happens for just a few seconds, but it was a beautiful and magical few seconds that re-arranged many synapses as it transpired. Or something.
Now listening to 6/16/74[Des Moines Iowa]on TIGDH on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead channel via the webstream now playing Eyes Of The World.
I'm likely to correct you even if you aren't. The second solo has ebullient Jerry way up the neck for a short spell (right around 4:30), but the third solo is where it's at when the band fragments into a section playing in 4 and another section playing in 6 over 4 with Jerry playing in double time over the cauldron that embodies that whole undulating oblong water balloon in mid-flight thing that they did so well on occasion.
I listened/watched this one not too long ago, via View From The Vault 3. The Terrapin Station > Jam > Drums > Space > China Doll segment visits some interesting spaces.
