All this talk about the Cape 79 shows, I gotta jump in. I was lucky enough to be at both of these, plus New Haven on 10/25. My friends and I joke about this week being my senior year of high school visit to prospective college destinations, since we started at my buddy’s Tufts dorm, we were near Yale when in New Haven, and certainly Cape Cod Community College was on everyone’s short list of Must Visit colleges. (I don’t think my mom and dad were all that fooled about what I was doing though.) Anyway, in my mind 10/27 always overshadowed the next night, though 10/28 is definitely no slouch. But that first half of the second set in 10/27 was and is one of the peak GD sessions I ever was fortunate to witness. I’d have to more carefully review other setlists, but I’m pretty sure this was the only Disco Dancing I ever heard live. And as the recording attests, what a huge funk fest this version is. As it morphed into Franklins Tower, we were all amazed (at least I was!). It was so unexpected, just transcendent music. And it was LOUD AS HELL, in a small arena, just wonderful! The He’s Gone was great, the post jam fantastic, and then one thing that you all hear on the tape but clearly made a much more profound impact in the room: Phil’s crunching, thundering, belching kicking down the door intro to the Other One! Holy Hell, that just ripped our faces off! The band was so locked in, everything they played post drums was also fine, top notch but somehow paled in comparison. One of my memories from that night, after the show: Well, it’s late October in New England, cold and dark, rainy. We were supposed to meet a friend of a friend of a friend, who had offered us a place to crash that night. We were following their car out of the parking lot. There’s a traffic cop guy, who allows their car to make a left, and he vehemently points for us to turn right. There’s no questioning this power hungry officer… so we spend the next hour plus creeping along these back route Cape roads, debating What The Heck Do We Do? Go all the way back to Medford? No one has money for a hotel, not that we even know which direction to go to find one. (Edit: Keep in mind, it’s 1979, long before everyone has a phone and computer in their pocket). It’s cold, wet and miserable, we’re all a bit altered from the night… we pull into the parking lot of a Cumberland Farms, and Praise the Goddess, who’s car is right there but the guy we’d lost and didn’t expect to ever see again! Anyway, I loved night two there in South Yarmouth, but it didn’t compare in my mind to the massive mind melt I’d experienced on 10/27. Thanks to @sami for bringing these shows back to everyone’s attention!
Classic GD story. In Providence '87, I was meeting a friend of mine who went to school in Vermont. I didn't own a car, and took the train down to Providence from Boston and had no plans for what I was going to do after the show. Figured, well, "Joe and his buddies aren't going to drive back to Vermont after the show. I'll ask if I can crash wherever they're staying." Turns out, they were driving back to Vermont after the show (four hours!) and I had no idea where I was going to sleep. I was wandering around the parking lot and ran into another friend of mine (I didn't even know he was on the east coast), sitting on a car hood and playing guitar, and spent the night with him & his friends at some crunchy hippie house near Brown U.
Re Cape Cod '79, I remember an attendee mentioning how they played a 17 minute Franklin's in the 10/27 second set and then again in the 10/28 first set.
I have listened to the Hunter & Scott R/Charlie M matrix’s of 10/28 this week. The 2019 matrix (Scott/Charlie) has lot more clapping/audience noise in it compared to Hunter’s 2015. Hunter’s “maybe” has more vocal presence of Jerry/Brent, the Scott/Charlie matrix has some punchy AUD Phil to it with more clapping. We are fortunate that we have the luxury of being able to listen to both matrixes (1 w/ more SBD, 1 w/ more AUD in the mix) of a fine 79 show, so folks can listen to what they prefer!
They probably could've, but I didn't want to have to take the train down again the next day. Also, IIRC, I was moving into a new apartment and I didn't have the keys yet (when I did get a ride home after the third show, I had to call someone from a payphone at 1:00am to get them to let me in).
Ah, good point. Didn't realize there were more shows in the run. Figured there must've been some reason, just thought it was funny
Also, depending on how they were planning to drive home, dropping me off in Somerville could have added a non-trivial amount of time to their four-hour drive.
Listening to this now. I'm surprised (although I shouldn't be) how much grief this DaP release has gotten in the last few days around here. I've always known 3-27's second set as a smoker, and I was very pleasantly surprised with how hot the Bird Song and China>Rider were from the previous night. I guess the sound quality is less-than-ideal for some listeners, but that doesn't bother me so much.
"We're playing better than we've ever played. We're so much more consistent now; we used to have really bad nights all the time but now we're pretty happy with each show. It really freshens the show up when we've got good new material to play. Phil's got some great new songs, like this song If the Shoe Fits, that's got a little of Dark Star in it. It's kind of like Unbroken Chain for the new generation. Speaking of which, we might break that one out again. I know we can do it way better than we could back in the old days. We're finally reaching our peak, now that we know what we're doing." -- Jerry Garcia, 1994 (OK, I made that up. But he did say most of these things at other times.)
Now I'm feeling the urge to actually listen to this song. I couldn't tell you what it sounds like, although apparently I saw it performed at least once (at a show that may have been the worst Dead show I ever saw). Are there any versions that are particularly recommended? EDIT: [Looks at lyrics] "Oh, it was that song!"
Hi gang, I am very gingerly exploring certain parts of the discography. I'm not even sure if I like much of what the Dead do, but interested enough to listen to a few more shows to generate an informed opinion. I've heard Europe 72 and Cornell 77 to hear the best of those eras. Now I'd like to hear something representative of the Brent era/80s. It seems the consensus is to listen to 9/18/87 or 3/21/90. Any opinions on which one is more representative of the late 80s? Also, I was a little surprised 9/18/87 hasn't received an official release considering its stature.
9/18/87 was released as part of the large "30 Trips Around the Sun" box set back in 2015. Box set is sold out, but can probably find the music if you look around. The SBD on archive.org sounds really good though if I remember. 7/7/89 is a great Summer '89 show that got a CD/DVD release https://www.amazon.com/Crimson-White-Indigo-Stadium-Philadelphia/dp/B0037RBVH4
Are you looking for official releases or listening via the archive or something? There haven't been a ton of official releases from the Brent years and most of them are out of print. In any case, the band's sound changed over the course of the 80s; maybe not as much as in the 70s, but there was still a lot of change happening. If you want a taste of the best of Brent years, I would recommend, off the top of my head: 11-30-80 10-19-81 or 8-28-81 4-3-82 or 4-6-82 7-25-82 or 7-27-82 Anything from April 1983 Almost anything from fall 1984 (esp. 10-12-84) 3-28-85 or 7-1-85 or 11-1-85 3-21-86 or 3-28-86 or the first half of the second set from 7-4-86. 4-4-87 or 9-8-87 7-2-88 8-19-89 3-24-90 7-12-90 That oughta get you started.
Pigpen really was central to their sound in '67. That lasted up until early '68 which is kind of his high-water mark on the organ -- like in this show -- then he receded after that. Maybe the other guys were criticizing him too much, I don't know, or he got tired of keeping up with the psychedelia. There was that one show where he had Gregg Allman sit in on organ (2/11/70)....and Steve Winwood one time too (11/16/70). And for a while in '69-70 just about anybody who wanted to sing Lovelight was welcome onstage....whether they could sing or not. Pigpen was happy to share the limelight.
I'm up for listening any way. The official releases are a little easier to find and listen to, so I would look there first. But the archive works too. A quick search found 9/18/87 mentioned a bunch, so I was mildly surprised that it wasn't officially released on its own. But I guess part of the whole journey is listening and picking your own favorites, as opposed to everyone agreeing on a few universal favorites. Thanks for the recommendations!
It was less musically awkward than "Wave To The Wind," but it was the "Day Job" of the 90's in its sour attitude, although probably honest given how things were with the band in '94. Then there was Phil's other '94 song "Childhood's End," which I've never heard.
I have a Blair Jackson book with a fall 1988 Garcia interview and I remember him being gung-ho about the band in that one, even if he was candid about some problems (mentioning that they had just played a lousy tour in the South). As for the 90's, I don't think he gave a lot of interviews then (I remember by '93 or so McNally said he was "ornery" and turning down most requests), and I'm not sure how much he talked about the state of the band.
I was on route when the sound check took place so I missed it. didn't get to the site until the morning.
Years ago I knew someone who attended Watkin's Glen and who was there for the soundcheck. He estimated there were a good 20 - 30K people already there. Remember- 600K people attended the show the next day!
We were talking last week or so about Garcia's technique in general, so I pulled up the amazingly excellent 'Garcia's Record Collection' article from Grateful Dead Guide (deadessays,) with the intent of writing a longer comment I ultimately abandoned for now, but that interview was partially quoted in that article, which is an amazing article that everyone should read. Didn't realize that had been a Dicks Pick, I listened to it a week or so ago, definitely among the top shows of 92, which was a pretty mediocre year, though. New Potato Caboose from Two from the Vault came up randomly in my youtube feed yesterday, even on that he was very active and laying down a lot of nice lines in spite of being 'out of his depth.' There are a number of performances from 1969, usually classic numbers e.g. Just a Hand to Hold (dba He was a Friend of Mine) that sound like they have to be Pig, but I suppose there's no way of knowing whether it was him or if he just showed TC what to play.
