September 25……….saw them once in Boston, but it wasn’t the big 1991 one. 9/25/93 - If you remember from my 9/18 post (not that anyone should bother reading my boring posts)……..I found a ticket for this Rex Benefit show at the 9/18 Rex Benefit show. I was never planning to go to Boston in 93, but since it was a free ticket, and Saturday, I drove up and drove back home overnight after the show (something I’m too old to do now). It was the most bland uninteresting Fall 93 show I saw (all 3 Spectrum, all 6 MSG, and this). Supposedly the worst night of Boston too……but I never heard any of the others. At least it was a free $50 show. No more boring September posts. I’ll do one for October 18 which was my first show…..and managed to see every 10/18 show the played afterwards.
Oh no… Loss is sharpened and softened for me by all the recent time in the spotlight his voice and memories and explanations have received on the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast podcast. One of the coolest examples of the uncanny Dead genius for pulling in the right person at the right time to help create and record all that American beauty. Weir on Twitter: “The next world that awaits us all will be more efficient and sound better now. Bob Voyage, Vaya con Dios, Bob Matthews.”
I just listened to the second set, the Corrina is great, nice long jam. Unfortunately, just when it starts to get creepy, they cut into drums.
9/26/93 has a pretty good 2nd Set, with an Eyes opener and a Station that gets pretty out there before Drums. On 9/25/81 they played in Lehigh, PA, but I don't think it was a very good show.
Say 1/8/79 MSG is a fairly stomping show. Solid first set, 1/2 Step>Franklin’s opener and a booming Candyman being highlights. A Fire that builds to a heady peak, stormy Terrapin, and one of the most energetic Other One intros I’ve heard. Would make a fine Pick, if this one is in the Vault.
Now listening to 9/25/81[Bethlehem Pennsylvania]on TIGDH on SiriusXM's Grateful Dead channel via the webstream now playing Bird Song.
10/31/70 SUNY Early Show. The Till The Morning Comes opener comes charging out of the gate; it’s execution isn’t just exactly perfect but it’s neat to get. The SetList Program says it is the penultimate version. A slinky, bubbling Hard To Handle follows. China > Rider gets going pretty well although there’s an abrupt cut in the latter portion of I Know You Rider. Nice Dire Wolf; Cold Rain & Snow takes it time but has some sizzle. Dark Hollow has some good twang. Lovely Brokedown Palace although unfortunately it has a cut too. The final Viola Lee Blues! Only 9+ minutes, it starts out with a swampy vibe and has a couple of early peaks before they settle into a hotter groove and pick up the pace. There’s no freak out at the end though; instead they transition into a hot Cumberland Blues and then Uncle John’s Band. It’s a good sequence but VLB probably deserved a bigger send off.
This reminds me of seeing a copy of a History Channel’s Biography program about Hercules on dvd at a Barnes & Noble. I turned to my dad and said, “They’ve run out of actual people to do this program on already?”
Sounds like Phil lays down the Bird Song bass line at 28:14 from the Dark Star on 5/11/72...oh, what could've been.
I don't recall ever reading any explanation as to why it was dropped for 11 months. Keith coming on board seems to have been the trigger, but it's not like it would have been that hard for him to learn. Maybe just concentrating on all the new songs in that period.
10/31/70 SUNY Late Show. Hot Casey Jones opener. The wah is in full effect for Sugar Magnolia. Nice harmonica with kind of a muted guitar sound underneath on Next Time You See Me. Cryptical > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical > Mr. Charlie is the first big sequence. Drums works up a pretty good lather which then explodes into TOO. It’s good although more of a medium burn and there are some issues with the tape (as well as Bobby’s mic in the second verse which he gets pretty angry about after the sequence is finished). The brief jam in the return to Cryptical is smoking and then Mr. Charlie revs it up with fuzzy, edgy guitar. Pigpen has more choice words for the sound man after Big Boss Man: “….If I don’t get it they way I want it I’m gonna rip off your head and s**t in it.” Mama Tried and Hard To Handle are repeated from the early show. HTH is down and dirty with Jerry digging in. Pigpen stays front and center for Good Lovin’ complete with a couple more drum breaks and a hot solo. The show finishes with another big sequence: St. Stephen > NFA > GDTRFB > NFA. St. Stephen feels a little clunky at times but it still brings it. NFA picks it up with some edgy heat before easing up for the shift into GDTRFB which doesn’t feel fully dialed in but it’s still good. And then on to the screaming NFA rave-up to finish which is relatively brief. Not the best this sequence has to offer but the crowd sounded pretty thrilled with it.
I LOVE that 5/10/78 jam into Other One. The Garcia-Lesh “conversation” is a one-off segue to the song, as far as I have ever heard… one of a zillion unique moments of brilliance from this band. Lucky that I was there for that one, my third show. I’ve probably listened to that show several hundred times, since we had a tape sometime not too long after the night, many years before that great SBD made it out of the vault. Let It Grow, Deal and Jack Straw are also exceptional versions, IMO. Another I am glad that I was at. I can’t speak to how this one sounds to anyone else, but I enjoy the archive recordings and my memories from the actual night are pretty vivid, and I thought it was a very good and interesting show. The venue was pretty small, an intimate basketball/hockey arena. It was freaking hot as hell in there, I don’t remember another show where the temperature was so high. The show had many fun highlights, an 11 song first set featuring the ever welcome Birdsong and the first East Coast Cumberland Blues since July 1974 which we were ELATED to hear live for the first time. Second set was also plenty fun, opening with the first East Coast Might As Well since November 77, a mid-set Scarlet Fire which was very nicely executed, and seven songs before drums. Post drums featuring the (at that point relatively rare) Wheel into Sugar Mag, which we all assumed meant a relatively short set overall… so when Jerry started Black Peter before Sunshine Daydream, I doubt there was ever a jaded East Coast audience in that era more happy to greet the opening licks of that song. Overall, a very decent show in my estimation. This second MSG show would make a phenomenal release if a good tape ever materializes. And the next show, too, from Nassau. Another bunch of shows I’m glad to have attended!
When they brought back Bird Song later in '72 they changed the key (E rather than D) and I think some other small details were different as well. Phil's Bird Song reference from 5/11/72 is in D.
Just checking out the new edition of Skull & Roses with my second cup of coffee. The tracks from 7/2/71 are great. I wonder why they didn’t release the whole show as a three disc set like AB and WD. I probably would’ve bought it had they gone that route. Looking forward to checking out all of 7/2/71 soon and to the Fox Box. Really digging those 71 Dark Stars and TOO lately.
I've really fallen far behind with listening to "new" Dead releases. I'm spending a lot of time listening through everything I own (that is, by anyone, not the Dead) from late '69 to early '70. I keep adding new things to the list and have been stuck in March/April '70 for months! Anyway...I'm finally listening to the Dave's 38 bonus material. The Bird Song was a bit ropey but the PITB, HCS and LIG did it for me. Jerry sounded a bit short on inspiration during the PITB with lots of repeated, staccato playing but Weir really pulled his weight. The organ during Truckin' has my eyes bugging out. Keith sounds like early Jon Lord vamping or something. Argh...the drum solo in Truckin'. Why? They were just getting somewhere interesting and then it sounds like they all realise, "Oh, we're meant to do the drum solo here. Better stop and wait for Billy."
