54 years ago 01/17/68 Carousel Ballroom - San Francisco, CA Set 1: Turn On Your Love Light Dark Star China Cat Sunflower The Eleven New Potato Caboose Born Cross-Eyed Spanish Jam Set 2: Beat It On Down The Line Morning Dew Cryptical Envelopment The Other One Cryptical Envelopment Good Morning Little School Girl
53 years ago 01/17/69 Civic Auditorium - Santa Barbara, CA Set 1: Turn On Your Love Light Dark Star St. Stephen The Eleven Death Don't Have No Mercy Cryptical Envelopment Drums The Other One Cryptical Envelopment Cosmic Charlie
52 years ago 01/17/70 Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR Set 1: Dire Wolf China Cat Sunflower I Know You Rider Hard To Handle Cumberland Blues Me And My Uncle Black Peter Good Lovin' Drums Good Lovin' Mason's Children High Time Dark Star St. Stephen The Eleven Turn On Your Love Light
An upgrade to the circulating source would be much appreciated, I suspect the Dark Star will offer up hidden treasures when the sonics are improved.
Nice to see that photo of the New Haven Coliseum! Thanks. I was at this one too, my final K&D show (of 10). New Haven was a nice small-ish hockey arena…
This evening’s listening is Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA, 17/01/78. That’s one mighty swell 2nd set. It’s not as up-front and in your face as I was expecting for ‘78, it’s quite chilled, and dare I say pretty genteel where you can just bathe in the sound rather than worry about getting whiplash. I really dig that opening Bertha and those little island-vibe like licks—very cool; Candyman is a beauty; and that huge uninterrupted sequence is killer, it’s patient and laser-focussed—Estimated smokes, riding along on a killer groove; I always love He’s Gone—this is warm and inviting, with a wonderful extended outro—Keith sticking around and jamming with the drummers is neat; I was expecting more of an aural assault during the opening of TOO, this one is more slow-building and spacey, rather than “out-there” exploratory; a heartfelt and sorrowful Black Peter features some of the shows best singing/harmonies, and has a sensationally bluesy outro solo; before Truckin’ crashes through, upping the ante and rockin’ out (there’s a splice/sound issue midway through, which is a slight distraction), though it peaks hard—I like Bobby’s “gotchas” ad-libs; U.S. Blues rollicks home. All in all, quite a soulful stretch. Nothing like the aggressive, panzer attack I was expecting. I did go back and listen through the 1st set, which was also most enjoyable. I’d have to listen a few more times, so I’ve bookmarked this one, though Cassidy and Row Jimmy stood out. I also just realised Jerry was struggling with laryngitis both in January 1978 and January 1979?! I: Promised Land, Dire Wolf, Cassidy, Loser, Looks Like Rain, Row Jimmy, New Minglewood Blues, It Must Have Been The Roses, The Music Never Stopped. II: Bertha > Good Lovin’, Candyman, Estimated Prophet > He’s Gone > Drums > The Other One > Black Peter > Truckin’ > Around And Around. E: U.S. Blues.
I'm fairly certain when I saw Dark Star Orchestra this was the show they played. I was hoping for some 68-74, but this was still pretty cool.
I just listened to this (10/19/72) today, and agree: The Truckin' > Other One > He's Gone > Other One is outright incredible. The transitions are telepathic, as is the interplay, and there's not a single boring or tedious second the whole way through. There's even a delicious Rhodes solo from Keith, which I wasn't expecting. The rest of the show is top-notch, too...the only bummer is the equipment issue (keeping the vocals hard-panned to the right and most everything else on the left) that doesn't get fixed until Sugaree.
Good tape. I think of it as the first Anthem show (a case could be made for Winterland October 22 1967 or Shrine Auditorium November 10/11 1967 but I think something changed after they went to New York at the end of 1967).
The band seems to have taken a large step forward between the November '67 Shrine shows and mid-January '68. In addition to the band's newly shown ability to improvise and segue/transition between songs I think Jerry's playing took a big step forward in the time period. By January '68 he was showing the ability to play longer and more complex musical phrases. (Sorry I'm not a musician so I may not be saying this right!) It sounds to me like he went from expressing ideas in a series of interesting, but unrelated sentences to full paragraphs.
Nice anniversary show to call out. According to David Lemieux, that night was the premier of ChinaCat, The Eleven & Darkstar. Wish we had a video of the audience that evening. Would be fun to watch the collective face melt. Cheers, Zafu
The first on tape, certainly. It's possible they played them in New York and Boston in December '67 but I guess we'll never know.
Actually, I just listened to this again, and I think Keith's playing his piano through a wah here, as somebody mentioned he did in another performance from around this time.
What’s the go with DSO? Do you know beforehand what they’ll be playing or is it a surprise finding out on the night?
Oh really? So you buy tickets and then find out on the night? Or is it announced beforehand, but you just don’t want to spoil it?
No.......they don’t tell you. They just start playing the songs. Some of the DSO shows I’ve been to, people have their cell phones out (Setlist.fm or elsewhere) during the 1st set to try to figure out what it is before the set is over.
Plus it’s ~ 50% (or a bit more) actual set lists from actual Dead shows (aka recreations) and the rest are hybrid or made up set-lists. Those concerts usually combine aspects from different eras. It’s fun the take a look at the gear and guess. Last time I knew it was 79-82 as I saw the Hammond & keyboard, 4-string bass & dual drum kits. It ended up being 4/6/82. I’ve yet to see a single drummer show. I’ve seen them 9 times over the past few years. Saw 2 hybrid shows - my first on on 12/30/2017 - was ok until they played a roaring Caution towards the end***1/2 4/6/82***** 12/30/78**** 10/11/70 ***** 9/18/87 ***1/2 8/29/83****1/2 1989 or 1990 show - or it was a hybrid that only featured that era - the worst show I’ve seen them play** A show that used a Phil Lesh set list from a Capital Theatre show ****
