Jump to content

Grateful Dead General Thread


Hate

Recommended Posts

Half-Step doesn’t get enough love. I only had a chance to tune into the GD Hour briefly tonight but I caught this. They’ll be playing more from that show next week. From the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, 2/21/73.

Here’s the whole show, more or less. I’ll bet next week they’ll play the Truckin > Drums > Eyes > Stella Blue.

Also, “Champlain?” Come on. I’d add “Go Illini!” but Bret Bielema coaches there now and I just can’t bring myself to do it even though he’ll probably do better there than Lovie Smith did.

Go Dead!

  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was the first show of a two-night run. They played Wave That Flag both nights. They opened the first set with it on the 21st and opened the 2nd set with it on the 22nd. And get this — they played Looks Like Rain both nights.

They also played Dark Star on the 22nd. Dark Star > Eyes > China Doll. I’ll have to look that up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/26/2022 at 1:21 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

Here’s the whole show, more or less. I’ll bet next week they’ll play the Truckin > Drums > Eyes > Stella Blue.

Nailed it!

The drum solo isn’t long. There’s a really nice Phil solo out of Drums and leading into Eyes. Then there’s a sweet jam out of Eyes that’s still Phil-heavy, then they break down into a spacey jam (one of the things I love about ‘73-‘74 shows) for a little bit before they slide smoothly into Stella Blue.

That was episode #1,175 of the Grateful Dead Hour. David Gans is an American hero. That was required weekly listening, and often taping (still have a couple of those) back when I was in school in the late 80’s. While the show has evolved as time has moved on, Gans is still going strong. He’s a credit to the community. (And apparently Blair Jackson lives just down the block from him. He mentioned some collaboration, I didn’t catch what it was.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forget the new name of that venue, but yeah...I think I saw a total of 4 shows there over the years, maybe 5 or 6.  But was always a great time, camped a few times and drove back to home to Chicago once.  I emailed the old gang from up there (4 guys in Chicago, 1 guy in Indy, and me in Texas) to see if who'll take the reigns to pre-sale register.  Either we'll do Indy or Wrigley, no way I can swing both.  I'd like to do Dallas obviously.  It's closer and I can go with TX friends, but it's probably faster/easier to fly to Chicago than it is to drive to Dallas the Friday of Memorial Day weekend which is also last day of school.  I dunno, good news is there's 4 shows that I just have to make 1 work. 

I think this is it though.  I don't see them pulling some KISS shit and doing another half dozen fairwell tours.  Bob will still do Wolf Bros. campfire, Mayer will play covers at his own thing, Hart will do planet drum, Bill will go back to Kuaiui.  Jeff and Otiel will obviously jam with other bands, and I love them, but it wouldn't occur to me to track their activity after this.  Hopefully Phil gets up and around and plays a few shows here and there.  But yeah, this is it.  A year from now, we'll just be trading download recs and scratching our head, wondering, "So that all really happened?  60 years of music with those interchangeable parts?  And I was there?  Really?"   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am planning on both shows at Wrigley. 

And he'll be 8 by then, so I'm giving some serious consideration to taking Doomlet down for the Deer Creek show, just the two of us. It'll be more for me than for him, I imagine, but he likes the Dead (albeit not as much as Metallica, Slayer, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, etc.) and I'd really like to share this with him at what sure feels like our last opportunity.  

I invited him to come with me to Iron Maiden at the United Center last night, but he's a bit sensitive to noise and told me that he'd like for his first concert to be outdoors. I can't think of a better way to cut his teeth... 

Edited by Prepuce of Doom
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ace. It’s technically a Bobby solo album but a de facto Dead album. The studio version of Playin’ might be the best studio approximation of their live improvisational style. Bobby & the Wolf Bros played the album in it’s entirety at Radio City recently and a 2-disc commemorative album will be released in January.

And they released this:


 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you blacked out and drove to East Texas?  Smart move.  Yeah, like we discussed...I hate to tell that lady...this is their last tour.  Bobby might play with the Wolf Bros. (no/lobohomo), Mickey will do Planet Drum, but this is it.  This is not KISS farewell tour for a decade.  This is the last time more than 2 of them will be on stage together forever.  Unless, sadly...if we're honest...it's a tribute set for one of the other four by the other 3.  I mean, yeah...Bruce is still alive.  I dunno.  I'm bummed out but also excited

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

that's a great version.  CSB/ My cousin Beau in Chicago...his ex-wife is a huge Deadhead.  Beau was more of a metal guy, turned me onto Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Rush, et. al.  Maybe that's why it didn't work for them ;)    But she named one of her girls Althea.  She's a nursing student now at U. of Wisconsin, just miles from the Dane County AND Alpine Valley shows.  My cousin's ex-wife saw many of those shows over the years and some version of Althea musta stuck because her daughter now carries that name.  And the best part is almost nobody in my family knows where her name came from, they've heard the story but it just never resonated with them.  They still think it's just a family name on her side.  And I guess it is, her Deadhead family.  

My nephew's name is Jack.  But not from Jack Straw.  But he did once leave Texas on July 4th.  Had to.  Plane for Chicago was leaving Bergstrom.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a perfect fucking night this turned out to be. I finished off a Wharf Rat run I was on right at the time the front started blowing through. I filled my glass and grabbed my trusty one hitter and onto the porch I escaped. I was greeted with a beautiful goddamn storm complete with wind, lightning, and most of all rain! It’s starting to calm down a bit more and the lightning/thunder has been replaced with the sound of a distant train horn…whole world is turning gray, oh it surely looks like rain!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of Morning Dew, I caught this one on the GD Hour three Sundays ago. (I didn’t tune in the last couple of weeks). I caught the first half hour of the radio broadcast when they played the second half of the second set from the Cap Centre in Landover, MD 9/12/87. (I would attend shows there the following year. Really great scene.)

They started with Space which is always fine with me. Then coming out of Space they teased Spanish Jam quite a bit but never actually played it. That was too bad because I thought they were going to and I love that tune. You know how they have that musical conversation as they’re deciding where to go next...I thought I heard hints of Miracle and that turned out to be foreshadowing. Ultimately they went into Truckin’ and that segued into Miracle with no jam out of Truckin’ at all. Then they went into Morning Dew followed by Lovelight to close the set.

The whole show is up on YouTube but here’s just the Morning Dew. It’s got good quality audio and the camera focuses on Jerry the entire time. I dig the audience clapping along after Jerry’s first solo. They keep that up until the second solo when it fades and dies out. Not the greatest Dew ever but it’s still pretty good.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More Dew. As reaction videos go, this guy is pretty good. I’ve mostly watched him doing Zappa tunes and a little bit of Floyd. The first Dead tune he did was Terrapin Station but it was the album version. He liked the horns. He was definitely coming at it with no knowledge of the Dead or their music at all. This is better. One thing I like about him is that he knows music and can say what they’re playing.

There are a lot of reaction videos out there and most of the ones I’ve seen on the Dead just have someone grooving along and saying they like it. I watched a guy do a reaction video on Peggy-O earlier and he completely misinterpreted the lyrics. No, dude, Peggy-O didn’t accept William’s proposition. She said she would marry him but he’s too poor and her mama wouldn’t like it. So he said the next time he returns he’s going to lay waste to the place. You completely missed the story. That’s when I tuned out.

Anyway, this is pretty good. I wish I had the ear and the education to identify when they’re playing in the mixolydian mode. I appreciate it when someone who can hear it points it out for me.

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen that video as well.  He is pretty good.  Here is another reactor that is pretty cool.  He breaks down the guitar parts for you if you are into it.  He also reacted to the 5/7/77 entire show (excpet drums/space, Lazy Lightning, and Supplication).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard a promo earlier for the GD Hour on NPR. Tonight, Gans will be playing more from the Berkeley Community Theatre 8/21/72 in case you want to tune in. Hopefully it will include the Dark Star > El Paso > Space > Deal.

I doubt I’ll be tuning in because I already have a very nice copy on disc. There’s a decent chance that I downloaded it from archive.org back when you could download SBD recordings of Dead shows from there. I never wanted to own every Dead show, but I always assumed that resource would always be there. Now one of my great regrets is that I didn’t download every SBD up there and store them digitally for future use just in case. Now that show is streaming only.

https://archive.org/details/gd72-08-21.sbd.hamilton.150.sbeok.shnf

It’s also on YouTube.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm up enjoying some music on a Friday night.  I'm checking out a lot of different stuff tonight including Row Jimmy.  The sound from 5/8/77 for this song is amazing.  You can hear everyone perfectly.  This may not be the best show ever, but one could argue this was the best sounding show ever.

And also, I've been so busy with this week with work, it didn't even dawn on me that I missed the 51 year anniversary of one of my favorite shows.  11/15/71 from Austin, Texas...baby.  This show also has outstanding sound.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I caught a Stranger > Franklin’s at three of my first four shows. They brought Help > Slip back at Hampton on 10/8/9. I caught my first Help > Franklin’s two weeks later in Charlotte.

The next night I caught that Stranger which followed this opener, the last time they played it.

 

I also caught my first Crazy Fingers that night. (This cut isn’t as long as advertised; there’s over 4 minutes of silence at the end.)

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my favorite times of Thanksgiving weekend is Friday night! I've already had a few days off and gotten to see my family.  Now I'm home and get to drink bourbon, get high, and listen to the Grateful Dead!  The sound for this show is really really good. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Five year ago tonight, Dead & Co were in our glorious state's capitol.  It was a great show with a few Texas-centric songs like Jack Straw and Minglewood.  My favorite of the night may  have been the Cold Rain & Snow.  I loved hearing Brent's old B3 again. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NSIAP.  Bob Weir & Wolf Bros. coming to Austin's Moody Center March 7 & 8.  And Dallas on March 9.  

Gonna try like hell to see Dead & Co. in Dallas or back home in Chicago, but if I can't get away...Moody Center would be a damn fine way to see Bob.  

I really, truly don't think anything like the Grateful Dead and all their incarnations will ever occur this way again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...