Grateful Dead live, Dick's Picks etc - S&D

I love it when a crowd has clearly been *waiting* for “Dark Star”, and then those opening chords HIT and a cheer rings out

Just found this, and Jerry looks happier than in any other film I've seen of him, by a fair margin. And he surprisingly (to me) holds his own:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhIVGQCeoaU

From ‘89

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaVO0N8ksGk

xp this is really cool footage -- I'm not surprised JG can sit in but it is relay something to hear him change up his style so much on a solo

There’s a similar clip of him playing with Ruben Blades’ band. Great stuff.

I love it when a crowd has clearly been *waiting* for “Dark Star”, and then those opening chords HIT and a cheer rings out

― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, May 23, 2023 2:22 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

My favorite example of this is from 1/10/79, Nassau Coliseum. Only the second "Dark Star" in five years and the first on the east coast since 74. The ultra-clear AUD has the crowd losing their minds, and the "Dark Star" itself is fantastic. The drummers have a propulsive quasi-four-on-the-floor kick drum thing going on throughout, and Jerry is in 1979 "let's see how many notes I can play" mode:
https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/10/dark-star?source=338094

I'm all for 1973 recommendations, especially full shows.

So for now I'll just say: "He's Gone" 11/18/72
https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1972/11/18/hes-gone?source=336148

Steal your face right off your head

― J. Sam, Monday, May 22, 2023 2:07 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is a really great version. Some of their best live backing vocals.

digging this revive, I've listened to a bunch of these links today

April ‘72, a real voyage here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyBs48VjMho

see also:
https://archive.org/details/gd1972-05-04.sbd.miller.77294.sbeok.flac16

Anyone who likes that one should also check out the version from 9/11/73, chronologically the next one they played: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1973/09/11/dark-star?source=336434

Haven't gotten there yet as I'm listening to the entire show, but this is a really amazing China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider. Kreutzman just killing it.

xp That 4/8/72 "Dark Star" is unreal, best of the Europe tour.

PBKR, curious to know what you think of the horns in 9/11/73. They brought the sax and trumpet players from Doug Sahm's band on for a few songs on each of the September 1973 shows. It's been a while since I heard the whole show, but I remember liking them on "Let It Grow." Also one of the very few times they played "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away." Get it, Keith!

have only heard that^ dark star as it appears on the glastonbury fayre triple lp, which annoyingly is almost ten minutes shorter than it is on its later release!

PBKR, curious to know what you think of the horns in 9/11/73. They brought the sax and trumpet players from Doug Sahm's band on for a few songs on each of the September 1973 shows.

I thought this show had a different vibe, but I have to admit I didn't notice horns (lol, me). I'm only part way through so I will focus more on it this weekend.

so J Sam can you recommend some fave good-sounding archive.org shows from, say, each year of the 70s? I am looking for a nice Help/Slip/Franklin in particular but I love all yr recommendations so far

(tbh the question is for the thread in general, any good Dick's Picks etc recommendations that aren't stupidly overpriced are also welcome)

currently jamming the 10/19/73 Oklahoma "Eyes Of The World"

my current Help/Slip/Franklin favs are 5/9/77 and 6/9/77

A lot of Deadheads say that 5/9/77 is better than the previous night (Barton Hall).

i've def spent more time with 5/9

so J Sam can you recommend some fave good-sounding archive.org shows from, say, each year of the 70s? I am looking for a nice Help/Slip/Franklin in particular but I love all yr recommendations so far

― broken breakbeat (sleeve), Monday, May 29, 2023 9:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Oh hell yeah, will do this in a bit!

Those collections have become pretty stupid expensive. These regular live releases seem to be not crazy expensive looking through eBay.

Hundred Year Hall (awesome The Other One)
Two from the Vault (68 show, well recorded for time)
One from the Vault (75)
Ladies and Gentleman the Grateful Dead (72 tour)
Fillmore West 1969

Dicks Picks vol 2 - single disc but good dark star

A lot of Deadheads say that 5/9/77 is better than the previous night (Barton Hall).

I haven’t found a H/S/F more to my liking than One From the Vault. It’s so tight and energetic, they seem to be audibly happy to be back from hiatus.

A lot of Deadheads say that 5/9/77 is better than the previous night

oh man this rules, thanks all

excellent, I actually need to listen to that myself.

I haven’t found a H/S/F more to my liking than One From the Vault. It’s so tight and energetic, they seem to be audibly happy to be back from hiatus.

I love this one so much. The way the intro gives way to the song is A+ Dead.

I remember walking into the GAMH for the first time for Wilco in ‘96 or 97, and being pretty amazed at what a cool room it is and of course how much that ‘75 show must have ruled (I assume PF have always been too big to have played there? Would have ruled obv).

I remember reading somewhere that the GAMH show was mostly for industry types to hype a release?

Dick's Picks #4 is pretty good it comes from May 70 and has them stretching out a few numbers to 1/2 hour length.
I think DP8 is also from May 70 which I think is a peak month for them that year. Not sure how great it is in comparison to 4 but should be worth hearing. I never got it but always meant to.

I do enjoy them in August 68 which is when Two From The Vault comes from and also the bonus tracks on the Golden Road version of Anthem of The Sun. I think its a peak for a certain sound they had. The band themselves were apparently far from happy with where they were at the time since they nearly fired Bob Weir and Pigpen right around then.

I’m a big fan of the H/S/F on Dick’s Picks 3 - Kreutzmann and Hart get that one into an extra grooving rendition.

The first set on 3/24/73 (The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA) is really great, starting with The Race is On.

I've always liked Row Jimmy for a slow Dead song, but it's really been killing me lately. I find myself humming/singing the "ever since they tore the jukebox down" section all the freakin' time now, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JukZBGgv8I

I probably have more tolerance for Playing in the Band than the average listener, but the middle jams of these Spring 1973 versions are really so much fun to get lost in.

Recommend divks picks 5, 1979, weird electric slow versions

put a random 76 show (LA 10/15/76) on and was pretty surprised at how great it went front to back - stellar closing run of He's Gone/Drums/Other One/Comes a Time/Franklin's/Sugar Magnolia. Crowd was going absolutely bonkers for the final two.

It's hard to go wrong with any show in 73/74, but for more Dick's Picks check out 19 (10/19/73), 12 (6/26 & 6/28/74), and 31 (8/4 - 8/6/74)

Don't think I'd ever listened to DP31 (8/4 - 8/6/74) ... just 10 minutes into the opening Playing, absolutely sick. Feel like Keith's keys have way more reverb than usual, sounds great. We'll see if I make it through 4+ hrs.

Had started DP7 and had to turn it off because the drums seemed mixed waaaay more up front than I rememeber.

man those 76 show can be great. check 10-15 at the Shrine

oh ha that's the one you're listening to

lol

since there's some 74 talk, too. I'll stump for Dave's Picks Vol. 34 (June 23, 1974), which was one of the first Dead shows I really clicked with. It also has the bonus of being recorded at a Jai Alai Fronton so the album art incorporates appropriate sports imagery.

^^^^ fantastic release, I think the night before another top-tier release, DP12. Another comp that gets lost in the shuffle is Road Trips Vol 2 #3, which is a best-of from three June '74 shows and is essential listening if you like that sound ... basically like new 2nd versions of all the DP12 stuff + a 30min Playing tacked on. I wonder if they found a mixing/recording sweet spot around then – a lot of these shows have a shared sound venue to venue on recording, maybe the most neutral they ever sounded?

Something small (1hr of mindless tagging) but really consequential in my GD listening habits via streaming from Apple Music finding a way to force a UI where I could easily see ALL of their live releases ordered chronologically, something I had 20 years ago with a finely-metatagged mp3 file collection that sits on some external hard drives I will never touch again.

I'm sure there's a simpler way, but I ended up:
- adding all live albums / comps into one single playlist folder
- manually changing the metadata year to the year it was played (comps listed as something like "2022")
- Set View to Albums
- Sort by Artist - Year - Ascending
- Let the warm wash of calmness wash over you as you browse

In Apple Music, it's ~115 live albums total (missing stuff like Dave's Picks, but lots of random releases as well ... I also left like 15 of the Europe '72 releases because I simply don't need that much choice, like 5-7 is enough). It's made browsing so enjoyable – and for the first time in the streaming era, I feel like I can browse through as I would've on iTunes in 2008, which is all I want! – that I ended up doing the same for a bunch of other live music that I like to browse by year/era (Miles Davis, Zappa, JGB, Phish). It also makes it pain-free to just line up all the Dark Stars or Playings, or search for a song, sort by year, and just plow through some '77 Dancings or w/e.

I don't spend a lot of time in the Vince era, but giving 10/14/94 at MSG a shot right now and it's surprisingly good. A short 50-minute first set that is really well paced, love the sleazy "West L.A. Fadeaway". But it's all about the massive "Scarlet > Fire" to kick off these second set, nearly a half hour long and about as inspired jamming I've heard from '94. I also like the jam out of "Corrina" that sets up "Drums > Space".

https://archive.org/details/gd94-10-14.sbd.perkins.9054.sbeok.shnf

Shame about that "Samba" that got dropped in there though, it's rough even by that song's standards.

I have been naming the Album Name for live albums as "Year-Month-Day - Album Name" since I started collecting bootlegs so they always order appropriately on digital platforms.

xp

I’m currently seeing my second Dead cover band in a week. I think I may have finally succumbed.

One of us, one of us!

There's (or was) a whole festival of Dead tribute bands in Ventura, CA. I always enjoy going to this divey place in Pasadena that does "Dead Night" once a month. Through strange circumstances, one of the best bands to ever play that place later opened for Vampire Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. Blew my mind.

Any chance that was Taper's Choice? Not exactly a Dead tribute band, but jam adjacent and Vampire Weekend's Chris Tomson is a member...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYauWP1boZg

that's honestly a really fun game to play along with imo

I love how they can't help but get into that Sugar Magnolia.