Grateful Dead General Thread

[Druggist 303]

And I think we forgot pigpen.

hard to handle, lovelight, alligator, mr Charlie, easy wind, hurts me too, king bee, ...

and The Eleven and on and on

[Hate 20,107]

Mr. Charlie is absolutely one of my favorites. That song is just a fucking blast. Jrad played it last year here in Houston and it was outstanding!!

 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Hate

[Hate 20,107]

Here is another Pigpen favorite of mine.

 

[Hate 20,107]

The Music Never Stopped is a very underrated song.  It's a great jam song as well.  You can pretty much go anywhere after this song.  I'd be interested in seeing where this song lead more than any other songs...kind of like the China>Riders and Scarlet>Fires, surely there is a perfect song to go into from this one. 

[Druggist 303]

 

14 hours ago, Hate said:

Mr. Charlie is absolutely one of my favorites. That song is just a fucking blast. Jrad played it last year here in Houston and it was outstanding!!

8/6/71 Mr Charlie is my go to.  That show has one of my two favorite Hard to handles too.  I love that Summer 71 houseboat tape sound.  Pig doesn’t contribute much on keys and they just rage as A 2 guitars, bass, and drums 4-piece.

in other news, I got the new Record Store Day 5/9/77 vinyl yesterday to complement my 5/8/77 vinyl.

 

[Druggist 303]

Great photo in the book inside!

[Hate 20,107]

It’s an outstanding show. It’s one of the only times I’ve seen where they played the same song two nights in a row with the Brown Eyed Women.

[Napoleon 8,666]

The holidays are bearly around the corner.

[Hate 20,107]

Am I the only one that notices when people are wearing Dead gear out in public?

[Hate 20,107]

PSA...there is a show on ESPN2 called “Fire on the Mountain” at 9 tonight. It’s a show hosted by Bill Walton and features some extreme athletes doing their thing to the sound of the Grateful Dead. It’s on ESPN right now, but I missed the first few minutes. It’s probably the best thing ESPN has done.

[Guest Lobo]

Thanks for the heads up.  Watching it now 
 

cool idea.  But the rapid edit cuts and shitty music audio on the part of the broadcast are already annoying me.  Now they’re starting what seems like a bunch of annoying interviews.  Gonna come back to this on 10-15

[Willfully Horn 8,002]

On 10/26/2020 at 9:05 PM, Napoleon said:

The holidays are bearly around the corner.

[Prepuce of Doom 21,058]

If you watched the World Series, you probably noticed a ton of Dead (and Phish) songs going into commercial breaks. 

Here's a compilation of the Dead songs. 

 

[Guest Lobo]

Steal that base right off your head? 

[Hate 20,107]

It’s a perfect night to drink, smoke, and listen to the Grateful Dead! These types of nights don’t happen very often so you really have to take advantage of them. I’m in the spa with some whiskey and my one hitter listening to the greatest goddamn band the world ever saw! I hope y’all are having even half as much fun as I am having right now!

[Hate 20,107]

Shakedown Scream tonight on youtube!.  It's from Radio City Music Hall October 30, 1980.  This was release later as Dead Set I believe.  The first set is a goddamn masterpiece in all acoustic.  The "To Lay Me Down" may be the best they ever played.  The Bird Song is out of this world too!

 

[Druggist 303]

ThE 50th anniversary American Beauty Dropped on Spotify and includes the complete 2/18/71 with first ever versions of Wharf Rat, Playin, Bertha, Greatest Story, and Loser.  It sounds great.  I am only thru the Truckin so far and am enjoying it while working on the back porch.  My dog is cracking pecans.  Beautiful fall morning for some Dead!

[Druggist 303]

And I just noticed, the Wharf Rat is the meat in a Dark Star sandwich.  Can’t wait.

[Druggist 303]

And the Wharf Rat>Dark Star jam is the Beautiful Jam (from the So Many Roads box set).  Spectacular and highly recommended.  

[Hate 20,107]

We are out of candy, the kid is having a sleepover, and the Longhorns won...guess what I'm doing tonight??!!

 

 

[Hate 20,107]

Listening to 4/30/77 form the Palladium in New York City. Great show!! 

https://archive.org/details/gd77-04-30.moore.minches.17952.sbeok.shnf

[Guest Lobo]

That show has a great "The Promised Land" and a great finale with "Terrapin Station."  Versions and play was tight, but has always suffered from poor sound board quality.  But multiple tracks from the studio album "Terrapin Station" are at that show and done really well with lots of exploration considering they had just cut that album months before.  Wonderful to hear how they take it out of the garage and out for a spin.  

[Hate 20,107]

It also has a great Music Never Stopped and It’s All Over Now. The LL rain stands out as well. It’s just an overall really fun show from a time when we all know they were really going good.

Mornings like this are made for 1973 Eyes of the World, Bird Song, and of course Here Comes Sunshine! What a gorgeous morning it is!

[Druggist 303]

2 hours ago, Hate said:

It also has a great Music Never Stopped and It’s All Over Now. The LL rain stands out as well. It’s just an overall really fun show from a time when we all know they were really going good.

Mornings like this are made for 1973 Eyes of the World, Bird Song, and of course Here Comes Sunshine! What a gorgeous morning it is!

I will check it out.  Currently doing my own TIGDH and listening to 11/1/79.  The Scarlet>Fire is 38 min and very exploratory.  Good stuff!

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

[Guest Lobo]

Steal Your Face, Not Your Vote?  

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

It's a badass pin. A friend of mine knows the guy who made them and gave me one. I gave him a bobble head Brutus Buckeye pin in return. I don't know if the guy ever made any money making those pins. It's probably a trademark violation. But I've got one and it will never not be cool. 

[Prepuce of Doom 21,058]

Fyi... 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

Hasn't got a name just yet? Now it does. Do your civic duty. 

Rudy's looking for a fight. John Perry Barlow was a prophet. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

18 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Fyi... 

Also known as Good Time Blues. I caught the last one live. Brent passed three days later. 

World Music Theatre was a horrible venue. At the end of this video you can see where they had what amounted to luxury suites under the pavilion roof. There were stairs to get there and all the doors to the suites faced the lawn. There was ample lighting to facilitate any suite-holder to find their way so that was a constant distraction to anyone sitting in the lawn. What made it even worse was that it seemed like most of the people who had those tickets were more interested in standing out on the walkway outside the suites to watch the Deadheads in the lawn rather than to actually watch the show. 

 

[Prepuce of Doom 21,058]

Tinley Park is still a fucking dump of a venue. 

I saw Iron Maiden there a couple of years ago, and the cops were immediately hassling everyone who did not immediately begin walking towards the entrance upon exiting their vehicles. I got "warned" by some pimply teenager working there that they would be on me momentarily if I didn't shut my tailgate. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

4 hours ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Tinley Park is still a fucking dump of a venue. 

I saw Iron Maiden there a couple of years ago, and the cops were immediately hassling everyone who did not immediately begin walking towards the entrance upon exiting their vehicles. I got "warned" by some pimply teenager working there that they would be on me momentarily if I didn't shut my tailgate. 

It's still there? I didn't know that. 

It was brand new in 1990. They were not at all prepared for the traffic. On the first night of the three night run they were checking to make sure all the passengers in every vehicle had tickets for the show before they'd let them into the lot. There was a massive traffic jam on the highway as a result. A friend and I bailed out of the car and just walked to the venue. As it turned out, our friends we left in the car eventually did the same thing. Just left the car on the highway. So did hundreds of other heads. Traffic was at a standstill and the show was about to start so they just left their cars where they were and walked to the venue. 

The police brought in tow trucks to move all the cars off the road. After the show, when we were walking back to the car, (after we all met up at will call because that was our practice in the days before cell phones, I got separated from all my friends and watched the show alone in the lawn,) the cops were urging people to get in their cars and leave or their vehicles would be impounded. It was a huge clusterfuck. But it was pretty cool of the cops to move the cars. I don't know if anyone ever took a picture of all the cars, trucks, and buses (nod to Phish) that were moved to the side of the highway but it was a sight to behold. Hundreds of cars pulled off the side of the highway and the off-ramp. They stopped checking for tickets the next two nights. 

[Druggist 303]

7 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Also known as Good Time Blues. I caught the last one live. Brent passed three days later. 

World Music Theatre was a horrible venue. At the end of this video you can see where they had what amounted to luxury suites under the pavilion roof. There were stairs to get there and all the doors to the suites faced the lawn. There was ample lighting to facilitate any suite-holder to find their way so that was a constant distraction to anyone sitting in the lawn. What made it even worse was that it seemed like most of the people who had those tickets were more interested in standing out on the walkway outside the suites to watch the Deadheads in the lawn rather than to actually watch the show. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

It's still there? I didn't know that. 

It was brand new in 1990. They were not at all prepared for the traffic. On the first night of the three night run they were checking to make sure all the passengers in every vehicle had tickets for the show before they'd let them into the lot. There was a massive traffic jam on the highway as a result. A friend and I bailed out of the car and just walked to the venue. As it turned out, our friends we left in the car eventually did the same thing. Just left the car on the highway. So did hundreds of other heads. Traffic was at a standstill and the show was about to start so they just left their cars where they were and walked to the venue. 

The police brought in tow trucks to move all the cars off the road. After the show, when we were walking back to the car, (after we all met up at will call because that was our practice in the days before cell phones, I got separated from all my friends and watched the show alone in the lawn,) the cops were urging people to get in their cars and leave or their vehicles would be impounded. It was a huge clusterfuck. But it was pretty cool of the cops to move the cars. I don't know if anyone ever took a picture of all the cars, trucks, and buses (nod to Phish) that were moved to the side of the highway but it was a sight to behold. Hundreds of cars pulled off the side of the highway and the off-ramp. They stopped checking for tickets the next two nights. 

I went to Phish Coventry and the rain swamped the field so bad no one could get in.  We got stuck at the back of about 20 miles of parked cars on the highway.  We drove the long way around through Canada and got there a day late.  When we left there were close to 10-15 miles of cars still parked on the side of the interstate.  Heads are a stubborn bunch when they have a show to get to!

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

1 minute ago, Druggist said:

I went to Phish Coventry and the rain swamped the field so bad no one could get in.  We got stuck at the back of about 20 miles of parked cars on the highway.  We drove the long way around through Canada and got there a day late.  When we left there were close to 10-15 miles of cars still parked on the side of the interstate.  Heads are a stubborn bunch when they have a show to get to!

I went to Coventry. (So did Danny DeVito, not with me). We spent more than 24 hours waiting in traffic. And then dealt with walking through that mud pit to get into and out of the show. There was another mud pit to navigate just to go to the restroom. And Trey was so completely smacked out that first night. Worst concert experience of my life.

And I thought waiting 17 hours in traffic going to the first Bonnaroo was bad. At least there was a lot of good music performed there even though it was so hot and muggy that I was drenched in sweat the whole time. I brought a couple buckets with me, one for soapy water, one for rinsing water, so I could try to give myself a sponge bath in my tent. I couldn't dry myself. I mean, I had to raise the flaps for privacy. It was so fucking hot. The Extra Strength Gold Bond Powder was useless. 

Coventry ruined Phish for me. I haven't been to a show since. I've streamed some live and haven't seen anything that makes me want to go back. There are only occasional glimpses of what they were back in the 90's. It's weird because I'd say that their 12/31/95 show at MSG was the best concert experience of my life. So they have the unusual distinction of performing both the best and the worst concerts I've ever seen. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

This was as fine a moment as I've ever experienced at a show. This was peak Phish. This was full on hose, when the music played the band. Trey was on fire.

I don't know how many were in our group. Maybe a dozen, from Columbus and Cleveland and various parts of New York. However many of us there were, the row in the lower bowl we sat in had one extra seat where we all piled our coats. The thing is, none of us had tickets for any of those seats, and nobody ever came to make us move. 

 

[Hate 20,107]

[Hate 20,107]

Tonight is for 11/5/77 from Rochester, New York.  Great show!

https://archive.org/details/gd77-11-05.sbd.clugston.6934.sbeok.shnf

 

It was released as Dick's Picks 34. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

12 hours ago, Hate said:

Phish is a lot like the Dead. A whole lot. They play multi-genre improvisational music with a different set every night. They're playing rock, jazz, country, bluegrass, folk, progressive. They incorporate polyrhythms and engage in full band improvisation. Sound like anyone else you know? (Hint: It's not Widespread Panic. They don't do that.) They have different sounds and different musical influences. For example, New Orleans music isn't an influence in Phish music but Grateful Dead music is. At Trey's first Dead show, they opened the second set with Scarlet > Fire. At Trey's first Phish show, he opened the second set with Scarlet > Fire. 

They have different styles of jamming but the overall approach is the same. There have been times that Phish has done things I would've loved to see the Dead do. But that was back in the early 90's and the Dead were pretty much set in their ways while Phish was young and hungry and energetic. After seeing Phish in Cincinnati on 6/21/94 (the fire alarm show), and in Columbus the next night, which was released as Live Phish 10 (I had third row center seats for that and there's a good story to go with how that happened), I boarded a plane for Vegas and three nights of the Dead at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl. I had a really good time, but the difference in energy between the two bands was so great. I had tickets to see the Dead at Deer Creek and Buckeye Lake that summer. I saw those shows and hopped off the Dead train in favor of following Phish. Buckeye Lake '94 was my last Dead show. I'm glad I missed the storming-the-fences show at Deer Creek in '95. 

The Phish scene was a lot cooler before Jerry died. After Jerry passed, all the Wooks moved over to Phish tour. 

I'd never go see Phish now. I think they're basically where the Dead were in '94 and I think Trey has lost his chops. But back in the 90's they were on fire up through that NYE '95 show and still did a lot of good work after that. I should never have bothered to see them after their first hiatus in 2000. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

Oh yeah, the Phil & Phriends shows at the Warfield on 4/15-17/99 were probably the most significant jam band performances of all time. Didn't we discuss those on the old board? Phil and Trey and Kimock, man. Those jams were transcendent. 

[Guest Lobo]

Guess I hadn't clicked on this thread for a couple of days.  Missed the whole Tinley Park conversation.  I think it was called World Music Theater when I first went there back in the early 90's.  I never saw the Dead there (always Soldier Field & Rosemont Horizon for IL shows).  But yeah, place sucked.  Going there in high school and college was fun because every show at that age is fun.  But I went there again a few years back while visiting home and the sound there just fucking blows.  

WhattheBuck-I think we've talked about this before, but we were both at those Deer Creek shows in 1994.  My very last time seeing the full band with Jerry was Spring 1995 in Tampa.  

Seen several incarnations since then most recently with Hate in Austin a couple years back for Dead & Co (typical shitty Erwin Center sound but the setlist was amazing).  But speaking of reincarnations of the Band and shitty venue traffic stories---nothing for me will ever top the Dead at Willie's 4th picnic outside Austin in 2003.  Two Rivers Canyon Amphitheater can suck my dick for that traffic fiasco.  Four hours to get from South Austin to a venue 30 miles away.  Because of the idiots running that place and Pat Green.  It shut down shortly after that fiasco and never reopened.  Not even sure what's out there now, but to this day if you just say "Pat Green" around Hate, doesn't matter where we are (I've done it to him in restaurants just to see him fly off the handle), he'll swear uncontrollably and look for the nearest glass of alcohol to guzzle.  17 years later Mr. Green, we haven't forgotten.  

Anyway, always fun to reminisce about 24 or 25 shows I was lucky enough to see.  Hope Dead & Co. gets back out on the road once Covid-19 curtain goes up.  

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

Rosemont Horizon has really shitty sound too. I saw Phish play there on Halloween '95 when they covered Quadrophenia. Great performance but the sound was pretty muddy. 

Their performance of Drowned at MSG on NYE '95 was epic. 

Edited November 6, 2020 by WhatTheBuck

[Guest Lobo]

Multi-purpose arenas from the 1970's always have sound issues.  I saw everything from the Grateful Dead to Paul Simon to WWF to Monster Truck Rallies to Depaul/Flames basketball at Rosemont as a kid.  Fun fact, my father's good friend and shitbag insurance salesman was the guy that falsified the insurance claim on the roof of the arena when it collapsed in 1979 that killed several people and injured dozens more.  He was not a good person from what I heard after childhood.  But it's kinda like Rosenblatt Stadium, if you're being objective---it's really not a great venue---you just attach really good memories to it and so it blooms into your foolish heart.  

Also, fuck Pat Green.  If you went to UT in the late 90's and drove around West Campus in a Tahoe/Blazer or pickup truck and had a tennis ball at the base of your car antenna, and a Pat Green sticker on the back window...you're part of the problem of this country and I hope you feel bad about yourself to this day.  

Edited November 6, 2020 by Lobo

[WhatTheBuck 28,775]

Okay, I've got a minute so I'll share the story of my great seats for the 6/22/94 Phish show at Vet's Memorial in Columbus. Checking my stub, I wasn't in 3rd row center, I was in the front row of section 3 which was next to the center section. There might have been some confusion with where I sat in The Palace at Auburn Hills, MI to see the Dead on 6/8/93 in Sec A, Row 3, Seat 7, a mail order ticket stub some douchebag Michigan cop stole from my wallet after a bogus traffic stop. Fucking pigs. At least he didn't find the couple hits of blotter that I had in my wallet. But that was the best seat I ever got through GDTS and it's the only GD stub I don't still have in my possession. 

But I digress. 

Anyway, in that summer tour, in an effort to fight TicketMaster, Phish only booked venues where fans could go to the venues the day that tickets went on sale and purchase tickets without having to pay TicketMaster service charges. So my roommate and I drove downtown to buy tickets at the venue. When we pulled into the parking lot, there were already a few phans who were hanging out and socializing.

My roommate and I got out of the car and walked to the box office. There was no one there so we were first in line. A little later this dude that we parked next to came walking up and tried to argue that he should be first in line because obviously we saw that he was there before us. I just laughed and said, "Sorry, dude, the line starts here, not out there" and "You've learned a valuable lesson today."

Of all the nerve. Great seats, great show.

[Hate 20,107]

11/6/77 will be on tap tonight. There are three songs from this show that were played the night before: Mississippi Half Step, Dire Wolf and Jack Straw. It will be interesting to see which ones I like better after listening last night.

https://archive.org/details/gd77-11-06.sbd.nawrocki.283.sbeok.shnf

[Hate 20,107]

This is a damn fine show.  Just about any show with a Dupree's Diamond Blues in it is going to be good. That sweet sweet jelly so good.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Hate

[Hate 20,107]

I don't know that there has ever been a better song written than Wharf Rat.  Everything about it is perfect.  The music, the lyrics, everything about this song is perfect.

[Hate 20,107]

5/26/77 from Baltimore Civic Center is up tonight.  I won't make it through the whole show as I have to be on a conference call at 3:30 in the morning.  It's a great show so far, so it may be a little difficult laying off the bourbon. 

[Hate 20,107]

And I may have found my favorite Looks Like Rain.  Damn this is a great version.

[Druggist 303]

I took a couple of days off of work and am going to listen to some vinyl.  First up, the 5/4/72 Paris 40 minute Dark Star release.

[Druggist 303]

That Dark Star is pretty chill and a good listen, Next up is Skulls and Roses.  I am on the second record.  First, I love Phil’s tone on just about every 71 release I own.  The Bertha is great, and The Other One is phenomenal.  Jerry’s opening solo is one of my favorite things he ever played.  Just perfect.  I am excited for side 4: Wharf Rat (1st version I ever heard), NFA>GDTRFB.

I picked up an old, barely used copy of this years ago.  The sound quality and mix  is as good as it gets.

2 thumbs up!