6/24/70: capitol theatre, port chester, NY.this exquisite audience recording by ken and judy lee documents one of the most brilliant nights in the club’s history. both the dead and the new riders are very much on their game, but it’s the electric dead that really takes the cake. of note, the dark star suite is something far above and beyond your standard wonderful dark stars of the early 1970’s.
the recording allows you to hear every pin drop, every air burst over the heads of fans (courtesy of boots pyrotechnic services) and, seemingly, every ripple of psychedelic energy fill the theatre to the rafters. after jerry finishes singing the first verse and the sound space starts to expand, a guy in the audience quietly mutters “oh, my god.” it’s one of those great moments that can only be captured on a field recording; a convergence of the transfixing magic of the music, and the fact that it’s being captured on tape and preserved for us to hear years later.
listening to this dark star it’s easy to see why people traveled the country, following the band for so many years. i’ve queued this beauty up countless times and it never fails to blow my mind. do yourself a favor and at least listen to the 50-minute sequence from mickey’s gong > i know you rider. you won’t regret taking the time to do so. june 24, 1970 is a god damn sound satori. no doubt, you may build a mental shrine for this recording after it’s over.
https://archive.org/details/gd1970-06-24.late.aud.harlan.9330.sbefail.shnf/gd70-06-24t09.shn
Really glad you enjoyed our work. May I recommend 11/8/70? One of Judy's faves, it contains the elusive "The Main Ten".
ReplyDeleteActually those softly concussive sounds are the result of air bursts over the heads of the fans on the main floor & right in front of the balcony people courtesy of Boots Pyrotechnic Services. A small guy with that written on the back of his denim jacket came out of the fog that night & he seemed ok...
That show is maybe my favorite, it's like choosing between kids, but this one used to make my teachers weep as they felt that anthemic majesty. Fun times, indeed. We saw the Dead dozens of times in those days. We got to know them pretty well. I hired them to play Judy's birthday, 10/10/70. That's my show...
Only one recording exists on that one, a distant one from the projection booth. But, it has the first electric Stella Blue solo by Jer, or so they say, the people that keep track of such things. Wave that flag!
Hello Ken, I took your advice and listened to the 11/8 performance. Here's the Mangrove entry that followed: https://sittinginmangrovevalley.blogspot.com/2019/07/blog-post.html
DeleteCheers,
Steve
Thank you Ken and Judy!!
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