5/23/69: seminole indian village, hollywood, FL

here’s a few sets of music from 1969 that are really worth checking out. for two nights, the dead joined muddy waters, johnny winter, nrbq, and a handful of other bands at the big rock pow-wow music festival in west hollywood, florida. the first evening kicks off with the boys stumbling through a pig-pen led hard to handle that takes a few bars for them to find their groove. after that, though, the band fully delivers the goods, including a dark star suite that rivals many from this era.

the second date is even better. it opens with a unique and noteworthy version of lovelight (the closer from the previous gig), showcasing mckernan's bravado and blues vocals. this is followed by a continuous 35-minute thread of tunes that only the dead could pull off. the newish doin’ that rag flows into an absolutely gorgeous version of he was a friend of mine, before the boys push the bedlam button with a china cat > the eleven > death don’t have no mercy combo that must have shellacked more than a few psychedelic rangers in the audience. the final 25 minutes of the night—alligator et al.—puts the finishing touches on a truly superb good ‘ol grateful dead show. recorded by bear, these performances are sonic operas that may change the way you listen to the band from this day forward. or maybe not.

https://archive.org/details/gd69-05-23.sbd.kaplan.12223.sbeok.shnf https://archive.org/details/gd69-05-24.sbd.kpfa.16177.sbeok.shnf