2/22/69: dream bowl, vallejo, CA.

the dream bowl would be an entirely forgotten venue except for the fact that a few grateful dead tapes from february 21 and 22, 1969 remain in the vaults. the small, crossroads club boasted a rich history, which included performances of greats like duke ellington and bill monroe during its heyday in the 1940’s and 50's. the joint continued to attract a local crowd for saturday night dances through the 1960’s. a san francisco examiner columnist described the dream bowl as “…an oversized quonset hut roadhouse-dancehall-brawl arena,” which seems like a perfect resting place for the kind of raw psychedelia the dead was generating at this time.

there are few bad 1969 grateful dead shows, and this vallejo gig could certainly be shelved at the top of the glorious heap. every tune on this evening has something really special going on. beginning with the gorgeously sweet mountains of the moon that, unbeknownst, suddenly arrives at a 50 minute assemblage of dark star > that’s it for the other one > death don’t have no mercy that'll shake your cerebral cortex into happy submission. the second set continues the trend, opening with a barrelhouse doin’ that rag—a perfect combination of garcia’s sparse, but punchy licks swirling around tom constanten’s amusement park organ. after this, the boys launch into a masterful st. stephen > the eleven that very much rivals the version on live dead that they would play a few weeks later at the fillmore west. the night ends with a downright epic lovelight that, I’m sure sent the crowd home more than satisfied with the $3 admission they had shelled out. recorded by bear, digitized by david gans, and meticulously transferred by charlie miller, this show is an absolute corker.

https://archive.org/details/gd1969-02-22.sbd.miller.112691.flac16