10/22/67: marijuana defense benefit, winterland arena, san francisco, CA.

if you’re looking for a good example of 1967 grateful dead, you need not look any further than this performance. recorded a month prior to the first studio session for anthem of the sun, it reveals a band teetering on the edge of the cosmos.

this coming july, we’ll be gifted a remastered version of this concert in the form of a bonus disc that will accompany the 50th anniversary reissue of anthem of the sun. the 2-cd set will include the original 1968 mix in all it’s primal, experimental splendor. add to this the first extant live recording featuring mickey as a member of the grateful dead and you’ve got a really special and historically relevant vault release. https://archive.org/details/gd1967-10-22.sbd.miller.116257.flac16

1/2/70: fillmore east, new york, NY.

the dead welcomed the 1970s with two nights at bill graham’s east village club, playing early and late shows on both friday and saturday night, which was the standard arrangement there.

the first night's performance is really something. the opening set contains some fine early takes on black peter and cumberland blues, with a smoking cryptical suite thrown in for good measure. the late set begins with four workingman’s numbers, including a lovely uncle john’s band > high time pairing. the harmonies are outstanding and the playing is intelligent and restrained. a few songs, a broken string, and a bit of tuning later, the lads launch into dark star; this evening's version is revelatory, transformative and, in my estimation, on par with any run through the hunter-garcia tune from this era (even with the ugly cut at the 30:10 mark). similar to the dark star they’ll perform a month later in the same venue, the musicianship and deep ensemble improvisatory processes are stunning. it's one of those sequences that makes listening to the grateful dead so goddamn satisfying. following this intergalactic masterpiece the band unwinds with 40 more minutes of music, including an outstanding lovelight with all the mckernan trimmings.

sourced from bear’s 7 ½ “ reel master and digitized by jim wise, this performance is a treasure from top to bottom. https://archive.org/details/gd1970-01-02.137375.sbd.wise.sirmick.sbeok.flac16/gd1970-01-02lt12.flac

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3/20/71: university of Iowa fieldhouse w/the new riders of the purple sage.

the dead and the new riders roll into Iowa city on the frontend of a productive spring tour, with enough fire to char-broil all the maize in johnson county. the local folks hadn’t seen or heard anything this weird or transcendent since john freeman presented his combined film, light and sound "empathy generator" sculpture installation at the U of I art museum the previous year.

the sponsors—the committee for university entertainment—had asked for a sit-on-the-floor show. those in attendance had other ideas, and simply folded up their chairs and passed them off to the side of the venue to accommodate dancing. administrators at the school were upset by the lack of respect for fire regulations, not to mention reports of ripple drinking and marijuana use. in an interview with the Daily Iowan the following week, a member of the CUE, don pugsley, shared the following in response to a question about the administration’s take on the scene: “they were disturbed by that whole thing. they were worried about flying bottles. i don’t know what to say. i’ve never been to a concert where someone was hurt in a ripple bottle fight.”

from the truckin’ opener, this one really grabs you by the horns. in the spirit of 1971, the regular shoot-em-up saloon band gallops through two sets of solid rock ‘n roll tunes with jerome’s gibson adeptly leading the way. pig is fully in his element as well, delivering standup versions of hard to handle, next time you see me, good lovin,’ and lovelight. recorded by bob mathews and digitally transferred by steve barbella, this night in the hawkeye state is worthy of a listen or two.

https://archive.org/details/gd71-03-20.sbd.barbella.5582.sbeok.shnf/gd71-03-20d1t02.shn