5/3/69: winterland arena, san francisco, CA. the dead play a saturday night show with jefferson airplane and afro-cuban percussionist mongo santamaria.

bear recorded everything in 1969. there was always a tape being made. something that could be played back and critiqued. the music would run through the soundboard and into his trusty nagra reel-to-reel. not only that, but in '69 he frequently taped shows on reels and cassettes at the same time. for some odd reason though, a soundboard of this winterland date doesn’t seem to exist in the vault. fortunately for us, george jackson was perched on the lip of the stage near the keyboard position with a sony 770, 7 ½ ips quarter track and two condenser mics. the result won’t go down as the greatest 1969 show in history, but it surely can be counted as one of the best audience tapes ever.

the quality of this tape eclipses the performance. the opening he was a friend of mine is absolutely gorgeous, although somewhat uneven. the other one suite that follows is pure energy, and is not to be missed. san francisco’s samurai seven assault the crowd with a complexity of sound that is their gestalt—fluid meters, incessant innovation, and opulent noise. garcia’s endless inventive guitar drives the various themes; his playing is at once fiendish, manic, and furtive. the cryptical reprise is elegantly drawn out and striking. from here they drop seamlessly into a fine early take on doin’ that rag. the boys really nail it and, even with the tune's abrupt chord changes and pacing, sound like they’ve been playing the aoxomoxoa number for years.

there’s nothing to regret here aside from the fact that the tape runs out way too early in the show. despite its brevity, it is a must recording for any collection.

https://archive.org/details/gd1969-05-03.139575.pcm.miller.flac16