11/8/70: capitol theatre, port chester, NY.
nineteen-seventy has a vast aggregate of audience tapes, possibly more than any other year in the band’s history. in october '70 the dead stopped playing regular acoustic sets, focusing their energy on electric music, though the new riders continued to tour with them. the lone exception is the capitol theatre run in november, where the band played their last official acoustic set of the decade (unless you count the impromptu gig-billed as the bob weir band-at loyola college’s rambler room in the fall of 1978). the dead always had an infinity for the port chester club and it’s audiences. between 1970 and 1971 the band played the theater 18 times, placing it thick in the pantheon of dead venue lore.
a few year’s back, i wrote about a brilliant audience recording that ken and judy lee made during one of the dead’s june of ‘70 capitol theatre appearances. i raved about the special quality of sound they were able to capture on their field recording, most notably during the dark star suite. a year later, ken lee replied to my post with a few kind words, a funny antidote or two about the scene, a bit about recording the gigs, and eventually directed me-with much exuberance-to the evening of 11/8/70. i followed his recommendation and was, not to mince words, completely bowled over. listening to the tape, i found myself scratching my head and wondering how this performance had ever made it past my 1970 radar. i’ve since thoroughly listened to all 4 nights of the november stand. every recording is notable, although the final night is the standout show because of it’s unusual setlist and superlative second set jam.
dire wolf kicks off the wooden music, followed by a long, spiritual i know you rider. after dark hollow, weir is compelled to tell the crowd, "you realize we're all missing godzilla vs. king kong on TV-it's really good, we saw the opening scene-i didn't get to see king kong, but that godzilla, he was one motherfucker...." a few cowboy tunes later, the audience begins calling for pigpen. in due time, we’re treated to the last live performance of operator. the acoustic portion of the evening ends with two more american beauty numbers, the last wake up little suzie, and a sterling uncle john’s band.
following a strong 12-song outing from nrps w/jerome on pedal steel, the good ol’ electric grateful dead return to the stage. the opening morning dew is played and sung beautifully. after a straight-ahead me & my uncle, things really begin to get interesting when jerry leads the unit through the only versions of mystery train and my babe they ever played. the segue between the two tunes is so seamless that you’d swear they’d been performing the combo for years. the first around and around is next; bobby screams his lungs out and the band rocks it like you’ve never heard. keeping the party mood flowing, weir leads the sextet through a smoking excursion into the gary bonds 1960 hit, new orleans. it’s an ideal high energy tune for weir and it’s a shame the band only performed it one time, because it would have fit perfectly with bobby’s repertoire. new orleans transitions effortlessly into the rollicking mckernan-sung searchin,’ followed by spirited takes on it’s all over now baby blue, casey jones, and truckin.’
the electric set continues with a striking reading of dark star. after a confident exploratory opening passage, mickey nimbly plays the dark star theme on the glockenspiel as a prelude to the first verse. the band soon nudges their way into feedback. a bird call and laughter emerge from the crowd, followed by a few screams, a gong, cymbals, and more feedback. and then, with the greatest of ease, the band elegantly drops into the final recitation of the main ten. a remarkable melodic theme jam emerges from the 10-beat riff; in time, lesh and kreutzmann shift the tempo and garcia is happy to follow, steering the outfit into an excellent version of dancin’ in the streets. if all this music wasn’t enough to satisfy the capitol crowd, the band drives this behemoth of a show home with a rocking not fade away > goin’ down the road > not fade away > good lovin.’
recorded with a sony TC124s and sony cardioid mics spaced at 20 feet apart (with shielded cables along the edge of the balcony), this tape is truly one of the finest grateful dead audience recordings of the era. sadly, none of these november port chester shows exist in the dead’s vault. lucky for us, ken and judy’s field documents are alive and well, digitized and preserved on the archive. do yourself a favor and strap on a good pair of headphones and crank this beauty up. i promise that you’ll thank me for the suggestion.
https://archive.org/details/gd1970-11-08.aud.lee.pcrp.26975.shnf
11/8/70: capitol theatre, port chester, NY.nineteen-seventy has a vast aggregate of audience tapes, possibly more than any other year in the band’s history. in october '70 the dead stopped playing regular acoustic sets, focusing their energy on electric music, though the new riders continued to tour with them. the lone exception is the capitol theatre run in november, where the band played their last official acoustic set of the decade (unless you count the impromptu gig-billed as the bob weir band-at loyola college’s rambler room in the fall of 1978). the dead always had an infinity for the port chester club and it’s audiences. between 1970 and 1971 the band played the theater 18 times, placing it thick in the pantheon of dead venue lore.a few year’s back, i wrote about a brilliant audience recording that ken and judy lee made during one of the dead’s june of ‘70 capitol theatre appearances. i raved about the special quality of sound they were able to capture on their field recording, most notably during the dark star suite. a year later, ken lee replied to my post with a few kind words, a funny antidote or two about the scene, a bit about recording the gigs, and eventually directed me-with much exuberance-to the evening of 11/8/70. i followed his recommendation and was, not to mince words, completely bowled over. listening to the tape, i found myself scratching my head and wondering how this performance had ever made it past my 1970 radar. i’ve since thoroughly listened to all 4 nights of the november stand. every recording is notable, although the final night is the standout show because of it’s unusual setlist and superlative second set jam.dire wolf kicks off the wooden music, followed by a long, spiritual i know you rider. after dark hollow, weir is compelled to tell the crowd, "you realize we're all missing godzilla vs. king kong on TV-it's really good, we saw the opening scene-i didn't get to see king kong, but that godzilla, he was one motherfucker...." a few cowboy tunes later, the audience begins calling for pigpen. in due time, we’re treated to the last live performance of operator. the acoustic portion of the evening ends with two more american beauty numbers, the last wake up little suzie, and a sterling uncle john’s band.following a strong 12-song outing from nrps w/jerome on pedal steel, the good ol’ electric grateful dead return to the stage. the opening morning dew is played and sung beautifully. after a straight-ahead me & my uncle, things really begin to get interesting when jerry leads the unit through the only versions of mystery train and my babe they ever played. the segue between the two tunes is so seamless that you’d swear they’d been performing the combo for years. the first around and around is next; bobby screams his lungs out and the band rocks it like you’ve never heard. keeping the party mood flowing, weir leads the sextet through a smoking excursion into the gary bonds 1960 hit, new orleans. it’s an ideal high energy tune for weir and it’s a shame the band only performed it one time, because it would have fit perfectly with bobby’s repertoire. new orleans transitions effortlessly into the rollicking mckernan-sung searchin,’ followed by spirited takes on it’s all over now baby blue, casey jones, and truckin.’the electric set continues with a striking reading of dark star. after a confident exploratory opening passage, mickey nimbly plays the dark star theme on the glockenspiel as a prelude to the first verse. the band soon nudges their way into feedback. a bird call and laughter emerge from the crowd, followed by a few screams, a gong, cymbals, and more feedback. and then, with the greatest of ease, the band elegantly drops into the final recitation of the main ten. a remarkable melodic theme jam emerges from the 10-beat riff; in time, lesh and kreutzmann shift the tempo and garcia is happy to follow, steering the outfit into an excellent version of dancin’ in the streets. if all this music wasn’t enough to satisfy the capitol crowd, the band drives this behemoth of a show home with a rocking not fade away > goin’ down the road > not fade away > good lovin.’recorded with a sony TC124s and sony cardioid mics spaced at 20 feet apart (with shielded cables along the edge of the balcony), this tape is truly one of the finest grateful dead audience recordings of the era. sadly, none of these november port chester shows exist in the dead’s vault. lucky for us, ken and judy’s field documents are alive and well, digitized and preserved on the archive. do yourself a favor and strap on a good pair of headphones and crank this beauty up. i promise that you’ll thank me for the suggestion.
https://archive.org/details/gd1970-11-08.aud.lee.pcrp.26975.shnf
