3-22-69: the rose palace, pasadena, CA. with the paul butterfield band and jethro tull.
in march of '69 the grateful dead were primarily focused on finishing the aoxomoxoa album at pacific recording in san mateo. that being so, their performances were confined to easy weekend trips, which allowed them to make a little cash while still hanging around town to work on the record. this rose palace gig represents one of the few owsley recorded soundboards from march. jethro tull, on their first american tour, serves as the opener. they were a tremendous live band and must have given the crowd something tasty to chew on. the dead played second, which accounts for the shorter set. paul butterfield was a bigger name outside of the bay area, so he headlined the show.
although it's not complete, this bear tape is essential listening for fans of this period. the sound quality—despite being tracked in the concrete cavernous space of the now defunct pasadena club—is pretty sweet, with nice instrument separation. according to an observant attendee at the show, owsley was in experimental high gear on this night. he had three portable tektronix scopes far stage left, beyond garcia's double stack of fender twins, and was mixing live stereo.
the tape begins a few bars into good morning little school girl. tonight's take on the sonny boy williamson tune is dynamic, uptempo, and loaded with unrestrained discord. "that was da blues in A," weir declares, followed by a request to turn up one of the stage mics "on account i'm gonna be using it pretty soon, you know how it is." and with that, the lads launch into dark star. although this one clocks in at a mere 15 minutes, it is fully played, packed with thematic jams, peaks, and provisional weirdness. the drop into st. stephen is near perfect and it's clear the septet are really plugged into a groove. unfortunately, as is ofttimes the case with older bear boards, the tape cuts and we're plummeted into the final 4 ½ minutes of the eleven. the jamming is fierce and layered, 11 beats to the bar. the odd meter persists before an edgy b-flat drop signals a transition, and lovelight roars in like a five-alarm fire. all drums and jerry's guitar. pig marshals the vocal acrobatics, and the band is let loose to roam. then poof, it fades out at 12 minutes.
the dead played over 140 shows in 1969, and one hundred of these were committed to soundboard tape. this passadena gig isn't the crown jewel of the year's boards, but it is worth a visit or two. the dark star keeps me coming back, just for the sheer brilliance of the nuanced performance. magical? uh huh. and isn't that what makes us want to listen and relisten to live recordings of this band? sure as shit, it is.
https://archive.org/details/gd69-03-22.sbd.cotsman.8994.sbeok.shnf
