10/25/69: winterland ballroom, san francisco, CA. w/the jefferson airplane, stills & nash, and sons of champlin.

after a year of extensive touring with shows in mostly smaller clubs and auditoriums, the dead play three nights at the winterland ballroom. with a capacity of 5400, the renowned sutter street venue was over twice the size of the fillmore west, so this was a substantial show, hence the co-billing with the jefferson airplane. the poster advertised two nights, and the third night-sunday, october 26-was added when ticket sales justified another performance. this is probably how bill graham had it planned all along, a strategy that he would employ many times in subsequent decades. portions of the dead shows were recorded in mono and broadcast later on KPFA-FM, berkeley.

the dead followed sons of champlin, a short acoustic outing by stephen stills & graham nash, and the airplane, closing out a monumental show. while their set contains only four songs, it is absolutely brilliant from a performance aspect. every tune is played with precision and swagger, much like the transcendent fillmore west recordings that made their way onto live dead.

the action begins right away with a beautifully executed dark star, that features all the variations and nuances we've come to expect from this era. the synergy is palpable as the band reaches further and further toward deep space; garcia, lesh, and TC propel things along, exploring contemplative themes and jazzy, opulently melodic improvisation. we get both verses and, as was the custom, a high voltage st. stephen rises out of the ashes of the dark star. the eleven that follows is just as explosive and the degree of collaborative expression is astounding. garcia creates new phrasing and infectious riffs at every turn, while lesh carrys us madly along, ruthlessly plucking out diverse combinations of meter within the eleven-beat time signature.


as the jam extends and morphs, phil steers the group into turn on your lovelight. pig takes over vocal duties, and the lads roll out an absolutely rousing take on the bobby bland r&b number that, no doubt, had everyone in the winterland crowd up and dancing. about six minutes in, the band locks in on a groove; mckernan raps intuitively, punctuating the mix with his standard rodomontade. among the background vocals by weir, garcia and lesh, we can make out the voice of stephen stills in the chorus, "let it shine, let it shine." in due time, stills begins to integrate his gretsch white falcon into the fray. garcia's strat and owsley hot-wired rig thunders with equal sonic vigor, although his tone is cleaner and sweeter than stills' biting timbre. for the remaining fifteen minutes, jerry and stephen trade riffs and vamp along, adding great piquancy to an already great rendition. the band pushes the envelope further and the playing reaches a feverish intensity before the musicians usher the song to a searing climax.

following a minute or two of standing ovation, bill graham takes the stage and sums it up perfectly by saying, "we may be a little prejudiced but let's get one thing said… on any given night, the very greatest rock and roll band in the world, the grateful dead."

https://archive.org/details/gd69-10-25.sbd.jagla.81.sbefail.shnf