5/6/70: kresge plaza, massachusetts institute of technology.

the dead play a free outdoor concert on the student union steps to honor a national day of student protests against the vietnam war. the performance was recorded from the soundboard by MIT radio station WTBS, which is gold as the grateful dead apparently don’t have the reels of this show in their vault.

peter kaye was the sole deadhead at MIT’s radio station in the spring of 1970. as he was watching the dead set up their gear, he asked dan healy if he could get a feed off his board. when healy agreed, kaye bent the arms of the technical staff at the station to help him run a telco line on the campus to the station where the head engineer, larry killgallen, recorded the show onto an Ampex 350. that winter, a bus full of folks from the Hog Farm broke down in boston. kaye befriended a few like-minded pranksters and, at some point during their stay, “lent” them the master tapes of the kresge gig. shortly thereafter, cassette tapes of the legendary free concert were being traded with abandon.

maybe it was the occasion, or possibly it was just due to the dismally cold weather, but the band does crank out an ample amount of energy on this one. the recording perfectly captures some of the impromptu rawness of the day. the opening dancing in the streets is just as good as the celebrated harpur college version--less polished, but more potent. the china cat sunflower > know you rider couplet is quite nice, and features some blistering jamming during the midsection. the highlight of the set, though, is the morning dew, with it’s subject serving as a timely comment on why everyone was gathered in cambridge that afternoon. next up, good lovin’ is fast and heavy and contains a vigorous bass and drums jam at the 7-minute mark. after a casey jones that suffers from a dropout on the tape, the performance concludes with an extended take on saint stephen > not fade away.

the following schedule of planned events in connection with the strike and protest of the indochina war appeared in the tech, MITs student newspaper on may 6, 1970:

STRIKE! FACULTY CANCELS CLASSES

6 am onward – leaflets and canvassing information will be available in the Student Center West Lounge for use in canvassing factories.

12 noon – Humanities Department Meeting.

12 noon – Meeting of interested MIT employees in Walker Memorial.

1 pm – mass meeting in Kresge.

2 pm – There will NOT be a free concert by the Grateful Dead today.

eventually the plastic tarps weren’t enough to protect the band from the nasty rainfall that grew progressively worse throughout the set. if you listen closely you can almost hear the musician’s fingers getting cold and stiff; the resolve is there, but jerry’s lines get increasingly more ragged and dissonant. bobby sums up the sentiments of the band: “it’s too fuckin’ cold to play.” based on the invention and creativity on display that day on the plaza, one can only imagine the setlist they would have generated under more favorable weather conditions.

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-05-06.sbd.gans-hall.95.shnf

in october of ‘74, the dead retired from performing after a five-night stand at winterland. the following january, they met at bobby ace weir’s mill valley recording studio to start laying down the tracks for what would become blues for allah. outtakes from these sessions have been available on the archive for some time. last year, a new studio reel emerged of remarkable quality and historical significance. labeled “the first day,” the recording contains what audio engineer/archivist allen bershaw believes to be the first 1975 grateful dead studio session.

in a late-seventies interview with jerry garcia, he shared: "we kind of made a ground rule for that record: ‘let's make a record where we get together every day and we don't bring anything in.’ …the whole idea was to get back to that band thing, where the band makes the main contribution to the evolution of the material. so we'd go into the studio and jam for a while, and then if something nice turned up we'd say, ‘well let's preserve this little hunk and work with it, see if we can't do something with it.’ and that's how we did most of the album."

this session documents the fertile period of exploration the band was engaged in during their “retirement.” in a larger sense, the dead’s choice of material for the album indicates that they were busily carving a unique path that no one expected. do yourself a favor and spend a bit of time with “the first day.” i’m fairly certain you’ll be more than pleased that you did.

https://archive.org/details/gd1975-01-00.137598.studio.thefirstday.bershaw.flac16

october 4/5, 1970: winterland arena, san francisco, CA. the dead play two nights with the airplane/hot tuna, quicksilver messenger service, and the new riders. the sunday night opener was a significant day in the history of media: the first live quadraphonic television broadcast. the technical set up had the sound piped from the stage out to wally heider's remote truck on the street, mixed on a 16-channel machine, and then returned into winterland where bob mathews mixed it to 4 and sent it out to radio- and TV-land. for those who weren’t lucky enough to have a ticket, the audio-visual compilation made home viewing a good second option. imagine a handful of folks gathering around a television, a big FM tuner, and a few other radios to settle down to four channels of grateful dead. not quite as happening as being at winterland, but more lifelike than stereo.

two archived recordings are available in an FM/soundboard format. the first, properly dated sunday 10/4/70, begins with one of the six live takes of till the morning comes. it comes off remarkably well and it’s a shame they didn’t play this one more often. the brokedown palace that follows is achingly beautiful. the remainder of the set is very good, chock-full of fine ensemble playing. of note, the second half of good lovin’ contains some of the fiercest coda jamming of the year. the second tape we have is mislabeled as the matrix 10/17/70, but is in fact a sampling of the sunday and monday performances. the quality of the mix on this recording is considerably better, with exquisite versions of candyman and dancing in the streets.

in the end, the experiment was more a novel happening than something the artists or organizers wanted to replicate. the shows themselves provided a fine example of the band’s transitioning sound from that of the adventurous and exploratory music contained on the 1969 LP live dead, to the distinctive americana of workingmans and american beauty, awash with bright harmonies and folk and country trimmings.

without further ado, the grateful quadrophonic dead. https://archive.org/details/gd1970-12-17.sbd.unk.87356.sbeok.flac16 https://archive.org/details/gd1970-10-04.sbd.cousinit.19985.sbeok.shnf

9/19/70: fillmore east, new york, NY.

the third night of this 4-show run is quite special, primarily because of the dark star suite. unfortunately the opening acoustic set is a very poor quality audience recording, distant and plagued by an extremely rowdy, hollering bunch of folks positioned around marty weinberg’s Uher 4000L mono reel-to-reel. the soundboard of this evening, however, is another story.

the portion of the soundboard we have contains one of the finest dark stars ever committed to tape. it made its debut on david gans' GD hour, courtesy of some reels that were gifted to him from alan mande who worked on the stage of the fillmore east in 1970. the story is that a few members of the crew recorded the set in the "E" shop under the stage. gans shared on the air that these were copies of the master reels, not the originals. to date, no one is sure who is in possession of the masters. in time they may surface and, if we're lucky, an official release of the entire september 17-20 stand will follow. for now, we’ll have to live with this stellar fragment.

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-09-19.mtx.chappell.SB14.31510.sbeok.flac16

12/10/72: winterland arena, san francisco, CA.

after a 2 week vacation from touring, the dead rolled into winterland for a 3-night hitch filled with the same vigor and energy that made the november ‘72 gigs so legendary. the first night of the run is my favorite, even with the sound issues and tape cuts. despite the mix changes, the recording is ultimately quite satisfying and chock-full of great ensemble playing and rich improvisation. garcia completely dominates the concert with blistering solos throughout, and the barnstorming tones of his stratocaster highlight every tune.

the soundboard recording is missing a good deal of the first set. even so, the three songs we have are more than enough to wet our appetite. bertha is revved up from the start, and jerry’s solo is ferocious. the playing in the band that follows is absolutely immense. like many of the ’72 versions of the song, it is a vehicle for boundless expression, chaos, & feedback. as the boys descend into the jam on this night, jerry is already in deep space and wastes no time digging in even deeper. about half-way through, he enters a quiet wah-wah section, which builds into a tempestuous sound explosion and then dissipates. in time, the band slowly forges their way back to the reprise, with jerry’s keening notes swirling around the sonic landscape like an atonal cloche. casey jones closes out the first set, deftly returning the audience to planet earth.

set 2 begins in standard 1972 fashion and includes a stirring early take on stella blue, which regrettably gets chopped off at the end solo. things start to heat up again with china cat sunflower > know you rider, which features a bold and inventive transition sequence. the oft-paired truckin' > the other one occupies the next 45 minutes of the set; as you might expect, the jam out of truckin' is absolutely fierce, with jerry spitting out notes at a furious pace. the entry into the other one is a bit restrained but quickly grows into a more energetic jam. garcia’s guitar phrasing is splendid at the opening of the first verse and soon morphs into a burst of feedback and unhinged freeform improvisation; the cyclical jam that follows is both haunting and unnerving. garcia continues to explore various melodies, eventually dropping into a quiet formless jam that the other musicians mine for a while. from here, an eyes-style chordal theme emerges and serves as the framework for additional themes. the result is astounding and is one of those moments that makes listening to this band so goddamned gratifying. a few rockers round out the set, including a fine uncle john's band encore with some tasty, laid-back solos from jerome.

listening to this performance from start to finish, one can’t help but gain a greater respect for jerry’s unique ability to steer the grateful dead ship into uncharted territory. the way he attacks the entire performance is not atypical of many 1972 shows, it’s just that on this night he dials it up a few more notches in his relentless introduction of new, inchoate ideas within the context of what the band is playing. it’s a wonderful example of the dead’s ability to make format out of chaos. plug in some good headphones and see for yourself. https://archive.org/details/gd72-12-10.sbd.gorinsky.5801.sbeok.shnf/gd1972-12-10d1t02.shn

4/21/71: rhode island auditorium, providence, RI.

april of 1971 is most famous for the dead’s final run at the fillmore east, despite the fact that the boys had been busy ripping it up at just about every college gym on the eastern seaboard. this performance is one of those real gems that has been unfairly overshadowed by the fillmore shows. the low generation soundboard source has a good mix with minimal hiss, and provides a wonderful definition of vocals and instruments. the gig crackles with energy from beginning to end, and surely contains highlights that could have made the cut for the skullfuck LP. down to a five-piece configuration for the first time since 1967, they were back to what jerry called ”prototype grateful dead.”

the night opens with a spirited casey jones. the band sounds loose and strong, with good harmonies. after a few more short numbers, the lads really open things up with a truckin > other one > wharf rat sequence; the improvisational explorations during the other one are intense and vital, resulting in some of the finest moments of the show. lesh’s bass dances over and around garcia’s leads, while weir, pig, and kreutzmann comp beautifully through the tangle. the complex interplay of instruments and the seamless translation between jam and spatial motifs is exquisite. it is a reminder of why the pioneering jazz critic ralph gleason once described what the dead were doing in the sixties as “really jazz, even though the sound of the electric guitars at first inhibits you from saying that.” the first set continues to heat up with a scorching take on hard to handle, loaded with a solid pigpen funk groove. jerry’s guitar break about 3 minutes in is nothing short of remarkable, not to mention phil’s syncopated baroque bass line bouncing and running over everyone. the set closes out with an up-tempo cumberland blues, an elegant birdsong, and a sweet version of me & booby mcgee with a smooth country-style into.

set 2 kicks off with a fired-up bertha with just the right amount of shoot ‘em up barroom flavor. sugar magnolia has a nice flanging effect on garcia’s guitar at the start; bobby’s vocals carry well, especially during the final jam. listening to their run through the weir-barlow number, we’re reminded why the band really liked playing this song. a few other highlights of the set include: a badass rendition of good lovin’ with plenty of mckernan mojo; a well-jammed not fade away > goin’ down the road > not fade away; and a fine uncle john’s band > johnny b. goode double encore. culled from bob mathews' 7-inch half track reel master recording, this show is meant for liberal consumption.

https://archive.org/details/gd71-04-21.sbd.kaplan.8227.sbeok.shnf/gd71-04-21d1t04.shn.shn

3/25/72: jerry garcia & friends, academy of music, new york, NY.

recently, i revisited the seven-night spring of 1972 run at the academy of music. the tapes—a mix of betty cantor-jackson soundboards and varying quality audience recordings—offer the listener a wealth of great performances, including a number of significant jams that demonstrate the band’s progression toward their europe ’72 style.

the most unusual and famous of the academy shows is the hell’s angels benefit gig on the 25th, where the dead backed bo diddley for the first set. the show kicks off with seventy-five minutes of blues tunes, medleys, and jams, highlighted by diddley’s syncopated guitar licks and signature vocals. garcia plays backseat to mr. diddley for a spell, but eventually joins in and ushers the band into some jamming that is crackling with energy. it’s clear, listening to this portion of the recording, that the dead were having a mighty fun time playing with the blues legend. pig graciously sat the first set out.

jerry opened the dead portion of the evening with "this is dedicated to the hell's angels and the united states of america.” the set started with two one-time-only jerry garcia band covers—how sweet it is, and are you lonely for me—that he’d been doing with merl saunders, before reverting to standard grateful dead fare. the early formative version of how sweet it is is something else. the second offering, the freddie scott 1967 r&b chartbuster, is even more of a treat. what a gas it is to hear jerry and donna belting out the chorus, not to mention garcia’s masterful soloing. next, pigpen returns us to the good old grateful dead with a rollicking next time you see me. the vibe is energetic throughout, highlighted by some fine solo work from jerome. after a fabulous country-picked brown-eyed women, the band launches into smokestack lightening. the last smokestack performed with mr. ron mckernan at the helm is excellent, and surely one of the finest versions committed to tape; it’s long, bluesy, and contains an amazing lead by garcia toward the end. a few other highlights of the set include: a sizzling sitting on top of the world, with jerry’s bakersfield-style guitar licks tearing up everything in sight; a beautiful looks like rain with pedal steel; particularly upbeat versions of bertha and mr. charlie; a powerful early take on black-throated wind; a deliberate and nuanced deal; and a fearlessly improvisational playing in the band, offering a few hints of what lay in store for the hunter-weir tune in the fall of the year. the band follows their beautiful take on playing in the band with a brief (22-minute) foray into turn on your lovelight, with sir pig’s exquisite rap leading the way. the show closes out with casey jones. phil introduces the tune with a nod to the angels “i think we’re gonna finish off with this one folks…this one is dedicated to all of us who are in jail.”

listening to the tapes of these march gigs one can’t fail to appreciate the new expansive direction that has taken hold of the band. on a bittersweet note, the academy shows and the upcoming european tour will become pigpen’s swansong, as he was dead within a year of the tour’s end. somehow, though, the combination of the old giving its final heave and the new looking ahead to fresh musical frontiers gave many of the ’72 shows an added spark. this night at the cozy run-down academy of music is no exception.

https://archive.org/details/gd1972-03-25.133592.sbd.miller.flac1644/gd72-03-25d3t05.flac