8/14/71: berkeley community theatre, berkeley, CA. this pristine soundboard recording is loaded to the gills with great music. the performance, missing from the dead’s vaults, made it’s way onto the archive in april of 1997 when the brother of former GD staffer, bonnie parker, discovered a few rich sounding cassette tapes in a box of miscellaneous belongings he inherited from his sister after her untimely passing. the word is that the tapes were a gift to bonnie from jerry garcia. a damn nice office perk, to say the least.

much has been written about how the band loved playing in berkeley, and this night proves this in spades. everything the lads touch sparkles with energy from the opening bertha, to the johnny b. goode > uncle john’s double encore. stage banter abounds and phil’s bass is prominent in the mix—two aspects of 1971 grateful dead i’ve always adored. the first set is typical for the period; the tunes are presented with authority, including compact early versions of sugaree and playing in the band. other highlights include a lilting brokedown palace that is close to perfect. the three pig pen numbers are delivered with confidence and power, including a full-speed-ahead hard to handle that sizzles with mckernan verve.

what makes this night even more special is the set 2 appearance of MIT-trained biologist and electric keyboard specialist, ned lagin. lagin is most well known in grateful dead circles for his seastones work with phil lesh, not to mention a handful of way out bio-music intermission performances during the wall of sound era. lagin also sat in on a few other documented 1970-71 shows on both coasts, most notably the 2/18/71 gig at the capitol theatre when he accompanied the band for dark star, wharf rat, and candyman on the clavichord.

in a 2001 interview with david gans, lagin was chatting about his time with the dead and shared a tidbit about the august 14th berkeley gig: “when the band got into the truckin’ into the other one jam, pigpen waved me over to the organ and got up so i could sit in.” the outcome, as rapturous as the great bodhisattva departure, is one that would surely satisfy a good number of the ancient sages. the enlightened quintet throws down the lotus sutra of other one suites, beginning with one of the most engaging and powerful introductions, followed by a deep, polyrhythmic bridge jam, and an extremely tight climax. listening to the interplay amongst the musicians, it’s clear that the band was inspired by lagin’s presence, his inventive contributions and, most likely, some other radiant, guiding narrative.

recorded by betty cantor-jackson, with a digital transfer from the esteemed mr bill guarneri, this is a show that’ll set you straight. https://archive.org/details/gd1971-08-14.sbd.130871.MrBill.flac16

the following night's performance ain't half bad either: https://archive.org/details/gd1971-08-15.sbd.130890.MrBill.flac16

6/10/73: robert f. kennedy memorial stadium, washington, DC.

in the summer of 1973, the dead joined the allman brothers for two memorable performances in the 45,000 seat multi-purpose arena, two miles due east of the u.s. capitol building. doug sahm and wet willie opened the festivities on saturday and sunday, respectively.

the shows used the dead’s prototype wall of sound with a stereo PA system with JBL speakers inside Alembic cabinets, plus a stereo auxiliary PA. on the second night, the dead played a powerful, lengthy—4 ½ hour—set that included extended takes on birdsong and playing in the band, a lovely eyes of the world > stella blue pairing, and a dark star suite that surely sent many of the psychedelic rangers in attendance into a state of supreme delectation. toward the end of the evening, allman’s guitarist dickey betts joined the band for a few tunes, including a scorching run through the arthur big boy crudup tune, that’s alright mama.

president richard nixon chose not to attend either night.

https://archive.org/details/gd1973-06-10.sbd.miller.89640.sbeok.flac16

4/16/72: aarhus university, denmark.

midway through their european vacation, the dead venture to the tiny college town of stakladen and play one of the most unusual shows of the fabled tour. reviewers often point to the london, frankfurt, or paris dates when highlighting the notable outings of the europe run, and rightly so. for some reason, the aarhus gig often goes unmentioned. looking at the setlist one might assume that this is just another typical grateful dead show from 1972. upon close listening though, it reveals itself as one of the most unique performances of this era.

the first set is standard ’72 fare with a solid sugaree, a few robust cowboy tunes, an extremely beautiful early take on black throated wind, and a playing in the band that is just starting to take off. the meat of this show, is found in the set 2 jams. the second frame begins with a smoking good lovin’ with all the necessary pigpen raps. a few tunes later, the weirdness really kicks in. truckin’ is arguably the best of the tour, plump full of brilliant garcia solos. the reprise jam is goddamn remarkable and the train soon becomes completely unhitched before the ensemble somehow finds it within themselves to latch onto the other one theme. this version of the other one contains an atypical structure, with a number of quiet passages and is played largely without drums. me and my uncle provides an excellent bridge before the lads dive back into the other one proper, though lacking the second verse. the end result is nearly forty minutes of unexpected twists and turns, intriguing dead ends, and a satiable helping of inspired improvisation. a rocking not fade away > goin’ down the road feeling bad > not fade away closes out the set in good ol' grateful dead fashion, with the crowd in a frenzy and no room for an encore.

recorded by betty cantor-jackson, this one is a winner from top to bottom. unfortunately, the first set on all the archived recordings is a bit muddy and suffers from numerous cuts. i’ve linked the best sounding cassette source here, via uli teute and hanno bunjes. the second set transfer from mr. charlie miller is of much better quality. of course, i’ve been listening to the exceptional jeffery norman remastered version culled from the original 16 track recording. i suggest that you take it out for a spin and see for yourself. i’m guessing you’ll b-line it to the itunes store and download this nordic beauty posthaste.

https://archive.org/details/gd72-04-16.sbd.pset1.hanno.19861.sbeok.shnf/gd72-04-16t05.shn

https://archive.org/details/gd72-04-16.sbd.miller.18103.sbeok.shnf/gd72-04-16d2t04.shn

5/14/70: meramec community college, kirkwood, MO. with nrps.

sandwiched in between an east village fundraiser for timothy leary and the renowned fillmore east show featured on the road trips series, the dead and nrps play an evening gig at the 2200 seat on-campus gymnasium, home to the midwest conference meramec archers. the show followed the typical structure for performances during this era—an acoustic set by the dead, followed by the new riders (w/ jerry sitting in on pedal steel), and an electric dead finale. the show was played while the band was recording the workingman’s LP, as evidenced by the tunes and the focus on the singing and harmonies throughout.

the night begins with a relaxed and confident acoustic set, that includes a rollicking don't ease me in, a lovely early take on friend of the devil, and a stirring deep elm blues with a punchy garcia lead and an alluringly thick groove. the entire electric segment of the evening is inspired and contains standout versions of high time, the first-ever live performance of attics of my life, and a very intense new speedway boogie, made possible by the absolutely blazing solo from jerome during the mid-song nobody’s fault jam. the set concludes with 30 minutes of st. stephen > not fade away > turn on your lovelight (with a sizable helping of ensemble jamming), and a quick take on the fred rich gospel tune, cold jordan, for an encore.

recorded by bob mathews, this one is a real top-notch 1970 recording. that said, an official release of this evening would put me (and more than a few others) in hog heaven. according to the former keeper of the vault, dick latvala, only reels 3, 4, and 5 of this concert made it into storage. when he was asked about the many missing/incomplete 1970 grateful dead shows, latvala replied with a sigh "that's how loose things were in the past. i'm sure there were plenty of times when someone says, 'put these in the truck,' and the guy puts them in the back...the truck takes off, and the tapes flew off into the highway. someone picks them up, puts them in storage, dies, and the tapes resurface...."

let’s hope the first two reels of this evening make themselves known so this fine show gets the remastering it justly deserves.

acoustic set:
https://archive.org/details/gd1970-05-14.sbd-acoustic.clugston.34165.sbeok.shnf

electric:
https://archive.org/details/gd1970-05-14.136645.s2.sbd.reelmaster.dat.sirmick.flac16/gd1970-05-14s2t14.flac

10/22/67: marijuana defense benefit, winterland arena, san francisco, CA.

if you’re looking for a good example of 1967 grateful dead, you need not look any further than this performance. recorded a month prior to the first studio session for anthem of the sun, it reveals a band teetering on the edge of the cosmos.

this coming july, we’ll be gifted a remastered version of this concert in the form of a bonus disc that will accompany the 50th anniversary reissue of anthem of the sun. the 2-cd set will include the original 1968 mix in all it’s primal, experimental splendor. add to this the first extant live recording featuring mickey as a member of the grateful dead and you’ve got a really special and historically relevant vault release.
https://archive.org/details/gd1967-10-22.sbd.miller.116257.flac16

1/2/70: fillmore east, new york, NY.

the dead welcomed the 1970s with two nights at bill graham’s east village club, playing early and late shows on both friday and saturday night, which was the standard arrangement there.

the first night's performance is really something. the opening set contains some fine early takes on black peter and cumberland blues, with a smoking cryptical suite thrown in for good measure. the late set begins with four workingman’s numbers, including a lovely uncle john’s band > high time pairing. the harmonies are outstanding and the playing is intelligent and restrained.

a few songs, a broken string, and a bit of tuning later, the lads launch into dark star; this evening's version is revelatory, transformative and, in my estimation, on par with any run through the hunter-garcia tune from this era (even with the ugly cut at the 30:10 mark). similar to the dark star they’ll perform a month later in the same venue, the musicianship and deep ensemble improvisatory processes are stunning. it's one of those sequences that makes listening to the grateful dead so goddamn satisfying. following this intergalactic masterpiece the band unwinds with 40 more minutes of music, including an outstanding lovelight with all the mckernan trimmings.

sourced from bear’s 7 ½ “ reel master and digitized by jim wise, this performance is a treasure from top to bottom.

https://archive.org/details/gd1970-01-02.137375.sbd.wise.sirmick.sbeok.flac16/gd1970-01-02lt12.flac