The Strand Lyceum
May 25, 1972
London, UK
(3 votes)
Notes:
Final "Top Of The World" - final Pigpen "Good Lovin" - also: NRPS
Set List:
Promised Land
Brown Eyed Women
Big Boss Man
Black Throated Wind
Tennessee Jed
Mr. Charlie
Jack Straw
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Me and Bobby McGee
Good Lovin'
Playing in the Band
Brokedown Palace
Casey Jones
Me and My Uncle
Big Railroad Blues
Chinatown Shuffle
Ramble On Rose
Uncle John's Band
Wharf Rat
Dark Star
Sugar Magnolia
Comes A Time
El Paso
Top Of The World
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad
One More Saturday Night
After being blown away by the Empire Pool show a few weeks before, I had in the meantime used up all my birthday money and a chunk of my wages on American Beauty and a pricey import copy of Skull & Roses from Richard Branson's first Virgin store.
The Lyceum was a great venue and more intimate at 2,000 than the Empire Pool. If I wasn't nearly there already, this concert made me a Dead fan for life. Actually the vibe was so friendly and relaxed, it was not like being in a concert at all - more like an outdoor festival but inside the faded rococo ballroom. I'd been listening to a lot of jazz (Coltrane, Miles etc) and electronic music as a teenager and I remember being amazed one minute at the Dead's improvisations while next minute being drawn into great songs like Wharf Rat and then dancing like an idiot with my girlfriend to Sugar Magnolia. There certainly is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert.
Oh - and NRPS were great too.