Grateful Dead

..Begins now

I forgot about '81. Sorry to hear about the fall.

As for accidents, trips, spills and recovery. I think of the old Garcia quote, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained"

about Europe 1990. Always love having the voices from overseas.

My freaky friend did the whole tour.

He again an professional taper, me being part time.

I know he had plenty of lightning. We usually did.

He also said there was a decent north american head tally. They all became closer.

Shows were very good. Out of his 325 or so shows, he still said "Warlocks 89 Darkstar" was his best show. I concur with that also. He saw way way many more shows than i did.

Can't wait for this one.

The middle night of the Wembley run, Halloween had a real psych edge to it - I had a sense of being amongst a lot of people who were tripping, although I wasn't myself. 11/1 was more subdued, but that was the night I took some of my mushrooms, which I had picked and brought with me. So...the highest moment of the run for me was on that third night with drums-space. Very intense - quite spectacular, in fact. That was the highlight of the night for me.

I think there is no doubt that the Europe '72 tour achieved lift-off at every performance. Certainly Bickershaw, my first exposure to live Grateful Dead, exceeded any expectations that I may have had. It seemed to go on forever and I happily admit to being chemically enhanced at the time. That the weather was awful for almost the entire festival faded into insignificance when the good old GD came on. The sun even put in an appearance for them. And it was Billy's birthday.
Ally Pally in '74 was also special, if for no other reason than the band were using the wall of sound which was aurally and visually amazing. The band were certainly on form the night that I attended. I must confess that Seastones confused me, but I had consumed a large quantity of spacecakes. We got lost on the way home and spent the night in a lounge at Gatwick airport.

There are a few good shows from both E81 tours other than Melk Weg namely 3/24.

Jerry and Brent hitting 'throw me into the jailhouse' together is something else. Thought maybe second set was going to go with a slower cadence than the first but nope! That was the moment- they felt it, the band felt it, the crowd felt it. And then 'it' was back to the races....

Listened to one of the March '81 Rainbow Theatre shows a few months ago and found it fantastic. The one with that Eyes.

By chance, I was at that one - the first time I saw them. I'd been listening to them for the last 5 years or so, and it was amazing to finally see them. I remember it as a great show too - they opened with Mississippi Half Step - Franklins. Foolishly I only went the one night.

3500 copies and not sold out yet.

Got my copy but haven’t yet listened to it.

I was simply curious of how prevalent psychedelic use was at European shows and got what is probably some accurate feedback. I did not expect DR's comment, why depend on someone else, I picked my own from a "cowfield on my way to the show" (not an exact quote) which is a perfectly perfect answer. And SimonRob, I recall your tale of not quite being able to make it home and finding the airport couch as the place of last refuge. Perfectly acceptable and a whale of a story. So amusing.. like the person saying keep your feet and arms away from moving parts. Hilarous.

Thanks all.

To me, this place.. first and foremost is about the music and the songs, but almost as important is the culture and the life and times of all of us, including the band, that cut our teeth on what is now thirty years later almost mainstream. The culture and what you and I think is almost just as important. It's sort of a moving history.

Thanks for your patience and listening and most importantly contributing. It is what differentiates this from the Hoffman forum.

Space Cakes, we meet again!

I nearly got lost on the way to the show on 11/1. I dosed up at the hotel, knowing how long it would take to get to Wembley on the tube from the previous 2 nights, and knowing how long it took for mushrooms to take effect. The plan was for the effects to start the time I arrived at the show. Unfortunately the tube station I was using had closed down for repair works. It took me ages to find another one, and then sitting down in an overcrowded carriage things started to get very strange indeed. It was a great relief to finally get the the stadium and get absorbed in the atmosphere.

But I agree about the culture of shows - and also of what our lives were like at the time we went. Mushrooms grew plentifully in fields near where I lived between 1987 and 1993, so it followed that I would behave as I did. Also, I am glad that my girlfriend came along for one of the nights. She was my life that time - so if she hadn't been there the occasion couldn't have been as emblematic of that year as it was. I am glad she only came for one night, having said that.

I've rambled on a bit as per usual- in a nutshell, for better or worse, the shows I went to were a part of my life, not separate from it.

One other quick thing - there were way more Americans at these shows than Brits.

Has anyone worked out if you can get the two (or maybe one now) advertised vinyl Road Trip releases. It seems locked to non US customers :( .

Glad to see 10/30/90 coming out on DP - it was in the days when you could easily drive to Wembley - remember getting out the car and realising id missed the start. Daughter was just a month old so only went to the one show.

The second night rocks! The third night rocks! The fourth night rocks! Just throw in the first night and make a box??

I have not listen to this show for years - but did so last night; solid first set - the second; somewhat by the numbers - post-drums is very standard.. it is not helped by the sound; much like hearing the show through a firedoor.. hope the new Pick will have better sound..

Is the angry Wharf Rat!!!!

I can’t even view the releases because I don’t have the Amazon Music app.
I have the Amazon shopping app, but that just sends me to the App Store to get the Music app.
When I click the button in the GB Bulletin email it goes to an Amazon Music page that is black with a spinning wheel.

The stupidity of all this is that you can’t download vinyl records.

Got the Music app, placed orders, deleted music app.
Ready to ship, none of the pre-order and wait bs.

Both limited too 3,000!

p.s. Grateful Dead Production, Sold by Amazon...

I ordered the Road Trips vinyl releases the day that were mentioned on the DaP 44 email blast. I was just about to delete that email when I saw the RT announcements at the bottom of the page. Although I hate to order from Amazon, it was no muss, no fuss using the provided links. I logged into my wife's account per usual. The curious thing was I got a $30 discount on v 4 no. 3 and a $20 discount on v 3 no. 2. So combined with the free shipping, no significant wait to receive the order (coming Wednesday) and the discount, it was an offer too good to turn down. These are two of my favorite releases from the Road Trip series.

I didn’t get a discount and was charged shipping.
WTF?

Edit:
Just canceled the orders.

How do I get the discount and free shipping?
Prime?

Don't know how I got the discounts, the order just reads "Your Coupon Savings" with the discount value. Actually, I just checked on the order and the discount was $35 on v. 4 no. 3. It could be because my wife has a Prime account, but it doesn't state anything about that specifically. That may also account for the free shipping. And of course, we have so sales tax because we live in Oregon. So v.4 no. 3 was $139.98 and v. 3 no.2 ended up being $79.98.

I ordered it two days ago, and was able to get the discount, for a total of a cool $86; it should arrive today shortly.
Went back in hopes of getting the '73 RT , no luck, the page didn't even load. Glad I got one of the two though.

What they should be putting on vinyl is the RT bonus CD’s.
Specifically, Cleveland ‘73.

I was there - I lived in Highbury at the time just down the road from the Rainbow. A bunch of us from work went and loved them.
Not sure about a box set though. Someone reported that the tapes were very poor quality.

I heard that too! There is a Bear recorded cassette's of 3/20 doesn't sound that great! Our only hope is that the Streeter's audience recorded 24/96 source can make them releasable. First Ever Dead Matrix Early '80 Box??

Ok so I have a sense of what most of the keyboard players sound like except Pigpen. I’m always focused on his singing and the rest of the band playing. Is there a show that highlights his organ? Thanks.

His organ, at least to me, stands out on many of the E72 tracks where you can hear both the piano and organ which gives a good contrast.

That's where I'd start. There's a discussion on Reddit that singles out 3/3/71 for his Organ playing. Also, if memory serves, the mix for Steppin' Out With The Grateful Dead (a mix of the England Shows) is a good mix where Keith and Pig can be heard. Lots of shows from the box set seem to bury Keith in the mix, or at least that is a common complaint.

I'm going off memory here, maybe others have some recent listens in mind.

Adding 5/26/72 as a show that (I think) had some tasty organ, I forget what songs, probably in the outro of Truckin' and the parts in and out of The Other and what a gorgeous Morning Dew. Maybe I'll listen to that tonight and see if my failing memory failed or served me.

41 years ago I was up in Berkeley at the Greek Theatre for a knockout show with the Good old Grateful Dead. They played a lot of my favorite songs during the show and then capped it off with a great Dark Star encore. We stopped at Everett & Jones BBQ on the way home for some fantastic BBQ. Fun Times.

3/18/67, 6/27 & 28/69, 10/31/69, 9/20/70, 10/31/70, 2/17/79, Greek 1981 my favorite year at the Greek , 7/13/76. Please.

....I got a 5% discount.
Dont ask me how this works.

with
Lovelight
Hard to Handle
Good Lovin'
King Bee
etc.

Some of the tasty organ parts from Europe ‘72
were actually overdubs by Merle Saunders per
Jerry’s suggestion.

I did not know that, interesting. That might take out a good bit of 5/26 but I assume that would only be for the parts that were officially released. The rest of the tour has some great stuff too. Some of it is subtle, but with the piano and organ there's a lot to like.

per a guest post on Grateful Dead Guide from 1/31/14 by Steven Seachrist, in which Seachrist looks at all potential overdubs to original E '72 album (deadessays dot blogspot dot com). There appears to have been confusion with Merle's overdub contributions to Skull and Roses. As to the greater box set, to my ears Pigpen's keyboards were mixed up a tad by JN and Keith's tended to be mixed down. I certainly approved of the former but the latter was a huge mistake. In reading that blog post, one of the bits of post performance manipulation that really catches my eye is how they sped up the tape speed for over half of the songs on the E '72 triple LP.

....released on YouTube music at least.
Crawling King Snake crawls.
Good stuff. Check it.

It might be an obvious point, but it can be heard most clearly at shows from 1966 and 1967, and on that first album.

These dates appear to have been released as a 3 CD set by Rhino in 2023 and look to be still available.

I see they are putting out an album ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen Revisited’, featuring Leon Russell, in September. This is a live album recorded in 2015.

There's lots of talk but not enough facts on some of the source master tapes from the most recent box.

My comment is general, if they had both two track and multi-track masters, unless for some reason the two-tracks were superior (I would think this is rare), I really hope in the future they go the extra mile and use the multi-tracks.

Then take some time to pat yourselves on the back, even if it means charging an extra dollar or two per copy. Once these things get officially released using the two-track master's it becomes less likely the multi-tracks will ever get used. Instead, they will sit in some warehouse and decay, like many useful toys the Island Of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The performances deserve use of the best possible audio source when these official releases are produced. History and we consumers should demand it.

Hope this didn't come off too strong, I do appreciate all they do in cleaning things up.. but no shortcuts pretty please with sugar on top.

I hope they used multi-tracks for this box if they had them (and they were in fact the better source). I hope someone out there reads this and it makes them think a little also. It helps the brand and it is part of the legacy they are maintaining.

An obscure fact that helps prove my point, Charlie Miller was named after Charlie in the Box. Google it. Rhino, if you do not adhere then you simply don't like Christmas which as we know is very bad for sales.

I like the sound of thick air!!!

... well, did luxembourg last week,
and disc 1 has got issues with rot
especially PITB

just a real pisser

....from realization that they exist to in hand four days later.
Thats something.
And yes. Limiited to 3K.

Kudos to icecrmcnkd for coming up with a goddam GREAT idea: Reissue the BONUS discs on vinyl!

Seems like a win-win to me. So many of us already have most of the Dicks and Daves, but in many cases we missed out on the bonus discs. And those bonus discs, like the one for the Denver '73 Road Trip, can sell for like $500 these days. Sure would be a lot cooler if we could get that material on vinyl.

4/12/70
Black Peter

Very present

Ask Janis.

....spittin' facts.

Finally made it through one listen of every show (except Avalon Ballroom as haven't pulled the cassette deck back out of storage yet, and want to make a digital copy for personal consumption). Lots to love here.

The Boston show from 94 is quite decent, especially for the era. The 93 Cap Center show was the show I wish we would've gotten in Richfield. The 91 Shoreline show barely scratches the surface for a year of great shows and hope that whole Fall tour gets released. The two 89 shows are just great shows that I'll revisit again and again. 87 MSG is energetic. 84 and 85 both bring back fond memories of those shows on tape. Really, it's all great. Dave knocked this one out if the park yet again.

Listened to the 90 Paris show from 30 Trips and really looking forward to DaP 55. Compton Terrace and Denver 90 would make a nice 5 show box.

Yes Spacebro. Fondly remember the dust cloud from all the dancing heads on dry grass. We all looked like the Peanuts character "Pigpen" in an animated version where the little dirt clouds kinda shed off us at random intervals. It was crazy enough I went to the back to look down over the event where I could see over the dust cloud and the sound was good so I just stayed there. Would love a mini-box with a show I (we) attended. Thanks Spacebro!
Cheers

Had a nice couple of synchronicities occur in transferring the Avalon Ballroom cassette to CD that I thought I'd pass along.

Just before leaving to drop off the cassette at a business down the road, I was listening to the Alpine Valley show in the box & reading Dave's CD linear notes. He talks about it being tough to get tickets to Alpine valley shows. In dropping off the cassette, the owner of the business told me a story about going to see the Dead at Alpine Valley because a friend said there'd be a tix for him at will call. Well, turned out there was no tix there. As he was walking away a woman appearing from nowhere said she had an extra tix & asked if he wanted it.

Was thinking about this little synchronicity back at home when I opened the "Enjoying the Ride" book. My bookmark was on p. 32: a piece on the Avalon Ballroom show, which of course was the cassette I just handed off.

I had to smile.