Grateful Dead Listening Guide

Glad you're digging some Keith-ear jams. Diffe...

2018-07-20T07:09:02.643-05:00

Glad you're digging some Keith-ear jams. Different animal indeed.

I am really getting to appreciate theses Keith era...

2018-07-17T17:12:30.871-05:00

I am really getting to appreciate theses Keith era jazzy jams. As a Brent era head, it's a whole different animal.
Thank you

The great highlight of the show is the quality of ...

2018-07-05T17:38:47.778-05:00

The great highlight of the show is the quality of the recording. This is one of the best audience tapes out there. Normally I’m not an Aud guy but this along with the show is as good as it gets.

The fantastic writing here touches on Jerry’s playing , and I also want to touch on that. This is a show that if you attended , it would make you chase it more and more , it’s that good. If Jerry ever showed off , he’s doing it here . He’s the master of his domain , on this night in Omaha.

5/26/73 my first show.

2018-05-21T10:08:09.221-05:00

5/26/73 my first show.

I was at the show and Davis the next day. Belushi ...

2018-05-12T13:32:04.265-05:00

I was at the show and Davis the next day. Belushi had just died and I was certain He's Gone would be played. Didn't happen but it was still an excellent concert.

I was there. Try to imagine how unremarkable it wa...

2018-04-27T00:47:34.102-05:00

I was there. Try to imagine how unremarkable it was for 3/4 of the 40 or 50 of us in attendance. A few years of being around the scene — at the Avalon, the Santa Venetia Armory, Speedway Meadow, the panhandle, Gate 6 — and things had gotten rough. Please understand, things were not always rosey. That gig was it, for me. And yet, even though I was less than enthusiastic after the show, when talk of developing Dark Star was their rationalization for the gig being the last of its kind — a small-scale production — I'm glad that after I walked away, they found a way to connect with a large number of people by letting everybody in on where they were coming from and keep thousands of people close. Something that that the punk-jazz artists I've been with since, consistently fail to do. Keep in mind, the setup there was not much different from the heliport days. The next shows, like for instance, the Carousel, were so much more like what later Dead-heads are familiar with... A difference like night and day. They would never again play to 15 of us from a flatbed truck, unannounced, in Golden Gate Park. But I — at only 15 years old — had had enough.

I remember having a decent sounding AUD tape of th...

2018-03-28T23:48:33.543-05:00

I remember having a decent sounding AUD tape of this show in the late 80's.

Gerry Moore was thee Americana Music Historian/Pio...

2018-03-17T08:15:13.269-05:00

Gerry Moore was thee Americana Music Historian/Pioneer. RIP

podcast right here, my friend: http://www.deadlist...

2018-03-04T08:56:26.454-06:00

podcast right here, my friend: http://www.deadlistening.com/p/podcast-series.html

What podcast?

2018-03-03T22:16:58.538-06:00

What podcast?

Anyone know why Donna was not at this show?

2018-02-22T14:27:36.761-06:00

Anyone know why Donna was not at this show?

My friends and I drove down from Dallastown, PA to...

2018-02-19T01:36:32.642-06:00

My friends and I drove down from Dallastown, PA to see this show. We were in high school. They lived up to every expectation, but right at the end of the first set, the Baltimore police came through and pulled us out for passing a pipe. They took us down to a room and made us empty our pockets and took our names. I thought my life was over. I was 16 years old. I remember seeing vast tables of contraband. We were simply passing a pipe down the row.

They let us go and we saw the full second half. We drove home and I had to stay home from school the next day because I thought my life had just been terminated at the Baltimore Civic Center.

A good Grateful Dead site

2018-01-06T06:52:23.280-06:00

A good Grateful Dead site

Unbelievable show. One of the best indeed. Red Dra...

2017-08-09T12:23:12.598-05:00

Unbelievable show. One of the best indeed. Red Dragons and Blue Window Pane were incredible too.

I agree that 1972 , you really cant miss. That bei...

2017-07-20T14:42:06.127-05:00

I agree that 1972 , you really cant miss. That being said ,my favorite show from this period is The Spectrum 9-21-72. This show smokes as well, thanks for your wonderfully written reviews of these shows.

Yup. Many times in 1975 & 1976. We were the Re...

2017-07-08T11:27:49.113-05:00

Yup. Many times in 1975 & 1976. We were the Red Mountain String Band.

Great share szpak. it is one thing to think you s...

2017-07-05T20:33:35.058-05:00

Great share szpak. it is one thing to think you saw a great show, it is another to have that corroborated by Jerome Garcia his self. Thank you for sharing that. We spent a great night together long ago.

Proper mention to the Oade brothers for capturing ...

2017-07-05T07:47:18.293-05:00

Proper mention to the Oade brothers for capturing the energy of the crowd and band in their recording.... In the aftermath of that filthy shakedown under the roof of the shed.... The energy captured by the crowd in the early stages of GSL is rich! Chills with the clapping and do-do-do-do-do "Hey!"

The NFA is absolutely magical, audience and band w...

2017-06-25T10:01:49.717-05:00

The NFA is absolutely magical, audience and band wrapped around each other to form the cosmic love monster, energy and tenderness together. And it just builds from there. Here's someone recounting Jerry's comment on it (from comments at https://archive.org/details/gd_nrps70-06-24.aud.pcrp5.23062.sbeok.flacf): "Exactly one week after the concert, on my way home to Edmonton, Canada, my pal Dave and I stopped in Winnipeg (and later Calgary) to catch the Dead, The Band, Janis and others on the Festival Express tour. Walking through the crowd with a joint we stumbled into Jerry who joined us and a few others for a smoke. I mentioned that we had been at the Capitol Theater concert and that they were terrific. He gave me a huge smile and said something like (its been 43 years) ''that was a magical night, wasn't it?'' Damn right."

This was a fantastic show! Only me 2nd Dead show, ...

2017-06-13T10:51:52.676-05:00

This was a fantastic show! Only me 2nd Dead show, the first being in the spring of 80. I knew I was hooked after the first show but this experience was...incredible. I remember it vividly despite...well, let's just say I remember it vividly. The vibe at this show and the vibe the band put off was amazing. This show was greatness from the first note to the last. About 4 hours I think. every Deadhead needs to know about and hear this one.

Sorry but no it wasn't. Can't tell you how...

2017-06-13T10:47:00.610-05:00

Sorry but no it wasn't. Can't tell you how many fantastic shows I saw in the '80s. I admit there were a number of...less than stellar performances but the great outweigh the mediocre by a lot. All the Hampton shows, all the Portland, Maine shows, MSG, SPAC, etc, etc

Man reading this while listening at the same time ...

2017-06-09T19:25:50.613-05:00

Man reading this while listening at the same time was a real treat. Your descriptions create some nice visualizations ;)

I, too, was 16, when 24 March 1973 found me at my ...

2017-05-26T00:28:42.305-05:00

I, too, was 16, when 24 March 1973 found me at my first rock concert. I rode sliding, seated on the wooden floor in the back of a rented yellow Ryder truck with a bunch of hippies from school in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., to the Spectrum in Philly, to see The Grateful Dead. I had only heard their album American Beauty on a friend’s pitiful portable, so to suddenly experience an eight-minute Tennessee Jed and perfect 19-minute Playing In the Band through their clear-sounding JBL and McIntosh-based sound system, was rich nutriment to my hungry ears. It changed my life. When the Dead came to RFK Stadium that June 9 and 10 for a co-headlining weekend with the Allman Brothers, I had to attend both shows. I slept on the lawn at RFK with my face planted on my bandana after the first day’s show, too.

Music that was this accessible as it took one through glorious 20-minute dancing tapestries of buoyant harmonic changes, with instrumental solos and multi-layered vocals, to deliver one in a tidy package to a different place quickly seemed the obvious norm. This was what rock music could provide and did provide. Imagine my surprise when I attended a rock concert where a band played its songs more or less like their studio recordings, then were done. I felt ripped off!

I love every moment...each a unique expression.......

2017-05-16T19:42:02.451-05:00

I love every moment...each a unique expression....currently...listening to each 79 show...

2017-02-23T12:41:23.981-06:00

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