Dead fans- who are you, where are you, and most importantly, how are you? Need somewhere to geek out about GD?
Any shows to share? Stories from the road? Let’s hear your favorites! Share your music or just shoot the breeze.
For the uninitiated: you’ve probably heard a few tracks on the radio, or maybe even own an album. A couple albums were cool, maybe even great, but the essence of the Grateful Dead lay in live performance and improvisation. The musicians listened to eachother an riffed off of what the others were doing in a freeform, collaborative, jazzish thing- never plying a song the same way twice. If you’ve only ever listened to their studio output, you owe it to yourself to check out a live recording, especially one with good sound quality.
To kick things off, here’s a cut from the most famous (and arguably overrated- you decide) show of the long strange trip. Recorded by the estimable Betty Cantor Jackson, the sound absolutely sparkles despite being only 2 track: this is a pretty close representation of how they sounded live with very little in the way of studio magic.
As for me, I was only a wee lad in ‘95. But that hasn’t stopped me from listening retrospectively and finding immense fulfillment and love in their music.
Favorite show:
5/5/77?
5/7/77?
5/9/77?
4/24/78?
5/14/78?
Not to hyper focus on one era or run, but I feel that all the elements really came together on these. Donna sounds great, Bobby’s singing is at its peak, Jerry’s playing ranges from delicate and arpeggiated to hard-driving and masterful. Phil’s tone is incredibly bouncy and tight with such a round, full sound. Keith is at the apex of his abilities, not yet lazy and druggy, but fully comfortable with the band and playing with incredible finesse. The drummers may be the only drawback with some disco drumming in the ‘78 shows, but at least it’s the pre- drums/space era.
I do feel incredibly guilty not including a show from spring ‘90, as a lot of my favorite tunes come from ‘87-‘90, especially spring ‘90, but the drums/space segments and some of the more cringe-inducing Bob moments preclude me from choosing them when looking at a show as a whole.
Anyways, I’ll stop rambling. Let’s talk some dead!
Any shows to share? Stories from the road? Let’s hear your favorites! Share your music or just shoot the breeze.
For the uninitiated: you’ve probably heard a few tracks on the radio, or maybe even own an album. A couple albums were cool, maybe even great, but the essence of the Grateful Dead lay in live performance and improvisation. The musicians listened to eachother an riffed off of what the others were doing in a freeform, collaborative, jazzish thing- never plying a song the same way twice. If you’ve only ever listened to their studio output, you owe it to yourself to check out a live recording, especially one with good sound quality.
To kick things off, here’s a cut from the most famous (and arguably overrated- you decide) show of the long strange trip. Recorded by the estimable Betty Cantor Jackson, the sound absolutely sparkles despite being only 2 track: this is a pretty close representation of how they sounded live with very little in the way of studio magic.
As for me, I was only a wee lad in ‘95. But that hasn’t stopped me from listening retrospectively and finding immense fulfillment and love in their music.
Favorite show:
5/5/77?
5/7/77?
5/9/77?
4/24/78?
5/14/78?
Not to hyper focus on one era or run, but I feel that all the elements really came together on these. Donna sounds great, Bobby’s singing is at its peak, Jerry’s playing ranges from delicate and arpeggiated to hard-driving and masterful. Phil’s tone is incredibly bouncy and tight with such a round, full sound. Keith is at the apex of his abilities, not yet lazy and druggy, but fully comfortable with the band and playing with incredible finesse. The drummers may be the only drawback with some disco drumming in the ‘78 shows, but at least it’s the pre- drums/space era.
I do feel incredibly guilty not including a show from spring ‘90, as a lot of my favorite tunes come from ‘87-‘90, especially spring ‘90, but the drums/space segments and some of the more cringe-inducing Bob moments preclude me from choosing them when looking at a show as a whole.
Anyways, I’ll stop rambling. Let’s talk some dead!
