John A

Whoops - 2-14-70 has an early show, which of course has a Dark Star. How could I have been expected to keep track of a 4 song show?!? 😟 DSO did 5-3-72 Paris, and Alligator sounded great. Jeff seemed to really enjoy playing it. 5 Pigpen songs, with Lisa on harp for Next Time You See Me and Hurts Me Too, the latter being a stunner. My favorite segment was Good Lovin' / Sing Me Back Home. Maybe the best I've heard DSO sound. Jeff and Rob B has a great synergy happening during the long, powerful Good Lovin' rap. Also the Other One > Bobby McGee > Other One in set 2 was epic. The band got permission to go until 12:30AM, and they needed almost every minute of it. These Europe shows don't let up! What a treat to see it recreated with the same guitar that gave us the original.

Yeah, I know, early to start this thread, but as I'm going to the show I grant myself such privilege. 😛 Here's my set list thus far: Dark Star Who so cavalier 2 shows in advance? Well, there's been no Star yet on the tour, and given tonight is pre-announced as 2-14-70 there will no Star there either. Moreover, Jeff will be playing Alligator Saturday, the guitar through which arguably the greatest Dark Stars ever were channeled. How could DSO proceed otherwise? See here how everything Lead up to this day...

1. No one who saw lots of shows in the late 80s early 90s hasn't seen Memphis Blues. 2. No one has seen the Dead open with Eyes>Estimated, at least not in set 1. 3. Eyes>Estimated isn't as rare as one might think. I count at least 13 of them, mostly in the early 90s. 4. Opening a show with Eyes>Estimated>Comes A Time? Damn! 5. Love to see that Easy To Slip tucked in there. Anyone wanting to check out some tasty easy slipping should grab Mark Severson's recording of the Paramount in Seattle 10-28-78. Good Weir shit right there!

The Boys were feeling pretty frisky that night in Portland, ME. Check out the GDTRFB. Turbo charged.

12/30/85 was that rare night where the bust out (Quinn) might have been the best version ever.

Yeah, that was good.

That Franklin's in the original show is the goods, with a totally one-off jam.

A very rare Lost Sailor to open a second set (maybe just 2 or 3?) and an equally rare Half Step>Franklin's>Stranger. Then Bird Song? Damn.

Holy shit. Talk about taking lemons (Eaton under the weather) and making a great batch of lemonade (that set list), complete with the fully appropriate early appearance of GDRTFB. Looked like a single set show the way that first set unfolded.

I count 11 shows that opened with Music -> Sugaree, the last one being Shoreline '94 which was a Music Sugaree Music sandwich. Most of these were in '76 and '77.

What's the Grateful Dead's relationship to Season of the Witch? Is it legal for DSO to play that, and if not how are fines levied?

Man, this Vegas character has got some serious street cred!

Believe It Or Not fans should head straight to Rochester, 6-30-88. Do not pass go. Mesmerizing. Indeed, what did Jerry have against this song such that it didn't stick?

Interesting. The original Tiger was played publicly for the first time since 7-9-95 Box of Rain in 2016 by Warren Haynes. In none other than Red Rocks.

That Bird Song looks like it came out of nowhere in the second set. And set 2, for that matter, seems fat even without it.

For my money 6-18-74 contained the greatest encore the Dead ever played. Not only was it Morning Dew, but it was an all-time version at that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a rare filler that encompasses stuff that should have been in the original show. That New Speedway belonged before drums, and the proper Playin' Reprise belonged after space. So, creative filler! Ragging on the somewhat truncated 2nd set aside, that Reuben is perhaps the best of the 3 Dead versions.

Honky Tonk Woman! The good ol' NRPS. Bust out?

Eaton wasn't making lists for the Dead in '78.

Correct. There were many other times they started and finished it later in the set/show, but just 5 times when they split it with just one song in the middle.

Today in Grateful Dead trivia: the Dead split Sugar Mags/SSDD only 5 times, 3 of which were summer '76.

That's almost true for 6+ years with the Dead. Didn't go to So Cal Jerry shows because there was so much to see at Orphuem, Warfield, etc. I did skip an LA Dead show summer '91. It was a single night at the LA Coliseum. That feels forgivable, even in hindsight. But the real ballers, they hit entire years and/or had streaks of 100+ consecutive shows. Now that's Deadication.

Well, the nasty underbelly of the Bay Area, after housing prices, is traffic. Otherwise Petaluma is 20 min. I did see many an Oakland Coliseum show with a 15 min commute. Best commute though was JGB Halloween at the Kaiser '88. I was briefly living in neighboring Piedmont, and I walked home! And I lived about 1 1/2 miles as the crow flies from Barton Hall for all 3 Dead shows there - that I didn't see. Good excuse in '77 because I was 11. But at 15 in '81 the excuses get pretty flimsy.

All this Oregon talk as "west coast" but where's the love for the Bay Area? That's where The Dead are from for goodness sake. DSO needs to recreate the Muir Beach Acid Test. On Muir Beach. Given it's a 15 minute drive, I'm in.

There are a couple vicious rumors going around.... (a) this is a really awesome spot for music and camping, and (b) the Dark Star dug particularly deep into the re-imagined consciousness realm.