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Grateful Dead In Movie Theatres


Guest L~Cat

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It's playing in Mill Valley - home town show!

I saw it when they remastered it about 8 or so years ago. It played at the Metreon in SF on their (at least at the time) state of the art digital projection theater. The audio and the visuals were amazing and had seemingly been enhanced by a good margin.

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how the hell would you stay in a seat????

more important why????????????

I heard this is going to be the 3-D "Jerry Edited" director's cut. The first time we saw it, hot on the heels of some fun times in May '77, it was more a multi-dimensional midnight freak show viewing experience, so I don't know how well it will work this time around.

Seats? Ha.

red-star-partizan-belgrad-001.jpg

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Anybody see this last night? If you haven't seen this remastered version, you haven't seen the movie. It looks wonderful. Not a sold out house in Mill Valley, but I'd say 90% at capacity, probably only because it was playing at two other theaters in Marin alone.

The "bonus" interviews with Garcia and Weir were interesting to say the least. Jerry seemed very wired on coke during portions, and was essentially talking in circles. You could tell why these portions didn't make it past the cutting room floor. Bobby, interviewed at the site of what was soon to be in home studio on the slopes of Mt Tam, looked impossibly young and innocent. Ruminating about his immediate future with the Dead on hiatus, he outlined his plan to musically take over the world (in not so many words).

I was struck by how good a job the editing is when the film cuts to crowd members during various musical passages, again and again capturing the essence of the musical moment in the crowd's reactions.

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I've always thought, while watching the movie, how great it would be to have been a part of that audience and to see yourself so many years later in it! The movie was so much better than I remembered, and watching Jerry and hearing that sweet voice sing Morning Dew brought tears to my eyes. I noticed about halfway through that I had that huge cheesey grin plastered across my face that I always have at a live show. Twas a great night!!

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Guest Lisacat

Almost made it down to Santa Cruz but it sold out. I'm sure it was a blast...I know all those crazy cats were dancing away in the movie theatre!

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Saw it in San Mateo. I was at these shows and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories of those Winterlands days!

The red and UV lamps on the ceiling

The mirror ball

The rockin' lobby

That very cool Winterland security guard

The Wall of Sound

But most of all--just how wonderful the GD were back in '74!!!

I wasn't able to spot myself , but it was very cool to see a few friends again, the way they looked 37 years ago!! In some ways, this movie reminded me how the band and the audience were in many ways one big family at that time. This certainly changed in the 80s as the band played ever larger venues. It became much less personal. and a certain connection to the band was lost (at least in my perception). I suppose it was more like DSO is today.

Jerry's voice on Stella and Dew were absolutely sublime. I also forgot how well the camera work captured Jerry's guitar work They really did a great job on this film. The sound quality was significantly better than the original, and it was great how they went to certain instruments at just the right time. For instance, when Keith started playing some really good parts, there he was on the screen with a close up of his hands. I was not a big Donna fan back in those days, but I did really enjoy her contributions on this film. I suspect I have simply matured and have come to appreciate her part in the 70s sound.

The theatre was only perhaps 1/3 full. I suspect many heads just didn't know this film was happening. One very annoying thing was that they were showing some very wonderful photos before the movie, which were mostly taken on the Europe '72 tour. Unfortunately, this was accompanied by the horrendous blaring soundtrack of the shitty commericials they now have at movie theaters. Why must we be subject to commercials when paying over $10 to see a movie? It's one of the reasons I often just wait until the DVD is out. After the movie started, and the extensive interview with Jerry started, the commercial soundtrack kept running for over 5 minutes!!!!!!! Thankfully, someone complained to the management and they restarted the movie from the very beginning with the correct sound track.

I'm kind of curious how these one showing deals work. When they had to restart the film, there was a computer desktop on the screen for a brief period. I'm not sure if the theatre has a DVD disk, or if it is being streamed over the internet.

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Guest Ammagamalin Crew

In Cincinnati, they had a beer booth set up right outside the theatre door and they didn't check me as I took in 4 of my own. They also let us puff up without any hassle from anyone. the surround sound was cranked. I really got into the Jerry interview. (I didn't think of him as being "Coked out") but more talking about the music leaving all doors open for all possibilities. The Bobby interview was a little too long, he kept repeating himself.

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I saw it in Mill Valley as well... Very nice theater...It would of been nice if they had the speakers on the sides turned on... It was a bit quiet I thought. I do agree that its whole new movie on the big screen and the interviews with Jerry and Bob are very cool...Lots of laughs....Good times...Love the "Grateful Dead" 4/20/11. ticket stub...Its the first movie stub I've ever been inclined to hold on to.

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Went to the showing in Canton, Michigan. Loved seeing it on the big screen. I was worried about running late, but when I arrived there were only two people in seats. Eventually maybe a dozen people at showing. Amazing fact is that a med popcorn, candy, and a med coke cost more than movie ticket.

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I saw it in Tysons Corner, VA. Only about 50 people were there......I was kind of surprised about that.

Great sound. The animated portion looked almost 3-D at times......very trippy indeed.

I concur on Garcia's vocals on Stella and Dew......tear inducing.....so sweet.

I loved their playing and sound back then. Garcia's guitar tone hadn't morphed into it's 80's Irwin/effect-driven sound and Kreutzman's drumming was straight up jazzy and dangerous. Maybe it's the drummer in me, but I can usually nail the year of GD music within 30 seconds simply by listening to the drums. '74 was distinctive because Kreutzman used single-headed toms and the batter heads were plastic with black dots in the center......hence the short decay and slightly flabby tom sound. He really is a terrific drummer. I would have liked to have seen him in the 70's when he was essentially playing jazz at Dead shows.

Grate time last night!

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I saw it in Tysons Corner, VA. Only about 50 people were there......I was kind of surprised about that.

Great sound. The animated portion looked almost 3-D at times......very trippy indeed.

I concur on Garcia's vocals on Stella and Dew......tear inducing.....so sweet.

I loved their playing and sound back then. Garcia's guitar tone hadn't morphed into it's 80's Irwin/effect-driven sound and Kreutzman's drumming was straight up jazzy and dangerous. Maybe it's the drummer in me, but I can usually nail the year of GD music within 30 seconds simply by listening to the drums. '74 was distinctive because Kreutzman used single-headed toms and the batter heads were plastic with black dots in the center......hence the short decay and slightly flabby tom sound. He really is a terrific drummer. I would have liked to have seen him in the 70's when he was essentially playing jazz at Dead shows.

Grate time last night!

I love the shots of his face while he is druming during the later parts of EOTW in this movie. He's complety consumed by the music and he just kind of opens and shuts his eyes like he is in some hypnotic trance.

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Maybe it's the drummer in me, but I can usually nail the year of GD music within 30 seconds simply by listening to the drums. '74 was distinctive because Kreutzman used single-headed toms and the batter heads were plastic with black dots in the center......hence the short decay and slightly flabby tom sound. He really is a terrific drummer. I would have liked to have seen him in the 70's when he was essentially playing jazz at Dead shows.

We've played that game...just from 10 seconds of some random section of something (no vocals!).

It's harder that it seems to get the exact year (even with the one drummer years).

You probably would have kicked our asses by zeroing in on the drums though.

Very smart.

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Me and two friends went to see the movie and had gotten our tickets two days beforehand so we were sure to see the movie. Turns out, the people working the place were pricks and wouldn't let my friends in because they didn't have IDs and it was rated R. I wasn't going to go in without my friends so I stayed there and tried talking to the people for a while but their arguement was the typical "It's the rule and I have to follow it." So after arguing with these people about the ridiculousness of their games they were playing on us, we left. There was this brother who tried to help my friends get in but with no luck.

However, we did meet some other heads who were actually younger than me, and I'm only 17. We chilled with them and turns out the one girl and her dad hit up shows and festivals all the time, and I think I've seen her at some shows. And the other kid is a glass blower, which is cool. :D It was a bummer that they wouldn't let them in and we ended up not seeing the movie, but we still had a good time and met some new friends.

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Dalton,

What a sad story. Teenagers denied entrance to this because of an MPAA rating? Wow. Think the typical PG-13 rated movie today - far more inappropriate for children than this film. In fact, what about this film would get it more than a PG-13 rating of it were released today? Do they say "fuck" more than once? Amazing...

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Saw it in San Mateo. I was at these shows and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories of those Winterlands days!

The red and UV lamps on the ceiling

The mirror ball

The rockin' lobby

That very cool Winterland security guard

The Wall of Sound

But most of all--just how wonderful the GD were back in '74!!!

I wasn't able to spot myself , but it was very cool to see a few friends again, the way they looked 37 years ago!! In some ways, this movie reminded me how the band and the audience were in many ways one big family at that time. This certainly changed in the 80s as the band played ever larger venues. It became much less personal. and a certain connection to the band was lost (at least in my perception). I suppose it was more like DSO is today.

Jerry's voice on Stella and Dew were absolutely sublime. I also forgot how well the camera work captured Jerry's guitar work They really did a great job on this film. The sound quality was significantly better than the original, and it was great how they went to certain instruments at just the right time. For instance, when Keith started playing some really good parts, there he was on the screen with a close up of his hands. I was not a big Donna fan back in those days, but I did really enjoy her contributions on this film. I suspect I have simply matured and have come to appreciate her part in the 70s sound.

The theatre was only perhaps 1/3 full. I suspect many heads just didn't know this film was happening. One very annoying thing was that they were showing some very wonderful photos before the movie, which were mostly taken on the Europe '72 tour. Unfortunately, this was accompanied by the horrendous blaring soundtrack of the shitty commericials they now have at movie theaters. Why must we be subject to commercials when paying over $10 to see a movie? It's one of the reasons I often just wait until the DVD is out. After the movie started, and the extensive interview with Jerry started, the commercial soundtrack kept running for over 5 minutes!!!!!!! Thankfully, someone complained to the management and they restarted the movie from the very beginning with the correct sound track.

I'm kind of curious how these one showing deals work. When they had to restart the film, there was a computer desktop on the screen for a brief period. I'm not sure if the theatre has a DVD disk, or if it is being streamed over the internet.

So cool that you were at the actual shows. What a gift to have experienced live and in person.

This is a primary reason that I love DSO so much. Because my first GD show wasn't until '83, I get the chance to see live GD music performed and performed with aplomb circa the 60's and 70's.

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