Week of September 25, 2017
Part 1 28:20
Dead & Company 6/1/17 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles CA
TERRAPIN STATION->
DARK STAR
Bob Dylan, World Gone Wrong (Columbia)
STACK A LEE
Part 2 27:27
Grateful Dead 8/15/71 Berkeley Community Theater
BIG RAILROAD BLUES
PLAYING IN THE BAND
MR. CHARLIE
CUMBERLAND BLUES
SUGAREE
Starting in on the complete unreleased soundboard recording of August 15, 1971, Grateful Dead at the Berkeley Community Theater. The BCT is a 3500-seat sit-down theater, not an arena nor s ballroom with a dance floor. That made me happy at the time because I wanted to sit attentively and watch the musicians. But there was plenty of dancing in the aisles!
This is a very powerful Grateful Dead here, the original five guys – Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. Pigpen was still delivering strong vocal performances, but he wasn’t really adding much on the keyboards. This show takes place a couple of months before Keith Godchaux joins the band on piano, and you can sorta feel the niche opening up for a new voice in the songs and in the jams. We’ll talk more about the music over the next few weeks. This first segment is all short songs, with the somewhat unusual choice of “Big Railroad Blues” to open. It’s 8/15/71. Enjoy!
Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:
Dead and Company – Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge – on tour November 12 through December 8. Complete details and ticketing at www.deadandcompany.com. That’s Dead and Company, on tour from November 12 through December 8.
The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Umphrey’s McGee return to The Cap for 2 nights, October 20th and 21st. It’ll be a psychedelic sea of mesmerizing light shows and shredding guitars. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.