oh christ you're gonna make me go on a tear, I'll try to limit myself but no promises I tend to ramble on when talking about the Dead.
If you're a fan of Live/Dead, you're missing out if you've never heard the full 2/27/69 show. The Dark Star from Live/Dead is from this show and sounds even better than the original mix. This show was commercially released as part of the Fillmore West 69 Box Set, but the publicly available recordings sound just as good. My pref is the 132573 healy mix, but you won't go wrong with the OG kaplan 6315.
If you really like the acoustic folky stuff from Workingman's or American Beauty, you should check out a show that has a full acoustic set. In 1970 and 1980 they went on brief tours with a bunch of acoustic gear, a notable show from these eras is 5/2/70 (released as Dick's Picks 8, this is a very popular show, but I prefer the night before). My favorite acoustic set overall is 10/30/80 (unfortunately audience-only recording here, no good SBD), but 10/31/80 is more popular as it's a famous Halloween show. Matrix recording is good, but there are FM copies circulating from this date that have better quality on some parts of the show.
My personal favorite shows (full rips of these are always on my phone and are never removed) are 5/3/72, 9/27/72, 8/6/74, 2/26/77, 12/30/77, 2/3/78, and 7/17/89.
5/3/72 from the Olympia Theatre in Paris is the best show from their famous '72 European tour. Several songs from this show were mined for the original Europe 72 compilation album, but the full show is worth its weight in gold. It's available in peak quality on Spotify/music streaming services. A lot of the second set from this show is continuous, as they flow back and forth between psychedelic and cowboy music.
9/27/72 in Jersey does has a similar vibe to 5/3, with the difference being that the vast majority of the songs are standalone (I tend to gravitate towards shows where each song flows into the next, etc, so this is unusual). Dick's Picks 11 released this in perfect quality. One of my favorite Dark Stars (but isn't as good as the Live/Dead one).
8/6/74 is from the Wall Of Sound Era [EDIT: linked to the wrong WOS at first, it's fixed now!] where the band experimented like crazy and eventually spent so much on gear that they nearly went bankrupt. Parts of this show were released on Dick's Picks 31, but you need the full show to really appreciate it. I've tripped acid listening to this show more than any other (you might want to skip the Phil/Ned bit inbetween sets though, probably won't be your cup of tea!)
2/26/77 is the first show from their most famous/popular year. My personal favorite Terrapin Station is in this show, and it flows very well. It was commercially released as Dave's Picks (not Dick's) 29, so it's not on streaming services, but the 83283 source is just fine on its own.
12/30/77 If I had to pick one show from this list to exclusively listen to for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one (but 5/3/72 comes very close). This is from one of their best New Years runs and pretty much every song is a candidate for best performance of the year. Of particular note is the Estimated>Eyes>Stephen>Sugar sequence which was only performed on this occasion and never appeared in this order in a show ever again. Beautiful stuff. I use the 139536 source, but part of this show does appear on Dick's Vol. 10 if you want to test the waters. A lot of this show is available to watch on youtube (here's a 4K upscaled version of the first set).
2/3/78 is the most rockin' show of this group, and we're only recently able to enjoy this show in its entirety and have a good listening experience at the same time. About five years ago, we only had janky audio recordings of the first set, but when 139370 surfaced, we got the full shabang in beautiful quality.
7/17/89 Had to pick one from the Brent era and this one stands head and shoulders over the rest of the 80s (I like this era but the 70s were just the perfect period for the band so I tend to gravitate towards those shows). Made famous by the Downhill From Here movie (you can watch the vast majority of this show on youtube), but I used the 17702 source when critically listening.
The Dead proper only performed The Eleven between 1968-1970 (though the current incarnation, Dead & Co, play it occasionally). Fun fact: they initially played it out of China Cat in the early years - Dick's Picks 22 has good examples from 2/23/68 and 2/24/68. As far as the Stephen>Eleven pairing, my favorites in chronological order would be 9/2/68, 10/12/68, 1/26/69 (The Eleven from Live/Dead is from this date), 2/22/69 (no lyrics on this Eleven but the jam is there), 2/27/69, 2/28/69, 3/1/69, 3/2/69, 4/13/69, 4/27/69, 6/5/69, 11/8/69, 1/2/70.
Hell yeah thanks. I'll just go through your favorite shows then. I saw the Dead live once, it was pretty fantastic . They opened with a killer version of Bertha. Took my 75 year old grandma and some hippie started dancing with her, great memories
Oh God I'm not sure. It must have been about 15 years ago, in LA, but I don't remember the exact venue. Bertha was definitely the opener though. Bob Weir had a huge beard idk if that helps
Any chance it was one of these two? couldn't find a bertha opener in LA for any of the post-GD incarnations, but these both had Berthas really early in the first set.
Dope, which dead shows or live albums would you recommend?
I regularly play Live / Dead and Workingman's Dead, two of my favorite albums ever, but I haven't breached too much of their bootlegs or Dicks Picks
oh christ you're gonna make me go on a tear, I'll try to limit myself but no promises I tend to ramble on when talking about the Dead.
If you're a fan of Live/Dead, you're missing out if you've never heard the full 2/27/69 show. The Dark Star from Live/Dead is from this show and sounds even better than the original mix. This show was commercially released as part of the Fillmore West 69 Box Set, but the publicly available recordings sound just as good. My pref is the 132573 healy mix, but you won't go wrong with the OG kaplan 6315.
If you really like the acoustic folky stuff from Workingman's or American Beauty, you should check out a show that has a full acoustic set. In 1970 and 1980 they went on brief tours with a bunch of acoustic gear, a notable show from these eras is 5/2/70 (released as Dick's Picks 8, this is a very popular show, but I prefer the night before). My favorite acoustic set overall is 10/30/80 (unfortunately audience-only recording here, no good SBD), but 10/31/80 is more popular as it's a famous Halloween show. Matrix recording is good, but there are FM copies circulating from this date that have better quality on some parts of the show.
My personal favorite shows (full rips of these are always on my phone and are never removed) are 5/3/72, 9/27/72, 8/6/74, 2/26/77, 12/30/77, 2/3/78, and 7/17/89.
5/3/72 from the Olympia Theatre in Paris is the best show from their famous '72 European tour. Several songs from this show were mined for the original Europe 72 compilation album, but the full show is worth its weight in gold. It's available in peak quality on Spotify/music streaming services. A lot of the second set from this show is continuous, as they flow back and forth between psychedelic and cowboy music.
9/27/72 in Jersey does has a similar vibe to 5/3, with the difference being that the vast majority of the songs are standalone (I tend to gravitate towards shows where each song flows into the next, etc, so this is unusual). Dick's Picks 11 released this in perfect quality. One of my favorite Dark Stars (but isn't as good as the Live/Dead one).
8/6/74 is from the Wall Of Sound Era [EDIT: linked to the wrong WOS at first, it's fixed now!] where the band experimented like crazy and eventually spent so much on gear that they nearly went bankrupt. Parts of this show were released on Dick's Picks 31, but you need the full show to really appreciate it. I've tripped acid listening to this show more than any other (you might want to skip the Phil/Ned bit inbetween sets though, probably won't be your cup of tea!)
2/26/77 is the first show from their most famous/popular year. My personal favorite Terrapin Station is in this show, and it flows very well. It was commercially released as Dave's Picks (not Dick's) 29, so it's not on streaming services, but the 83283 source is just fine on its own.
12/30/77 If I had to pick one show from this list to exclusively listen to for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one (but 5/3/72 comes very close). This is from one of their best New Years runs and pretty much every song is a candidate for best performance of the year. Of particular note is the Estimated>Eyes>Stephen>Sugar sequence which was only performed on this occasion and never appeared in this order in a show ever again. Beautiful stuff. I use the 139536 source, but part of this show does appear on Dick's Vol. 10 if you want to test the waters. A lot of this show is available to watch on youtube (here's a 4K upscaled version of the first set).
2/3/78 is the most rockin' show of this group, and we're only recently able to enjoy this show in its entirety and have a good listening experience at the same time. About five years ago, we only had janky audio recordings of the first set, but when 139370 surfaced, we got the full shabang in beautiful quality.
7/17/89 Had to pick one from the Brent era and this one stands head and shoulders over the rest of the 80s (I like this era but the 70s were just the perfect period for the band so I tend to gravitate towards those shows). Made famous by the Downhill From Here movie (you can watch the vast majority of this show on youtube), but I used the 17702 source when critically listening.
Hope this helps!
Also, Do you know of any other good shows with a St Stephen - > the Eleven? Definitely my favorite moment of Live Dead
The Dead proper only performed The Eleven between 1968-1970 (though the current incarnation, Dead & Co, play it occasionally). Fun fact: they initially played it out of China Cat in the early years - Dick's Picks 22 has good examples from 2/23/68 and 2/24/68. As far as the Stephen>Eleven pairing, my favorites in chronological order would be 9/2/68, 10/12/68, 1/26/69 (The Eleven from Live/Dead is from this date), 2/22/69 (no lyrics on this Eleven but the jam is there), 2/27/69, 2/28/69, 3/1/69, 3/2/69, 4/13/69, 4/27/69, 6/5/69, 11/8/69, 1/2/70.
Hell yeah thanks comrade!
Hell yeah thanks. I'll just go through your favorite shows then. I saw the Dead live once, it was pretty fantastic . They opened with a killer version of Bertha. Took my 75 year old grandma and some hippie started dancing with her, great memories
Do you remember when? Would love to see if I've listened to the show before!
Oh God I'm not sure. It must have been about 15 years ago, in LA, but I don't remember the exact venue. Bertha was definitely the opener though. Bob Weir had a huge beard idk if that helps
Any chance it was one of these two? couldn't find a bertha opener in LA for any of the post-GD incarnations, but these both had Berthas really early in the first set.
https://archive.org/details/dead2004-06-24.nakCM300.shnf
https://archive.org/details/dead2009-05-09.akg-483-461/
Damn that's impressive, yeah I'm almost certain it was the Forum, looking at the pictures.
It was probably that show. I don't remember hearing Viola Lee blues but 2009 sounds about right.