mountain bed

I was at work today and heard on the local classic rock radio station that the GnR Tour will be almost exclusively stadiums. Not Lucas Oil in Indy. I still say if it ain't Axl Slash Duff Izzy Steven it's gonna be a hard nut to sell that many tickets. All 5 of em - possibly doable.

That's exactly the reason why I MUCH favor The Dead over JGB. I LOVE the train wrecks, when shit just barely hangs together. I know I'm a minority on that one. The consonance of the JGB makes for pleasant listening no doubt, but I love the idea of "America's Longest-Running Musical Argument". I really dig when it's horrible or boring sometimes. Neil Young once said, "Long flat expanses of professionalism bore me". I'm NOT suggesting that JGB was boring (not at all!) but compared to the GD ethic it IS a professional touring band for sure. There's really nothing (for me) that any side proj

I heard a couple of Wave To The Winds that I enjoyed live. The band never seemed to focus in on a definitive structure for the tune. It only had about 20 live airings, and it was somewhat difficult piece to play I think (not surprising with a Lesh song). I was/am of the opinion that this was Phil's attempt at doing something in the Eyes vein. Sort of an Eyes/Unbroken Chain hybrid, especially in the jam - very much an attempt at the '74 Eyes vibe to my ears. The lyrics have been raked over the coals from the start as being vapid and trite, but what the hell, Eyes' lyrics are pretty damn hipp

I haven't listened to Fallout for 10 years, maybe 15! Not that I didn't like it, but it just got put to the side - LOTS of releases, box sets, etc. The things that stand out in my mind are the 8/6/71 Hard To Handle (from Bertrando's AUD source, I think) and the 4/26/69 Viola Lee.

It's really amazing to think that just 16 days later they uncorked 4 nights of some of the greatest music of that period. It could be they felt very uptight, because of time constraints (I believe they were the openers), and the fact that their friend Janis was playing the Fillmore for the first time with her new band (she had played her last gig with Big Brother 2 months before). At the end of the show you here Jerry exclaim to a roaring-for-another-encore crowd, "I wan't ya to DO it for JANIS, man! She's gonna come out and blow your minds some more". Very uncharacteristic of our boy to be so

I've been hearing/reading that rumor all over the place. Man, I hope it's not true. I know they're looking for a marquee name, but Jesus - Rose can barely catch his breath onstage the days, let alone sing. IMO he's washed up. I still think Storace is the obvious choice, but that's just me.

Did you guys hear that clip? Holy FUCK that was amazing!

5/18 has the very first Star > Dew ever done (of about a dozen). I've said this before, but Star > Dew is my favorite GD there is.

Just my opinion, but Lazy River Road is my favorite of that last batch of Hunter/Garcia tunes.

When you think of Europe '72 Tour, you can think of many amazing musical things, but for me the thing that really jumps out at me is Dark Star and The Other One. EVERY night, one or the other, every one just an incredible example of primo Dead. There's only one show where they do both, 5/7. Dark Star > Other One > Sing Me Back Home is solid 60+ minutes of Grateful Dead. The Other One from 4/26 (HTH) is scary good.

I was into Cream moreso than The Dead around the time I just got out of HS (June 1981), and I've always considered them the first Rock "jamband". This was a nice read - nice find, Aman. Maybe a couple of factual errors - the July '68 Rancho Olompali tapes have to be dated wrong. The Dead were long gone from that idyllic spot by late Summer '66, but the blogger might be thinking of the Airplane House tape from Oct. '68. That's a seriously strange jam, but worthy of a listen (I have the cassette, it might be on Archive).

In my opinion the greatest Rock keyboardist to ever walk the earth.

Not sure. I think Bob Matthews (and Betty) was still running tape. Certainly from the beginning of '71 SBDs are easy to find. Owsley was still in the slam until early '72. That's a good question.

BBB is an all time favorite of mine. An absolute masterpiece. I was gonna answer with that!

I don't think I've ever heard this before - Alligator? Sign me up! For some odd reason SBDs from the 2nd half of '70 are a bit harder to find.

Absolutely! I remember thinking the same thing.

I wonder what Marc Storace is up to? I always thought he sounded more like Bon than Johnson, anyway.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked that. I think Fallon died and went to Heaven there lol.

^ This

Damn! A 9 year old thread resurrected.

I pretty much agree with all of this, especially about the Spring '87 Tour. Not the best musically, but that tour was the most fun I ever had following the band. The energy in those rooms were completely off the chart.

I think you're the first person I've ever heard say this!

The thing about that first half of the 80s decade is this - Garcia looks like death warmed over, but DAMN if he didn't play like a demon in that period. Yeah, it could be sloppy, but when he was on he was REALLY ON. It's just amazing to me that a guy could be so fucking sick and yet play so well.

Really fascinating insights on areas we don't usually hear too much about - where the band members' heads were at during the '75 'hiatus', stuff on the aborted '84 recording sessions, etc. edit: Phil comes across as an arrogant, bitchy fucker quite a bit, but in hindsight he was right about 90% of the time. And still is, imo.

I think it was reprehensible the way they treated him, not inviting him to play at Alpine, etc. All I can say is this - the Grateful Dead's music is the soundtrack to my entire adult life, but they are quite a bunch of dysfunctional motherfuckers. I'm about 2/3 of the way through David Browne's book ("So Many Roads"), and it's a VERY interesting, excellent piece of scholarship. It's also the most unflattering portrayal you're likely to read. They really weren't very nice people much of the time.