The Deadpod

This week's Deadpod features a quite wonderful show from 1977. This show took place back on March 19th 1977 at Winterland in San Francisco. Perhaps overlooked a bit because of the band's iconic performances in May of that year, this show features a huge first set (both in terms of length as well as power of performance). The band plays a number of great classic first set songs, and plays them all...

This week's Deadpod features the second set from the Band's performance on March 18th, 1971 at the Fox Theater in St. Louis Missouri. This is clearly a great performance from a great year. Starting with the Other One the band really delivers a great performance. Jerry does a great version of Wharf Rat here and the band displays how it can turn on a dime with Billy as the solo drummer in the transi...

Spring is supposed to be springing .. soon... so I plan to hurry it along with this beauty from 1971 which should generate a little heat... This comes to you from the City of Blues, St. Louis back on March 18th, 1971 (there has been some dustups over that date... some say the 17th.. I have no dog in this fight).. As with most artifacts from that year this one should please all but the Touchiest of...

This week's Deadpod comes from exactly 25 years ago, the Mardi Gras show that occurred on February 27th, 1990 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. We'll hear the second set this week, which starts off with a long drums that allowed the Mardi Gras parade to wind its way all around the arena. The band goes into an appropriately themed Iko, Iko and Man Smart, Woman Smarter before settling into their more s...

Laissez les bon temps roulez !   Yes this week (and next) I decided we should celebrate Mardi Gras with a wonderful Mardi Gras show from back in the spring of 1990. This show from the Oakland Arean,has a very laid back vibe that builds and becomes more and more psychedelic and interesting as the show went on. I really liked the jam in Sugaree and the Bird Song that ends this first set is excellent...

Yowza! When a tape such as the one we're going to hear this week sees the light of day I simply can't contain my enthusiasm. This tape comes from June 5th, 1970 - Fillmore West San Francisco California.. that's right 1970.. one of the greatest watershed years in the band's history and one that has always been sadly underrepresented in terms of recordings.. Furthurmore the provenance of this tape t...

This week's Deadpod features a darn good second set from November 2nd, 1977 when the boys played at Seneca College in Toronto Canada. This set features a kind of slow build up to a real apex of jamming and finishes off strong as well. This second set has a somewhat unusual order.. it starts with a nice Sampson and Delilah goes into a rather slower Ship of Fools. Then we get an uptempo Good Lovin'...

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr... given that many of us are in the icy grips of old man Winter, I thought it appropriate to fulfill a request for a show from north of the Border.. yes the Great White North, Canada.. This is I believe one of the better shows from that great country, from November 2nd, 1977 at Seneca College in Toronto Canada. In this week's first set you'll immediately tell the band hasn't lost th...

I'm hoping that this high energy second set from the New Year's Eve show of 1969 helps to warm you up if you are stuck in the deep freeze as I am this week.. This tape has some choice early versions of some classic tunes as well as some that were played very infrequently that you may never have heard.. Alligator and the jams that come from it are a great start, The Eleven is fab, the early version...

Happy New Year!!    While I toyed with the idea of not featuring a New Years Eve show the fact is that it is one date that the band was well-known for their performances. I did however choose the band's only non-bay area New Years Eve Performance - this takes place 12/31/69 at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, MA. The band puts on a great performance here and we're lucky to have a very good recordin...

This week's Deadpod features some ferocious Garcia jamming, and again, while the tape is not perfect, for fans like us, this is well worth listening to and experiencing. Of course this week is the remainder of the show from 12/10/72 at Winterland in San Francisco CA. This show features a spectacular 'Other One'.. the band drifts into this following some very interesting jamming out of Truckin'. Si...

While this week's Deadpod features a tape that is not complete, and has some cuts, I still believe it is strong enough to feature for this week and next. This show comes to us from Winterland Arena, where the band performed after a short break from touring on December 12, 1972. Unfortunately most of the first set is missing. What we have starts with a great 'Bertha', following that is Garcia at fu...

There is no way I wouldn't come back to this show this week and present this wonderful second set. Of course this is from December 12th, 1990 at McNichols Arena in Denver Colorado. While it takes a few verses for the boys to catch on fire, once they do they roll on through a 2 hour set full of passion and energy that makes this one of the best shows of a very good year.  They start with a nice Chi...

Our day after Thanksgiving Deadpod takes us way back to a famous date in Grateful Dead history - January 31st, 1970 - the day the band was 'set up like a bowling pin' down in New Orleans. Yes the boys were arrested earlier this day but played that same night the set that we are going to listen to this week. This show is quite odd, in that the first set is electric, the second is acoustic - mainly...

All the snowy weather this week reminded me of a show I saw out in Denver at McNichols one year.. this is a great show, I think, and I decided that it would be fun to share it with you. This one highlights the rejuvenation I think Hornsby sparked in the Dead, and especially in Garcia. He's all over this one and lots of fun throughout.. This first set is marked by a fine Candyman, a crazy Mexicalli...

We're lucky enough to hear the second set from the Dead's performance on 10/29/77 at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb Illinois this week. This is a fine recording of a strong set.. Bertha opens with that unique tempo the band was working on at this time and it sounds mighty fine.. Good Lovin' is better than usual.. Friend of the Devil and Estimated are played crisply but for me the magic sta...

One of the joys of producing the Deadpod comes from the many fine folks I've met, even if only through the medium of the internet, since I started to publish these shows. This week's show comes from a suggestion from one of those old friends, and it is an excellent suggestion.. This show comes to us from DeKalb Illinois and was performed during the Fall tour of 1977, on 10/29/77. The show begins w...

Halloween always seems to be a favorite holiday for Deadheads so seeing as this Halloween fell on a Friday I thought I should play one of the band's shows that took place on this date. This one comes to us from 1985.. sure not the band's strongest year but I think this first set is alot of fun, especially here at the start, so I'm hoping you enjoy the frivolity and enjoy yourself as you reminisce...

In casting about for a show to fit some recent requests, I came across this well-known yet astonishing work of unparalleled psychedelia. Unfortunately there is no Pigpen on this night (or the next) which is what my listener had requested, however I'm confident that the peerless jamming and enthusiasm present on this recording will allow me to be excused for that omission. This show starts with an...

  This week's Deadpod, the second set from Barcelona Spain on October 19th, 1981, bursts out of the gate with a smoking Scarlet Begonias into Fire on the Mountain. Garcia clearly wants this one to stand out, and his leads throughout are choice. Garcia is clearly inspired throughout.. even on the Sailor ->Saint, Garcia shines on one of the best versions ever... there's a nice little space that f...

As far as I know, this was the Dead's only performance in Spain, and while I recall wearing this tape out at one time I hadn't thought about it for some time, until I came across it again searching for a show for this week's 'pod. I'm thrilled to have rediscovered it. There's plenty of energy here as the band, and Garcia, seem pumped for the end of this European tour. This set starts off plenty ho...

This week's Deadpod features the second set from the Dead's performance at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse NY on September 24th, 1982. This is quite a fine set, and opens with an unusual Brent opener - Far From Me.. always a song I enjoy hearing. They follow that up with a very well executed Playin' In The Band->Crazy Fingers, and Jerry does some fine work on that latter number. Weir's new song, T...

This week we feature a show that marked the end of the Fall East Coast tour of 1982 - this one took place in the Carrier Dome on the campus of Syracuse University in Syracuse NY. This show was widely praised in its day and I think much of the playing holds up today as an example of a good early 80s Dead show. The band opens with a Jack Straw that is on fire.. and leads nicely into a very fine Frie...

This week's Deadpod takes us back to Dijon France for the second set of the band's amazing performance which took place back on 9/18/74. I have however, taken some liberties with this presentation however, as I omitted the first two songs of set 2, Loose Lucy and Big River, because the vocals in these two are hopelessly lost and cannot be heard. In place of those, I decided to include the 3 songs...

This is such a great show that I'm astounded that I've not played it on the Deadpod until today.. as the 40th anniversary of this great show approaches I will right that oversight. One of the greatest first sets ever.. from Dijon France, September 18th, 1974. It opens with a warm, delightful Uncle John's Band.. then the great songs roll on, Jack Straw, Friend of the Devil, Black Throated Wind, Sca...