The Deadpod

his week's Deadpod features a beast of a second set.. but what else can you expect from a show from 1972. This one features some great interplay between Lesh and Garcia throughout. Innocently enough the set starts out with a fat Big River followed by a standard Friend of the Devil and Me & My Uncle, things start getting interesting on the Bird Song.. here we find quite an interesting jam after...

Labor Day weekend.. summer's swan song so they say with the kids going back to school .. or college.. and lots of folks getting one last weekend of warm weather activities.. well I decided to bring you a show from a fall tour.. the Fall of 1972.. had a request for one of these wonderful shows so I'm bringing you the last night of a great three night run at the Fabulous Fox theater in St. Louis, Oc...

A classic second set from 1989 on this week's Deadpod.. marking the band's final appearance at the Alpine Valley Music Theater and in a way, the end of an era, as the scene was becoming so large that places, like Alpine Valley, felt they had no choice but to ban the band from returning. The second set took place in a downpour, and its reflected in some of the song choices.. a beautiful Box of Rain...

"Summer flies and August dies the world grows dark and mean"   I had a request for something from Alpine Valley, and it seemed to me that this show fit best right now, this is the last show that the band ever played at that storied venue, July 19th, 1989. Surely not the best show of the year, or even of that monstrous Summer Tour, but a show that displayed the band as it was at the end of an era o...

Here we are on what would have been Jerry Garcia's 72nd birthday.. whew .. hard to imagine how much music he would have produced had he stuck around these last 19 years. We get to share what we have, and this week that is the second set from the Grateful Dead's performance at the Greek Theater in Berkeley California on July 15th, 1988. We start out with a great choice for a summer night, Scarlet-&...

Summer keeps rollin' by... and I thought it just wouldn't be right if I didn't find a proper Shakedown Street to mark the season.. I think this one should fit the bill. Here is a high-energy show from 1988, originally a Rex Benefit show, that gives us plenty to like during these long days of Summer. This one comes from the Greek in Berkeley, where the boys always enjoyed playing. After the strong...

The second set of the show the Dead performed on July 13th, 1985 from Ventura California. In my opinion this is a fine second set, highlighted by a very nice drums/space into the Wheel, then a rare Cryptical into a very jammy Other One. That is followed by a particularly touching 'Comes A Time', always a favorite. While there may be better versions, I think this set stands up to scrutiny as the bo...

While we are in high summer my thoughts turned to great summer tours and despite my reservations about some shows from this year, I couldn't help but realize that this year had to be represented - 1985. The band played an amazing summer tour with such a wide variety setlists filled with extraordinary breakouts that the year deserves to be honored despite the well-known problems with Garcia's voice...

Happy 4th of July! With the 4th falling on a Friday it just seems to be fitting that I play one of the seven shows that the boys played on this date. Since I've already played the 7/4/90 show on the Deadpod, I decided to bring back this beauty from the Summer of 1984.. I happen to think the boys were on a peak during this time (the night before when they played Kansas City is a great show too!), a...

This week's Deadpod features the 2nd half of the electric set from June 6th, 1970 at the Fillmore West in San Francisco CA. There is some furious playing here - a wonderful jam that comes out of Alligator and into Lovelight. Pigpen is in his element here, and you'll enjoy him on this great Lovelight->Not Fade Away->Lovelight portion of the set.. Garcia is turning on a dime throughout and I t...

I had several requests this week for some 'primal' Dead.. and so I thought I came upon this fine soundboard from the spring of 1970. While we only have the electric set its still a fine example of the boys in their early formative years and I'm hoping you'll really enjoy it.  This electric set is so long in fact, that I'm going to split it up so we will hear the 2nd part - including a fabulous ver...

This week's Deadpod features a fine second set from the band's return to the stage in 1976. I really like how they have changed up the set list here, and they start out with the debut performance of Samson and Delilah.  A nice, very new Crazy Fingers goes into a haunting Wharf Rat. Let It Grow follows and this second set spot suits the song in that the musicians have a chance to explore some new g...

This week we have a show I find quite interesting, the band's first live performance after a 20 month hiatus back in 1975-76. You'll be struck by the fact that the tempo is slower than you'd expect. Some have attributed this to the band's breaking in both alot of new material and adjusting to having both drummers in the lineup. This show features a whole lot of firsts -- the first Might as Well, t...

I think this second set from 7/31/82 is a fitting treat for this 3 day Memorial Day weekend. This one is a real keeper.. it starts out with an incredible Scarlet ->Fire.. Jerry really takes the lead here with a number of very nice solos, each different and each wonderful to listen to.. the seque into Fire is very nicely done as well.  They follow with an enteretaining reggae-esq Estimated, then a...

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling the need for a little early jump into summer.... so this week I decided to bring you this excellent summertime Dead show, recently requested by one of my wonderful listeners. This sweet show comes to us from that weird town of Austin, Texas :), back in 1982. Just a day before Jerry's birthday I think you'll agree that he and the rest of the band were in a fi...

We continue this week with an excellent, virtually unknown or heard of show from the summer of 1980, this took place just over from me in Grand Rapids Michigan on August 24th, 1980. I tend to think of this time as the salad days of Brett's tenure in the keyboard perch, as I think the entire band was firing on all cylinders and this show is a good example of that. It is a unique setlist, with one o...

This week I'm featuring a tape that was just released - its an audience tape but quite a good one of the Dead's performance back on August 24th, 1980 in Grand Rapids Michigan.  I had never heard this show before and doubt that very many other folks have either so I think you'll find this to be a real treat. From the notes it sounds like not many people heard the show that night either - just a few...

This week the Deadpod remains in Vegas, for the second set played on  April 27, 1991. I believe this is as fine a second set as you're likely to find from this Spring tour of 1991. Jerry is in really good shape here it seems as he hardly forgets a lyric and the band certainly plays a wonderful pre-drums set! Opening with Sugar Mag, then comes a heady combination of Scarlet->Fire->Playin->Uncle Joh...

For this Good Friday edition of the Deadpod I've picked out a show from the 1991.. this was the first of what would become a regular stop in Las Vegas for the boys in the 90s. April 27th, 1991 at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl. This is a fun first set, and I think that comes through in the band's playing and on the recording.  The weather from all accounts was perfect, unlike later years, and Santana pr...

I think you'll really enjoy this second set from 1982... I don't know exactly what the boys were into (judging from the Raven space there must've been some tanks backstage :) but I find the entire set to be very up tempo and well played. Garcia is in fine form throughout and particularly enjoy the stand alone, bluegrass tinged Franklin's Tower. Estimated is arranged quite uniquely as well, and a s...

This week I'm bringing out a show that was requested quite a while ago.. just goes to show that you should always let me know what you hope to hear and be patient :) This is a fine show from a fine tour - the spring of 1982. This show happened to be the last one on the east coast leg of that tour and took place on April 19th, 1982 in Baltimore MD. The first set we'll hear tonight is emblematic of...

The second set of the Dead's performance at Winterland on March 18th, 1977, is often singled out because of the fact that it was the only time the band performed the 'complete' Terrapin Station, including the instrumental section labeled 'At A Siding' and here noted in the track listings as 'Alhambra'. This performance most closely resembles the studio version released on the album of the same nam...

I often wait until later in the Spring to pull out a show from 1977, but the anniversary this week of this run of shows moved me to pull this beauty out of the archives and select it for our next couple of Deadpods..  This show took place back on March 18th, 1977 at Winterland in San Francisco. The band is already jelling into the tight unit they're going to become later that spring, and you can h...

March of 1969 was a seriously good month for the young Grateful Dead. The classic run at the Fillmore which opened the month showed us exactly how on fire these guys were at the time. I came across this little gem and was reminded of the energy and power of those days and thought I'd share it with you this week. This set starts out with the very first 'Hard To Handle' and while Pig isn't at his be...

This week I'm bringing out a show that has been on my request list for some time, I believe the reason I hadn't played it before is probably because I only have the first set in a soundboard format - the show is certainly good enough to warrant a listen as this first set contains the very first performance of 'Visions of Johanna' .. but that's not the only highlight of this first set.. Beat It on...