The Deadpod

This week we go way back to some of our earliest great recordings of the band for this beauty from November 11th, 1967. A request from a birthday kiwi down in New Zealand, (Happy Birthday Lawrence - and to my friend Jay as well!!)  this is a fabulous show highlighted with tremendous performances from Pigpen on keyboards and vocals. Garcia has a couple of really nice solos on the amazing 'Death Don...

Friday the 13th finds us featuring the second set from the band's performance 30 years ago at Cal Expo on May 3rd, 1986. A nice bouncy Scarlet starts us off, with some pleasing trills from Brent (if  you enjoy his additions).. the transition into Fire is one of the highlights of the set.. quite unusual.. Jerry gives a great reading of 'Fire on the Mountain', his voice in relatively good condition,...

I do hope it is a beautiful day in May whereever  you are! As we go back 30 years to a day that started out rainy but ended up beautiful out in California on the first weekend in May when a horse named 'Ferdinand' rode by the great Willie Shoemaker took the Kentucky Derby back in Louisville KY., but the Dead celebrated the day with a fine show at Cal Expo.  They chase away the raindrops with a fin...

I think we have a really top-notch set for you this week. The second set from April 19th, 1978 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus Ohio is filled with wonderful jamming and great song selections. It starts with the always energetic 'Samson and Delilah', then moves into a great version of 'It Must've Been The Roses' .. I think you'll find Donna (and Keith) both shine in this set. A nice...

This week we travel back to the spring tour of 1978 to bring you an excellent recording of a show the boys did back on April 19th, 1978 in Columbus Ohio. They come to play as they open up with a smokin' hot 'Bertha' which then goes into 'Good Lovin' to start the set. This serves to highlight perhaps the slower paced but still beautiful 'Friend of the Devil' that follows. 'Passenger' shows how stro...

Here's a wonderful record of a time when there truly was noone who did anything like the Grateful Dead.. this comes to us from April 12th, 1970 at the Fillmore West. This recording combines an audience and a soundboard source and does have some flaws, but I'm confident you'll listen to it with the same amazement it brings me. Of course the fact that they played with Miles Davis on the same bill du...

  This week's Deadpod features a fine second set from the April Fools' show of 1980.. I particularly enjoyed the China->Rider and Estimated->He's Gone.. Listen for the delightful keyboard work Brent gives us between The Other One and Drums :) A Shakedown encore is always fun too!! The ol' Professor is suffering through a nasty cold this week so I'm keeping this short, but this is a fine seco...

Hey Now! No April Fool here!! well yes there is, but its the April Fool the band pulled on its audience 36 years ago, on April 1st 1980, when the boys took the stage and proceeded to swap insturments - Bobby on keyboards, Brent and Jerry on drums, Billy on bass, Michey on rhythm guitar and vocals and Phil Lesh on lead guitar for the weirdest Promised Land ever.. Just had to bring that to you on th...

This week's Deadpod features the second set from the band's performance on March 14th, 1982 at the Recreation Hall at the University of California at Davis. This is a fine set of music.. starting out with a powerful Samson & Delilah, the centerpiece of this set being the exceptional Playin->Scarlet->Fire. They really shine on these pieces, with a very tight jazzy sound, accentuated by so...

This week I decided to bring you a relatively unknown but very nice sounding show from the spring of 1982. This is from the University of California at Davis on Sunday, March 17th, 1982. The boys come out and Bobby announces that they forgot something last night and they proceed to play 'One More Saturday Night' as the opener. A very nice Sugaree follows, then after an Uncle->Mexicali, a very soli...

As you listen to this second set from March 9th, 1981 it won't take you long at all to realize that fans were treated to a special evening of music 35 years ago. The China Cat -> I Know You Rider is such a wonderful beginning to what is a special night of music. Even a casual listener will soon be captured by the wonderful jam into Rider here. The band doesn't let up either, as this is just the...

Let''s roll into March with a really excellent show from the Spring of 1981. This one comes to us from New York City, March 9th, 1981 Madison Square Garden. From start to finish this is a most excellent show, one of the best in the earlier Brett years. Here in the first set all the songs are tight and well-played. I particularly enjoy the 'Althea' and 'Bird Song' but we are treated to a most welco...

This sweet second set from 1973 will close out the month of February 2016 for the Deadpod.  Judging from the length of this set I assume this is really not the entire set, however what we have is very pleasing indeed.. Starting off with an early 'Wave That Flag' the boys move through a 'Me and My Uncle' into a well-played if short for the period 'Dark Star'. That moves into an exceptional 'Eyes of...

This week's Deadpod really comes from one of my favorite years for the band - 1973. This show comes from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana IL, from February 22nd, 1973. The first set starts out with a great rocking version of 'Promised Land' followed by a nice, bright version of 'They Love Each Other'. 'El Paso' follows - check out Phils' bass lines on this one, it too rocks.. Jerry b...

Happy Valentines' Day Weekend! This week's second set from Lake Placid New York, October 17th, 1983 should bring a warm smile to any lover's heart as it contains a really wonderful 'To Lay Me Down'.. one of the most romantic of all Garcia's songs. Of course I don't want to minimize the enjoyment the remainder of this set will bring you. They start off with 'Touch', then move into 'Samson and Delil...

Here's a request from one of our listeners.. I could've sworn that I'd featured this one before but since I can't find in the archives I'm going to assume that's just a result of some busted synapses ;)  This one, from Lake Placid, NY, October 10th, 1983 is most renowned for this blistering opening 'Sugaree', which clocks in at over 16 minutes. The remainder of this first set is quite good as well...

This week's Deadpod almost falls into the history lesson category.. I had a request from a listener  who noticed that the only two years of the band's history that he did not have represented in his collection of Deadpods were 1965 and 1966.. so they asked if that could be remedied. I thought that was probably long overdue so I decided to bring you this week's Deadpod.. it is made of of two differ...

Here's the great second set of the band's performance in LA on January 11th, 1978. They start with a Samson and Delilah, then we get one of the last 8 or 9 performances of 'Sunrise'. The 'Terrapin Station' that follows marks the start of the meat of this set. Following a well-played Terrapin we have a quite exploratory 'Playin' In the Band'. The drums that follows is relatively short, and then Phi...

I think this is a real barnburner.. a date in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium in January of 1978. When you look at the set list and see that Minglewood is the opener you might dismiss this set, but don't.. give it a listen .. you can tell right away that Jerry is going to fire this thing up. A nice 'Dire Wolf' follows.. and then a sweet 'Looks like Rain' with nice Donna backing vocals.  This...

This week with the start of a new year, I decided to take a look back to a truly fecund period for the band - early 1969. We have an exceptional sounding recording of a show that took place back on January 17th, 1969 in Santa Barbara, California. This recording shows how the band is ready to take off during this seminal year that saw the release of  both Aoxomoxoa and Live Dead. The tape starts wi...

Happy New Year! It just wouldn't be right if I didn't feature a NYE show on this date, and while many of the shows that the band played on New Years Eve were a bit of a letdown, I think I've chosen one that wasn't.. this comes to us from New Years Eve 1981. While the boys opened with an acoustic set with Joan Baez, I had to spare you that and omit it from this podcast. I did not however, omit anyt...

Merry Christmas!   As always, our Christmas Deadpod features some fine acoustic Dead.. this selection comes from a very special show - it took place back on December 6th, 1980 at the Mill Valley Recreation Center in Mill Valley California. The boys put on an acoustic set for some special needs children and young adults and while the performance was not amplified, it was recorded by Betty Cantor-Ja...

I am certain that you'll enjoy this second set from the Dead's performance back on November 29th, 1980 in Gaineville, Florida. I found this a delight to listen to ,especially the transitions between songs.. those jams are full of life and fire! They start with a great Shakedown Street, which flows nicely into a Franklin's Tower. The Estimated that follows is Soooooo good, in my opinion.. and not o...

As we head into the home stretch on 2015, I've decided to bring you another one of my favorites from 1980... this show took place at the University of Florida, Alligator Alley, on November 29th, 1980. This is a day after the show included on '30 Trips Around the Sun' and a day before the show immortalized on Dick's Picks' 8, Atlanta , 11/30/80. The boys were definitely on a roll and I hope you'll...

This week we have some great fun from the second set of the Dead's performance at the Milkweg in Amsterdam, Netherlands back on October 16th, 1981. This week we get to hear the electric set of this impromptu performance, when the band played on borrowed instruments in a club environment. This set is very much a Bobby dominated set, with the boys opening with a nice Playin' in the Band. Then they p...