February 1979: Two Sides of the Midwest: Indy and Madison

Here's a snapshot from 40 years ago this weekend.  The Dead finish up the rescheduled East Coast shows from November, and play throughout January, ending up in the MidWest with shows in Indiana and Wisconsin.  Not sure why the Dead keep ending up in Madison in February, but they did  multiple times starting in 1973 and then 1978 and 1979.  

These shows are only partly available on soundboard, listen to some Charlie Miller mastered here

February 3 at Market Square Arena is a rare show with a mid set-one China Cat>I Know Your Rider followed in the second set by Scarlet Fire and Estimated Eyes.

Madison gets and Iki Iko, and a strong Terrapin Playing in the Band.

I've enclosed some local color ending in reviews of the shows.

Band Grateful Dead
Venue Market Square Arena
Location Indianapolis, IN
Date 2/3/79 - Saturday posters tickets, passes & laminates
One The Promised Land [4:01] ; Candyman [6:52] ; Mama Tried [2:47] > Mexicali Blues [4:19] ; Brown Eyed Women [5:12] ; Looks Like Rain ; China Cat Sunflower [6:17] > I Know You Rider [6:16] ; New Minglewood Blues [5:45] ; Stagger Lee [5:57] ; From The Heart Of Me ; The Music Never Stopped [7:39]
Two Scarlet Begonias [11:44] > Fire On The Mountain [11:15] ; From The Heart Of Me [3:37] ; Estimated Prophet [12:04] > Eyes Of The World [11:04] > Drums [9:#22] > Space [1:05] > The Other One [11:56] > Wharf Rat [10:45] > I Need A Miracle [6:41] > Casey Jones [6:27]
Encore One More Saturday Night [4:37]
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Band Grateful Dead
Venue Dane County Coliseum
Location Madison, WI
Date 2/4/79 - Sunday posters tickets, passes & laminates
One Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo [8:34] > Franklin's Tower [13:25] ; Me And My Uncle [3:06] > Big River [6:36] ; Peggy-O [6:38] ; Cassidy [5:00] ; Friend Of The Devil [9:09] ; El Paso [4:24] ; Tennessee Jed [8:37] ; Lazy Lightnin' [3:30] > Supplication [5:56]
Two Shakedown Street [13:52] ; Samson And Delilah [8:13] ; From The Heart Of Me [3:35] ; Terrapin Station [12:53] > Playing In The Band [18:41] > Drums [9:34] > Space [4:32] > Iko Iko [9:50] > Black Peter [10:42] > Around And Around [8:22]
Encore U.S. Blues [5:24]
Comments

Near Nirvana: The Nine Times China>Rider and Scarlet>Fire Were Played In The Same Show

I like lists at Christmas, so today I present the nine times that China Cat Sunflower flowed into I Know You Rider and Scarlet Begonias streamed into Fire On The Mountain in the same show!

Luckily I saw two of these, at the New Year's Eve show 1980 in Oakland and the next summer at the Saturday show at the Greek 9-12-1981.  You can listen to any or all of these below.
All the China Riders were in the first set (first electric set in 1980) followed by a second set Scar Fire.

So of the more than 300 times the Dead played Scarlet Fire starting in 1977 to the end in 1995 only 9 were played in the same show as China Rider. You had to be lucky to see one of these babies

Note that three shows in a row in 1980 and 1981 also had a Lost Sailor>Saint of Circumstance in them for a trifecta evening.

These were special nights when you got the double dose. I hope you were there too.  Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for reading my cryptic notes on my life and yours with the Dead


1. 2-3-79 Indianapolis

2. 11-8-79 Cap Center, a rare later era mid first set China here


3. 10-22-80 Radio City
4. 12-31-80 (I was there) Oakland. Here's the fine Wagner Miller NAK aud.
5. 7-8-81 St Louis Kiel
 6. 9-12-81 (I was there)  The Greek
 7. 12-9-81 For the third 1981 double dose, the Dead move from 9-12 in UC Berkeley to 12-9 at U Colorado. Poetic for the Band
8. 9-4-83 Park West Mountain High
9. 3-28-85
Also see  http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2016/04/scarlet-less-fires-and-fire-less.html  and http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2016/01/china-less-riders-and-rider-less-china.html for more Dead rarities involving these four master classes among Dead tunes.