Garcia said “We were great for seconds on end.” I was lucky to see Jerry play for about 1,000,000 seconds exactly. Thanks for your 1,000,000 views here . Dave Davis wrote this blog for 500 posts and 5 years from 2015 to 2019. Contact me at twitter @gratefulseconds

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Grateful Dead's 15 Once-Only Show Openers, 1972-1995


Hey look 15 shows and I saw zero of them. This is the master list of tunes the Grateful Dead opened a show with only once; I expect there are more in the 1965-1967 era but I could not tell you precisely.

The 15 songs below are the only songs that the Dead opened with exactly one time.
Obviously, Bo Diddley was played first and best with Bo Diddley himself.  I never saw Loose Lucy as an opening song, nor did I Tennessee Jed.   Crazy Fingers and Terrapin would have been cooler in that first song slot more often. So would have Eyes.

Franklin's was a jack of all trades tune played everywhere in the show, especially at the start of its run.



Hey Bo Diddley    03-25-1972 first one
Loose Lucy           02-15-1973
Wave That Flag    02-21-1973
Crazy Fingers       06-17-1975  first one
Tennessee Jed      06-29-1976 thanks WillieParkJr for pointing out the 1973 occasion
Terrapin Station   02-26-1977  first one
Franklin's Tower  05-09-1978
Passenger             12-13-1978
Cassidy                 08-21-1983
Day Job                04-13-1984
Big Boy Pete        11-21-1985
Day Tripper          06-25-1985
Roadrunner           03-21-1986
Mighty Quinn       03-03-1987
Eyes of the World 06-17-1991
Salt Lake City       02-21-1995  first one
       
Here's a few of the tunes


https://archive.org/post/40534/grateful-dead-unique-set-openers

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Dizzy Ain't The Word: Those 15 Times Supplication Wasn't Lazy (And Mostly Jammed), 1976-1995




While starting as a interesting mainly first set duo, Supplication broke the mold of Dead tunes and was become involved over time in some very interesting song transitions.  I will admit it now, I am in love with Supplication.

So I'll admit upfront, there really wasn't much difference during the 111 versions of  Lazy Lightning that the Grateful Dead played, although I am partial to the 1976 and 1977 ones like Deadbase favs Cornell, SF 7-18-76 and Dick's Picks 3.

I was able to see the 3rd of the 111 LL>S's, a rare set two on June 9, 1976 and the 111th of 111 on October 31, 1984 in Berkeley so I consider myself a bit knowledge about the two.




Supplication was another story, with some real outstanding ones including 15 versions where it moved out of the confines of the LL>S structure totally 126 total plays over its 20 year career.

The one cut was the deepest with the famous Supplication sandwich in the middle of Playin In the Band during William & Mary's second show on September 24, 1976. The only other full Supplication without Lazy will occur 17 years later. A few tunes   https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/50i7zb/what_are_some_good_lazy_lightningsupplication/

9-24-76 Playin>Supplication>Playin
about the 20th time Supplication is played:

SO Dizzy, The Well-Informed Report in VA misses the Supplication sandwich on 9-24. Does Keith's piano in Supplication sound like Charles Ives to you?  Maybe.

Four years later and the only other lone one during the Lazy Lightning>Supplication era

The Invention of the Supplication Jam
09-04-80  Providence Set 2 Supplication Jam>Estimated>Eyes, and the only one seen with Grateful Seconds own eyes two days before Lewiston.

After Lazy is retired by the band, Bobby can't seem to stay away from Supplication Jams

The Remorse Era, Can't Stop
03-29-85 Nassau Set 1 Supplication Jam>My Brother Esau
04-08-85 Spectrum  Set 1 Ending Tons of Steel>Supplication Jam>Might As Well
06-27-85 SPAC Set 1 Stagger>El Paso>Crazy Fingers>Supplication Jam>High Time (huh??)
11-05-85 Centrum Set 2 Supplication Jam>Playin Jam (1st ever)>Don't Need Love
11-10-85 Meadowlands Set 2 opens  Half Step>I Know You Rider>Playin>UJB>Supplication Jam>Drums
03-21-86 Hampton Set 1 ends Tons of Steel>Supplication Jam>Let It Grow
03-27-86 Portland, ME Set 1 ends Supplication Jam>The Promise Land
04-03-86 Hartford Set 1 ends Supplication Jam>Let It Grow>Don't Ease Me In
04-13-86 Irvine Set 1 ends Supplication>Let It grow

Five Year Break, They Remember How to Play It
06-24-91 Bonner Springs check out set 1  Set 2 Estimated>Supplication Jam>Uncle John's
08-14-91 Cal Expo Set 2 copycat  Set 2 Estimated>Supplication Jam>Uncle John's
05-22-93 Only Stand Alone with Lyrics  5th song in first set, only standalone with lyrics
06-21-95 Knick, only a dozen shows to the end Set 2 All Too Much>Playin>Supplication Jam>Drums>Easy Answers>final ever Morning Dew

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

It's New Year's Eve and I Do Believe There'll Be Dancin' in the Streets, Winterland, December 31, 1971 FM





A great new Charlie Miller FLAC of this show was just released.

Thanks to Tim Dalton for this knockout upgrade and to Charlie Miller for the transfer.



edited and mastered
SIRMick
March 2018 



 Prior was only one FM on the archive. Listen and grab with NRPS add-on (hear Graham introduce NRPS above).  Nathan Wolfson below calls this the "return of the jam" and I like this as the transitional Dancin in the Streets from the old towards the 1976 new (and later return again to more like this 1971 one, see Greek 7-15-84 as Dancin opens into Bird Song). The Same Thing is here.  Last I think Very cool Truckin>The Other One opens set two with a Cosmic Cowboy Me & My Uncle sandwiched in between. The Jam>Black Peter which followed was released in 2003 as part of the New Year's Eve bonus disc when buying the CD or DVD of The Closing of Winterland 1978. This alone is worth the price you are paying to listen to this show here.   Playing in the Band towards the end of set one was the first time Donna sang with the band and continued to expand in length.  The performance took place from midnight to about 5am according to the fans. Funny that Bill Graham did not expand into 12/30 land but instead scheduled the boys for January 2 (Good Lovin>China Cat>Good Lovin). Enjoy a little jewel between 1971 and 1972 and 1976







Issue 100 on Sale December 31, 1971








The Standalone DAncin' Between 1970 and 1976







That night
Hot Tuna was very hot. They played about 2 hours, from 10-midnight. By then I had completely forgotten about the Dead. Half an hour later I'd forgotten about Tuna. I think it was at this show that I saw I guy fall from the balcony and land pretty much unharmed, the right-side balcony as you look at the stage. And there was a dude who stripped down and danced across the stage, acting out playing a guitar (and pretty much in sync), right across in front of the band, from left to right, and then back across again before a behemoth bouncer pushed him off the stage into the crowd, from which he was exited the building. He was on fire. I think Weir or Lesh commented on the incident with a "How about that?" at the end of the tune. This was an archetypal Dead deal....not done until 5 a.m. Yip. Five hours straight, without any real break, of course, if you don't count the 2-5 minutes of tuning that went on at times. Ultimate satisfaction is my fond memory of that night. Great music, great vibes. from santa rosa 70 on dead.net

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Grateful Dead's 31 Once-Only Encores, 1971-1995

At my first show on June 9, 1976 (also known as Road Trips 4.5), the Dead brought back High Time and St Stephen and encored with Frankin's Tower.  This was the only time the band ever played Franklin's as an encore, in any form, and never played Help>Slip>Franklins either. I also saw the once only as encore Etta James versions on December 30, 1982 (which were repeated during Set 3 the next night).

This little study comes out of that show, which songs did the Dead only encore with one-time.  I see 31 given the following assumptions.  There is no full and complete list from 1965 to 1970.  1970 show setlists are even being discovered now.   I used Deadbase 11 as my database, I did not discover any new information in more current sources and will be glad to revise my list if you have better info.
Listen to some of these? Here's some of them    Here some folks favorite encores



1972-03-28 Sidewalks of New York   Last Night at Academy, Last Show before Europe 72

1973-07-28 Mountain Jam                  Watkins Glen with ABB and The Band

1974-10-20 Mississippi Half-Step       Last night at Winterland before Goin Fishing

1976-06-03 The Wheel                         First Ever, Portland
1976-06-09 Frankin's Tower                My First Show, First East Coast Show since 1974
1976-06-21 Roses                                 First Night Tower run followed by JBG
1976-07-13 Dancin' In The Street        Night Two, Orpheum Run

1977-10-14 Playin In The Band           Brokedown>Playin (reprise); only reprise into encore
1977-10-15 Truckin'                             Texas Two-Step with Playin and Truckin>OMSN encores
1977-12-27 Samson & Delilah             Famous Dick's Picks Winterland show

1978-01-11 Passenger                          at the Shrine during Jerry's voice issue California tour

1979-12-11  The Promise Land           KC sees multi encore Alabama>once-only The Promise Land

1981-11-30  Might As Well                 Dayton gets only Mack the Knife and Might as Well encore

1982-08-28  Dupree's                          Kesey 10th Anniversary gets only old-school Dupree's encore
1982-12-30  Too Hard To Handle        I watch Emma James & Boys bring back Pigpen Tune(s)
1982-12-30   Tell Mama                      I see Emma's Signature Song also played set 3 12-31-82

1983-09-10  Cold Rain & Snow          Day before Mickey turns 40; Santa Fe sees beauty

1984-06-21  New Orleans                   with The Band Kingswood Ontario nation-wide FM
1984-06-21  Big Boss Man                 with The Band Kingswood Ontario nation-wide FM
1984-07-13  Dark Star                         I skip Fri at Greek (why??); only known Dark Star encore

1985-11-21  Walkin' The Dog              middle HJ Kaiser show also opened with Big Boy Pete (cool)

1986-12-27  Push Comes to Shove      first of three at HK Kaiser

1987-11-08  Tom Thumb Blues           3rd of 3 at Kaiser see rare Phil encore

1988-04-30  China Cat>                      Special Night at Frost
1988-04-30   I Know You Rider          Frost goes into OMSN for very rare three song encore
1988-09-03   Ripple                            Only Known Make a Wish Request Fulfilled in Landover
1988-12-31   Wharf Rat                       NYE at Oak Coliseum with Clarence Clemons

1989-08-19   Foolish Heart                  Rex Benefit, local  FM Broadcast at Greek

1991-11-03   Forever Young                 Only version with Neil Young at Bill Graham memorial

1994-10-15   Want to Tell You              One of the last of 52 shows at MSG
1994-10-17    Rainy Day                       with Bob Dylan; show 50 at MSG

1995-04-02   Unbroken Chain               Memphis show




Saturday, March 10, 2018

The Other Day They Waited, The Sky Was Dark and Faded at the Greek, June 16, 1985: Cryptical Returns After 791 Shows

After the frenzy of sitting in the hills on Friday http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2015/11/does-this-count-as-attending-sitting.html , I secured tickets for Saturday and Sunday at the Greek, I believe from Cormac. My brother Ralph said, hey I think Cormac might have an extra. Thanks Oregon Man.
 Here's the whole show  Starts with In the Midnight Hour>Bertha and surprises the hell out of all of us with That's It for the Other One in set two.  I was standing near front right pretty close to the stage when this occured on this beautiful hot Sunday.  This was a very big deal to me.

Cryptical had left the Grateful Dead planet after Felt Forum and Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor in December 1971, and one 1972 appearance in Waterbury September 1972, so this was another of those great moments I was able to experience in person at my shows with the Dead bringing back a vintage after a many years absence.  This night saw the longest period before the return, almost 150 months.

St Stephen                   6-09-76          10-31-71           4 Years
High Time                   6-09-76          07-12-70           5 Years
Comes A Time            6-12-76          10-19-72          3 Years
Oh Boy                      12-12-81          04-06-71         10 Years
Me & Bobby McGee 12-12-81          10-16-74          7 Years
Big Boss Man            12-26-81          05-25-72          9 Years
The Eleven Jam          12-26-81         09-28-75          6 Years
Dark Star                    12-31-81          01-20-79         2 Years
Hard to Handle           12-30-82         08-26-71        10 Years
In the Midnight Hour  12-31-82         04-29-71       11 Years 
Mind Left Body Jam  12-30-83          10-17-74       8 Years
Comes A Time           06-14-85          10-02-80       4 Years
and Cryptical Here     06-16-85          09-23-72      12 Years


There is a wealth of information on this weekend in Berkeley, and this show too.  I recommend listening to the That's It for The Other One by clicking the link above while reviewing the literature.  It's fun and was totally unexpected, and only repeated four more times over the next month or so.
According to Deadbase the last time, the  Grateful Dead performed That's It for The Other one complete, without drums in the middle was at the Fillmore West on March 1, 1969 (Cryptical>The Other One>Cryptical). You might remember that show.  Here's some insight from experts better than me"

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

June 17, 1985
Edition: FINAL
Section: DAILY DATEBOOK
Page: 56

Topics:
Index Terms: 
MUSIC
REVIEW
CELEBRATIONS


What's 20 Years to the Dead?
Anniversary party for 27,000
Author: JOEL SELVIN









Article Text:
It would have been amazing enough to have such a deranged, disorganized, disparate group stay together one year, let alone 20, but that is exactly what the Grateful Dead has done.
At three sold-out concerts this weekend at UC-Berkeley's Greek Theater - for a total audience upwards of 27,000 - the beloved San Francisco rock institution marked two decades of playing, although what this landmark event means is anybody's guess.
So much interest was stirred up, in fact, by this signal anniversary that all six band members went so far as to participate in an uncharacteristic press conference, where, predictably, nothing was revealed.
``It's no big deal,'' said guitarist Bob Weir. ``We're not sure when the date was anyway. It doesn't matter to anyone.''
``It's a matter of indifference,'' echoed guitarist Jerry Garcia.
Not entirely. The band performed all weekend in front of a giant backdrop painted by one of the great early San Francisco poster artists, Rick Griffin, depicting a skeleton dressed as a Revolutionary War Minuteman above the legend ``Twenty Years So Far.''
The shows opened Friday with a blast through the public address system from the beginning of the Beatles' ``Sergeant Pepper'' album: ``It was 20 years ago today . . .''
Earlier that afternoon, as many as a couple of thousand Deadheads milled around the grass outside the Greek Theater waiting to get in, throwing Frisbees and trading stories. Hippie-types in tie-dye lined the streets blocks around the site, holding signs reading ``I Need a Ticket'' or ``Just One Please.''
Some sported signs, bumper strips or T-shirts with a slogan referring to the ballooning girth of Dead kingpin and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia: ``I Want to See the Fat Man Rock.''
One enterprising soul yesterday carried a placard saying he would swap a bottle of '74 Robert Mondavi Cabernet for a pair of tickets. It was a testament to the incongruous upscale nature of certain members of the supposedly peasant set who have been attending Dead concerts over the years.
Dead concerts are more like carnivals than rock shows. Many people attended each show of the series -the Dead remains one of the few rock bands to improvise a new repertoire show by show. Craftsmen hawked jewelry and bootleg T-shirts outside, begging tickets while they made change.
An entire section of prime seats was reserved for the tapers, who sprouted a forest of 7- to 10-foot-tall microphone stands. Most rock groups frown on tape recorders at concerts, wary of potential copyright violations and lost royalties. Not the Dead.
``We can't stop them anyway,'' said drummer Mickey Hart. ``They just trade the tapes around. They don't make money from them.''
Not only have the Dead merely survived as a mostly intact unit for 20 years (five of the six musicians belonged to the original group) but the Dead, more than any other contemporaries that have managed to continue to struggle along, have remained the most true to the band's original vision.
Listening to the Dead open yesterday afternoon's show with ``In the Midnight Hour,'' the Wilson Pickett classic the band has performed for most of those 20 years, it was impossible not to notice how little the music has changed - Garcia's fluid, crystalline guitar weaving through the imaginative, fleet-fingered bass parts of Phil Lesh, with drummers Bill Kreutzman and Hart joining in intuitive polyrhythms at the bottom of the sound.
The band defies show business conventions. The Dead has yet to score a hit record. In fact, the band hasn't released new material in more than four years. A new album has been in the works for at least two years, with little progress reported.
Nevertheless, interest in the Dead never has seemed higher. Not only do their concerts sell out within hours of going on sale, the shows are not even advertised, only announced over a Dead hotline with an unlisted number.
The 20th anniversary has landed the band on the NBC Nightly News and the Today show and the group recently recorded the theme song to the revived ``Twilight Zone'' that debuts on network TV this fall.
Despite the hoopla surrounding the anniversary ``non-event'' - which the Dead slyly promote and reject simultaneously - nobody really can figure out what the longevity benchmark means, other than that the Dead itself is older than some of its fans.
Truly, few rock concert crowds span the range of ages to be found in the Dead's audience. Gray-bearded grandfathers mingle with little kids (T-shirts were even being sold in children's sizes this weekend), with a single unifying thread - the common cast of '60s counterculture.
Last among those able to attach significance to the occasion were the members of the Dead themselves. At the press conference, they weren't even sure what exact moment in the band's evolution the anniversary marked.
The date selected to represent the group's 20th anniversary corresponded, explained Dead press agent Dennis McNally, with the date in history when bassist Phil Lesh moved to Palo Alto to join the nascent rock band.
``I showed him how to tune the bass and where to place his fingers for the scales,'' said Garcia, ``and two weeks later he played the first gig.''
Lesh paid tribute the band's growth over the years. ``It's not age, it's experience,'' he said. ``It's that thing that only time can give you - mayonnaise.''
A TV reporter wanted to know what role drugs played in appreciating the Dead's music. ``To some,'' he solemnly intoned, ``The Grateful Dead and psychedelics are synonymous . . .''
``Do you mean, Does the mind play a role?'' asked Garcia.
``No, the drugs,'' the TV man replied.
``His lips are moving, but nothing's coming out,'' said Weir, as the band dissolved in chuckles.
Garcia praised their audience, the fervent Deadheads.
``They're no slouches,'' he said. ``They're paying attention. It's like they're willing us to make it good.''
The press conference ended with the band being asked what they have learned in 20 years.
``Never take your eyes off the guy to your right,'' said drummer Mickey Hart, ``or the guy to your left.''






























My personal handout from 6-16-85





Midnight Hour
Bertha
Walkin' Blues
Tennessee Jed
My Brother Esau
Big Railroad Blues
Looks Like Rain
Mississippi Half-Step
Promised Land

Scarlet Begonias
Fire on the Mountain
Samson and Delilah
Cryptical Envelopment
The Other One
drums
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad
I Need a Miracle
Wharf Rat
Turn on Your Love Light

Brokedown Palace