Two More Saturday Nights: May 1966 in Berkeley

Little information exists for these shows, but we do know the Grateful Dead (probably) debuted in Berkeley in May 1966 with two consecutive Saturday Night shows on May 7 and May 14. $3.99 would get you into both shows.


May 7 (Happy real Bill birthday #20)

The UC Student Daily Cal ad on May 6 is so much more "mainstream: than

The Berkeley Barb ad

and May 14 at the Vets Memorial down at Grove and Milvia

No tapes no setlists but plenty of cool info and ancillary information from such sources as the Berkeley Barb and the San Francisco Examiner.

Here are some tunes from May 19. you might know


The Dead had practiced in town at the Questing Beast on San Pablo in Feb 1966 and there was a rumored cancelled show (see http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=588003 for tunes), but these two were the first advertised and known shows. According to http://berkeleyfolk.blogspot.com/2009/08/cabale-creamery-2504-san-pablo-avenue.html,

When the Cabale finally folded, probably sometime in the summer of 1965, the 2504 San Pablo premises briefly became The Good Buddy then Caverns West before being taken over, by Terry Sullivan and Tony Sage, and re-opened as the Questing Beast on November 19. Subsequently it became Tito's and the Longbranch. 

"Canceled" Feb show in Deadlists may have been rehersal

More on 1966 shows:

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2010/01/deads-1966-songs.html

http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/10/1966-july-16-fillmore-auditorium.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_29_1966,_P.N.E._Garden_Aud.,_Vancouver_Canada

Listen to The Finest Versions of 11 Garcia Ballads as Voted on by Fans, 1971-1994

A wonderful Garcia song towards the end of the night makes a show or a year.  Note that when you consider the top-voted Garcia ballads from headyversions and Deadbase 11, you find that 9 of 11 best favorite versions are ranked in the top-6 shows of the year they were played.

For more on these tunes see http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/03/set-structure-ii-garcia-mood-shifters.html

Thoughtssonthedead.com/tag/brent/page/2/

Some of the versions shine by the company they keep, Beautful Jam, St Stephen, Caution Jam, Split Sugars, got my Mojo working, and other rarities.

I should note Happy 25th birthday to Standing on the Moon top-version, August 21, 1993.

Interesting that most of these come from the 1970s with a few coming at the end in the 90s when Standing on the Moon and Days Between came about.

Rankings are the headyversion and the Deadbase 11 versions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/35w4n8/ballads/

1. Wharf Rat   Heady  2-18-71 #3 show of year in both lists.  This is the only Garcia Ballad Hall of Famer top-voted that was in set one!



 2. Sing Me Back Home 8-27-72 #1 show of 1972.    we all know it, this is the beauty that comes out at the end of the show.



3. Ship of Fools 6-23-74  #10 show of the year  Jam-> Ship of Fools,



4. Morning Dew 5-8-77  #1  in both lists   we all know this one


5.  Comes A Time  5-9-77 #2 in both votes.  This IS the one too



6. China Doll 5-19-77 #5 show of the year    Playin' in the Band>Uncle John's Band>The Wheel>
China Doll>Playin' in the Band



7. Black Peter  10-29-77 #11  10-19-74  # 1show of the year
The heady and Deadbase voters split here:

10-29-77 De Kalb Estimated Prophet-> Eyes Of The World-> Saint Stephen-> Not Fade Away-> Black Peter-> Sugar Magnolia



10-19-74Sugar Magnolia>He's Gone>Truckin'>Caution Jam>Truckin'>Black Peter>Sunshine Daydream  Buy the Winterland soundtrack!

8. Stella Blue 10-21-78 #5  6-14-91 #6 show of the year also had split headyversion and deadbase favs

10-21-78 Estimated Prophet-> He's Gone->Mojo> The Other One-> Stella Blue-> Sugar Magnolia



6-14-91Estimated Prophet>Dark Star>D/S>Stella Blue> Love Light


9. If I Had the World to Give  11-20-78 #20 show of the year, not polled in deadbase, but is in headyversions.  From the crazy Cleveland show.  I saw 11-21, so missed this by one night   rats!


10. Standing on the Moon 8-21-93 #6  show of 1993.
Happy birthday


11. Days Between  12-11-94 Unranked   8-22-93 #3 show of 1994.

25 Years Ago: Best Days Between, August 22, 1993 Autzen

Your assignment today is to listen to maybe the best version of the last Garcia/Hunter masterpieces, which occured almost exactly 25 years ago today.  Just click above, and I got you covered.

This is the first 1993 show I have covered in Grateful Seconds.  I'm not an expert in late period Dead, since I only saw one more show after July 24, 1987 with Dylan, but here goes.

This is certainly a show of the year candidate, third in Deadbase behind 9-22 (MSG, David Murray, Dark Star, you get the drift) and 3-24 (30 Trips at the Knick).

And you get the all-time Days Between here (top in Deadbase too).
Hear it all here music

Since its 1993 you get a  late period Help on the Way suite, newspaper coverage, fanzine reviews, and all kind of bells and whistles.  About 43,000 paid $1.1 million to attend this show.

RIP to the kids who died driving back from the show. Still so sad after 25 years.