Generally I try to avoid repeating myself. With regard to this band, I already mentioned them in several previous blogs: Jam Bands (11/14/08), Augustus “Bear” Owsley Stanley, III (9/8/17), Grateful TOOL (8/30/19), Not As Good <> Not Good (5/7/21) and Bootlegs Revisited (5/21/21). This would be my first explicit blog on the band itself, so Bear with me if there is some repetition.
Back in high school in Paris, France (1982-1986) was when
I developed my core musical preferences:
heavy metal. Our first concert
was AC/DC, along with Twisted Sister, Deep Purple, DIO, Accept & Dokken,
Motley Crue and Metallica. Iron Maiden
& Judas Priest were also on the radar as mandatory listening for any heavy
metal fan, though I didn’t get a chance to see them until college. The famous Judas Priest show at the Capital Centre in Maryland - the parking lot scene filmed in "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", was in May 1986, when I was still in Paris. We didn't return to the US that summer until July.
Curious about this popular band, the Grateful Dead, I
bought Reckoning at the record store.
With a name like this, and consistent skulls & skeletons in the
imagery, I’m thinking, “this album will be bonecrushingly heavy!” Here goes….
Err, no. Not even
close. WTF??? “Dire Wolf” begins an acoustic
set, and I didn’t even finish that. I
gave the album to my friend Sean C., only getting the CD eons later.
College was spent at College Park, Maryland, from 1986 to
1990, surrounded by potheads and offered acid and other substances – all politely
declined, alcohol being my sole form of mind-altering for those four years.
I managed to get into law school – George Mason – but my
legal career got off to a slow start.
Summer after my second year, 1992, was spent putting books back on the shelf
at the law library and NOT with a clerking.
Thus my prior blanket rejection of psychedelics was overcome by curiosity. But now I was no longer in an environment
where such things were easily obtained.
Solution, offered by college buddy Ken?
Try the parking lot at a Grateful Dead concert. Thus RFK Stadium, home of the Washington
Redskins, June 1992. Fortified with two
white paper squares putting me off into a multicolored, prismatic, parallel
dimension where this music was now tolerable, I fully enjoyed the two sets,
capped off with “Baba O’Riley” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”. And thus began my journey into the Dead….
Who Are These Guys?
The band started out in the San Francisco Area in the mid-60s. The classic lineup is Jerry Garcia
(lead guitar, vocals) (RIP), Bobby Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), Phil
Lesh (bass, vocals), Ron “Pigpen” McKiernan (keyboards, vocals)
(RIP), Bill Kreutzman (normal drums), and Mickey Hart (weird
drums). Pigpen died in 1972, replaced
by Keith Godchaux, who died in 1980, replaced by Brent Mydland,
who died in 1990 – prompting the “cursed keyboardist” concept for the band. Keith was joined by his wife Donna Godchaux, who sang. So if you see a woman on stage, it's 1972-79 era Dead.
Style. The band takes folk and country music as a
baseline and adds in various elements.
One is obscure and more offbeat lyrics, thanks to lyricist Robert Hunter,
and similar to Blue Oyster Cult. The subject
matters veers off considerably from traditional country music, which tends to
be fairly simple and straightforward.
The other deal is jamming. Songs
run into each other, there is extensive improvisation, and even the dreaded interminable
drum solo, “Drums >> Space”. They
play a fair amount of covers.
Acid Tests. Few bands are as closely associated with lysergic
acid diethylamide, LSD, as the Grateful Dead.
In the mid-60s, before LSD was banned, concerts would be organized in
warehouses and other venues so the audience could consume from a communal vat
of spiked punch, enjoying the trip together with kindred souls and a sympathetic
community. The Dead served as the house
band for these acid get-togethers, more fully described in The Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe. In
London, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd served the same function. Though LSD and marijuana are not, strictly
speaking, absolutely necessary to enjoy the band’s music, it certainly helps –
and it helped me in the first place (as noted above). LSD was banned in 1966, shutting down the Acid
Tests, though the trend seems to suggest that this might change. Oregon has already decriminalized ALL drugs;
whether legalization will follow remains to be seen. Anyhow. It became common knowledge to avoid eating or drinking in their presence, as they were known to dose people at random. When they appeared on Playboy After Dark, they spiked the punch.
Albums. The core studio albums are: Grateful Dead (self-titled), Anthem
of the Sun, Aoxomoxoa, Live/Dead, Workingman’s Dead, American
Beauty, Skull & Roses, Europe ’72, Bear’s Choice, Wake
of the Flood, Mars Hotel, Blues For Allah, Steal Your Face,
Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go To Heaven, Reckoning,
Dead Set, In The Dark, Dylan & The Dead, Built To
Last, Without a Net. The band
also issues various special live shows (Cornell ’77, Closing of Winterland, Rockin’
the Cradle (Egypt ’78)) and there are about 40 Dick’s Picks, and almost 40 Dave’s
Picks, which are especially favored bootlegs recorded by the band itself. These are in addition to, not instead of, the
bootlegs which are still out there, but it seems that many bootlegs seem to
eventually wind up as official releases.
Actually, at this point the band releases recordings of the
shows themselves on their website, so along with bootlegs of prior shows, I
have recordings of the shows I’ve actually been to…
It must have been around 2000 when I started actually listening
to albums, starting with Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty,
which remain my favorites. Eventually I
wound up getting them all, though I’m more apt to listen to the live releases
than the later studio albums.
Bootlegs. Probably no band is as associated with
bootlegs as the Dead. Notwithstanding
their record company’s insistence otherwise, the band encouraged fans to tape the
shows, and many fans brought top quality recording equipment. The bootlegs circulated widely and vastly
expanded the band’s fan base. As noted
above, the band plays different sets each night, meaning that no two shows are
the same, and even the same song might be played faster, slower, longer or
shorter, etc.
Spinoffs. The Jerry Garcia Band, Phil Lesh &
Friends, and Ratdog (Bobby Weir) are probably the best known. Garcia and Weir had a fair amount of solo
albums, but the Dead would play their solo songs as well as GD songs – and covers.
My impression is that you were more
likely to hear Dead songs at a Ratdog show than a JGB show.
Tours. Initially they were playing clubs and concert
halls, e.g. the Fillmore (S.F.), the Fillmore East (NYC), Winterland, etc. and
worked their way to playing stadiums in the 80’s. Jerry Garcia had a major health breakdown in
1986, but somehow returned to touring.
Sadly, the band wasn’t making enough money from album sales and needed
to tour to support themselves, plus the touring personnel also depended on the
income for their survival. In 1995
Garcia died, which initially put the whole thing down. However, they resumed again afterwards, first
as The Dead, more recently as Dead & Company, with Bobby Weir taking over
as de facto leader of the band. As of today,
him, Kreutzman and Hart remain the solo original members touring with them,
now that Phil Lesh has gotten too old to tour with them.
Part of the fun of the shows is that unlike most bands,
who play the same songs every night, the Dead change their sets – you never know
what you’ll hear. Deep cuts? Covers?
Your favorite song? It’s anyone’s
guess. That being the case, following
the band around on tour actually makes sense.
Other jam bands, such as Phish and Widespread Panic, do the same. Pearl Jam and Clutch are the only two non-jam
bands I’m aware of which do the same.
Shakedown Street. Whenever the band plays a venue with a large
parking lot – like a football stadium – a vast tailgating scene will emerge
long before band even takes the stage, colloquially referred to as Shakedown Street
among the fans. Food and drinks, tie-dye
t-shirts, knockoff t-shirts, and of course the usual array of cannabis, fungus,
and lysergic goodies are often available – though RFK 1992 was the only show where
I actually scored anything. Depending on
the state, the police might be overt or apparently completely absent. If you don’t know anyone who sells dope, a Dead
show is a good place to look.
Personal Experience.
By now I’ve attended 8 shows, 2 with Jerry Garcia still alive:
1) RFK Stadium,
DC 6/20/1992; Grateful
Dead Concert Setlist at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington on June
20, 1992 | setlist.fm
2) RFK
Stadium, DC 6/25/1995 (raining, see second set); Grateful
Dead Concert Setlist at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington on June
25, 1995 | setlist.fm
3) Merriweather
Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD 6/18/03; The
Dead Concert Setlist at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia on June 18, 2003 |
setlist.fm
4) Nissan
Pavilion, Bristow, VA 8/15/04; The
Dead Concert Setlist at Nissan Pavilion, Bristow on August 15, 2004 |
setlist.fm
5) Verizon
Center, DC 4/14/09; The
Dead Concert Setlist at Verizon Center, Washington on April 14, 2009 |
setlist.fm
6) Jiffy Lube
Live, Bristow, VA 6/22/17; Dead
& Company Concert Setlist at Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow on June 22, 2017 |
setlist.fm
7) Jiffy Lube
Live, Bristow, VA 6/26/19; Dead
& Company Concert Setlist at Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow on June 26, 2019 |
setlist.fm
8) Jiffy Lube
Live, Bristow, VA 8/18/21. Dead
& Company Concert Setlist at Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow on August 18, 2021 |
setlist.fm
Oddly, both #1 and #8 began with “Cold Rain & Snow”,
but by #8 I was in the position of recognizing most of the songs. At #1 the only song I could recognize was “Casey
Jones”.
My cousins are big Dead fans, but since they are much older
than me, they enjoyed seeing the band in the 70s, well before I could. Cousin Jimmy saw the show at Cornell ’77, and
saw Egypt ’78 the following year with Eddie and Lori-Ann. I’m guessing the Dead did NOT tour Taiwan.
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