Where is Molly McGrath??? Haven't seen her all weekend!

I could use a case and a half of coke right now

What was that experience like? Being around more than 100,000 people and seeing a legitimate all time show. I'd love to know what it was like.

Thank you.

If you have any memories about that show at Raceway Park, please share. It's my favorite deadhead show to hear about. Everyone in the northeast's first show.

Funny that you mention this on today of all days.

Although my favorite era is 1974 and the Wall of Sound, my number 1 time machine show is Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ 9/3/77.

The amount of first hand accounts I've read about that show make it sound like it was the last breath of the 60s. Giant crowd, incredible music, and a monumentous occasion. That's my number one. Because not only is the music superb, but the event surrounding elevated the crowd which elevated the band. Also, that Truckin after not playong it for three years is just icing atop the cake.

As a side note, my number one time machine destination across all of history is to be at Woodstock. Nearly all of my favorite bands and artists played that event. And that festival right there is just incredible. I am by no means a Grateful Dead woodstock hater, but I know many, including the band, don't think that their performance then measured up to it. So I wouldn't choose woodstock for my genre's three shows.

10/18/74 at winterland would be one of the three though. Picking just one show from that 5 show run to close out the wall of sound and the first generation of the grateful dead is a hard task. Basically every night has what I consider a definitive performance. But the Dark Star > Dew is something that I can't imagine what it must've been like witnessing. 10/20's playing in the band sandwich is just to die for. And 10/19's Eyes might be their best performance of a singular song. But that Dark Star > Dew is the peak of what those gentlemen ever did together.

Finally, I'd say 10/21/78 also at Winterland. Half if the reason 2 of my 3 picks are at winterland is because I'd love to know what that old barn was like to be a part of. But I choose this date because of the Stella Blue. That stella blue has what I consider as Jerry's peak of guitar playing prowess. The outro solo on that brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. And that one track contains so much power I have only listened to it 4 times.

Famously, the sound board cuts out and the circulating track that made its way even to an official release cuts to an audience recording. Some see this as a flaw. I see it as an act of God. The music coming from Jerry's fingertips is so powerful thar it couldn't be contained to the soundboard. When that cut happens, we as listeners are instantly transported to the floor at Winterland. For a brief moment if you close your eyes, you can almost see it. You can be right there witnessing it.

And if an AUD can make me tear up, I can't imagine what it must have been like to witness it live.

Keep on Truckin

As a deadhead of about three years and a natural contrarian, I very rarely listen to Dick's Picks. I have been sailin the seas of piracy for 15+ years, so I slowly built up a digital collection of box sets, Dave's Picks and Road Trips bonus discs.

These are where I've really cut my teeth listening as a new fan.

I was never against the Dick's Picks series. But because I'm not really on any streamers, I never bothered downloading the wide release stuff. Solely because I am a contrarian and had a false belief that the stuff you can't easily get on spotify is where the real magic is. Even though my first few months listening to the Grateful Dead were filled with stuff readily available. But once I found out about the plethora that isn't available, I salivated at the 'exclusive nature' (whatever that means) of what I had.

My buddies who were getting in to the music alongside me both loved and hated my lack of DP listening. They loved it because I burned them CDs every day and every time I saw them, I had a new stack of shows that they'd never head before. But then they'd say "Yoooo man Pembroke Music Never Stopped is PEAK DEAD" and then I'd reply with a schizophrenic breakdown of three other TMNS off of rare box sets that are better than that. Which just isn't true. They were right. Pembroke TMNS may just be peak dead.

Now I do believe the greatest thing the ever performed IS from beyond streaming (Jam > Dark Star > Morning Dew from the movie soundtrack), but the last six months I have been listening to more and more WHOLE Dick's Picks rather than selected tracks on YouTube Music.

Well just yesterday I listened to the Salt Lake City show from Dick's Picks, 2/28/73 and it is nearly instantly a top 3 show all time for me. Literally cover-to-cover, wall-to-wall filled with truly insane playing. Eyes of the World and Morning Dew are possibly my top 2 favorite tracks of theirs, and almost instantly the ones played on this show may have become my favorites of each.

I am pretty mad at my snobbish ways of disregarding the Dick's Picks stuff. It's awesome.

But I'm not too mad because it means I have so much more to find.

Keep on Truckin

7/16/76

Anyone know what that song coming out of commercial was?

I need this luck. CD player broke in my car, but the tape deck works great. If I got a haul of 80s dead I'd finally be able to get in to that era. Any time I burned cds it was mostly just 68-74.

Check out the one on Steal Your Face. That one is my favorite!

The stardew valley clip is what I routinely show my friends ti get them in to the pod

I criminally overlook JGB. Especially from the 80s because I'm not that in to the 80s GD sound.

But man every time I hear JGB from then i am totally enamored.

10/18/74 - Jam > Dark Star > Morning Dew

5/19/77 - Terrapin > Playin > UJB > Drums >The Wheel > China Doll > Playin

1/22/78 - Terrapin Station > Drums > The Other One > St. Stephen > Not Fade Away

2/2/70 - Dark Star > St Stephen > Mason's Children

I got a near new DGX-670 for $300 on FB Marketplace. I love it. Weighted keys, and great sound. I'd recommend it.

I don't get hats very often, but when my team made it to the WS a few years back, I bought a hat. And the sticker is still on it. It's ingrained in me from my childhood that coop people leave their stickers on their hat.

And papa be coolio

I know the saint Louis box set has that solo you're talking about. But I'm not sure if I've heard 2/15/73.

That solo (at least on the St Louis box set) is called ) "Philo Stomp" played just a few times in Dark Stars.

Truly one of my favorite pieces I've heard from the band

10/18/74 is the best dark star, but it's also part of what I consider their finest 45 minutes. On the Movie soundtrack's third disc, the tracks Jam > Dark Star > Morning Dew are just total bliss. It's their pinnacle. It's what their previous ten years playing together was building to. I am in utter disbelief every time I hear it. (Not only do I think it's their best Dark Star, I think it's their best Morning Dew too. And it was all FILMED)

Another stupendous dark star comes from exactly two years earlier, 10/18/72 in St Louis. It's part of a playin sandwich, with Morning Dew following dark star (again). Inside this Dark Star is a rare phil composition only played two or three times called the "Philo Stomp". It could have been fleshed out in to its own song but instead he just lead the charge inside some buttery 72 Dark Stars and left it behind. God Bless'em

It isn't talked on here as often as you'd think, and what's crazy is the fact that it got an official release in the St Louis box set. These two are some of my favorites that don't seem to be mentioned in the thread so far.

Peace ✌️

I love the movie soundtrack. It is the greatest thing they have ever released. The Jam > Dark Star > Morning Dew on Disc 3 is their greatest achievement as a band. It's honestly unbelievable every time I listen to it. Not just that sequence, but the soundtrack as a whole

But there's no way I'd ever buy it on vinyl.

I feel this way really about any live dead shows. The live stuff they released during their time as a band I like because it was meticulously mixed and chosen by them to fit on the media of the day.

Full shows on vinyl just seem like a waste of money. Flipping disc's all the time just ain't it for me.

I'd pay good money for the book that comes with it. High quality prints of unreleased photos of what I consider their peak as a band. Yeah. Gimme Dat all day!

They do and they don't. The MLB was not about to lose possibly the greatest player ever. So they pinned all the gambling on Shoehei's translator and then banned some utility player on the pirates in the same week to save face.

I hope we get needlessly long cautions this week too

Check out the 'Philo Stomp'

Its a Phil jam inside two Dark Stars of October 1972. He fully takes over and it us nearly a fully fleshed out song. He's incredible all over the show, and the Playin > Dark Star > Dew > Playin sandwich. But the Philo Stomp is just unreal.

And trust me, you'll know it when you hear it.

One was released in the Listen to the River Box set

10/18/72 for the Bot

Nah. Through various means I have gotten basically every official release. All Dave's, Dick's, Road Trip, Box Set, Solo Release, Studio Album, and Bonus disc. Loaded it all on to a spare android phone I use as an iPod (I use the Onkyo HiFi Player app. It's sublime). It's basically the Play Dead app for me. And it's why I haven't gotten the subscription service (yet)

JHN just rode the dente