Tapes that are incomplete and missing pieces of shows are
listed. A few audience tapes survive from 1968; those are only listed here when
they’re incomplete. I’ve also noted the few uncirculated tapes that are known
to still be in the Vault.
The Hartbeats shows and a couple other known Garcia jam
sessions are included.
Lost songs recalled from deadbase or other sources are
listed [in brackets], and useful recollections of the shows are quoted when
available.
This post completes a series on the Dead’s missing tapes
from 1968-1970:
(I will not be covering 1966-67 like this since we are
missing 90% of the shows played in those years!)
The Dead taped a large number of shows for Anthem of the Sun
from January through March ’68, so we have a good picture of those months.
April through July ‘68 is more or less a gaping hole in our tape record, though
a few fragments survive. When the Carousel closed in June, Owsley (who’d been
taping shows there) rejoined the Dead as their soundman and started taping them
again; so we have a small number of unlabeled tapes from June. Since the Dead
briefly considered taping another live album in August, we have a batch of
tapes from that month. The rest of the year is spotty, and it’s certain that
many of Owsley’s tapes have disappeared – aside from the Matrix Hartbeats
tapes, we have just a handful of tapes from the fall, and a few more from
December.
Updated March 2018.
Updated March 2018.
A note on the winter ’68 tour: per David Lemieux, the bonus
material on the 2/14/68 Road Trips release came from a San Francisco studio that was closing and
sent their Dead material to the Vault, including live tapes the Dead were
working on for Anthem of the Sun. There were only snippets of shows on
compilation reels, none complete - but he said the only piece they couldn't fit
on the release was a ten-minute Alligator (no Caution) which was dropped due to
sound issues. (He didn’t identify the show.)
1/20/68 Municipal Auditorium, Eureka, CA
Only 35 minutes of this show circulated; Viola Lee Blues and
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl were included on the 2/14/68 Road Trips release.
It’s hard to say how much more we might be missing, but probably at least a
China Cat>Eleven following the cut Dark Star. We know the Other One suite was played (probably before Clementine), since this date is on the Anthem of the Sun multitrack that Phil Lesh isolates in the Anthem to Beauty video.
The circulating shows labeled January 22-23 are from the
January 26-27 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle
shows. Combined with the “1/23” songs on the Road Trips release, our tapes seem
to be nearly complete. A newspaper review says the 1/27 show opened with
Lovelight, and confirms some of the banter on the "1/23" tracks.
1/29/68 Portland State
College Ballroom, Portland,
OR
Part of a newspaper review: “Flash after flash, skyrockets,
bombs... I've never seen anything like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane
lightshow. [The band was] loud, loud enough that we didn't need ears. We could
see and feel the music, it saturated the ballroom... [They] kept hitting
climaxes, bursting, sense-tearing climaxes, until on some magic cue they
relaxed, dropped back to reality, stringing us along...” [McNally]
1/30/68 EMU Ballroom, U of Oregon,
Eugene, OR
[Gloria, Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment]
“After the Anthem of the Sun suite, Pigpen sang ‘Gloria.’”
[dead.net]
New Potato Caboose from this show was released on the
2/14/68 Road Trips bonus disc, but it is doubtful whether more survives in the
Vault.
2/2/68 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
The circulating tape is only 33 minutes and cuts off in
Schoolgirl. The Dark Star encore was included on the Road Trips release, but
clearly more is missing (the following night’s set is an hour long).
2/4/68 South Oregon
College, Ashland,
OR
2/15/68 San Quentin State Prison, CA ("free afternoon
concert on the lawn outside the prison") - This was not a full Dead show, but a jam with other musicians.
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/06/february-15-1968-san-quentin-prison.html
2/16/68 Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, Turlock, CA
2/16/68 Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, Turlock, CA
2/17/68 Selland Arena, Fresno,
CA [Good Morning Little Schoolgirl ; Turn On Your Lovelight]
George Hiatt: “They opened the show and played "Good
Morning Little Schoolgirl" and then an extremely long version of
"Turn on Your Lovelight" – that was the show!” [deadlists]
Rod Hanson: “They did play only two songs (they came in very
late for the gig that night)…they did play "Good Mornin' Little School
Girl" for their opening...and it lasted about 20 minutes...then they
played "Turn On Your Love Light" for a very long time...they jammed
on "Love Light" for quite awhile…and that was it.” [setlists.net]
2/22/68 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake
Tahoe, CA
One reel of this show was posted on the dead.net Taper’s
Section, and another reel is still in the Vault. “The reels labeled one and two
were missing all the vocals and one of the drummers. David Lemieux recalled that two of the
songs that were played on 2/22/68 were Morning Dew and Beat it on Down the
Line.” (He also recalled It Hurts Me Too on the reel without vocals.)
An audience memory: “The Dead came out individually and
began tuning, then two tuned together, and amongst all the tuning, undiscovered
and unrecognized, they were already playing a song... such a smooth transition,
the point upon which the tuning stopped and the playing began was impossible to
discover. The night was filled with parts of their first album - Morning Dew
and a couple others, then much if not all of the great "Anthem"
album…and an early version of Dark Star... The show was finally stopped when
the powers that be turned off the electricity to the stage... otherwise it
would have gone on for hours upon hours into the early morning. Bobby came
forward and appoligized for not being allowed to play longer since they wanted
to... This was one of those shows Jerry played 'to you' and everyone was close
enough so that he would stare you in the eyes and play parts directly to and
for you, it was magic... I saw the next evening's show, but it wasn't as
intense as this evening's performance.
Songs played I remember:
Alligator
Morning Dew
St. Stephen
Early version of Dark Star
a blues tune sung by Pigpen
New New Minglewood Blues
Drum solos” [setlists.net]
Songs played I remember:
Alligator
Morning Dew
St. Stephen
Early version of Dark Star
a blues tune sung by Pigpen
New New Minglewood Blues
Drum solos” [setlists.net]
(St Stephen was not written yet, and Minglewood wasn't played in '68 that we know of, but otherwise this looks
accurate. Alligator wasn’t always connected to Caution at this time; the drum solos were probably part of Alligator.)
2/23/68 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake Tahoe, CA
Deadbase lists Cold Rain & Snow, which doesn't appear on Dick's Picks 22; however not all the songs played were included on the release - repeated songs and songs with cuts were left off.
2/23/68 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake Tahoe, CA
Deadbase lists Cold Rain & Snow, which doesn't appear on Dick's Picks 22; however not all the songs played were included on the release - repeated songs and songs with cuts were left off.
3/1/68 Clifford's Catering, Walnut
Creek, CA
3/2/68 Clifford's Catering, Walnut
Creek, CA [Cold Rain & Snow ; Turn On Your Lovelight (per eyewitness)]
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/09/grateful-dead-at-cliffords-catering.html
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/09/grateful-dead-at-cliffords-catering.html
3/3/68 Haight
Street, San Francisco,
CA [The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment ; Dancing In The Street]
Our partial audience tape cuts off in the Cryptical intro.
Dancing closed the show.
3/8/68 Melodyland, Anaheim,
CA
The band “played just two very long, mostly instrumental
songs in its allotted 30 minutes, not bothering to identify either number by
name.” [newspaper review]
3/9/69 Melodyland, Anaheim,
CA (two shows)
“I only remember China Cat Sunflower because it was a catchy
song.” [Lost Live Dead comment]
"I'd never heard such long jams before... They played most of the second album, Morning Dew, possibly Saint Stephen, maybe even Love Light (or maybe not)." [dead.net]
A Deadbase attendee of one of the Melodyland shows remembers a set opening with a blues song, including extended jamming, and ending with We Bid You Goodnight.
"I'd never heard such long jams before... They played most of the second album, Morning Dew, possibly Saint Stephen, maybe even Love Light (or maybe not)." [dead.net]
A Deadbase attendee of one of the Melodyland shows remembers a set opening with a blues song, including extended jamming, and ending with We Bid You Goodnight.
3/11/68 Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA
[Cryptical Envelopment > Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New
Potato Caboose > Born Cross-Eyed > Caution Jam]
Show with Tom Constanten.
3/15/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
This show was recorded for the Anthem of the Sun album.
3/17/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA [Dark Star > Born
Cross-Eyed]
The complete second set was released. We’re missing the
first set up to Lovelight, but it is in the Vault. Per the release notes, “The
majority of the songs from set 1 could not be salvaged due to technical
problems that were partly due to "sound experiments" conducted on the
master tapes during the production of Anthem Of The Sun.”
3/18/68 50 Green Street, San
Francisco, CA
This has traditionally been listed as a Dead show to support the KMPX strikers, but it appears the Dead may not have played that night, or if they did their set was soon cut short.
From Susan Krieger's book Hip Capitalism:
"There were about 500 people assembled in the street outside [the station]... Creedence Clearwater Revival started playing at 3:05 am. Blue Cheer was there. The Grateful Dead set up their instruments and played. A group of people associated with the Dead wanted to take over the transmitter and free the airwaves... Residents up the hill complained about the noise and after about 20 minutes police arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse. They tried to relocate at Pier 10 on the Embarcadero but failed to. Someone forgot to carry over the amplifiers. By 4 am, the bulk of the crowd had gone."
From Susan Krieger's book Hip Capitalism:
"There were about 500 people assembled in the street outside [the station]... Creedence Clearwater Revival started playing at 3:05 am. Blue Cheer was there. The Grateful Dead set up their instruments and played. A group of people associated with the Dead wanted to take over the transmitter and free the airwaves... Residents up the hill complained about the noise and after about 20 minutes police arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse. They tried to relocate at Pier 10 on the Embarcadero but failed to. Someone forgot to carry over the amplifiers. By 4 am, the bulk of the crowd had gone."
3/20/68 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
One witness writes that the "Dead played last ... Morning Dew/ Dark Star/ Love Light."
One witness writes that the "Dead played last ... Morning Dew/ Dark Star/ Love Light."
3/22/68 State Fair Coliseum, Detroit, MI
There was a second Detroit show scheduled for 3/23, but per Lost
Live Dead, the Dead canceled and didn’t play this show after poor attendance on
3/22. They also canceled a show scheduled for 3/24 in Grand Rapids, MI,
due to bad weather.
3/24/68 Parking Lot, San Francisco CA (free daytime strike show – Garcia jams with Traffic)
Having canceled their weekend in Michigan, the Dead returned home early enough for Garcia & Hart to attend this strike show. It's not known whether the full Dead played.
Susan Krieger: "On Saturday and Sunday, March 23 and 24, a street fair was held in a parking lot near 50 Green Street. The fair was originally planned for in front of 50 Green Street but the site was changed when the San Francisco police refused to grant the strikers a permit for closing off the street. Nine bands were scheduled to appear."
Rolling Stone: "There was also a weekend fair (not to be confused with the first-night party of 500 people dancing in the street) outside the KMPX offices near North Beach, which was highlighted by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead jamming with Traffic. It was supposed to be a street fair, but the San Francisco city fathers refused the strikers a permit, ostensibly because an announcement read over the air before the strike had caused an unauthorized closing of Haight Street two weeks earlier, so the action took place in a nearby parking lot."
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/09/march-18-1968-pier-10-san-francisco.html (see comments)
3/24/68 Parking Lot, San Francisco CA (free daytime strike show – Garcia jams with Traffic)
Having canceled their weekend in Michigan, the Dead returned home early enough for Garcia & Hart to attend this strike show. It's not known whether the full Dead played.
Susan Krieger: "On Saturday and Sunday, March 23 and 24, a street fair was held in a parking lot near 50 Green Street. The fair was originally planned for in front of 50 Green Street but the site was changed when the San Francisco police refused to grant the strikers a permit for closing off the street. Nine bands were scheduled to appear."
Rolling Stone: "There was also a weekend fair (not to be confused with the first-night party of 500 people dancing in the street) outside the KMPX offices near North Beach, which was highlighted by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead jamming with Traffic. It was supposed to be a street fair, but the San Francisco city fathers refused the strikers a permit, ostensibly because an announcement read over the air before the strike had caused an unauthorized closing of Haight Street two weeks earlier, so the action took place in a nearby parking lot."
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/09/march-18-1968-pier-10-san-francisco.html (see comments)
There was no show on 3/26/68, whether at Melodyland or an
“unknown venue,” despite the traditional listing. The old tape with this date
comes from 3/29.
3/31/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
Our tapes of the March 29-31 Carousel run are incomplete,
with the 3/31 tape particularly short. The actual date arrangement is unknown,
with some sets being attributed to different dates. Charlie Miller notes: “Date
and song order are uncertain (I'm going with Dick's notes on DAT).”
4/3/68 Winterland, San
Francisco, CA
[Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New
Potato Caboose > Born Cross-Eyed ; Alligator > Caution. (This list possibly comes from a misdated tape.)]
4/12/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
4/13/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
4/14/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
This weekend of shows is not in deadlists:
4/14/68 Greynolds Park Love-In, Miami, FL
(free afternoon show)
4/19/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
4/20/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
4/21/68 Thee Image, Miami,
FL
An Archive eyewitness review of a show at Thee Image:
“The experience was so overwhelming my memory may not be
that clear…it was an incredible experience that I have never forgotten. It
changed my music tastes forever. It was like nothing we had ever heard and it
will always represent the "real" Dead and SF sound to me…
I think Jerry was really on it the night we went. Incredibly
quick and constant with very few "resting spots" during his licks. It
was a incredible non-stop flow that I never forgot. Not just fast but moving.
Thee Image was an emptied out bowling alley with a low temporary stage so the
acoustics were terrible and Pig Pen and Weir were buried in the noise as well
as most of the vocals. It was the first (and only) time I heard them so I have
a hard time trying to recall the set lists. I had no grid for what I was
seeing/hearing.
In general the first set was a lot of the first album and
the second set was Anthem of the Sun… I am convinced Dark Star was part of the
second set. I have always distinctly remembered the interlude and
"scraper" thing and gong from their performance… [It was] a much
faster tempo with a different feel to it [so] it did not stand out from the
rest of the set. The whole second set was played at an incredible pace... One
song I am sure they played was Alligator…that song stuck in memory. And of
course the drums stood out on Alligator…
Two images that stick in my mind are Kreutzmann putting an
incense stick on his high cymbal and never taking his eyes off it the entire
second set. The other image is of Garcia standing on the edge of the stage
doing his thing for what was the longest non-stop music we had ever heard…
“There was no "back stage" at Thee Image so they
just hung around in between sets...just off to the side of the stage.”
4/26/68 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
4/27/68 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
4/28/68 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
5/3/68 Columbia
University, NYC (free
afternoon show) [Morning Dew (per newspaper report)]
This show was filmed – the video confirms that the Cryptical>Other One suite was played. Setlist attributions have come from album
songs that were dubbed over the film.
5/4/68 SUNY, Stony Brook,
NY
An audience memory: "I was there at Stony Brook for the May 4th show that The Incredible String Band opened. Unfortunately I was only slightly familiar with the Dead then - I had their first album. They played three songs in total. The first song was Good Morning Little School Girl, at about 15 minutes. Two other songs followed, one was about 35 minutes long, and the last one went on for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I wish I could say what the other songs were but I didn't know them at the time (so it is unlikely they were on their first album). I was amazed at how long the songs were so I checked... I remember thinking that the third song was ending after 45 minutes or so - but it sputtered back to life. The show was far from sold out, when I walked away from the front of the gym there was plenty of room to move about."
An audience memory: "I was there at Stony Brook for the May 4th show that The Incredible String Band opened. Unfortunately I was only slightly familiar with the Dead then - I had their first album. They played three songs in total. The first song was Good Morning Little School Girl, at about 15 minutes. Two other songs followed, one was about 35 minutes long, and the last one went on for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I wish I could say what the other songs were but I didn't know them at the time (so it is unlikely they were on their first album). I was amazed at how long the songs were so I checked... I remember thinking that the third song was ending after 45 minutes or so - but it sputtered back to life. The show was far from sold out, when I walked away from the front of the gym there was plenty of room to move about."
“In a set without a break that lasted over two hours, they
played one epic number that lasted over an hour.”
[newspaper review]
5/5/68 Central Park, NYC (free afternoon show) [Morning Dew]
An audience memory: “The Jefferson Airplane played the night
before at Fillmore East and announced that they would be playing at the
bandshell in Central Park with their friends
the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Grateful Dead. The BBB played first,
then the JA… Shortly into the Dead's set, the last of the afternoon, everyone
was up and dancing and didn't sit down until they stopped.
Here is what I can remember. There may have been more.
Morning Dew
Cryptical Envelopment
The Other One
Cryptical Envelopment
Alligator” [setlists.net]
Another witness writes, "They played some of the material that would turn up on Anthem of the Sun: The Other One, New Potato Caboose, though I didn't know those songs by name. I recognized Morning Dew from the first album. They finished with Turn On Your Lovelight."
Morning Dew
Cryptical Envelopment
The Other One
Cryptical Envelopment
Alligator” [setlists.net]
Another witness writes, "They played some of the material that would turn up on Anthem of the Sun: The Other One, New Potato Caboose, though I didn't know those songs by name. I recognized Morning Dew from the first album. They finished with Turn On Your Lovelight."
5/7/68 Electric Circus, NYC (two shows)
5/8/68 Electric Circus, NYC (two shows) [Viola Lee Blues]
5/9/68 Electric Circus, NYC (two shows) [He Was a Friend of
Mine]
(Late show, newspaper review: "After opening with a solid, rock-oriented first set [they came] on at midnight with a virtuoso rock-jazz improvisation that must have lasted an hour or more.")
(Late show, newspaper review: "After opening with a solid, rock-oriented first set [they came] on at midnight with a virtuoso rock-jazz improvisation that must have lasted an hour or more.")
5/12/68 The Dome, Virginia Beach, VA
5/17/68 Shrine Exhibition Hall, Los Angeles, CA
“I believe they opened with Morning Dew and I seem to
remember Schoolgirl as well as many others.” [setlists.net]
Though it may seem that our tape of the 5/18/68 Santa Clara
Fairgrounds afternoon show is incomplete, the Alligator>Caution was in fact
the complete set. According to a newspaper review: “Jerry Garcia said they'd do
Alligator and they did, for about forty minutes. That was their set and it blew
the place wide open.”
5/18/68 Shrine Exhibition Hall, Los Angeles, CA
(evening show)
5/24/68 National Guard Armory, St Louis, MO
An audience memory: “They opened with Morning Dew and went
into Schoolgirl second. After that, I didn't recognize anything (this was
before Anthem of the Sun came out so it probably was Cryptical). They played
for an hour or so, then the opener, a local band, played again, then the Dead
came out--but unfortunately I couldn't stay for that set.” [setlists.net]
“Morning Dew was the opener, starting it with a giant
Chinese gong, then School Girl and then what I later identified as That's It
for the Other One.” [dead.net – actually this is the same reviewer]
Another witness: "I have a clear recollection of Morning Dew ending with a band member grabbing a mic off of the mic stand and crashing it into the six foot tall gong, repeatedly and rotating the mic which still worked, around and around the face of the gong and the most incredible sounds coming out from this along with the guitars...at that point, right then and there, I decided that I needed to leave St. Louis ASAP and move to the Bay Area to be able to see these guys perform, over and over again, on their home turf...which I did."
[The old Deadbase listed: Lovelight, Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Dark Star > Saint Stephen > The Eleven > Caution > Feedback > We Bid You Good Night. But this setlist actually comes from 2/5/69.]
Another witness: "I have a clear recollection of Morning Dew ending with a band member grabbing a mic off of the mic stand and crashing it into the six foot tall gong, repeatedly and rotating the mic which still worked, around and around the face of the gong and the most incredible sounds coming out from this along with the guitars...at that point, right then and there, I decided that I needed to leave St. Louis ASAP and move to the Bay Area to be able to see these guys perform, over and over again, on their home turf...which I did."
[The old Deadbase listed: Lovelight, Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Dark Star > Saint Stephen > The Eleven > Caution > Feedback > We Bid You Good Night. But this setlist actually comes from 2/5/69.]
5/25/68 National Guard Armory, St Louis, MO
One witness recalls Morning Dew being played. (The 5/24/68 witness may have attended the same show.)
One witness recalls Morning Dew being played. (The 5/24/68 witness may have attended the same show.)
5/30/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
5/31/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
6/1/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
6/1/68 Panhandle, Golden Gate
Park, San Francisco, CA
(free afternoon show)
Not in deadlists:
6/4/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
“Tuesday Night Jam”
Garcia took part in this jam, along with a host of other SF
luminaries including Elvin Bishop, Barry Melton, Steve Miller, etc. It may have
been similar to the 5/21/68 jam we have on tape, though more crowded (Ralph
Gleason wrote that “there was a long jam session going on with all kinds of
guitar players and saxophones and rhythm men”). This wasn’t a Dead show, of
course, but it is of interest to Garcia fans, and may remind us of all the
unlisted jams Garcia took part in that have vanished because they weren’t
taped.
6/7/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
[Saint Stephen > Dark Star]
6/8/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
6/9/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
The ’68 Mystery Reels collection includes parts of three
shows that aren’t dated or otherwise circulating, thought to be from May or
June. These are most likely from the Carousel shows this month, or even the
Fillmore East.
Fragment 1 (tracks 1-11): //St Stephen > Cryptical
Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New Potato
Caboose > Alligator > Drums > Jam > Caution//
Fragment 2 (tracks 31-35): St Stephen > Cryptical
Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > Turn On Your
Lovelight
Fragment 3 (tracks 36-41): Morning Dew, It Hurts Me Too,
Dark Star > St Stephen > Turn On Your Lovelight
6/14/68 Fillmore East, NYC (early show) [Morning Dew ;
Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > New
Potato Caboose]
Kenny Schachat (who attended the early show): “I'm quite
certain that Morning Dew was the first song or at least very early in the set,
that the Cryptical > Other One > Cryptical > Caboose came after and
was the bulk of the set, followed by one or two at the end. I'm less certain,
but I believe they played Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. I'm certain that they
did not play Lovelight. I'm pretty sure that they also did not play Saint
Stephen… I'm certain that they did not play Dark Star on that night "
[deadlists]
Another account: “The first show featured a TOO suite
followed, I believe by Schoolgirl.”
An audience tape exists of the late show; an audience member
reported that Dark Star started the late show, but is missing from the tape. “The
second [show] began with a little ditty called Dark Star. They played DS for
perhaps ten minutes--sang the first verse--but the audience didn't seem to
"get it." So, they suddenly played real quietly and came to an
all-but stop for about a minute to shut the crowd up (oddly this worked) and
then let rip the feedback you hear [at the start of the tape].”
A partial SBD tape of the end of the late show has also been
released, so possibly more of this run also exists in the Vault.
6/15/68 Fillmore East, NYC (two shows)
The Deadbase setlist for 6/15 was taken from the 6/14 tape.
Deadlists reports that Dark Star was played and “it was the whole set,” Weir
dedicating it to Wes Montgomery (who had died that morning). This was likely in
the late show, since Kenny Schachat didn’t remember it in the early show.
Another account: “The Saturday show was actually better
[than Friday 6/14]--they were warmed up, settled in, and had a more aware
audience. They played The Other One and Dark Star that night.”
[6/16/68 Daytop Village, Staten Island,
NY - The Dead didn't play.]
6/19/68 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA [St. Stephen; Dancing in the Street]
The tape with this date is actually from 2/19/69.
6/22/68 Travelodge Theater, Phoenix, AZ
A newspaper review: “"Last weekend's Grateful Dead
concert was a smash. Too bad not everyone knew it. The further the Dead got
into their music the quicker some people got out to their cars." [deadlists]
7/11/68 Shrine Exhibition Hall, Los Angeles, CA
7/12/68 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake
Tahoe, CA
7/13/68 Kings Beach Bowl, Lake
Tahoe, CA
7/14/68 Marina Green, St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco CA
Jazz benefit festival, missing on all setlist sites...but the Dead apparently canceled.
7/14/68 Marina Green, St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco CA
Jazz benefit festival, missing on all setlist sites...but the Dead apparently canceled.
8/2/68 Hippodrome, San
Diego, CA
8/3/68 Hippodrome, San
Diego, CA
8/4/68 “Newport Pop
Festival,” Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa
Mesa, CA [Alligator, Feedback]
“I remember Jerry or Bob telling the crowd "we don't
play that anymore" to shouted requests for stuff from the 1st album.”
[dead.net]
Partial film snippets exist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJcMUMh5IA8
(This is one of the only film clips where you can see Garcia bobbing on the edge of the stage with his guitar, a habit he lost in later years.)
8/20/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA [Dark
Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Death Don't Have No Mercy]
This setlist may be taken from the following night, but they
were playing it almost every show.
8/28/68 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
Our tape is just one set, 45 minutes long, so we are missing
a set.
As deadlists notes, on the circulating tape, side B starts with an audience recording of Good Morning Little
Schoolgirl, introduced by Bill Graham. Most likely the whole tape is from of one of the following Fillmore West shows. (I don't believe there actually was an 8/28 show at the Avalon.)
8/30/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
8/31/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
9/1/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
9/1/68 Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
(possible afternoon show, unconfirmed)
I am suspicious that our tape of the 9/20/68 Berkeley Community Theater show (45 minutes, including a 25-minute drum solo) is incomplete and missing songs, but it's impossible to say for sure, since the band sounds like it's in some disarray. Mickey Hart often recalled this show in later years - the lengthy Drums with his fellow percussionists was not due to spontaneous equipment failure, but prearranged.
9/22/68 Del Mar
Fairgrounds, Del
Mar, CA [Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment,
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, New Potato Caboose, Alligator > Caution >
Feedback, In the Midnight Hour]
10/5/68 Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA
10/9/68 Matrix, San
Francisco, CA
(Hartbeats show)
10/11/68 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
One audience member at this Avalon run reports that Pigpen
was absent, and “the first song was Morning Dew.”
10/18/68 The Bank, Torrance,
CA
10/19/68 Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
10/19/68 Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
10/29/68 Matrix, San
Francisco, CA
(Hartbeats show)
10/31/68 Matrix, San
Francisco, CA
(Hartbeats show)
Dick Latvala reported that in the Vault "there are two
dates, 10/28 and 10/29, both of which have four reels.” (Though he may have gotten dates mixed up.)
11/1/68 Silver Dollar Fair, Chico, CA
We are missing the first set. Jim Powell: “Latvala played a
Viola Lee from this date at one of the Dick's Picks release parties.”
11/4/68 Longshoreman’s Hall, San Francisco, CA
11/7/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
11/8/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
11/9/68 Fillmore West, San
Francisco, CA
11/10/68 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA
[Morning Dew opener]
11/15/68 Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR [Morning Dew]
11/16/68 Erb Memorial Union Ballroom, U of Oregon, Eugene, OR
The show was cut short by a false bomb threat.
11/16/68 Erb Memorial Union Ballroom, U of Oregon, Eugene, OR
The show was cut short by a false bomb threat.
11/17/68 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle, WA
(two shows)
On 11/24/68, members of the Dead jammed with Jefferson Airplane in the Airplane’s show at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit.
On 11/24/68, members of the Dead jammed with Jefferson Airplane in the Airplane’s show at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit.
A Grande worker wrote: “I remember an Airplane show on a Sunday
nite/2 show nite… [In the second show] Jerry and Phil and Bob showed up about
12:30 and jammed with the Airplane til about 4:00 in the morning.”
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/01/november-24-1968-jam-with-jefferson.html
11/25/68 Memorial Auditorium, Ohio
U, Athens, OH [We Bid You Good Night]
Formerly known as 11/23/68.
Tom Constanten joined the Dead at this free show.
A recent newspaper article recalls this show, but with unreliable setlist details that I don't trust:
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/08/november-23-1968-memorial-auditorium.html
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/november-25-1968-memorial-auditorium.html
11/29/68 Hyde Park Teen Center, Cincinnati, OH [Good Morning Little Schoolgirl opener; possibly That’s It for the Other One > New Potato Caboose]
Tom Constanten joined the Dead at this free show.
A recent newspaper article recalls this show, but with unreliable setlist details that I don't trust:
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/08/november-23-1968-memorial-auditorium.html
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/november-25-1968-memorial-auditorium.html
11/27/68 Kinetic Playground, Chicago, IL
[Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment ;
Alligator]
11/28/68 Kinetic Playground, Chicago, IL
Ron Ramsey attended the Nov. 27-28 shows: “I know for sure
they did 'That's It For The Other One' that first night... Also on the 27th:
Alligator. As for the rest of the songs, they did pretty much the standard repertoire
for late 1968: Doin' That Rag, Dupree's, Dark Star > Saint Stephen > the
Eleven > Lovelight, Feedback, etc. But other than the two mentioned, I
cannot say which nights they did what. (They did not, to my eternal regret,
play New Potato Caboose either night.) …Both nights were two set shows, with
the Dead as the closing act.” [deadlists] (I am doubtful that Doin’ That Rag or
Dupree’s would have been played, since they don’t appear on live tapes until
late January, but it’s possible.)
11/29/68 Hyde Park Teen Center, Cincinnati, OH [Good Morning Little Schoolgirl opener; possibly That’s It for the Other One > New Potato Caboose]
“On Friday night, they started with a rather sloppy version
of Good Morning Little School Girl, but in short order got into the groove and
blew the roof off the place.” [Lost Live Dead comment]
(This reminds me of the newspaper review of their Electric
Circus shows in May: “Their first tune is always a shambles - "You'll have to wait till we figure out who we are and what we're doing here," says Jerry Garcia.”)
11/30/68 Hyde Park Teen Center,
Cincinnati, OH (two shows) [Dark Star, Saint Stephen,
Turn On Your Lovelight]
Tom Constanten: “There was one exquisite gig in Cincinnati where both
Pigpen and I played keyboard. He had the B-3 and I had the Continental.”
These shows have long been attributed to 11/24/68, and there
has been much confusion and varying memories over how many shows there were at
the Teen Center – several audience accounts can be
found at http://www.setlists.net/?show_id=0362
The promoter recalled that on Friday, “They were two hours
late, and they played for three hours.” But one person remembered, “We waited
forever, then the band played only a few songs then said they had to leave.”
Another person agreed that on the first night, “The Dead were beat, and I mean
tired! …The NEXT night was better, of course.” One of the lightshow crew recalls
both nights as life-changing: “Saturday night was as musically explosive as
Friday.” Everyone agreed that the small building (a converted church) was
packed, and the Dead were very loud, their equipment filling up much of the
space. Despite all the reviews, no specific songs were remembered except possibly
Saint Stephen & Morning Dew.
12/1/68 Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI
[We Bid You Goodnight]
12/6/68 Spectrum, Philadelphia,
PA
12/13/68 The Bank, Torrance,
CA [Lovelight]
12/14/68 The Bank, Torrance,
CA
12/20/68 Shrine Exhibition Hall, Los Angeles, CA
[Good Morning Little Schoolgirl ; Morning Dew]
Only the last half hour of the show circulates; a newspaper
review mentions Schoolgirl. I think it’s likely that a Dark Star>St Stephen
preceded the Eleven on our tape.
“I'm pretty sure they played Morning Dew with the gong
adding to the opening flourish.” [setlists.net]
12/23/68 Matrix, San
Francisco, CA – “Jam
Session with Jerry Garcia, Jack Casady and others”
A tape of the 24th circulates that has Garcia jamming with
Harvey Mandel’s band. (The new Deadbase has a probably fake setlist attached to the 23rd.)
12/28/68 Catacombs, Houston,
TX [Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment ; Jam ; Morning Dew]
(Another attendee recalled The Other One, Alligator, New Potato Caboose, Dark Star>The Eleven.)
http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2015-06-30/the-graceful-grateful-dead/
(Another attendee recalled The Other One, Alligator, New Potato Caboose, Dark Star>The Eleven.)
http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2015-06-30/the-graceful-grateful-dead/
An eyewitness reports: “Most of what was played was from
Anthem of the Sun (That's It for the Other One, Cryptical Envelopment, etc. and
a very good 'space jam' that came back into the album to finish). There was a
second keyboard player, besides Pigpen, so this was probably Constanten. I also
know for sure that Morning Dew was played (mainly because it was my favorite
from the first album), also I remember Garcia's introduction to the song, 'let's
get the old shit out of the way' and then the cymbals starting up Morning Dew.
Schoolgirl was probably played but I'm not certain. I know Pigpen definitely
had a couple of songs, but mostly stood around looking uncomfortable.” [deadlists]
(Pigpen recalled in a Sept '69 interview that when the Dead were in Houston, "I woke up sick and feeling feverish, and we had to play that night. [But after having some miso soup,] I could feel better even while I was taking it. I even managed to play one set.")
(Pigpen recalled in a Sept '69 interview that when the Dead were in Houston, "I woke up sick and feeling feverish, and we had to play that night. [But after having some miso soup,] I could feel better even while I was taking it. I even managed to play one set.")
12/31/68 Winterland, San
Francisco, CA [In the Midnight Hour, Dark Star >
Saint Stephen > The Eleven > Turn On Your Lovelight]
(This was the Dead's first live 16-track recording. David
Lemieux says, "The reels of 12/31/68 were erased to record the January '69
Avalon shows…with one lonely Midnight Hour left on tape, featuring all of the
musicians who performed that night in an all-star jam. The sound on this
16-track recording is very poor, filled with distortion.")
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/12/december-31-1968-winterland-grateful.html (There are a few vague memories of the show in the comments...that the Dead "played Midnight Hour all night;" "Turn On Your Lovelight seemed to go on forever"...)
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/12/december-31-1968-winterland-grateful.html (There are a few vague memories of the show in the comments...that the Dead "played Midnight Hour all night;" "Turn On Your Lovelight seemed to go on forever"...)
On Anthem Of The Sun the first half of the "New Potato Caboose" jam is from 3/17/68 but the second half is not on any circulating tape. Going to guess it is from one of the missing March 68 shows.
ReplyDeleteWasn't at least some of AOTS recorded in studio? It always seemed to me that some of bits of NPC sounded like they were...
DeleteThe first, vocal part of New Potato is from the studio, but the first part of the jam is from 3/17/68 and the other part has similar enough sound quality that I think it is safe to say it is also live.
DeleteLarge sections of Anthem were taken from 1967-11-10, 1968-02-14, and 1968-03-17 so maybe the rest of New Potato was cobbled from one of those first two shows.
DeleteI agree with the first commenter - the ending part of New Potato is from one of the live tapes that didn't circulate, and might not survive anymore outside of the clip used on Anthem.
DeleteMakes me glad for all the tape we do have.
ReplyDeleteI recently uncovered reference to a possible 4/5/68 show at Carousel: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/08/gd-april-5-1968-friday-carousel.html
Makes me wonder how many of the Sunday concerts in GGP, if any, were recorded. Great summer.
DeleteThey must have played the Other One suite at Eureka 1/20/68 because it's on the Anthem of the Sun tape that Phil Lesh plays around with in the Anthem to Beauty video.
ReplyDeleteGood catch!
DeletePhil separates the tracks in the Other One:
Tracks 1&2 - Lake Tahoe (presumably 2/24?)
Tracks 3&4 - Eureka 1/20
Tracks 5&6 - Portland 2/2
Tracks 7&8 - Portland 2/3
The Other One suite almost certainly came before Clementine on our tape, as it does in the other early '68 performances.
So they had that part of the show when putting Anthem together... Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they still have it now, since Phil was just playing the Anthem tracks.
FWIW, I don't think the section of the Other One heard in that video while Phil isolates the Lake Tahoe tracks matches the DP22 version. It may be from 2/22 (or perhaps the video is deceptive).
DeleteThis is an incredibly useful post. Do you have ideas or speculation on why Feb 17 '68 Fresno wasn't part of the Anthem Of The Sun tapes?
ReplyDeleteNot really. Maybe it wasn't taped for some reason - the Dead were running late, or were short on time to set up, etc - but actually we don't know which shows weren't taped.
Delete1/17/68 was not one of the "Anthem shows," yet it was taped.
1/29 Portland, 1/30 Eugene, and 2/4 Ashland are, suspiciously, missing both from the Anthem live-shows list, and from the circulating tapes. A fragment from 1/30 did surface in the Vault recently, but otherwise I suspect either something went wrong with the recordings, or the Dead just found these shows unusable.
Once they were back in California, it's unknown whether the Dead taped any of their Feb/March shows outside of the Carousel & Kings Beach Bowl runs. My guess is they didn't, but we can't say for sure.
Great research. Just stumbled in here. Thanks.
ReplyDeletehttp://thefrodisroomrockblog.blogspot.com/
i'd like to add to 2/15/68 San Quentin State Prison, CA
ReplyDeletefrom pictures i have (seen) it features nick gravenites on second guitar and as a surprise bob weir on bass. phil lesh is not seen in the pictures.. take your guess
It looks like the full Dead didn't play on 2/15/68.... One French journalist who attended said that Phil Lesh wasn't there and Bob Weir played bass, which is confirmed by your pictures.
DeleteOne eyewitness on deadlists said, "Garcia, Casady, one of the guys from the Charlatans, maybe Barry Melton from CJ&Fish were playing on flatbed trucks."
Corry suggested, "I think it was an ongoing jam session with various players cycling in and out... It was an afternoon affair on a flatbed truck outside the gates. Participants included, I believe, Jerry Garcia, Barry Melton, Jack Casady and various members of the group Phoenix."
Per the Chicken on a Unicycle's Phoenix page: "According to Jef Jaisun, bassist for Phoenix, the opening ‘lineup’ was Bob Weir, Nick Gravenites, Mickey Hart, Jaisun and Phoenix keyboardist Tom Dotzler. Other musicians, apparently including Jerry and Jack, joined in throughout the afternoon."
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/grateful-dead-san-quentin-performances.html
I thought I could write another post this month, but nope.... Sorry about the wait.
ReplyDeleteThe next post will be in November.
You lied. ;)
DeleteSeriously, though: thanks again for all the great work you've posted here. I keep coming back for more education and inspiration.
Yikes, what happened? I'm not even sure.... I was only able to write a handful of posts all year, and had a lot less free time the last few months than I hoped for. Never intended to take a 4-month hiatus, but it was forced upon me.
DeleteI can promise lots of stuff coming up next year, though!
A reporter for Jazz & Pop attended the 5/9/68 late show at the Electric Circus, calling it "spectacular":
ReplyDelete"After opening with a solid, rock-oriented first set [they came] on at midnight with a virtuoso rock-jazz improvisation that must have lasted an hour or more."
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2015/07/may-1968-band-interview.html
You posted links to two YT videos of the May 3 gig at Columbia and pointed out that the sound is not the original sound. So I wonder about this third video that I just saw today (and which made me start to explore the story of that gig and led me to this page):
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/WFtQr_W3opM
I was wondering about how Billy suddenly has sunglasses on when he'd been drumming the whole time ... Evidence that the sound is not from the same gig as the footage?
There have been at least four different edits of this footage on youtube, and quality aside, I'm not sure which would be closest to the "original." That is, the shots are taken from different points throughout the show, and can be rearranged in any order (as you noticed, with Billy's sunglasses coming on & off mid-song).
DeleteThe audio in the new clip comes from this undated show from later that month, probably at the Carousel:
https://archive.org/details/gd1968-05-00.sbd.currier.5427.sbeok.shnf
The audio is definitely not from the Columbia gig, but the sync does happily prove that Cryptical>the Other One was played at the show.
Thank you so much for the clarification!
DeleteSomeone who attended the 5/25/68 St Louis show remembers Morning Dew being played:
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.org/details/1968-05-24St.LouisMo-NationalGuardArmory
"My memory is that they closed with Morning Dew on the 25th but I could be wrong...I do have a clear recollection of Morning Dew ending with a band member grabbing a mic off of the mic stand and crashing it into the six foot tall gong, repeatedly and rotating the mic which still worked, around and around the face of the gong and the most incredible sounds coming out from this along with the guitars...at that point, right then and there, I decided that I needed to leave St. Louis, ASAP and move to the Bay Area to be able to see these guys perform, over and over again, on their home turf...which I did."
The reviewer after him is the same one who also commented on dead.net and setlists.net (quoted in this post). But it's not clear whether they went to the 24th or 25th, or were at the same show - neither knows for sure, but each believed the Archive recording to be from the 24th, and assumed he must have been at the next night. The recording's almost certainly not from St Louis (my guess is it's one of the Carousel shows in June). What's more important is that Morning Dew with the gong made an impression on both of them.
Gary Lambert attended the 5/5/68 Central Park show - he went to see Jefferson Airplane and stuck around afterwards for the Dead's set. "The Dead were terrific. They were the best band of the three that day... They played some of the material that would turn up on Anthem of the Sun: The Other One, New Potato Caboose, though I didn't know those songs by name. I recognized Morning Dew from the first album. They finished with Turn On Your Lovelight, which I loved." (This Is All A Dream We Dreamed, p.424)
ReplyDeleteAlso announced, but a not appearing was Richie Havens. He was replaced by a classical guitarist named Charlie Alvorado doing 4 selections. I only remember Charlie's name because we both attended Erasmus Hall High School. Happy 48th anniversary of this blessed event!
DeleteUpdated with more details on the 3/18 & 3/24/68 strike shows. The Dead may have played these - or maybe not - but more info has turned up.
ReplyDeletehopefully, some new info about 06-22-68:
ReplyDeletehttp://tjfranklinphotography.com/wp/the-grateful-dead/ The Grateful Dead performed at the Phx Star in Phoenix Arizona on 6-22-68. All photos by Tom and John Franklin.
http://phoenixtheaterhistory.com/star-theatre/ Star Theatre
http://phoenixtheaterhistory.com/companies/star-theatre-celebrity-theatre/ Star Theatre / Celebrity Theatre
I-) ihor
forgot this one:
Deletehttp://funsetstrip.blogspot.com/2012/09/phoenix-star-theater_27.html Phoenix Star Theater
I-) ihor
Thanks for the links.
DeleteIn the '68 photos, the Star looks like a soulless place to play, with the house lights turned on during the show, giving it the charm of a school cafeteria! Notice the seats in back are empty, too - the Dead must not have been big in Phoenix yet, so the stage probably wasn't rotating for this show. For their return to the theater in 1970, the place would be a lot more packed and wild, with the audience surging over the stage by the end.
Apparently the theater was called the Travelodge Theater in the Round, rather than the Star, when the Dead played there, due to a different promoter. The article you linked to notes that hard rock shows were banned there in 1971.
The Arizona Republic newspaper ran a review of the '68 show in its 6/30/68 issue - it would be nice to find the full article.
I was there at Stony Brook for the May 4th show that The Incredible String Band opened. Unfortunately I was only slightly familiar with the Dead then - I had their first album. They played three songs in total. The first song was Good Morning Little School Girl, at about 15 minutes. I wish I could say what the other songs were but I didn't know them at the time (so it is unlikely they were on their first album). Two other songs followed, one was about 35 minutes long, and the last one went on for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I was amazed at how long the songs were so I checked (I think there was a clock in he Gym, my memory now only includes what I determined the song lengths to be, not exactly how I knew it at the time). I remember thinking that the third song was ending after 45 minutes or so - but it sputtered back to life. The show was far from sold out, when I walked away from the front of the gym there was plenty of room to move about. I found this site because I've been looking for a tape, or at least a set list, from this show - my first of many Grateful Dead concerts I attended. Glad I can at least contribute a little more info to what has been documented about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to hear more setlist memories from lost shows! Interesting that the Dead weren't yet that big at SUNY (but they still only had one year-old album out).
DeleteI used to think the song that lasted over an hour might have been Alligator>Caution, but the longest recorded versions we have are less than 40 minutes, so that could be a stretch... Just as likely, they were doing an uninterrupted suite of songs like they'd been doing on the Anthem tour in winter '68. For anyone unfamiliar with the songs (which were all new), it must have been nearly impossible to tell the songs apart when they were all linked together in one long jam.
One guy who attended the 4/17/69 Washington U show in St. Louis has written, "I'd heard the Grateful Dead before, playing in the small gym at Webster College in St. Louis with roll-out bleachers and a crowd of maybe 200."
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to figure out when that Webster College show could've been - there's no trace of it online.
The Dead had played Kiel Auditorium back on 2/6/69, but their touring schedule left no room for other shows. They'd been scheduled at the National Guard Armory on May 24-25, 1968, and since they had some days free they could theoretically have pulled a surprise show at a local college that week.
On the other hand, this guy's memory could be mistaken - maybe he saw some other band at Webster College - it was almost 50 years ago after all. I post it here as a possibility...
Though he's vague on dates, he has an eloquent memory of the 1969 Washington U show: "The Dead played outside in the Quad under the tiny bandshell used for symphony concerts. I can never listen to Dark Star without thinking of sitting under the huge trees in the Quad staring up at the stars in the night sky... Laying on the grass under the stars and listening to Dark Star and St. Stephen as The Dead jammed under the bandshell was nothing short of magical."
I don't think that the Dead played at the Daytop Village Music Festival in Staten Island on 6/16/1968. They were scheduled to play but either were a no-show or canceled at the last minute. I've seen two sources state this, one from a reviewer from Discoscene and another from a Jeff Beck biographer. Jeff Beck was apparently booked to replace the Dead at the last minute.
ReplyDeletehttp://crosstowntorrents.org/archive/index.php/t-5165.html
I've briefly corresponded with the organizer of that festival, and I'll try to confirm if the Dead played.
Thanks for finding this! I think it's pretty definitive proof that the Dead didn't play.
DeleteChristopher Hjort: "The Jeff Beck Group were added as a last-minute replacement for the Grateful Dead, who were originally booked for this four-day (outdoors) festival."
Discoscene (August '68) review by unknown: “Hendrix made a surprise appearance…in Staten Island where Daytop Village, devoted to the rehabilitation of ex-junkies, was putting on a rock festival. The Grateful Dead didn’t show so Hendrix jammed with The Jeff Beck Group, friends since London; crowd didn’t let them off stage until 2 a.m.”
I wonder why the Dead didn't appear, since they had no other (known) concerts after the Fillmore East shows on June 14-15.
Hi, I spoke with the organizer of the Daytop Village festival, and he also confirmed that the Dead were a no-show. It's a shame, because the lineup of that festival was quite good if you are into jazz, salsa and rock. According to the organizer, they professionally filmed the festival, but the film was lost in a dispute at Daytop Village soon after the festival ended.
DeleteHere's a poster advertising the festival:
http://www.concertposterart.com/images/posters/detail/Daytop-Festival-Grateful-Dead-Duke-Ellington-NYC-Concert-Poster-Type-Ad-.jpg
What a lineup! I can't believe it isn't more well-known.
An ad in an underground newspaper listed the Dead playing on Sunday the 16th, but an article in the New York Times (June 16, 1968, pg. 58, "4-DAY MUSIC FETE AIDS EX-ADDICTS") says they were playing Monday the 17th. The festival on the 17th had a Latin session (Lebron Brothers, Ray Barretto, and Johnny Pachero) followed by a rock session (Grateful Dead, Kenny Rankin, Jeremy Satyra, Mother and the All Night Newsboys, and The Children of God). Both the Latin and rock sessions were at Daytop on Staten Island. Part of the festival on the 17th included an evening jazz session at the Village Gate in Manhattan, which the Dead did not perform.
DeleteThere was a discussion about the date on the deadlists mail archive - the NYT article was in error; the Latin & rock sessions were on Sunday the 16th as advertised.
Deletehttps://www.mail-archive.com/deadlists@nemesis.cs.berkeley.edu/msg04412.html
Speaking of jazz festivals, the 7/27/68 issue of Billboard reported on the 7/14/68 "Sunday on the Green" JAM benefit:
ReplyDeleteJAZZ ACTION MOVEMENT BLENDS JAZZ WITH ROCK
SAN FRANCISCO - Jazz Action Movement, a group formed here last May, presented a day of music Sunday (14) blending jazz with local rock bands at the St. Francis Yacht Club's Marina Green.
The marathon music event began at 10 a.m. and ran until 6 p.m. Featured at the free outdoor spectacular were such groups as the Ornette Coleman Quartet, the John Handy Quartet, Big Black's Sextet, the Grateful Dead, the Youngbloods, Monte Waters Band, Granny Goose and the Hylar Jones Quartet.
Jazz Action Movement has been sponsoring free jazz concerts since July 1 in Golden Gate Park. The organization's recent bash was designed to raise funds even though there was no admission charged. The group plans adopting a program of bringing jazz to neighborhoods on a flat-bed truck dubbed a "jam-mobile." ...
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680714.html
While I'd like to say this confirms the Dead played, actually there are no details here that weren't on previous press reports, which I think were the only source. Since Billboard often listed events after the fact that hadn't turned out as planned, we're still lacking any witness to this show. (At least until the Bay-area newspapers are plumbed.)
Interesting: the Dead and Ornette on the same bill a quarter century before they ended up playing together!
DeleteBill Bentley attended the 12/28/68 show at the Catacombs in Houston, one of the most memorable shows of his life - he wrote about the experience in the Austin Chronicle article linked in the post, and also here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brooklynvegan.com/velvet-underground-grateful-dead-otis-redding-bill-bentley-tells-us-about-his-favorite-shows-releases-book/
"[The Dead] set up on the Catacombs stage with true precision, even though it was only two feet off the ground and stood smack-up next to the first row of chairs in the club, in which I sat in the one directly in front of Jerry Garcia. I could reach out and touch his microphone stand. They came on discreetly enough, playing “Beat it on Down the Line” and “Good Morning Little School Girl.” But then they launched into the start of their just-released album, ‘Anthem of the Sun,’ and for the next two hours tore the heads off everyone in the club by playing the entire release. Oddly enough, the Catacombs was an under-21 affair, so it was mostly high schoolers and a few college heads in attendance. It didn’t matter, because everyone was pinned with ecstatic mirth by the third song, no matter how young they were. This was a band from another planet, and there was no turning back. After a short break, in which Pigpen left the building with a teenaged girl, the Dead walked back onstage, looked at the audience like they knew they were getting ready to detonate a musical neutron bomb, and went right into “Dark Star” for the next hour, then segued into “Saint Stephen,” “The Eleven” and, yes, back into “Dark Star.” By that time the set had been three hours long and we’d been holding our breath through it all, not believing what we were hearing. I swear Jerry Garcia was staring into my eyes and smiling the whole time as he played the most beautiful guitar licks I’d ever heard a rock musician play, or at least that’s what I remember now. It still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. By then it was 2 in the morning, and time for a song to bring everyone back to Planet Earth. What else but the old blues standard “Death Don’t Have No Mercy?”
(A list of contracts in the Dead's Archive shows they were scheduled on 12/27 and 12/28/68 at the Catacombs, but it's not yet known whether they actually played both dates.)
As to Dec 13th, 1968, at The Bank, my first Dead Show. Turn quits Remedy and Magic Sam opened. First song was incredible Lovelight, and I can't remember much after that. Saw them the next weekend at Shrine Auditorium. Headliner was Country Joe and the Fish. All amazing and FUN!
ReplyDeleteTurnquist Remedy (darn auto spell thinks it knows everything)
ReplyDeleteAdditional memories from comments at the Rock Prosopography post on the Bank:
Delete"Fantastic show. Great 360 full circle light show, lots of overhead projectors with color wheels doing the oil/water shapes to the music. There were sheets hanging down that we walked through to enter the music zone. All I can remember is Weir walking up to a mic and saying "I hope you all are ready for tonight, because we sure are", first song Lovelight..."
"I was at that concert, at least the Friday night one. I do remember somebody from the group coming to the front of stage right before the Dead started. He had a paper bag and was pulling out handfuls of white tabs of acid and throwing them to the audience who were sitting on the floor... The Torrance PD must have gotten wind of that because a whole bunch of them were outside the place after the concert."
"At the Dead show, one of their crew had a brown bag full of Acid and was throwing it out to the audience from the front of the stage... When we were leaving the place was ringed with police in riot helmets and we had to walk through to get to our cars! I didn't see them grab anybody so I think they were there to intimidate us. That may have been the last show [at the Bank]."
http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-is-placeholder-post.html
Free show on Nov 23 was actually on Nov 25 based on newly discovered reporting http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/2018/02/new-1968-grateful-dead-date-discovered.html
ReplyDeleteThe final song was We Bid You Good Night.
DeleteA couple witnesses:
People "filled every nook and cranny of the big old auditorium... [But many people left early.] The Dead took a break, moved their equipment and microphones around...and the whole thing then wailed until midnight, with some members of the audience dancing on stage... [There was] energetic dancing and a ten-minute ovation at the end."
"The auditorium was packed during the first set. During the break I went to get some food. When I returned, the second set had already started and the crowd then was considerably smaller... Those still there were obviously, enthusiastically, into the music: most of the crowd was standing instead of sitting, many on the stage, dancing on the floor. The electricity was deliberately cutoff around midnight. I remember Jerry calming the crowd, preventing a riot."
The power shutoff is also remembered here - though I don't trust the setlist details which are taken from 11/22/68, nor are the Dead known to have played Good Lovin' in 1968:
https://www.athensnews.com/news/campus/dinner-with-the-dead-after-mem-aud/article_0cd6f924-360f-11e5-a721-938e9e80dcbd.html
Hey Everyone. I just found a cassette from LA dated 8-24-68..is that a show missing a recording??
ReplyDeleteThe 9/13/68 Berkeley Barb ran an article on the Palace of Fine Arts festival that had run from August 30-Sept 2, which was to benefit the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. The festival did not go well: "HAIGHT CLINIC DIES."
ReplyDeleteThe Dead were scheduled for the Sep. 2 afternoon show, but spontaneously decided to head up to the Sky River Rock festival in Washington that day, so it remains uncertain whether they'd switched to the Sep. 1 afternoon show per Deadbase.
The Barb doesn't help here - the show listing in the 8/30/68 Barb had warned, "Program subject to last minute changes."
The 9/13 article outlines the confusion around the festival: raising money for the clinic "was to be a four-day music and light festival in the recently refurbished Palace of Fine Arts near the Marina. Duke Ellington, Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead, and many others were all set to go for this worthy cause."
But the clinic ran into trouble from the city: "Suddenly permits were difficult to come by. The Recreation and Parks Department...became reluctant to sign a contract. They demanded a police department dance permit [even though] there was no dancing planned. The police wouldn't issue the permit because there wasn't going to be any dancing..." The clinic met with the city commission repeatedly, but felt the festival was being blocked by the mayor and Marina residents who didn't want "10,000 dope-crazed hippies running around the Marina."
Clinic director Don Reddick sighed, "The city blocked us at every turn... They made it impossible to advertise and put together the show, because we never knew if it was really going to come off."
"Only at the last possible minute, the Thursday afternoon before the Friday opening of the festival, did the Commission finally relent. 'We couldn't even print the tickets until that time,' Reddick said, 'and proper promotion was impossible.'"
It was felt that "the city had doomed the festival," charging increased rent and requiring that 150 private guards be present and paid by the clinic. "The festival lost $50,000," leaving the clinic in debt, and "the clinic is now closed."
Though this may not have a direct bearing on the Dead's schedule, it does give some insight into the chaotic planning for the festival - in these circumstances, the Dead could easily have switched dates (or canceled), and there would be no record of it.
The list above is missing the shows from 23-24 August at the Shrine Auditorium in LA. A distillation of these shows is released on "Two from the Vault". These were the shows that had provided the awesome bonus tracks on the Feb 68 Road Trips discs. Dark Star is still not in its final form, but the Anthem tracks are spectacular, and I rate this disc as second only to the famous Live Dead discs.
ReplyDeleteGreat shows, but it would be peculiar if the 8-23 & 8-24-68 shows on Two from the Vault were included on a list of missing shows.
DeleteThe bonus tracks on the Feb 68 Road Trips all come from Jan/Feb shows - all great, wish more was out there.
An Archive comment:
ReplyDelete"I saw the Dead at the Shrine Exposition Hall in May of 1968...they opened their first set with Morning Dew."
The 8/17/68 issue of Cash Box ran a lengthy two-page review of the August 3-4 Newport Pop Festival, with a paragraph on each performer. The Dead's brief mention:
ReplyDelete"The Grateful Dead made some of the best appearances they've played in Southern California... 'Pigpen,' Ron McKernan, sang call-and-response patterns with the group on a tune called 'Alligator,' from their new album 'Anthem of the Sun.'"
Photos show the band playing feedback, so it's likely the set ended with Alligator>Caution>Feedback.
A 6/19/68 attendee commented on setlists.net:
ReplyDelete"The actual 06/19/68 show was the Black Man's Free Store benefit. The highlight of the evening was during the Soul Scene revue, Little Andre ("only 13 years old!") singing James Brown's "Cold Sweat" backed by a band with Jerry and Bobby on guitars, Bill on congas, and a trap drummer and bassist I didn't recognize. They just roared during the long breaks between Little Andre's grunts.
The Dead opened with St. Stephen and played Dancin' In The Streets for the encore."
An 11/15/68 attendee remembers them doing "a killer Morning Dew."
ReplyDeletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/09/november-15-1968-coliseum-oregon-state.html?showComment=1569284493785#c5088212446086230694
7/4/1968: SF Examiner article references a permit issued to a group of ministers for a rally on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley to be held on 7/4/68. Quote from the article: "However, it was clear that the clergymen were acting as sponsors for what would be a 10-hour session of speeches, skits and entertainment by professionals including the Mime Troupe and the Grateful Dead, Mad River, Phoenix and Mother Earth rock bands."
ReplyDeleteMaybe. The 7/5/68 SF Examiner had another article covering the July 4 Telegraph Ave. rally in Berkeley, which says that "several rock bands performed" but doesn't name any.
DeleteI've also looked through a number of articles from the Berkeley Barb and SF Express Times describing the event. They mention that a number of rock bands played including Phoenix, but no other bands are named, which implies there were no "big names" like the Dead. It's said that the street was packed, that the bands that played from a truck were noisy enough to interfere with the more important speeches and plays, and that other bands were turned away so that the political speakers could go on.
Now, the Barb & Express Times focused so much on the politics of the event that neither bothered giving a neutral account of who actually appeared, nor did the Examiner care who played; but I suspect if the Dead had played, they would have been named in at least one of the 3 papers I looked at. Also, the Dead had a very poor track record of playing Berkeley gatherings - the number of confirmed free shows the Dead played in Berkeley is zero.
All too often in '60s papers you'll find various planned rallies and protests promising that the Dead would play, but usually they didn't!
(Cross-posting this comment here.)
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that the 7/11/68 Shrine Expo show is probably a mirage, with a poster for a show that was never played.
There is no notice of the show in the LA Times or the LA Free Press that week. A Thursday-only booking at the Shrine is very unusual (and suspicious). There seems to be no confirmation of the show outside of a poster that was only made in 1972. And Blue Cheer, the other band on the bill, would play at the Shrine on July 26-27.
So without more evidence, that makes the date questionable at best.
https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-grateful-dead-at-shrine-exposition.html?showComment=1605219989319#c6309337766149947037
A witness for the 5/7/68 Electric Circus show:
ReplyDelete"May 7 was a Tuesday. The place was not packed. I bought a ticket for the early show and there were about a dozen or two people there. They didn't run me out after the first show and so I saw the second as well. The place was about half full for the 2nd show. They opened the first show with "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and ended the set with "Turn On Your Lovelight". Somewhere in there were "Beat It On Down The Line" and "Morning Dew". The second show/set opened with "He Was A Friend Of Mine" and closed with "Alligator/Caution"."
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/10/may-7-9-1968-electric-circus-23-st.html?showComment=1619270109000#c2957369961829446982