Loud Enough To Melt The Ears: The Ark, April 1969

1st Photo of the Dead ever in Boston in 1967 is "drummer" Billy or Mickey?

Well, your 10-year hero may very well have been on Lansdowne Street in April 1969 on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night, but it wasn't to see the Grateful Dead.  My Dad and I very possibly could have been at one of these games across the street. Not much pitching in April at Fenway.

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According to the Boston Globe (below), headliners like Janis and Canned Heat (huh) made $15,000 a night in 1969, while Hendrix made $25,000. I doubt the Dead made this playing six shows at 15 Lansdowne Street, right outside Fenway Park in Boston.

I did not know until yesterday that the Ark and the Boston Tea Party (where the guys would play the last three nights of 1969) were the same place. Alot of people liked these shows with April 21 and 22 among the top-8 shows of the year, which is impressive, according to a Deadbase survey.  There are also about one million reviews on archive, which bodes well for these shows as well 

It's fun to find some old 60's reviews of the Dead and the the venue. Only 100 miles or so south of my house in Lewiston, an easy two hour drive, if I were about 10 years older and rich enough to have a car :)  And the night before The Ark, the Dead played at Clark University in Worcester where I lived and my Dad worked in 1966. Darn I was 7 and keep missing shows. Don't get me started on the Hendrix show five blocks away I missed when I was 8 in Lewiston.

Three first set Cryptical jams, two Dark Star sequences and an Alligator on night three. What's not to love? These shows are monsters for 3 dolla bills and 2 quarters.

April 21
SET 1
Hard To Handle
Morning Dew
Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One >
Cryptical Envelopment >
Sitting On Top Of The World
Alligator >
Drums >
Jam >
Doin' That Rag
SET 2
Foxy Lady Jam
Dark Star >
Saint Stephen >
The Eleven >
Turn On Your Lovelight
ENCORE
Viola Lee Blues >
Feedback

April 22
SET 1
Sitting On Top Of The World
Morning Dew
Beat It On Down The Line
Good Morning Little School Girl
Doin' That Rag
Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One >
Cryptical Envelopment >
Death Don't Have No Mercy
SET 2
Dupree's Diamond Blues >
Mountains Of The Moon >
Dark Star >
Saint Stephen >
The Eleven >
Turn On Your Lovelight
April 23
SET 1
He Was A Friend Of Mine
Dark Star >
It's A Sin >
Saint Stephen >
Cryptical Envelopment >
The Other One >
Cryptical Envelopment >
Sitting On Top Of The World >
Turn On Your Lovelight
SET 2
Morning Dew
Hard To Handle
Doin' That Rag
Alligator >
Drums >
Jam >
The Eleven >
Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) >
Feedback >
And We Bid You Good Night
ENCORE
It's All Over Now Baby Blue