Sam

Sam Cutler was the first hero that allowed the Grateful Dead to become a profitable band

 

You Betcha Show: October 19, 1971 U of Minnesota. Oh its Keith's first Show, and It's on the Radio and They Debut Six New Songs

 

So new big deal, the Dead were running late.  But Sam Cutler had his great new booking strategy in place.  The Dead and the Riders were blocked for 5 hours on KQRS for the opening night of the 18 nights in four weeks followed by11 more shows in December.  Six new songs were added to the songbook this night. And first day rookie Keith Godchaux would open his tenure with the band.

The six were Tennessee Jed, Jack Straw, Mexicali Blues, Comes A Time, One More Saturday Night and Ramble On Rose.  Wow.

It must have been a great show because the radio tape traded forever, or at least until Dave made it his 3rd Pick.  

the University of Minnesota review called it Dull Dead. Huh.  Austin must have been sad without a Dark Star>St Stephen>11>Lovelight.

Light Into Ashes on Dead Sources finds a much more fine review by Marshall Fine of the Minnesota Star. https://deadsources.blogspot.com/2019/09/october-19-1971-northrop-auditorium.html

Disc 1[edit]

First set:

1. "Bertha" (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 6:12
2. "Me and My Uncle" (John Phillips) – 3:24
3. "Tennessee Jed" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:33
4. "Jack Straw" (Bob Weir, Hunter) – 5:01
5. "Loser" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:28
6. "Playing in the Band" (Weir, Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 6:31
7. "Sugaree" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:20
8. "Beat It On Down the Line" (Jesse Fuller) – 3:55
9. "Black Peter" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:18
10. "Mexicali Blues" (Weir, John Perry Barlow) – 3:45
11. "Cold Rain and Snow" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 6:11
12. "Me and Bobby McGee" (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster) – 5:57

Disc 2[edit]

1. "Comes a Time" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:36
2. "One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 4:37

Second set:

3. "Ramble On Rose" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:27
4. "Cumberland Blues" (Garcia, Phil Lesh, Hunter) – 5:58
5. "That's It for the Other One" > – 28:06
   • "Cryptical Envelopment" (Garcia)
   • "Drums" (Bill Kreutzmann)
   • "The Other One" (Weir, Kreutzmann)
   • "Cryptical Envelopment" (Garcia)
6. "Deal" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:33
7. "Sugar Magnolia" (Weir, Hunter) – 6:53
8. "Casey Jones" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:54
9. "Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry) – 3:50

The Field Trip Continues into Boulder, Dead Attract 32,000 and Earn Biggest Payday to Date, September 3, 1972

 Most of us are most familiar with the very last Dick's Picks (36) on the very last CD (4) when we were blessed with a 50 minute slice of Folsom Field in JGMF's Boulder town on September 3, 1972:

5. "He's Gone" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 10:30
6. "The Other One" > (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 28:57
7. "Wharf Rat" (Garcia, Hunter) – 10:16

but this show is totally underrated.  Whole show is here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6um5ud1om68j601/AADzXPO2PyZgSN42ODnWa17Fa?dl=0

Awesome The Other One  This show is not even in the top-20 of most people's 1972 shows but the great Mind Wonderin' review gives it five stars with an A+ set one and an A set three. 

But 50 years ago this week, the Grateful Dead played their first gig after The Field Trip at Kesey's Farm, which is also a famous show.  This was the first Grateful Dead gig to attract more than 30,000 fans at student ticket prices of $3.50 and $4.50 for  other fans.  The Colorado gig generated $133,456 in ticket sales so the Grateful Dead gig income was a record $57,000, almost double their guarantee of $30,000.  previously, the Dead had a similar guarantee in Hartford and Jersey City in July 1972 with upside but Boulder proved to attract the largest crowd   It would take Summer Jam at Watkin's Glen to break this record for a Dead pay-day, which was then broken again exactly five years from Boulder in Englishtown, New Jersey on September 3, 1977.  Serendipity the Dead played a monster three song medley starting with He's Gone at that show too.

The Dead went on to play 13 more shows in September 1972, 10 at small theaters like the Boston Music Hall and the Hollywood Palladium as well as Baltimore Civic Center, Philly Spectrum and a return to Roosevelt Stadium that they had just played in July.  For September, all the shows and expenses for the month were about breakeven, with the exception of the monster Boulder income, which went almost entirely to the band members/partners  in the form of cash dividends and tax payments.  This is a trend for the band through much of the 1970s and start of the 1980s, where the band plays a lot of gigs at relatively smaller places (think June and July 1976, followed by  Colt Park and Roosevelt and a cancelled outdoor London gig) which kind of break even and then a Big Show that can flow to the Band Members, or a Grateful Dead movie or to help Keith and Donna get a house.  

 

The Greek was Super Mellow in 1968

 

Go West Young Man, Why Dead Heads Flocked to SF

In http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2016/02/quite-little-cash-cow-jgb-early-1980.html, the famous Corry342 (see below) makes the observation that "It is my thesis that while the Grateful Dead's music moved (in effect) from West to East, Deadheads tended to move from East to West."

 I agree. So I have decide to show graphically why this may be true.  I am using as an example traveling to my first 11 Grateful Dead concerts in 1976 and 1977 and comparing this to my first 11 concerts in the Bay Area in 1980 and 1981 after moving there in late December 1980.  I have using all the shows I went to in 1976 and 1977 (look to the right if you want to know the exact shows) and the first 11 I show in Oakland and Berkeley starting in December 1980 through December 29,1981 (that's 11 also).  Note I am not counting the Acoustic Show way over in San Francisco or the killer commute to San Mateo for the surprise show, so maybe you can add 30 miles to my totals. :))

Here's what it takes to be 17 and 18 years old without a car and without a driver's license and basically dead broke while attending high school and college to see 11 Dead shows in northeast in 1976 and 1977.

Accounting for trips back home to Lewiston, ME and schools in Andover, MA and Brunswick, ME, google maps says my travels are:

Compare that to the mellow hippie boy moving first to Alcatraz Ave and then 2816 Fulton Street in Berkeley.  here's my path to 11 shows of pretty amazing GD in 1980 and 1981.

These 11 roundtrips took about:

With no car needed, alot on foot up Bancroft to the Greek for 3 of these shows or a few stops on BART over to Lake Merritt Station for the other 8.  I think they should rename that place Terrapin Station, it always looked a little trippy to me (like this)

here how it looked to most deadheads back in the 1980s

My Europe 72 Show Links

 

Happy 50th Birthday Europe 72 Tour.   Here are links to the shows I looked at:

1972-04-07 and 08  http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/04/45-years-ago-best-live-band-in-america.html

1972-04-11 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2018/05/one-newcastle-please-1972-04-11-jerry.html

1972-04-21 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/04/beat-club-bremen-45-years-ago-today.html

1972-05-03 and 04 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/04/45-years-agothe-other-one-dark-star-hit.html

1972-05-10 and 11 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/08/grateful-dead-rock-rotterdam-may-11-1972.html

1972-05-23 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2017/03/swinging-london-baby-thursday-may-23.html

1972-05-26 http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2018/02/the-best-show-in-history-of-grateful.html

Brief Poll of Your Age at Your FIrst Grateful Dead Show

 Here's a little poll on age at first Grateful Dead concert.

Link to many groovy replies

https://twitter.com/gratefulseconds/status/1504971813155053583?s=20&t=dkYsXLgvppJmuRQ5rVwqdQ

The Brief History of Dark Star>Morning Dew

Originally published on August 26, 2016 at 521pm

At the very height of the Grateful Dead, between 1972 and 1974, the band performed the magical medley of Dark Star>Morning Dew one dozen times. You can hear all of them by clicking above.

This combination is the very pinnacle of the Grateful Dead experience. And I believe it's the very essence of the Grateful Dead, the wild space of the greatest song ever written by the band moving beautifully into a pace-slowing cover song that the Dead made their own, run at the creation of the group.  It's funny, if you check the Dick Lavata clips below, he basically calls every version of Dark Star>Morning Dew, "the greatest version ever".   Some goodies are here

1972 Versions, 7 of 12

05-18-1972  Munich        Dark Star [26:28] > Morning Dew [11:12]   Europe 72 Complete
05-23-1972  London        Dark Star [31:12] > Morning Dew [11:17]   Europe 72 Complete
08-24-1972  Berkeley      Dark Star [27:14] > Morning Dew [13:00]   The Perfect Show
09-21-1972  Philly           Dark Star [37:06] > Morning Dew [11:05]   Dick's Picks 35
10-18-1972  St Louis       Playing In The Band [15:50] > Drums [2:45] > Dark Star [28:25] >                                                        Morning Dew [11:07] > Playing In The Band [5:13]    1st Playing Sandwich
11-13-1972  KansasCity  Dark Star [31:19] > Morning Dew [11:09]  Philo Stomp Dick's GEMS
12-15-1972  Long Beach Truckin' [11:37]> Dark Star [21:24]> Morning Dew [12:39]


http://www.agitators.com/gd/dick_1972.html

The 'Dark Stars" from 8/21 and 8/24 are enormous. I need to
re-listen to the 8/22 show, but it seems to me that the show from 8/24
might be the winner here.

 Now to the really exceptional material. First up is
9/21/72- Philadelphia Spectrum.  This show is one of my favorite shows
ever. This version of "Dark Star->Morning Dew" might be the best one!
(there is a jam segment that is very unique and thrilling, and one that I
don't really think that I have ever heard before.)

The next most exciting show, is the middle night of the run of three at
the fabulous Fox Theater, in St. Louis, Mo. , October 18, 1972. It took me
awhile to hear this show correctly, but now it is a clear example of one
of the very best, with a couple of unusual and unique treats within the
"jam" segment before "Morning Dew".

Long Beach (12/15) was
another matter. Although I don't think of it in the same class as the
shows at the end of November, it does contain some excellent playing in
the 2nd set jam that is highlighted by a long "jam" section that follows
"Truckin", which contains some improvisational jamming that is especially
unique, and then comes "Dark Star"! Sounds great, right?  Unfortunately
the only part that one notices as "Dark Star"  are the lyrics. As soon as
the words are over, the playing resumes in the unique style that preceeded
"Dark Star". This very interesting part continues for many minutes before
the chords of "Morning Dew" become apparent. 

1973, The Duo


09-11-1973  Williamsburg Dark Star [22:09] > Morning Dew [12:41]
10-19-1973  OklahomaCity Dark Star [27:04] > Mind Left Body Jam > Morning Dew [8:12]

http://www.agitators.com/gd/dick_1973.html

The 9/11/73-Williamsburg, Va. show is another favorite of
mine. Well actually it isn't a favorite in the sense of the whole
show, but it certainly has one of the finest examples of the famous
medley "Dark Star->Morning Dew". (which, BTW, I find the
9/10/74- Alexandra Palace to be one of the highest of the high
versions!!!)

I guess we can say with confidence that things take on new
meanings on 10/19/73 in Oklahoma. This could easily have been
the first of the DP series, except for the absolute awesomeness of
"Here Comes Sunshine" on 12/19 /73. This has to be yet another
example of the "top version ever", of "Dark Star->Morning
Dew"!!! (and the jam within this incredible medley, of course!)
There is another excellent version of "Eyes of the World" that
goes into "Stella Blue" as the first encore!

1974, The Trio


02-24-1974  SF                  Dark Star [28:57] > Morning Dew [13:35]
09-10-1974  London          Dark Star [30:53] > Morning Dew [12:37]   Dick's Picks 7
10-18-1974  SF                  Seastones [24:38] > Jam [17:40] > Dark Star [17:37] > Morning Dew    
                                            [12:56]

http://www.agitators.com/gd/dick_1974.html

I was never too thrilled by the opening 3 shows at Winterland. Clearly 
the 2/24/74 night is the one to get and give a good listen.

We all know how I felt about the shows at the Alexandra Palace in 
London (9/9->11). (see 1973)

Out of the 5 shows that closed the year at Winterland, I feel that 
the middle 3 are worthy of attention. I guess that 10/18 might get the 
nod over-all, but since these are multi-track recordings, I don't have a 
whole lot of effect on whether these are released or not.

With Filler

03-16-1973  Nassau          Dark Star [26:30] > Truckin' [8:26] > Morning Dew [11:33]
08-01-1973  Jersey City    Dark Star [25:34] > El Paso [4:12] > Eyes Of The World [17:27] >                                                        Morning Dew [13:29]

Kinda/Almost
08-17-1991 Shoreline        25 Years ago this month Smokestake>He's Gone>Drums>Space>70
                                            seconds of a Dark Star Jam>Morning Dew>One More Saturday Night

In Reverse :)
12-31-81      Oakland          > Space [7:40] > The Other One [11:09] > Not Fade Away [7:28] >                                                       GDTRFB [7:21] > Morning Dew [10:44];  Dark Star [15:16] > Bertha                                                   [6:32] > Good Lovin' [10:03]

timings from deadlists.com

In my era of the Dead, they once played this medley nearly in reverse. This was the only known reverse medley that ever occur, however the band played Dew followed by Dark Star on at least four occassions in the first set in shows in 1969.

Some comments are below
On The Bus: Review of May 23, 1972 in London
The "Dark Star" is everything you want from the song in 1972. The initial jam is melodic and fast, as the band finds new grooves and permutations of the theme to explore with fervor. They descend into a quick spacey jam that is cut short with a brief drum interlude. Phil joins Billy for quick, melodic drum-and-bass duet, and then it's off into deep space. Jerry plays wandering lines with that harsh yet clean tone, as Bobby, Keith, and Billy strive to find weirder and weirder ways to play the rhythm, ultimately settling on dissonance and chaos. Jerry finds some semblance of form coming out of the chaos, and Keith peppers his meandering notes with crashing piano chords. Billy swings like the rhythmic beast he is, and Phil helps steer the groove back to the light. Jerry takes some coaxing, but eventually they find release and re-emerge with the "Dark Star" theme, crisp and clear. However, it's clear this one traveled a long, arduous road to get back to the song. It must all seem trivial to Jerry, and he signals the dawn with the opening chord of "Morning Dew." What an epic way to end this sequence, with the gently building guitar lines eventually exploding into the crescendo and the nuclear ashes settling on the soundsphere. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not yet halfway through the first set!!

Review of December 15, 1972 Long Beach for Teens :)

Dead Listening
http://www.deadlistening.com/2009/10/1972-august-24-berkeley-community.html
http://www.deadlistening.com/2008/04/1972-october-18-fox-theatre.html
Blair (I am getting to you soon)
http://www.dead.net/features/blair-jackson/blair-s-golden-road-blog-dark-star-crashes?page=6
Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/49pbpo/best_dark_star/
Heady
http://headyversion.com/song/184/grateful-dead/morning-dew/
Clubhouse
http://www.gratefuldeadprojects.com/dark_star.html
Kirkville
http://www.mcelhearn.com/the-darkest-star-shines-the-brigthest/

Stroke of Midnight, First Show of 1977: December 31, 1976 at the Cow Palace

First uploaded 12-27-2018

After midnight, we got:

Sugar Magnolia->
Eyes Of The World->
Wharf Rat->
Drums->
Good Lovin'->
Samson & Delilah->
Scarlet Begonias->
Around & Around->
Help On The Way->
Slipknot!->
Not Fade Away->
Morning Dew,

One More Saturday Night,
Uncle John's Band->
We Bid You Good Night*

This was a monster show, the only one at the Cow Palace and it comes complete with an extended Jerry Moore review in (Dead ) Relix, volume 4, number 2, where I learned of the setlists. Times were different back then my friends.  Here is the music from the show. You can also get the pdf of the Relix issue.

This is likely the best show of 1976 with the after midnight jam one of the top-31 jam segments of all-time. The show includes one of the last set-one Playing in the Band closers, a Sugar with no Daydream, a rockin' Good Lovin>Samson in the middle of set two, a fantastic Scarlet, a few months pre-Fire, an unfinished Help>Slipknot, and then Dew, OMSN, Uncle John's and We Bid You Goodnight.  This 17 year old high school senior didn't have the funds to leave Maine on this night.

Whoa.