Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Grateful Dead - Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5/7/77



When approached about the growing trend of Grateful Dead soundboard tape trading Jerry Garcia said something to the tune of: "After we play a show, it doesn't belong to us anymore, it belongs to the fans." After this, the band decided to give away soundboard recordings of all of their concerts for free (before the internet of course). When Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir decided to take soundboard recordings of Dead shows off the internet in 2005 (his excuse being: "I have to put my kids through college", this coming from a man who was in a band that pulled in $50 million in concert ticket sales alone IN THE LATE 80'S), he did Dead fans across the world a great disservice. Phil Lesh, the Dead bassist and advocate of keeping the shows online, was angry at Weir for a good year or two. When I started getting into the Dead 7 or 8 years ago I realized that there was a never-ending world of Dead music and shows waiting to be discovered. Within a year or so I had hundreds of CD's worth of soundboard Dead shows. (As a sidenote: soundboard versions of Dead shows were recorded directly from the amps and microphones through a "soundboard". As a result, these shows are of the greatest quality possible at the time these shows were recorded and were far superior to the other source of recorded shows which were through audience tapings.) Now that the soundboard recorded shows have been taken off the internet, Deadheads have had to either go underground or start paying for officially released concert recordings.

With that said, in defiance of Bob Weir, I have decided to start posting full soundboard Dead shows every now and then. Because, like Lesh and Garcia, I feel that fans should have the right to own these concerts and acquire them freely. Because these concerts really do "belong to the fans".

The first concert I'm posting is one of my favorite Dead recordings: May 7, 1977 at the Boston Garden. 1977 was an awesome year from the Dead and May of '77 was arguably the best month the Dead ever had. I have a recording of every show the Dead played in May '77 and they are all amazing. They are on target every night and it is the best era song wise as well. This concert has my favorite version of Cassidy, an awesome Terrapin Station that segues (which I'll indicate with ">") into Samson and Delilah, and an unreal jam to close out the concert: Eyes of the World > Drumz > The Wheel > Wharf Rat > Around and Around with U.S. Blues as the encore. If this is your first Dead show, you're in for a real treat. Put on your headphones, lay back, and enjoy this amazing experience. If this isn't your first Dead show, you'll see why I chose this show as my first Dead post.

Setlist:
Bertha
Cassidy
Deal
Jack Straw
Peggy-O
New Minglewood Blues
Mississippi Half Step >
Big River
Tennessee Jed
The Music Never Stopped

Terrapin Station >
Samson and Delilah
Friend of the Devil
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of the World >
Drumz >
The Wheel >
Wharf Rat >
Around and Around
E: U.S. Blues

Note: the picture of the band above is not from the Boston Garden show but from 5/28/77 in Hartford, CT

Grateful Dead - Boston, MA 5/7/77 Disc 1
Grateful Dead - Boston, MA 5/7/77 Disc 2
Grateful Dead - Boston, MA 5/7/77 Disc 3

1 comment:

  1. I WAS THERE! I miss the old Gahhhden...stinky & uncomfortable as it was. I believe I've read that the Dead played more shows there than any other band. And yes, it was a fantastic show!

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