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Grateful DeadGrateful Dead Live at Mill Valley Recreation Center on 1980-12-06 (December 6, 1980)

Collection: : GratefulDead
Band/Artist: Grateful Dead
Date: December 6, 1980 (check for other copies)
Venue: Mill Valley Recreation Center
Location: Mill Valley, CA

Source: Audience Recording
Lineage: Master Audience Cassette > DAT > CDR
Taped by: Betty Cantor-Jackson
Keywords: Live concert

Description

Dire Wolf; On The Road Again; I've Been All Around This World; Monkey And The Engineer; Jack A Roe; Cassidy; Bird Song; Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie; Ripple

Individual Files

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Reviewer: SteveSw - - May 11, 2007
Subject: truly beautiful
i'm not given to superlatives around the dead, if only because i can't usually hold the entire body of their work in my mind long enough to make career-spanning judgments. but so far as i know, this is definitely the sweetest set i know. the energy is really wonderful. and you know, we don't often get betty cantor auds....

there are many great renditions of songs here, enough that it's foolish to mention them individually in my opinion. just get this downloaded to your computer, and enjoy....

Reviewer: Gern Blanston - - April 24, 2007
Subject: Bread and Roses
Am pretty sure this was Bread and Roses benefit. What a gem show, fun and joyful for all the right reasons. Thank you for posting! Four stars for recording and rarity, five just because.

Reviewer: rhigh22 - - April 24, 2007
Subject: A gem of a show
To me this show is all that is pure and beautiful about music. We're talking about the Grateful Dead, in a small rec hall of some sort, playing to a bunch of children and adults at what I would imagine is a christmas party. This, my friends and fellow dead heads is music the way it should be... and lets not forget that Monkey and the Engineer...

Reviewer: ShawnS - - December 7, 2006
Subject: great show
They are kind enough to play after a parade of clowns and a mystery guest (Santa Claus). Wish I was there. 4 stars just for the weirdness.

Reviewer: deadhead27 - - December 7, 2006
Subject: This day in history.
You know I just stumbled upon this show by going to "shows this day in history" and my oh my what a find! I feel like the heavens have opened up to rain down on me! Gotta love 'Monkey & the Engineer'.
Incidentally, if you like this you've got to check out Jerry's 'Not For Kids Only' CD with David Grisman.

Reviewer: L. Rosley - - November 29, 2006
Subject: This is why I love Archive.org
After listening to all of the famous Sept/Oct. 1980 Warfield and Radio City accoustic sets here at Archive, I thought I heard all of these fabulous accoustic sets. Then I stumble on to this one! This is one of those rare, amazing finds that exist here at Archive.

This is the Dead playing for pure fun at a small holiday party. This is not in a big hall, but in a suburban community center in front of a small group of kids and parents and a few local fans who probably heard a wild rumor that the Dead would be at the rec center. The woman introducing the band tells the audience to quiet down because there is no sound system. She knows that they are big rock stars and knows Jerry is the lead, but is unsure of Bob's last name. The band then goes on to do a fabulous set. Very, very few of us ever saw the Dead at a venue like this!

Like the Warfield/Radio City gigs, Cassidy and Bird Song are the summit of the set. Cassidy is a great done accousticly. (As Jerry says here, it's sort of like rock and roll.) And Bird Song smokes. But every song in this set is well played and well sung. Pure 5-star material.

As for the sound, this recording is better than many audience recordings that people rave about. The main audio problem is some clipping in places. The fact that there is a recording of this event at all is amazing, let alone the remarkable fact that we can download it.

Reviewer: Little_monkey2210 - - July 17, 2006
Subject: Gotta love it!
You know, this show is good, and whyle I agree that Birdsong ar high point, I love the Monkey and The Engineer, I mean really! it is just a fun song! my dad used to sing it to me all of the time. The rest of the show was... meh, ok, but it is the dead! gotta love it!

Reviewer: slipknot!83 - - April 13, 2006
Subject: Distortion
Listen to Jerry's accoustic guitar. It sounds like an electric. The distortion is just painfully obvious. Get a hold of a decent copy of "Reckoning", listen to that, then try to listen to a complete song on this. I tell you, I could not do it.

Reviewer: CARGO ZOMBIE - - January 22, 2006
Subject: Garcia and Wire
From the get go, this is a magical show. The song selection is very good and played with lots of emotion. Cassidy and Bird Song are the high points of the show for me. The sound quality is amazing and well worth the download. I know it sounds cliche, but listen to this show, close your eyes, and you're there!!

Reviewer: capn doubledose - - August 8, 2005
Subject: Wonderful Bird Song
These are crystal clear and there is no other way to listen to this other than the audience tapes as the board would not do the majesty of this set justice - This has as much noise on it as the Melkweg shows -
REQUIRED LISTENING

Reviewer: brendanmcauley - - June 11, 2005
Subject: good
great list but the sound quality is odd there is too much noise...its all loud and almost unbearable...am I crazy? I know others seems to really like this show.

Nice show to have but is too audience sounding for me.

Reviewer: primalscrn - - May 23, 2005
Subject: wow!
This site is absolutly amazing to me, its hard to believe! having this site,a deadbase, and a tapers companion, what else could i ever want! I LOVE ARCHIVE!!!!!

Reviewer: TioJuan - - February 14, 2005
Subject: Amazing show!
This is perhaps the best of the '80 acoustic sets - a MUST HAVE. Indeed this is in front of a very small (and young!) audience. Although there is no PA, the vocals are definitely miked in the mix. Check out this photo from the show and see for yourselves:
http://www.moonvalleystudio.com/vintage/vintage10.html

As for listening, good headphones are a REQUIREMENT! How else would you hear the kid telling Jerry "I want rock-n-roll." Jerry responds with "This is kind of like rock-n-roll...this next tune" before launching into Cassidy. Lots of great stuff going on all through the show that you would certainly miss without headphones. At the end of the Ripple track, the emcee hands out certificates of appreciation, but Brent is already gone - "Where's Brent," she asks and is shocked at how "shy" the band is. Phil responds "Years of practice, ma'am. Years of practice!" It's funny, too, that the band wasn't even the "headline" act - Santa Claus was!

To add to the provenance of this cassette tape, it was found in one of Betty's siezed storage lockers and the original CD in circulation also contains Reckoning alternate mixes found in the same box.

Reviewer: Dylanstubs - - January 20, 2005
Subject: send in the clowns
I love how the "emcee" lady thanks the clowns before introducing the band, and then mispronounces Weir's name. A wonderful treat from the days when they were loose and agreeable.

Reviewer: timeofdeaths - - January 15, 2005
Subject: Mill Valley Recreation Center
This show IS special. Not only are the dead playing to children... they are playing to special needs children. I have a picture that looks like it is from a newspaper, and on one of the wheel chairs there is DEFINATLY a stealie sticker.

Reviewer: pnc - - January 11, 2005
Subject: Mill Valley Rec Center
This really is amazing. Certainly as good a quality recording as you could ask for...and this is just so obviously special. One of the few times I really love the Aud recording. You can tell Jerry is singing to kids...he over enunciates the words to the tunes...at least for the first few tunes. Its also kinda cool that obviously very few people there really know what they are seeing...does one person ask Jerry what he is doing when he is tuning up?

Anyway, beyond all that, the jam in Birdsong alone makes this 5 stars...get this now.

Reviewer: Bill V - - December 21, 2004
Subject: I would'a loved to hav'ben ther'
yes, a cliche, but I would'a loved to hav'ben ther'. I was the same age as Jerry when this was recorded. A warm/heartfelt show, Bird Song /It aint no lie/Ripple, gives me goose bumps. Sound quality under the circumstances is just fine..you ARE there.Download,don't hesitate.
Thank you.

Reviewer: borndead - - December 21, 2004
Subject: 10 stars
I have a picture of this show from a book.I always wanted to hear it.Saw the setlist in Deadbase and always wondered about this one.
The Dead were cool to say the least to play a nice not for kids only set for the faithful who were there.Who was there?
Jerry introduces the band.
This a must for your expensive headphones.
This is probally the only recording?
A real Betty-Audience.
Jonathan Aizen must be Jerry,I have finally figured it out.
10 stars.
Were there even tickets printed for this night?
The band sounds like they are playin for kids.
Only once.
Other special shows would be JGB Oregon'82 prison show,etc.

Reviewer: woodyland - - November 23, 2004
Subject: kcsn.org
I am listening for the first time to this show via a radio program I listen to every tuesday night. It does sound great so I will download now. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Reviewer: Dblank - - October 15, 2004
Subject: Quaint Show
As the other review notes, it sounds like there are very few people at this show, and very likely, few of them knew the music as there is no reaction to the start of Ripple. This is simply an awesome show.

Reviewer: glens - - October 10, 2004
Subject: Mill Valley Rec Center
I've seen a picture from this show, judging from that, it looks like the audience consists mainly of children in wheelchairs, making ne think this may have been part of Neil Young's Bridge School efforts. Anyway, for the no PA system (as announced by the lady introducing them), the sound is very very good, with an ambience like one was there. I have a personal reason for saying that a '5' is not a high enough rating for this fine show!!!!

Notes

Betty Cantor-Jackson's Master Audience Cassette > DAT > CDR; EAC'ed / SHN'ed by Scott Clugston