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Poster: | Arbuthnot | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 3:54pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
can someone please link me to a recording of any 6 hour concerts, that are memorable, from the golden era?
"They would play songs that often lasted an hour each"
can someone please link me to one of the many one-hour songs from the golden era?
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Poster: | robthewordsmith | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 4:03pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
So maybe I should delete the maybe.
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Poster: | Arbuthnot | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 4:11pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
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Poster: | Judge TOOTMO | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 8:46pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
I think that guy's been trollin' on the forum.
TOOTMO
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 7:46am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
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Poster: | robthewordsmith | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 4:26pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 8:36pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
In 1970, the year he refers to, five-hour shows weren't uncommon, especially if you include the NRPS sets. Several Fillmore East shows started at midnight (or later) and went til dawn. (For instance, 2/13/70.)
They never played hour-long songs (if only!), but you could easily get a 40-minute Lovelight that year. Which may have seemed like it lasted for hours...
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Poster: | snow_and_rain | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 10:29pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
This post was modified by snow_and_rain on 2010-10-13 05:29:48
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Oct 12, 2010 10:55pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: 1973: The Dead on a downhill slide! |
The July '70 Fillmore East shows started at midnight, since the Dead didn't have to bother with a 'first set' or opening bands like they did in February... So they could stay on for hours & hours if they felt like it.
Of course, they didn't play til dawn ALL the time. Really they only had to do it a few times for the reputation to get around: "This is the band that PLAYS TIL DAWN!"
Matt Vernon has a funny comment about the 12/31/78 show: "I was living in Berkeley at the time; I remember getting an espresso on New Year's morning and hearing someone say, 'I think the Dead are STILL playing at Winterland.'"
Then there's Lester Bangs' immortal parody:
"In San Francisco a rock group called the Grateful Dead has been playing an uninterrupted concert for ten days and, even more amazingly, a song entitled 'Turn on Your Lovelamp' for the last four straight days, around the clock."
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 7:33am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
And certainly, from 74 to 82, no such No Cal show exists, as I was at most of them. The one that last six hrs, started with K&D, JGB, Kingfish, then the DEAD. IE, Jun, 75; but again, is a NRPS-esque hybrid show.
So, though it may have happened, it's the exception that proves the rule, though in this case, the myth is the rule acknowledged by one and all.
Would you agree, LiA?
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 9:46am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
If you look at shows after '74, the Dead shortened their sets considerably. (They were getting old & tired! You caught them too late!)
The really big 4 or 5-hour, 3-set shows come in the summers of '72, '73 and '74, but those were outdoor afternoon shows, which had a different ambience. ('They played til sunset!' is not quite the same as 'They played til dawn!')
So 1970 is the year of the HUGE nighttime shows, and we have proof of at least a couple Fillmore East shows that did last over 5 hours. (There's also 4/26/70, another daytime show which was as long, but we don't have.)
Now of course, there's the discrepancy between 'actual' showtimes and the 3 CDs worth of music we have, which I think is mainly accounted for by the setbreaks. True, a lot of time in those marathon shows was 'dead space', waiting for the band...
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Poster: | marty weinberg | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 12:42pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
Well I certainly attended many 1970's shows that seemed like they took all night.
Post Mickey and Mr.Pen the dead were different. How could they not be?
What is also not brought up often is that they had BAD nights in 69/70. The chemicals, stars, vibes, whatever; did not align. Great achievments involve great risk.
As the dead moved forward they simply took fewer risks as they fell into a more comfortable groove.
"Gone" is a bit overstated by the author. Maybe he was "gone" too?
peace,
marty
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 6:34pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
I agree about them falling into a groove over time (or, as some might put it, a rut), taking less risks...maybe that's professionalism, maybe just getting older & preferring a structure to fall back on...
We do have a fair number of bad performances from 1969 on tape...(and some less-than-blazing 1970 shows, too)...they did get more 'consistent' in the next few years.
Fortunately, unlike showgoers at the time, we can just overlook the misfires & move on to all the great shows on tape! People are still in awe over the 6/24/70 Port Chester show... (And they would be in more awe over those July '70 Fillmore East shows if the tapes sounded better!)
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Poster: | snow_and_rain | Date: | Oct 13, 2010 6:52pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
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Poster: | midnightcarousel | Date: | Oct 14, 2010 6:01am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
Still, they never topped 6/24/70... thanks for that, by the way :)
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Poster: | marty weinberg | Date: | Oct 14, 2010 2:24pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Arb, LiA, and myths... |
Sorry about all the commentary, noise
If I had only known the whole world would be listening...
the dew of dews,
imho it defines the time