Yes, a chimp act opened the show. and when their trainer made them smoke cigarettes the crowd booed...but also threw joints on the stage, which he gathered up before the chimps could. I only remember Easy Wind and it was the last time I saw Pig Pen before he passed. The first time was at MIT in the armory in May of '70. That show was up close and personal. We made a giant joint containing an entire ounce of pot and when we couldn't get it to light, we broke it in two and sent they were like chimneys and you could easily see the trails of smoke as they made their way around the arena. It was also the first time I encountered bogus tickets and 1/2 the folks who were supposed to go with us ended up with them and since it was before the days of parking lot partying they were out of luck. I was hoping this recording would fill in some gaps fore me but no such luck.

This is a fake
There is no known recording of the Boston University 11.21.70 show.

From the wonderful dead essays blogspot article excerpt
The tape of “11/21/70” turned out to be a falsely labeled fragment of 4/3/70, so there are no other Cosmic Charlies available from 1970. It actually wasn’t played that often in surviving shows – only 20 times in 1969, and 15 times in 1970 (though undoubtedly more performances are missing). Never a very frequent song, the Dead were playing it even less in fall 1970; it doesn’t even turn up in audience memories of lost shows. By that point, the Cryptical reprise (when played) was more likely to segue to Sugar Magnolia, and the Dead seem to have been losing interest in Cosmic Charlie.


There's a lot more information on the history of cosmic Charlie in the article

This tape is mislabeled - it's actually from 4/3/70 Cincinnati, which is available in better quality. No actual tape from 11/21/70 is known.

Snippet of what was probably an excellent show in the fall of 70. Apparently a chimp act opened, as did the New Riders play. Ned - per usual in 1970/71 - can't quite be found on the recording. Phil sounds sweet and bouncy for the return of Cryptical. Likely will not be revisiting this one, though. Too little, here, from the show and the audio is much too flawed.

I was one of the many who didn't get tickets. I went to the back to listen through the open doors. Next thing I knew, I was being carried in in a wave of humanity. It was scary as hell. I saw a policeman disappear under the crowd. I was almost impaled by a bit brace as I was pushed over a speaker.
I managed to stay for the show;-)#). The trained chimps was, to this day, the strangest thing I ever saw at a concert. The NROPS were great, as were the Dead. It was my favorite Dead concert. I was standing right in front of the stage. I remember Dark Star, the Eleven and Uncle Johns Band. It was my favorite weekend, ever, because I saw the Allman Brothers at the Tea Party Friday Night.

Forget NROTPS the first act at this show was a CHIMP ACT...I know cause me & Dreamer knocked it down when it was over....And later me & Sam Cutler tried to hold the MOB back who didn't get in & were buckling the Gym Doors from outside but they burst thru anyway...seems someone printed hundreds of tickets with the same numbers pissin a lot of people off ..Great Show while it lasted ..Ned on keyboards for sure !

while the parchment may have yellowed a bit, the message in this holy text is still clear. a day before my birthdate,11-22, I wish someone would upload the show from the next night. It's supposed to have been at the Middlesex county community college in Edison NJ.

Yeah, the sound quality is not all it could be but it's totally listenable, especially in your car with the volume turned way freaking up. I actually like the way this tape sounds in the same way I like the way my 9th generation tape of 5-2-70 sounds: distorted to the max like some of those early Ash Ra Tempel Private Tapes.

This is seriously hot stuff and what's great is that you can tell it's going to be good from the first fifteen seconds of Cryptical. Both Jerry and Bobby are singing like they mean it ...

Will someone please upload the audience tape of the Merced, CA show? I don't want to do it myself because I still haven't forgiven Bob "Money, Money, Money" Weir for his bad behavior.

While the sound quality is poor, the show is great and definately listenable. Worth downloading. Only giving it 5 stars just to boost the rating of it, should really just get a 3 1/2.

Sound quality is non existent.