DF 10: 11/19/66

11/19/66 - Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco, CA

As I said earlier, I've found that this period of the Dead isn't my favorite. But, as Stewart reminded me in his comments, what band didn't get better with age? Let's see -- Beatles? Check. Stones? Check. Zep? Check. Yep, I guess the theory holds, and it's the same with the Grateful Dead.

There's a lot to like in this recording, though, which is why I'm happy to present it here for my tenth DF. There's a bit of a question as to what song actually opened the show, though. Some have it listed as "Cold Rain and Snow," while archive.org has "High Healed Sneakers" as the kick-off tune. Regardless, it has escaped the setlist questions that plague quite a few shows at archive.org from 1966, where we're not even sure if songs presented in some archives were even played that night.

"High Healed Sneakers" contains a wonderful solo from Jerry, hinting at the greatness to come in later years. We then get what is one of probably two "Pain In My Hearts," and I'm surprised this tune wasn't played more. Pig's organ sounds great, Jerry's guitar sounds great, and the Pig-man himself puts down some truly fantastic vocals, again hinting at what's to come.

The earlier versions of "Cold Rain and Snow" are a little jarring if you're used to the ones that came later. The song, as it appeared in 1966, is much faster than in later years, and the organ gives the song an almost happy feel. They wisely slowed the song down later, and gave it a more crunchy feel.

"Cream Puff War" is excellent, a top-notch version of the song. Unfortunately, there's some static in the left channel of the song starting at around the 5:45 mark, and continues to the end of the song. It actually sounds like the person recording the show is aware of the problem and is trying to fix it, and it does get better for "The Same Thing" and eventually disappears.

"Smokestack Lightning" begins a run of 3 Pig songs to close out, and this is probably the best section of the show. Fantastic solo from Jerry around the 5 to 6 minute mark. "King Bee" is one of my absolute favorite Pig songs, and I could listen to a 20 minute version, if such a version actually existed (although I'm not sure that it doesn't). This one is top-notch. The "Midnight Hour" that ends the night is glorious -- all 18+ minutes of it.

Pig is clearly the leader of the band at this point in their career. One can only wonder how this would have shaped their musical direction later on had he remained healthy. Shows from this era are wonderful documents of a band finding its legs, experimenting with directions in which they want to go. I can't say that I'll listen to it with any frequency, but it was a worthwhile show to analyze nonetheless.

It's back to the future for next time, in all likelihood something from the early-to-mid eighties, a period I don't know that well and am eager to learn more about.