DF 4: 10/15/76

10/15/76 - Shrine Auditorium - Los Angeles, CA

In October of 1976 I was in Kindergarten. I didn't know who the Grateful Dead were, but I probably didn't know who the Beatles were either at the time, so that's not really saying too much. My four year old daughter certainly knows who the Dead are now, but that's mostly because she thinks that my dancing skeletons bumper sticker is cute. But it's still a shame that my five-year-old self wasn't Dead-aware, because man they put on some great shows in this year.

The year as a whole is a bit neglected, and for a couple of reasons. It's the first year back for the band after their year-and-a-half hiatus, and some of the early shows show some rust that probably turns quite a bit of fans off. But the rust is quickly dusted away and by June (they started in May) the band is in top form again. Some highlights that I've heard include a 6/9 "Let it Grow", a stunningly-gorgeous 6/14 "Row Jimmy" and the entire second set of 7/18. The other reason 1976 doesn't get much press: 1977.

The show that I'm highlighting this week is the last show the band delivered that year before New Year's Eve. The sound is a little tinny to begin with, but this is remedied fairly quickly, and most of the show is available from archive.org as a very crispy soundboard.

'Might as Well' (one of my favorite Dead openers) kicks off an extremely well-played first set. It's always great to have a tight first set in your collection, since so many first sets, while they might be delivered adequately, tend to blend together and, in the case of 1977, become quite predictable. An excellent first set means that the CD it takes up isn't just a placeholder in your CD wallet, it's something that might actually find its way into your player more than once or twice. The only big flaw in this set is in the recording itself. In the version I link to above, there is a fairly sizable cut in Jerry's solo during "Lazy Lightning." There is an all AUD version of the show available at archive as well, but I haven't listened to it yet. Might be worth checking out the Lazy Lightning there to see if an AUD patch can be lifted.

As is usual, the 2nd set is where things start to cook. "Eyes of the World" opens, ahh, the true way to my heart. It goes into a decent "Music Never Stopped" and then Jerry delivers a beautiful "It Must Have Been the Roses" to calm things down a bit. 1976 was the first year for "Samson and Delilah." It's a song that's still finding its legs with the band for much of the year, but by the time this show rolled around, they'd just about nailed it. This version is much of what the song will become in the years following.

Oddly, Jerry chooses to slow things down yet again with "He's Gone." His and Donna's vocals blend precisely as they should in this version, and it's worth noting here for a moment that Donna, when she was good, was a fantastic part of the band. So all you Donna-hate-ahs take note: listen to this "He's Gone." Yeah, I know, there are times when she sounds like she's strangling a goat, but the woman can sing when she has the right material, and this was it.

The true climax of the show occurs next, when Drums leads into a rousing "Other One" that transitions into "Comes a Time!" Great, great work here. Unforunately, the soundboard portion of the show ends here, at around the 9:20 mark of "Comes a Time." The AUD that takes over isn't too terribly bad, and is good enough to keep for your copy, since the "Franklin's" and "Sugar Magnolia" that close the show are nothing short of excellent.

For next time: I think I'm going to throw some caution to the wind and inspect the Vince era. I don't know much about the period, but there are some decent shows there, particularly in 1993.