For donbosco and other Deadheads

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LeoBloom

LeoBloom

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I know my friend donbosco is a fan of the Dead. He and I and a mutual buddy have had a few conversations about shows, etc. I'm sure there are others here too.

The latest official release is called Friend of the Devils and is series of shows from spring of 1978. The spotlight show is from dook university on 4/12/78. It's a damn good show.

The Good Ol' Deadcast has an episode dedicated to this show. You can find it here: The Official Grateful Dead Podcast. Unfortunately there are a number of mentions of dook basketball and even a couple of that POS coach k. But there is also a lot of interesting info about the era and the scene in the Triangle during this time. Apparently in the early 1970s there was something called the Invisible College at UNC that taught counter cultural topics. Interesting note too about the cameron outhouse and why bands played there. Perry Como had a radio show sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes (of course made in Durham). Because of this connection he would do some of his shows in Durham. In order to make the acoustics work and be suitable for radio, the cigarette company paid to have changes made to the outhouse. Thus it became more acoustically friendly to bands.

There is also a decent video of this concert. The student TV station recorded it. You can watch it here:
 
Haven’t had a good chance to sit down and listen to the Dook 78 show yet. Looking forward to it though, the reviews all sound promising.
 
I was there (As was our friend ZS) - it was my first and I departed sold. Looking forward to the look and listen. This is, I believe a simple listen:

I’m gonna dig into that Invisible College thing - sounds like a Nyle Frank affiliated sort of thing to me.
 
LeoBloom said:
The setlist is pretty standard for the era but the band is on.
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I try my best to avoid looking at the setlist of a show that I’ve never listened to before I delve into it haha. That checks out though, the setlists for that era generally follow a certain pattern.
 
donbosco said:
I was there (As was our friend ZS) - it was my first and I departed sold. Looking forward to the look and listen. This is, I believe a simple listen:

I’m gonna dig into that Invisible College thing - sounds like a Nyle Frank affiliated sort of thing to me.
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I thought both of you were at this show!!
Yeah, the invisible college was early 70s and seems very interesting. I think it was Nyle Frank.
 
Peppers49 said:
I try my best to avoid looking at the setlist of a show that I’ve never listened to before I delve into it haha. That checks out though, the setlists for that era generally follow a certain pattern.
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I'm like a kid at Christmas when it comes to setlists - I can't help but look.
 
How does everyone get their fix of seeing Dead-related acts in person these days?

We’re fortunate enough to have a top notch tribute band in my city that also sometimes does Jerry Garcia band sets. My buddies and I usually went to at least 1 dead and co show every time they would tour as a sort of reunion. They were pretty vague about last summer being their “final tour” lol but if they keep doing residencies and maybe one off mini tours (say 4 nights in a row in NYC or something) that would still scratch the itch.
 
Back in 1993 I remember driving home after working at the Gothic rockpile( aka dook). I ran into a huge traffic jam on Franklin Street and noticed a large group of folks trudging up the street. I rolled down my window and asked them if there was a car wreck or some sort of emergency.

A bearded guy wearing a bandana and tattered jeans stopped, looked at me, and said, "Nah man, the Dead are in town."
 
Peppers49 said:
How does everyone get their fix of seeing Dead-related acts in person these days?

We’re fortunate enough to have a top notch tribute band in my city that also sometimes does Jerry Garcia band sets. My buddies and I usually went to at least 1 dead and co show every time they would tour as a sort of reunion. They were pretty vague about last summer being their “final tour” lol but if they keep doing residencies and maybe one off mini tours (say 4 nights in a row in NYC or something) that would still scratch the itch.
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The wife and I really enjoy the tribute band Cosmic Charlie. They play in the Triangle several times a year. I usually see them at Lincoln Theater in Raleigh, but I've seen them a couple of times at Cat's Cradle too. I highly recommend them.
 
heelinhell said:
Back in 1993 I remember driving home after working at the Gothic rockpile( aka dook). I ran into a huge traffic jam on Franklin Street and noticed a large group of folks trudging up the street. I rolled down my window and asked them if there was a car wreck or some sort of emergency.

A bearded guy wearing a bandana and tattered jeans stopped, looked at me, and said, "Nah man, the Dead are in town."
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I was definitely at those shows...
 
hedge said:
I was definitely at those shows...
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My brother was road-tripping up from UVA to see the 93 Chapel Hill Dead show when I was in grad school. He had a ticket for me to see my first dead show (they were more to his taste than mine, but seemed like a good experience to have at least once), but traffic was so bad that he went straight to the show and so I missed it. (He made it up later by taking me to see Sting open for the Dead at RFK).

I remember the town had clearly been descended upon by deadheads - bunch of folks milling around and most notably changing the sign at Slugs at the Pines to "Slugs at the Penis" That was pretty good.
 
The Sphere went over really well with Dead & Co. They pretty much sold out 20 shows except the limited view seats. They are on record as saying they'd like to do it again so I'm pretty sure they will have another run there. Maybe not as long.
 
Peppers49 said:
How does everyone get their fix of seeing Dead-related acts in person these days?
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I've been to maybe a dozen Dead & Co. shows, but the name to which they're frequently referred - Dead & Slow - is unfortunately well-earned. Don't believe me? Pull up any Dead & Co. song at random (although I would suggest something like Help on the Way) on Youtube and turn the playback speed up to 1.15. It sounds great, and not even slightly "too fast" (turn up most videos of any song to 1.15 and they're starting to sound borderline comical). Listen at that speed for a minute or two and then (and this is the sad part) turn it back to "normal" playback speed. It sounds like they playing thru molasses. I'm not sure how they can even play that slow, but they do. Kinda depressing, but I still enjoy going and hanging out with friends..

 
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Some buddies and I went to the 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well shows in Santa Clara with Trey occupying Jerry's spot, I enjoyed those shows. The times I've seen Dark Star Orchestra I've also enjoyed. I've watched some JRAD on youtube, they sound great but I've not seen them live yet. I caught a Dead cover band at the Cradle a couple years ago, very well could've been Cosmic Charlie that someone mentioned earlier, I can't recall, but they were good. After a 20+ year hiatus (and I never had been to many even back in the day), I have been to a few Phish shows in the past year or so, I've got some buddies who are way into them, can't say I share their level of enthusiasm for the music (although they are extremely talented and I don't dislike them) but it's fun hanging out with the old gang and cutting up a little bit. Great light show and the crowd is extremely into it, reminiscent of a Dead show, so that's fun too...
 
hedge said:
I've been to maybe a dozen Dead & Co. shows, but the name to which they're frequently referred - Dead & Slow - is unfortunately well-earned. Don't believe me? Pull up any Dead & Co. song at random (although I would suggest something like Help on the Way) on Youtube and turn the playback speed up to 1.15. Sound great, and not even slightly "too fast" (turn up most videos of any song to 1.15 and they're starting to sound borderline comical). Listen at that speed for a minute or two and then (and this is the sad part) turn it back to "normal" playback speed. It sounds like they playing thru molasses. I'm not sure how they can even play that slow, but they do. Kinda depressing, but I still enjoy going and hanging out with friends..

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I’ve come around on Dead and Co over the years. They for sure have a tendency to slow down the tempo at times, but I feel like that’s more due to Bob preferring to slowly meander through certain songs as opposed to an inability to play fast. They can rip it when they want to, especially now with Jay Lane drumming instead of Kruetzmann. In my experience the tempo thing varies from show to show and is dependent on the setlist.

Overall I’m with you though; I prefer my local Dead tribute band all things considered, but dead and co is still a blast for the scene and as an excuse to hang out with my buddies.

Edit: I see you mentioned JRAD: I absolutely love their take on GD music. It’s very unique compared to D&C, DSO, some of the other high profile tributes, and if you want high tempo, they are all gas the entire time. They do a great job constructing fun setlists too. Would highly recommend.
 
LeoBloom said:
The latest official release is called Friend of the Devils and is series of shows from spring of 1978. The spotlight show is from dook university on 4/12/78. It's a damn good show.
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Speaking of damn good Duke shows, they're playing 12/8/73 as the noon concert right now on the Dead channel (23!) on Sirius, the first of only four shows they ever played at Cameron. Excellent show from what was surely one of their top 10 tours ever (easily top 5 for me, probably top 3 - three Dick's Picks were culled from this tour if that tells you anything, plus several other archival releases). I generally listen to the noon concert at work, esp. if it's anything from 1969-78, looking forward to savoring this one. If you don't have SiriusXM I would say pull it up on Internet Archive, but they apparently are temporarily closed down due to something called a DDOS attack..
 
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