Grateful Dead
The first disc contains the first hour or so of the
Grateful Dead’s first set. Bill Graham’s introduction is included as a separate
track. The band gets things going with “Bertha,” and the energy is high, even
though something is a bit off, out of tune. Some tuning follows. Then, when
they think they’ve got it right, they go into “Me And Bobby McGee.” More tuning
follows that, as they still need to make adjustments. Then we get the first
Pigpen performance of the night, “Next Time You See Me,” with his harmonica
prominent in the mix. “You only got your
sweet self to blame.” And guess what? More tuning follows that. This show
is somewhat known for its tuning troubles. But it’s still an enjoyable show,
and when they start “China Cat Sunflower,” the audience gets excited. Jerry’s
guitar still sounds off to me, and this is a somewhat messy rendition, though
the transition to “I Know You Rider” is fairly smooth. This version of “I Know
You Rider” has its own problems, however, with some sloppiness and perhaps
miscommunication at a few moments. There is more turning before the band
launches into “Playing In The Band,” which was still a relatively new song at
the time of this show. At the beginning, has Bob forgotten the lyrics, or does
his microphone cut out? I’m not sure. This is a really short version of
“Playing,” just about five minutes, and something still sounds off. It’s one of
the weakest versions I’ve ever heard. The song hasn’t yet developed into the
great jam vehicle it would soon become.
And then there is more tuning. Holy moly. And still more
tuning after “Loser.” It sounds like someone is impatient with the tuning. “Come on, man, let’s hear it… What are you
waiting for? Let’s hear it!” Pigpen then delivers “The Rub” (also known as
“Ain’t It Crazy”), with more good work on harmonica. More tuning follows, and
then they do “Me And My Uncle,” and it’s a pretty good rendition, with Bob
really into it. They follow that with “Big Railroad Blues,” and things seem to
be cooking now. Strange for this song to be a highlight of the disc, but it is,
and it concludes the first disc.
The second disc contains the rest of the first set and
the beginning of the second set. It kicks off with a seriously good and rockin’
version of “Hard To Handle,” with Pigpen delivering the goods vocally. Things
are really moving now, and everything seems to be coming together perfectly.
The band follows that with “Deal,” which feels like it has a slightly relaxed
pace, but is still a good version. Bob then picks Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land”
to follow that. They then end the first set with a nice long “Good Lovin’.” Oh
yes. The thing about this first set, it has a whole lot of Pigpen. And this
“Good Lovin’” has plenty of jamming, and plenty of Pigpen’s vocal
improvisation. “Jump on your pony and
ride, sweet mama!”
The second set gets off to a fun start with an energetic
“Sugar Magnolia.” Jerry then brings things down a bit with a beautiful,
heartfelt rendition of “Sing Me Back Home.” It’s an absolutely gorgeous and
moving version, and it concludes the second disc.
The third disc opens with “Mama Tried,” so the band
actually played two Merle Haggard songs in a row. Now on the CD case and on the
back of the box it lists “Beat It On Down The Line” as the next song, but the
Dead did not play that song at this show. What follows is actually “Cryptical
Envelopment,” leading into a drum solo. The drum solo is presented as a
separate track, so that is why there are still ten tracks on this disc, even
though “Beat It On Down The Line” is not present. And that leads directly to a
great, thumping, wild “The Other One,” a terrific jam with peaks and valleys
and exploration into strange territory. This one will overtake you and possibly
subdue you at moments, and then raise you up and fling you at passing meteors.
That’s followed by another Pigpen song, “Big Boss Man,” and then a good “Casey
Jones.” The second set then concludes with “Not Fade Away” into “Goin’ Down The
Road Feeling Bad” back into “Not Fade Away.” The encore is an excellent,
high-energy version of “Johnny B. Goode.” I’m glad this disc includes the
audience noise before the band comes back out for the encore. Often that is
cut.
New Riders Of The
Purple Sage
I started listening to New Riders Of The Purple Sage in
my late teens, specifically because of the Grateful Dead connection, with Jerry
Garcia and Mickey Hart early members of the band. But I ended up loving their
stuff, even their recordings without Jerry. It’s some fun, delicious country
and country rock. Well, the fourth disc contains their complete performance
from July 2, 1971. They played before the Dead that night, and Jerry sat in
with them on pedal steel.
They play some of those favorites that I had on cassette
in my teens, such as “I Don’t Know You,” the pretty “Last Lonely Eagle, “Louisiana
Lady” and “Glendale Train,” the last being a song that often gets stuck in my
head. I love the sweet-sounding “Superman.” “If you’ll share the road with me, I’ll walk along with you.” “Sailin’”
is another highlight. At the end of tracks, often the applause will quickly
fade out, so it seems likely that we’re missing some banter or tuning between
songs. They conclude their set with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk
Women.” The encore is a seriously good rendition of The Band’s “The Weight.”
The Rowan Brothers
The fifth disc contains the performance of the first band
of the night, The Rowan Brothers. I’m not all that familiar with The Rowan
Brothers, Chris and Lorin, though I was turned on to their older brother Peter
Rowan through his work with Jerry Garcia in Old And In The Way. But it turns
out Jerry Garcia worked with Chris and Lorin as well, performing on their first
record (along with Bill Kreutzmann, actually), though that wouldn’t be released
until the year after this concert. (As a side note, Phil Lesh and David Grisman
also performed on albums by The Rowan Brothers.) Jerry Garcia and Bill
Kreutzmann join them for the set captured on this disc.
Bill Graham introduces the group after thanking the
audience, and then they start their set with “Hickory Day,” which would be the
lead track on their self-titled debut album. “Outside Clover” is one of my
favorites from their set. It has a wonderfully positive feel. That’s followed
by “Don’t You Worry About A Thing.” (Elsewhere I’ve seen this song labeled as “Grumbling
Angel.”) “Better Off Dead” is a lot of fun, and it leads right into an
energetic rendition of “Peace And Happiness.” After “Mama Don’t You Cry,” The
Rowan Brothers played “We’re Gonna Get Higher,” the one song from this entire
night that is missing from the five-disc set. Its absence might be due to a
problem with the source material, as the only recording of this song I could
find online was incomplete. Still, it would have been good to include it
anyway, the two minutes or so that exist. Their set ends with “Move On Down,” a
song that would be included on their first record.
Rather than write the track lists, I’ll include a
photo of the back of the box (just keep in mind the error concerning “Beat It
On Down The Line”).
Fillmore West
Closing Week Night 3 was released on September 30, 2016 through Rox Vox.
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