So for a show like May 17th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where they break out “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo” 2nd song into the show, it sets a somewhat laid back tone for the evening. Its interesting because listening to the sets as a collection you can kinda hear when the band was regrouping its energy. This was a far cry from lazy sounding shows the band did in 1976 as they were finding their footing (or were losing their footing a year or so later in 1978 - yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the ’78 shows folks). Imagine the funkiest dance groove this side of Bohannon played with the flair of a steaming jazz fusion group like Chick Corea’s Return To Forever and you have an idea of the sound I’m talking about. Indeed, when the band kicks into versions of “Eyes of the World” coming out of “Estimated Prophet” during the Saint Louis show on May 15th, you are going on a journey of epic proportions. This is sort of like a Grateful Dead version of those wonderful old leather backed books you saw on your grandfathers bookshelves when you were a little kid. Only the greatest stories told here are much more sonically engaging and may well make you want to get up and dance around the room alone or with your life mate or your dog or cat or whomever is available. What we get is an absolutely stunning and wonderful multi-disc box set that truly captures the essence of the tour, replete with a celestially designed, die-cut box housing gorgeous paper back novel sized cases for each show, all designed by Grammy Award-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike.
#GRATEFUL DEAD TOUR ARCHIVE#
I’m sure there is some significant backstory as to why that concert has not been put out as of yet, but in the interim, the good folks at Rhino have teamed up with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead to issue the next best thing: a collection of key shows from around that same period which have note yet seen the light of day in any official archive series releases (ie. May 8th, 1977 has become something of a holy grail for Dead Heads due to a widely circulating - but still unofficially released - soundboard recording made by then engineer for the band, the great Betty Cantor Jackson. The Grateful Dead played some of the finest shows in the band’s storied history. In many ways, Spring 1977 exceeded the ’72 run and the month of May was a particular time when all the stars aligned. Additionally, 1977 marked a period where second drummer Mickey Hart was fully and completely back in the band.Įverything was fitting together neatly in the group, and they were playing with a tightness and vigor that rivaled their classic 1972 European tour.
They had taken a couple years off between 19, only performing one real show in 1975 (a now legendary FM broadcast from San Francisco’s tiny Great American Music Hall and the inaugural release in a series, One From The Vault). In the case of the Grateful Dead, 1977 was prime period of ascension for the group, having just been signed to Arista Records and putting out - arguably - one of their most complete musical statements since 1973’s Wake of the Flood, the lush Terrapin Station. Well, you first have to get yourself in the headspace where the band in question is/was at a given moment in time. How do you review a whole tour - or even a part of a tour - by a band?
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