Warning: This article will discuss drug usage
The Warlocks took on a new name for their show on Dec. 4, 1965, a name that would become synonymous with the epitome of what a jam band is. The Grateful Dead played at one of Ken Kesey’s “Acid Tests” in San Jose, which was one of many parties at which live music was performed in makeshift venues where black lights illuminated neon-painted walls. As the name suggests, LSD was commonplace at these functions, and the posters would often pose the question, “Can you pass the acid test?”. These parties would begin a cultural phenomenon lasting beyond the next 30 years that the band would exist. From creating a “Wall Of Sound” speaker system to rounding up a loyal fanbase known as “Deadheads” that would go as far as to follow entire tours for as long as they could afford.
The Grateful Dead was comprised of Jerry Garcia on lead guitar and vocals, Bob Weir on rhythm guitar and vocals, Phil Lesh on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and Mickey Hart on drums, but Hart took a hiatus from 1971 to 1974 after his dad embezzled some of the band’s funds. The keyboardist for the group fluctuated, but in order of when they were in the band, the keyboardists were Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Tom Constanten, Keith Godchaux, Brent Mydland, and Vince Welnick.
While the Grateful Dead has extensive amounts of live releases, they have yet to release everything from their “vault” and even then a lot of releases only get physical releases on vinyl or CD. The non-profit organization Internet Archive has a whole section of their website dedicated to live tapes of the band and the website Headyversion.com allows users to vote on the best versions of songs. These two sites have made it so easy to explore the world of the Grateful Dead and I cannot recommend them enough.
One thing about the Grateful Dead that should be noted is their use of segueing their songs together. This means that they jam between the songs to continue playing without stopping. Segues are indicated by putting a “>” between the song titles.
Pigpen (+Constanten) Era
From 1965 to 1970, the Grateful Dead had four studio albums, one live album, and Anthem of the Sun, which contained both live and studio performances. Their debut eponymous album would come out in 1967, but they recorded songs like “Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)” from Anthem of the Sun as early as 1965 in the studio. These two earlier eras at the beginning of the Dead’s career are the most psychedelic of the four, seeing as how they were popular with Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters and had well-known LSD cook and sound engineer Owsley Stanley doing most of their soundboards. The Grateful Dead channeled both high-energy psychedelia as well as rock/blues-fueled jams with covers like “Hard To Handle,” “Turn on Your Love Light,” “Smokestack Lightnin,'” and “Good Lovin,'” all of which were sung by Pigpen and often included his own, often improvised adlibbing (Check out the “Good Lovin'” from April, 17 1971 here).
Pigpen’s time with the Grateful Dead, 1967 through 1969, specifically has a name of its own, “Primal Dead.” This era is defined by their booming heavy versions of their earlier songs. At this point in their career their shows weren’t the two and a half to three hour concerts that they would soon become, but this was because they didn’t have as many songs in their repertoire. But with shows like the ones in August 1968 at The Shrine Auditorium (Two from the Vault) or October 12, 1968, both of which contain phenomenal versions of a common suite, Dark Star>St. Stephen>The Eleven>Death Don’t Have No Mercy. However, it was in October of 1968 that Pigpen, as well as Weir, were briefly fired from the group, which led to Constanten’s joining of the group, even though both Pigpen and Weir were rehired. Pigpen and Constanten’s work together with the band can be heard on the Grateful Dead’s first live album, Live/Dead.
Godchaux Era
Keith Godchaux’s contribution to the Grateful Dead can first be heard on Europe ’72, despite it coming out nearly a year after he joined the band. He would have the second-longest time as keyboardist with the Dead. During their European tour of 1972, Pigpen would remain with the band, but it would be his last tour, with his final show being shortly after the tour ended on June 17, 1972. If you Google a list of the best Grateful Dead shows, it is no surprise that most of them will be from Godchaux’s tenure. With famous tours like Europe 1972, the Spring, Summer, and Fall tour of 1974, which featured Owsley Stanley’s Wall of Sound, a speaker system that was composed of about 600 speakers and was about 600 feet tall. It could project quality sound for up to a quarter of a mile. Perhaps the most notable tour with Godchaux on keys would be the Spring 1977 tour, which includes their most well-known show at Barton Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, May 8, 1977. The show displays the Dead’s superb mid to late ’70s sound, and it is most well-known for its version of “Scarlet Begonias”>”Fire On The Mountain,” a very common two-song jam.
During the earlier parts of Godchaux’s time with the Dead both before and after their 1975 touring hiatus contains some terrific performances, including August 27, 1972, in Veneta, OR, which has some of the best performances of songs like “Playing in the Band,” “Dark Star”>”El Paso,” and “Jack Straw.” This show is a prime example of the Godchaux era before their 1975 touring hiatus, before releasing Blues For Allah. Other great examples of pre-hiatus excellence include “Bird Song” from June 22, 1973, which has Godchaux with a wah-wah pedal attached to his piano, which gives a really fun sound to the song, a 30+ minute “Truckin'”>”Jam”>”Not Fade Away”>”Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad” from May 19, 1974, that is my favorite version of “Truckin'” and is just a terrific feat of sound through the jam that follows. Shortly after that show, they would perform one of the best versions of “China Cat Sunflower”>”I Know You Rider” that has a “Feelin’ Groovy” jam in between based on the chord progression of the Simon and Garfunkel song on June 26, 1974 at Providence Civic Center, RI.
As for the post-hiatus time with the Dead, they maintained both a disco sound and a rockier sound compared to the psychedelic sound of the earlier ’70s. The disco sound is evident on “Dancing in the Street,” a song that they played as early as 1966, two years after its original release by Martha and the Vandellas. The version from May 8, 1977, is spectacular and is 16 minutes of funkiness and is one of their most danceable takes on any of the songs in their repertoire. In addition to the danceable disco takes, they also had some blazing versions of some of their songs during this time. “Sugaree” (May 19, 1977, Atlanta, GA), “Samson and Delilah” (February 5, 1978, Cedar Falls, IA), and “The Music Never Stopped” (February 3, 1978, Madison, WI) are all prime examples of this. These tracks all highlight Garcia’s playing and are blazing versions of these songs. 1978 would also bring a new staple, “Drums”>”Space;” these were instrumental breaks when the band, except for Hart and Kreutzmann, would leave the stage, and the two “Rhythm Devils” would put on a percussion set that’s length vary from four minutes to upwards of 20 minutes before the band would join back in for another period of a similar length for the “Space” segment. These parts of the show would become common but are usually very skippable when listening, but are more fun to watch if there is footage of the show. Godchaux’s era includes some of the band’s best shows and helped define the sound and songs that they would use for the remaining 16 years.
Mydland and Welnick Eras
Brent Mydland would play his first show with the Grateful Dead on April 22, 1979, at Spartan Stadium, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. This was after two weeks of rehearsing with the band to prepare. Some immediate differences that set Mydland apart from Godchaux included his vocals, songwriting contributions, and his increased use of synthesizers and organs. Mydland was giving incredible performances, made evident by this performance of “Shakedown Street” from October 25, 1979. In 1980, the Dead would bring back their acoustic sets, which they hadn’t done since 1970. These performances would be released as Reckoning and would be one of the few times “Ripple” would be played live. Another notable performance from the earlier portion of Mydland’s time includes March 9, 1981, which includes a version of “Uncle John’s Band” that helped me fall in love with the Dead.
Unfortunately for the band, Garcia would fall into a diabetic coma that almost killed him on July 10, 1986. The coma lasted five days and required five months of recovery. The band would play their first show after the coma on December 15, 1986. Furthermore, they would release their first studio album since Go to Heaven in 1980. In the Dark was released on July 6, 1987, and contained the Grateful Dead’s only top 40 hit, “Touch of Grey,” which peaked at number nine. In the Dark was also the band’s penultimate studio album, with their final album being Built to Last. Most of the songs on the last two albums didn’t really get enough time to grow and evolve like some of their other songs, which by 1989 had been played for over 20 years. A great show from the late ’80s is July 7, 1989, at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, PA. It has great versions of “Hell In A Bucket,” “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” and “Box of Rain.”
Brent Mydland died on July 26, 1990, ending his 11-years with the Grateful Dead. His playing would be featured for the last time on Without A Net, which included shows from late 1989 and early 1990. Vince Welnick would be the Grateful Dead’s last keyboardist. His playing can be heard on live releases that were put out after the band disbanded as Without A Net would be their last album. Welnick would occasionally be joined by Bruce Hornsby for concerts between September 1990 to March 1992. When I think of this final era of the Grateful Dead, one performance always sticks out. Just six days before this show, Bill Graham died in a helicopter accident. Graham owned two of the Dead’s most played venues, The Fillmore (West) and The Winterland Ballroom/Arena. These venues helped the Grateful Dead establish their footing in the San Francisco Bay Area in the ’60s before they grew into one of the most important bands in music history. October 31, 1991, at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA, joined by Quicksilver Messenger Service’s Gary Duncan on guitar, they broke into “Dark Star,” a very haunting and chilling version that ends with Ken Kesey giving a eulogy for Graham. It’s an amazing “Dark Star”, but it gives me chills not only because of just how good a version it is, but Kesey’s speech at the end sends a shiver down my spine. Sometimes it can be hard listening to shows from the ’90s because you can hear in Garcia’s voice that he isn’t in as good health as he was before, and it makes it emotional to listen to. The Grateful Dead would give their final show on July 9, 1995, at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. The second encore for the show was “Box of Rain,” a song for which the lyrics were written by Robert Hunter for Lesh when his father was dying.
On August 9, 1995, Jerry Garcia died in a drug rehabilitation facility from a heart attack. He was 53 years old. From “Primal Dead” to “Disco Dead,” the band took many shapes and forms in 30 years. The Grateful Dead played about 2,300 concerts, not including spin-off bands like the Jerry Garcia Band or the most recent reincarnation, Dead & Co. The Grateful Dead would bring massive changes, from concert culture with their “Shakedown Street” lots that would form outside shows, to inspiring several bands that are popular today. Even if you can’t see it, their importance still shines through to this day.