Each August RtBE has had a yearly tradition dating back over twenty years, go to the Travers Stakes in gorgeous Saratoga, NY.
We have attended each year of the horse race since 1998 and the string ends in 2020 (with so many other things) as there will be no fans in attendance at the mid-summer Derby today.
In past years we have posted songs about horses, feeling lucky and playing the ponies, while we are not a big gambler, this annual tradition will be missed. Saratoga is gorgeous this time of year and we even wrote a series about The Grateful Dead enjoying the town in the early days of this site.
Whether it was Lemon Drop Kid, the first Travers winner we picked, or Bernadini holding off Bluegrass Cat in 2006 . Keen Ice upsetting American Pharoah (we had that one) or Arrogate blowing away the field in the fastest race we ever saw (didn't have that one) each Travers day has been special.
The race has been moved up in the racing season, just one more wrinkle for this Covid scared year. While we hope Tiz The Law keeps on trucking, Uncle Chuck scares us and he may be our pick come race time:
While the horses are nice it is the people that make this special and one more thing which can't happen this year has put a damper on the spirits as gathering with long time friends to chat, reminisce and relax will not be happening. 2020 has brought about so many cancellations and changes, but this one ends a very long streak and special event for us. Perhaps we start a new Travers streak next year, or evolve into some other Summer tradition, any which way it shakes out we will have the memories.
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Dave Matthews Band!
August always makes RtBE think of upstate New York, specifically the town of Saratoga. Going to high school just a few miles from the town, we would spend many August days at the beautiful horse track and hot nights in the state park watching bands from all over. A few years back we presented shows from the venue itselfThis month we will highlight some bands who always seemed to roll through and we (mostly) got to see live.
Last time we did this series focused on SPAC we started with DMB and as much as it pains us, we need to end with him this month. Perhaps no one seems to typify SPAC summer shows more than Dave Matthews Band over the last 25+ years.
That said, I could care less about the band....So I will leave it up to RtBE's editor to write a bit about DMB at SPAC (and other places) in 1997 (and 1994). You can to read it below while listening to a more recent set from the band. Just click that Read more buton to get started.
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!
August always makes RtBE think of upstate New York, specifically the town of Saratoga. Going to high school just a few miles from the town, we would spend many August days at the beautiful horse track and hot nights in the state park watching bands from all over. A few years back we presented shows from the venue itselfThis month we will highlight some bands who always seemed to roll through and we (mostly) got to see live.
Ahh, Tom Petty. While we could have picked other years and other shows, this was when RtBE felt Petty & The Heartbreakers was riding highest, right around the release of Wildflowers. We already went deep on that record so we will talk about catching them live the summer of '95 on outdoor leg of this exact Dogs Have Wings Tour surrounded by the warm woods of SPAC.
It was a great night, our first seeing the group, as well as catching up with tons of old friends who weren't into the music as much as the party, but the sounds and set list were a joy. For this show there is a distinct memory of being pressed up against the barricade between the lawn seats and the amphitheater bowl seats.
It was a fun as hell night and one we wanted to showcase on this Friday in particular with The Travers tomorrow. RtBE is back in town for Pints, Ponies and Post Time at the Spaaaaaaa!
Pro-Shot, Pro-slightly warped VHS tape sound, full setlist below. Enjoy:
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Chicago, United Center March 03, 1995
Love Is A Long Road You Don't Know How It Feels 4:52 Listen To Her Heart I Won't Back Down 15:03 Free Fallin' 18:24 You Wreck Me Diamond Head Mary Jane's Last Dance 32:05 Into The Great Wide Open 42:03 Learning To Fly 47:15 Don't Fade On Me 51:46 Girl On LSD I Just Wanna Make Love To You Wildflowers 1:06:46 Yer So Bad It's Good Too Be King Breakdown 1:23:06 Driving Down To Georgia Refugee Runnin' Down A Dream 1:39:00 encore: Honey Bee 1:48:30 American Girl 1:55:02
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Santana!
August always makes RtBE think of upstate New York, specifically the town of Saratoga. Going to high school just a few miles from the town, we would spend many August days at the beautiful horse track and hot nights in the state park watching bands from all over. A few years back we presented shows from the venue itselfThis month we will highlight some bands who always seemed to roll through and we (mostly) got to see live.
There are few bands that evoke outdoor summer sunshine fun better than Santana. Almost on this exact day 48 years ago this killer concert went down in Tanglewood. Holy Moley, this is a gem.
Santana is another one who whenever he toured seemed to play SPAC in the summer, so much so that our first time catching him was when we got a $10 ticket because he couldn't put asses in the seats anymore!
It certainly didn't effect his playing from the stage. It was early 2000's and his band mixed his Supernatural comeback (blah) with old warhorses (yeah!) so he was well worth checking out...we still have hte poster and ticket from this night framed in RtBE HQ.
Full setlist and info regarding the show below. Pro-Shot, Pro-Sound this one is a summer highlight for sure, Enjoy:
Santana - Full Concert Recorded Live: 8/18/1970 - Tanglewood (Lenox, MA)More Santana at Music Vault: http://www.musicvault.com Subscribe to Music Vault: http://goo.gl/DUzpUFSetlist: 0:00:00 - Batuka / Se A Cabo 0:07:38 - Black Magic Woman 0:13:19 - Oye Como Va 0:17:51 - Incident At Neshabur 0:23:25 - Toussaint L'Overture 0:28:25 - Evil Ways 0:32:53 - Hope You're Feeling Better 0:37:31 - Treat 0:44:04 - Savor / Jingo 0:53:42 - Soul Sacrifice 1:06:53 - Gumbo 1:11:34 - Persuasion
Personnel: Carlos Santana - guitar, vocals Gregg Rolie - keyboards, piano, lead vocals David Brown - bass Michael Shrieve - drums Jose "Chepito" Areas - percussion, conga, timbales Mike Carabello - percussion, conga, vocals
Summary: Recorded just over a year after Santana played its historic Woodstock Music & Art Fair performance, the band was fast becoming one of the biggest in the world. They were about to release their second album, Abraxas, and were riding high on the heels of three hit songs from their debut album and a new Top 10 hit, a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman."
A year earlier - in fact only a few days before the Woodstock Festival - Bill Graham staged the first of several concerts billed as "The Fillmore at Tanglewood." Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the storied venue had just begun to experiment with staging contemporary concerts on their grounds. Staging a rock concert in a classical venue had yet to be done, so of course the concept of doing so excited Graham. He brought the full-scale Fillmore East production team in, including the Joshua Light Show, and booked a great lineup. This first concert featured B.B King, Jefferson Airplane and The Who, and drew the largest crowd that Tanglewood had ever seen by far.
Buoyed by the event's success, Tanglewood and Graham agreed to stage three similar dates in 1970. The last of these is this show, when Santana headlined after The Voices of East Harlem and the legendary Miles Davis had played. This historic and beautifully recorded performance features a smoking performance by Santana in the last year of their classic lineup, before a young Neal Schon joined the band. We think you'll agree it's an incredible performance by a great band in their prime.
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Steve Miller Band!
August always makes RtBE think of upstate New York, specifically the town of Saratoga. Going to high school just a few miles from the town, we would spend many August days at the beautiful horse track and hot nights in the state park watching bands from all over. A few years back we presented shows from the venue itself. This month we will highlight some bands who always seemed to roll through and we (mostly) got to see live.
This week we showcase the Steve Miller Band set from 1992 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. In the early 90's Miller was a touring powerhouse, every summer he would sell out SPAC and for some reason it would be THE summer concert until Dave Matthews somehow took over.
Kind of surprising but also kind of obvious as both are lighthearted, middle of the road, semi-fun nights out for the middle aged upstate (white) fan.
Here is where that caveat mostly from above comes into play; we never went to Saratoga to catch Steve Miller, but I will guarantee he rolled through their in 92 and we passed...weren't into his style, but can't bag on his professionalism.
Pro Shot, Pro Sound, Full Setlist and LOTS of Info Below. Enjoy:
Steve Miller Band - Full Concert Recorded Live: 10/10/1992 - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Mountain View, CA)
Setlist: 0:00:00 - Fly Like An Eagle 0:04:51 - Seasons 0:08:33 - You're So Fine 0:12:09 - Mercury Blues 0:15:36 - I'm Tore Down 0:18:38 - Gangster Of Love 0:20:53 - Livin' In The USA 0:25:15 - Dance, Dance, Dance 0:28:16 - Rock'n Me 0:33:41 - Take The Money And Run 0:37:21 - Jet Airliner 0:42:14 - Monologue 0:44:23 - The JokerPersonnel: Steve Miller - guitar, lead vocals Norton Buffalo - harmonica Keith Allen - guitar Byron Allred - keyboardsSummary:
Steve Miller was among the major artists who lined up on this 1992 weekend to pay homage to indigenous peoples for an event billed as "All Our Colors: The Good Road Concert, A Benefit for the Traditional Circle of Elders and Youth." Held over two days at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, the concerts commemorated 500 years of survival of the native peoples of the western hemisphere, with appearances by Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne and Santana presented alongside a traditional pow-wow and music from indigenous artists.
Miller used his set to highlight his blues roots: after all, he'd spent his early years on the Chicago club scene, learning the music from the masters. Eventually, he headed to San Francisco where he formed the Steve Miller Band in 1967 and explored the blues within the context of the city's vibrant music scene. Their debut, Children of the Future, received little commercial notice upon its release in 1968. Over the course of continued recordings however, the Miller Band and its leader honed their guitar jam and riff style, and eventually lost the psychedelic tones; by 1973, they'd found themselves a hit with the The Joker. He followed up that album with an even bigger hit, Fly Like An Eagle in 1976, a multi-platinum rock standard, and its companion, Book of Dreams, in 1977.
For much of the '80s and '90s, Miller largely worked as a road dog, touring behind greatest hits collections. For this set, he turned in fresh, acoustic rearrangements of the catalog material on which he'd made his name. A fairly sparse "Fly Like An Eagle," mingled with "par-tay" tunes, as he called them, like "You're So Fine" and K.C. Douglas' "Mercury Blues," which he dedicates to John Lee Hooker, also featured on the bill that day. He dedicated Freddie King's "I'm Tore Down," to Ry Cooder, while throughout his set, Miller was accompanied by his trusty sideman Norton Buffalo, on harmonica. They turn out "Gangster of Love," Miller's own homage to the old time blues styles that inspired him, and "Living in the U.S.A.," his high-energy jam about the American dream, as it was once known. Saving the crowd-pleaser for last, the self-referential "The Joker" can still bring a crowd to its feet, no matter when or where Miller performs it.
Miller would soon record new material on Wide River (1993); in 2010 he finally cut another studio album, Bingo!, to add to his catalog, but the mid-to-late '70s were truly his most prolific years. And yet, this '90s set finds "The Gangster of Love" and the "Space Cowboy" finding new ways to perform old tricks: "The Joker" rides again...
We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...The Allman Brothers Band!
August always makes RtBE think of upstate New York, specifically the town of Saratoga. Going to high school just a few miles from the town, we would spend many August days at the beautiful horse track and hot nights in the state park watching bands from all over. A few years back we presented shows from the venue itselfThis month we will highlight some bands who always seemed to roll through and we (mostly) got to see live.
Well we will start this loose Full Show Friday concept month with one of the all time great live acts who seem to get better and better when the sun was shinning on them. Maybe it was their southern roots, or the blue skies but the cosmic energy seeped into things; no one can ever say this band wasn't a joy when they were hittin' the note.
We caught them once at SPAC in their latter day lineup with Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks dueling on guitars, but here in their '94 version you get Dickie Betts and the thunderous Allen Woody on bass (along with the always amazing Haynes). Just a few ours south of Saratoga in the odd, revamped, Woodstock '94, which our friend Clancy worked at...strange days indeed.
Pro shot with pro muddy sound (typical for Woodstock) which gets a little better after the opening "Statesboro Blues" and "Blue Skies", if you want to skip ahead do not pass "Jessica" which is the clear highlight of this set. Enjoy:
The Allman Brothers Band - Full Concert Recorded Live: 8/14/1994 - Woodstock 94 (Saugerties, NY) More The Allman Brothers Band at Music Vault: http://www.musicvault.com Subscribe to Music Vault: http://goo.gl/DUzpUFSetlist: 0:00:00 - Statesboro Blues 0:05:40 - Blue Sky 0:12:34 - The Same Thing 0:20:32 - Soulshine 0:27:29 - Midnight Rider 0:31:38 - Jessica 0:42:32 - No One To Run With 0:48:08 - Back Where It All Begins 0:57:41 - One Way Out 1:07:45 - Whipping Post
Well it is Travers week and we are excited to be going again. We are not sure, but we are at least up to 12 in a row at this point and are glad that the tradition continues and our friends and family still join us for a great weekend in Saratoga, New York.
To help amp up our excitement, the last few years we have written some of our favorite (and most popular) posts regarding the event. Two years ago we talked about Songs for Gambling on Horses, three years ago we took the money out of it and just talked about Songs for Horses. Last year we addressed maybe the most important aspect to playing the horses, Songs about Luck. This year we are switching it up a bit to pay tribute to one of the most important aspects of Saratoga, Tom Durkin
You can tell by the title of this post that it is a live review of The Hold Steady's recent gig at The Hollow in Albany, NY. For anyone new to the site, we love the band, though we aren't really into the new album (especially the recording/sound). This night/show was a double bonus as we got to see our family who are in the Capital District then rock with the band and some old and new friends.
A great night all around, catch the band anytime you can live as they are a pure joy in action. I can't find videos from the night of the review, so I will put a pro shot live video of the most powerful song of the night (which was a semi-surprise) "Stay Positive". Yup, we were at this show back in '11 as well:
Every year we look forward to the end of August as The Travers is run up in Saratoga and we are going 11+ years without missing one. It happens this Saturday and it is a great day to hang out with friends and family, actually all week there are events in town for everyone. In looking at this years race we like the closer Orb a bunch, but there is still a lot of handicapping to get done...
The last few years we have written some of our favorite (and most popular) posts regarding the event. Last year we talked about Songs for Gambling on Horses, the year before we took the money out of it and just talked about Songs for Horses. This year we are addressing something that we can't see but we can certainly feel, Luck.
Sure there is a skill to this, you can track horses, jockey's, trainers, practice times and track condition's all you want but when it comes down to it you need luck on your side. These are gorgeous majestic animals, but they are still animals; if something spooks a 2-1 Favorite, next thing you know your money is lagging in last place down the stretch. My favorite player of the ponies is my own MaDukes, who knows her horses and stats, but is never afraid to play a fun name, a whim or a Gray horse, because you never know.
To bad the show Luck didn't have any luck, because we loved it, but horses and the world surrounding it isn't for everyone. Always sad when shows get canceled especially those of that quality but we talk more about music here so lets jump into some lucky tunes....Click that Read More to get started
People who have followed the blog will know that RtBE looks forward to the end of August, because that is when the Mid Summer Derby happens, the Travers Stakes. Here is 2011's race in full:
Stay Thirsty ran a great race, unfortunately I had the under-performing Coil to win it after he dazzled me, coming from behind to win the Haskell, earlier that summer. Boy was I wrong. This year marks the unbelievable 143rd running of this great race, we have been attending the Travers for the last 10 years and look forward to catching up with old friends picking a few winners and most importantly enjoying a nice day out at the Top Of The Stretch.
We haven't made up our minds yet on who we will picking to the win the race, currently we are leaning towards the favorite Alpha, but we will probably switch it up 5 times at least pre-race. If you are looking for an insightful preview check out the Thoroughbred Racing Dudes, they have been pretty good this year and are a solid read. Here is a direct link to their Travers Preview although I am not as high on the closer Street Life as they are...Coil still burns.
In years past RtBE has marked the occasion of the race with Grateful Dead shows played at SPAC not too far away from the track. Last year we did one of our favorite posts, songs about horses. This year we will tackle songs about gambling, with a special focus on the horses. Click "read more" below to dive on in with your cash at hand.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by The Sun City Diplomats playing "Romance In Durango"
Thoughts on Original:
Containing the best opening line of any Dylan song (which places it high on the best opening line of any song ever) "Romance In Durango" is a movie played out over violins, words, dead bodies, love, adventure and life. Since we are starting Travers week, why not pull out a western tinged Dylan tune that talks about a horse taking him to Durango? A fantastic burst of creative songwriting and exhilarating playing it is a timelessly fantastic tune. Cover:
Thoughts On Cover Artist:
Over the last few weeks we had taken on some high level artists, but this series also combs through youtube finding unknown's to put in the spot light. So today we take a look at the The Sun City Diplomats. The band seem to be a folksie group from NYC who put out an album back in 2008 that you can check out here. They seem to have evolved or at least moved west and become a new group LA Gypsy. Thoughts On Cover:
A fairly sparse and straight ahead cover of a complex tune that really doesn't lend itself to easy stroll through chords and measures. This version toes the line between the recorded version of the tune and the fantastic live interpretation Dylan performed on the Rolling Thunder Tour. The singing is strong and confident while the stopping and starting music adds some drama. A good if not earth shattering cover of a really really fun tune.
Grade: C+
Wow...Photo Finish! Fly Down almost got Afleet Alex at the end...what a finish, here's hoping this year holds up too, I am leaning towards Coil this year, but with 10 horses running the race is wide open so I am committing to nothing yet.
(RtBE note: I am editing this post as it went up too soon, 2 more songs added to the original list Thanks Caesar for "Galway Races", no idea how that slipped my mind!)
To set the mood we are going to get into some songs about horses today. The beauty of it is, who knows if the songs are really about horses, women, men, heroin or all of that...So here are 12 songs (plus 2 bonus tracks if you keep scrolling) about horses...or connected to horses...or maybe the writer saw a horse once...
Why not start with a classic? Get your bets in and then MOUNT UP!
Weren't expecting that were ya? Thought if I was going to go with The Man in Black Johnny Cash it would be Tennessee Stud? Sure it's a great tune, but I plan on betting on those "Camptown Races" while Johnny makes those Camptown Ladies hearts swoooon!
Sticking old school here I can't leave out Gene Autry and while the song has more to do with cowboys, then jockey's yet...they both be riding some horses yo!
Here is another one that sticks on the acoustic front (don't worry we will start rockin' soon) Townes Van Zandt was known for achingly beautiful songs and some cool mid song chatter. Oon a live show I own of his he makes sure to mention that this song is indeed about a horse...is he pulling the audience's chain? Perhaps...could I have gone with Pancho and Lefty? Sure. But I didn't...here is "Two Girls":
It's Emerald Isle Time! Ireland has a great culture of horse racing, and Caesar reminded me of an old Irish tune that is a must to include in this list of Horse-y Songs, especially one that focuses on gambling with the ponies! "Galway Races" is the song The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem are performing the version I'm a choosin'. You even get a mini history lesson of why the Irish are world renowned for their music, beer, writing....but not their err..culinary skill.
Next up is RtBE favorite original blues-man John Lee Hooker getting his primal electric riffing on for his baby and those "Two White Horses"
Faster Horses, Younger Women, Older Whiskey, and More Money. Tom T Hall you speak to me...yes sir!
Ok starting to creep into rock territory now...even though it is still mostly acoustic, How about some 60's rock? First up is some Byrd song action with the descriptive "Chestnut Mare":
Next let's kick it over to Jolly Old England and ride some "Wild Horses" with The Rolling Stones:
How about we "Run For The Roses" huh? This one holds a special place in my special one's heart when it comes to The Jerry Garcia Band so I including this instead of Dan Fogelberg's tune of the same name..Reach for the stars...hope all my horses do that this weekend and hope none of them smack into the sky:
Make it funky? Ok Here is Cliff Nobles & Co with "The Horse" what does it have to do with horses? Umm...The title?!:
When I walk into Saratoga this year I will do so with a winning ticket, I get to cash in ticket, receive the real cash, which I am sure I will promptly lose on the next race. I do however walk in a winner this year, how you may ask? I picked a top notch pony earlier this season when I hit the raceway with MaDukes! The horses name? Runaway Jim! How could I not bet on a Phish song to win? So while it might be about a dog, today it is about a horse, Here is "Runaway Jim" from the New Years Day show at MSG this year.
And finally rounding out our Songs About Horses (or kinda about) here is the jam that runs through my head every time I play the ponies, a personal favorite from this list...The Hold Steady "Chips Ahoy"
And yes...I will be betting at least something on the 5th Horse...in the 6th race this weekend...
If you are sticking around this long, lets give you 2 bonus songs from some of my favorite groups who happen to have "Horse" in the Groups Title.... Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "Fuckin' Up" here's hoping we do none of that this weekend:
Band of Horses, "Older" yes we keep getting older, but Travers, never losses it's luster...
This was a great weekend for me on many levels, caught an amazing concert and got to hang out with old good friends on Friday. Also had a magical day by all accounts on Saturday with more friends and a bunch of horses. So since this years Breeders Cup was so good to me, I figured why not look for some Kentucky magic from the fellas today, and I found a goodie.
Not quite sure what made the fellas stop by Bellarmine College, now Bellarmine University, but Knight's Hall was jumping back in 68 with a great night of tunes from the California kids. The band had played the recently closed Spectrum in Philly a couple of nights before and were heading back west when they dipped into Louisville to treat the kiddies. The night is captured with grade A sound for 1968...at this point should we expect anything less from Charlie Miller?!? If there is a complaint it is that there are a couple of cuts in the songs, but as I have mentioned before we shouldn't complain about what we don't have and just enjoy what we do...and what we have is a group cooking.
Want to start off a show with a bang? Here you go..."Darkstar". Not as massive as they would eventually become but mellowed and cosmic for 68, showing talent and restraint to go along with the trippiness before it drips into the blasting of "St. Stephen". While a week ago I posted the last Stephen played and talked about it's merits, this one has all the energy that the last version lacked complete with William Tell's kick out. The first cut of the night hurts a bit as the band is fired up and jamming out of Stephen into the 11 when the tapes gave out and I am sure the music kept soaring.
Who know who soared pretty dam high? Zenyatta. I will admit I never gave this Philly a ton of respect as she was very obviously a West Coast horse that loved to run on a synthetic track, a combo that never inspires much love/respect in my eyes, but after these last 2 Breeders Cup Classic races I have to say she was a pretty special horse. I still think the majority of hype surrounding her was just that, man made hype, but the way she closes is rarely seen in horse racing, for those who missed the race, give it a peep and see just how far back she comes from:
Only to lose by a nose to Blame. Had the race been one more furlong she would have been an amazing 20-0 for a career. As it is she will be regarded as one of the greatest horses in this new modern era of racing, and deservedly so. It was a race that will be remembered for a long time, and it was so exciting that my crew hadn't even realized we had hit our second trifecta in as many races. When they replayed the race we noticed that Doug's pick Fly Down swooped into third giving us the big money hit...as I said I did well and I had Blame to upset Zenyatta and managed to come away golden on that front too. Don insisted we put the big lady in our triple and he was right to do so, it is not every day you hit back to back group picks, but when it is Breeders cup it makes it even more special. Nice work fellas...and we should also give props to Dangerous Midge, Champ Pegasus and Bekhabad who came in 1-2-3 for us in The Breeders Cup Turf the race before...good looking fellas way to bring home the Kentucky green backs.
Back to the Kentucky tunes...After the cut and some tech problems, we get a louder Dead for our worries and the group gets spooky with it's always killer rendition of "Death Don't Have No Mercy". The energy keeps rambling as the group plows into an adventurous version of "That's It For The Other One". While the intro Cryptical section isn't here, Phil's thundering bass line and the fantastic feedback sustains from Jerry and Bobby are dynamite. The drums bang all around the gym as the group really lets loose here. The "Cryptical Reprise" pops up early, but it doesn't signal the end of this great jam, the group then dips back into "The Other One" and are off racing again, a really great version of this old song pairing; I wished they weaved them together like this more often. The ending of the tune just gets weird with everyone doing their own thing yet still managing to keep it together...the Dead at their best.
The oddness keeps flowing into the long jammed out "New Potato Caboose" which is conducted admirably by Phil, and escapes out into the black holes of space. A rollicking journey that just screams 68 Dead and should be taken by all with open ears. The band then breaks and the volume drops noticeably in our recording when it comes back for the once and only live version known of "Rosemary". Here is the original recording of the tune that never again saw the hot lights of the stage:
A shame as it has a really distorted vibe and probably would have sounded great dropped in the middle of some of the groups longer excursions. Another extreme rarity was laid out next with "He Was A Friend Of Mine" which I discussed a few weeks back, this is a tight version that unfortunately ends is cut off right in the chorus but this tune foreshadows the groups upcoming move to harmonies in the studio.
Pigpen gets in the mix next with the ballad work of the pain soaked, "It Hurts Me Too". Garcia's guitar has a rich tone here and cuts deep working with Pig's vocals and harmonica dissecting the tune right down to the bone. Post song you can check out the free wheeling feeling the band was putting out on this night with Jerry going so far as to start taking requests, he mentions they can't do "Alligator" but they can do "Morning Dew".
The Dew crashes to life and the band wiggles upwards towards the massive crescendos that the tune calls for. Garcia strums for all he is worth as Phil again bumps the bass just behind him, this is a great early version of this classic from the fellas. The group ends the night with a quick version of "And We Bid You Goodnight" before Garcia states:
"You've just been victimized by the Grateful Dead!"
Indeed Kentucky, and thanks for the love this weekend.
