Bring Out Yr Dead: 1972-08-27 Old Renaissance Faire Grounds Veneta, Oregon

I'm going to begin sharing some of my favorite GD jams on a somewhat regular basis...I host/produce a weekly Dead themed radio show on East Village Radio named Bring Out Your Dead whose purpose is to convert the uninitiated by interpolating GD jams with new and obscure psych/noise/experimental music. Although all are welcome aboard, my target audience are adventurous listeners outside of the patchoulli realm. As Bob Weir once famously remarked: "The biggest problem with Deadheads is they only listen to the Dead"....My own experiences with Deadheads leaves little doubt to the validity of Bobby's claim. I've often regretted not being able to see Jerry and the boys play live, although when I was at show going age the consensus was their best years were far behind them.As an aside; I did have a ticket to see them at MSG in October '94, but my "friend" swindled me out of my ticket in order to bring along someone who was holding more drugs.(FUCK YOU JOSH WINSTON)...So here's to what I'm hoping will be a weekly divergence into the mystical realms of the Grateful Dead.(I will be linking to the Live Music Archive which is the home to over 4,000 live Grateful Dead recordings. It is an excellent site with great streaming capabilities)


1972-08-27 Old Renaissance Faire Grounds Veneta, Oregon

Set I: Promised Land, Sugaree, Me & My Uncle, Deal, Black Throated Wind, China Cat Sunflower >I Know You Rider, Mexicali Blues, Bertha

Set II: Playin' in the Band, He's Gone, Jack Straw, Bird Song, Greatest Story Ever Told

Set III: Dark Star> El Paso, Sing Me Back Home, Sugar Magnolia, E1: Casey Jones, E2: Saturday Night

The world of live Grateful Dead music is vast and is impenetrable without proper guidance. Widely regarded as one of the Dead's peak performing years, 1972 is a great place for the lysergically challenged to seek entry. A benefit for Chuck Kesey's Creamery, 8/27/72 is a phenomenal show from beginning to end. The first set boasts a sturdy China>Rider, and a great reading of Weir's Black Throated Wind that might convert some Bobby haters. The second set opens with a great spacey Playin' that touches back to earth rock before the reprise. Also appearing in the second set is a stellar Bird Song with the band fully engaged in the group mind space no other band has ever pulled off. As if the first two solid sets were'nt enough to blow minds, the third set begins with the Dead's signature exploration vehicle....Dark Star. Not so much a song, as a spectral blueprint/hologram; Dark Star propels the band into the unknown. This version is one of my favorites, not as weird as the following year's readings would get, but a free rock behemoth nonetheless. Check the great segue into El Paso. Who else could pull that shit offf?