Dave's Picks 23 - 1/22/78 Eugene, OR

Nice pick.  All our guesses were way off. 

I buy very little "product" these days, but just ordered this one and am really looking forward to it.

I await delivery with high expectations.

I think I pre-ordered this, but can't tell because on line ordering system sucks. 

GREAT selection!!!!  Can't wait

Wngfan, that basket you pictured shows it already sold out. If you successfully ordered it, you'd have an email saying so.

This year, I think there are really only a few hundred available each time. Most of them were preordered by folks who sign up for the whole year, when the subscription was on sale.

I await the torrent with low expectations 

Hmmm, 1978 doesn't blow me away as much. 1/22 is one of the hot ones, but it's never going to be a year that's high on my list. But I totally acknowledge that it's a popular show and the Close Encounters riff is enough to make it "legendary." 

I was at home less than a mile away when this show was happening, so sick with pneumonia that my doc wanted to admit me to the hospital. I wouldn't go to the hospital, so he made daily house calls. He went to the show, I stayed home.

1978>1977 imho

I wore out more than one set of tapes of this show but haven't thought about it in years. This one I'll probably get. Or maybe not - sold out! 

Agree on the periods and performance levels.  I* saw the May Spectrum show in 78 and it was great, saw Giants Stadium (right before Egypt) in 78 with Willie Nelson and NRPS and thought they were flat.The tapes I have on the January 78 shows are pretty solid and another sleep show is Patrick Gymnasium, U of Vermont in early May of 78

It was pretty mind-blowing in person.

To me. the big divide, 1978-wise,, was between the two runs at RR. The July shows were fairly sparkly; the Aug. ones were Dead flat.

In between were some Shakedown Street sessions and, reputedly, some heavy "partying".

I mean drugz.

>>>He went to the show, I stayed home.

very, very poor bedside manner

>>> He went to the show, I stayed home.

very, very poor bedside manner  <<<

I'm just glad he kept me alive and out of the hospital. He's my oldest friend in Eugene, even with the lapse of his going to the show that night.

Judit, you and your doctor friend made the right call. Be well.

October 1978 Winterland shows with Egypt slides projected behind the band. That was the Good Ol' Grateful Dead.

12/31/78 a good example of when the music played the band.

"1978>1977 imho"

Not IMO.  '78 was way too uneven and inconsistent and the set lists really ossified that year, especially with the addition of a regular "drums/space" segment in the spring.  Keith switching to the Yamaha electric piano changed the sound big time and by the end of the year he was often as not a non presence on stage.  That along with the general decline in energy at the performances took it's toll.  As the year wore on the shows lost energy.  I had a blast at those August RR shows and the 5 at Winterland in October but in retrospect they weren't (except for a few, 10/21 comes to mind) A level shows.

But the hot shows that year were spot on and this is one of them.

Once again it's all subjective...77 was way more consistent. BUT 78 albeit a little sloppy took some chances that 77 did not...I would put Fall 77 and Spring 78 together. Garcia got the Wolf back in the fall and was my favorite Garcia tone of all time and he was very loud n the mix. The only drawback to 78 was Bobby's on the job slide training workshop...This show's 2nd set is phenomenal...Phil is a beast and that intro to the Other One is pure gold...The Fall Winterland shows were my first Cali shows and in listening back over the years they are not on the level of some of the spring 78 shows...

i agree. later in the year the shows were not as consistent as the jan/spring shows. plenty of grate ones in 78.see dicks picks 18 from early feb run.also 4/12 4/15 4/24 all good ones. that 4/8 jax show is pretty good if memory serves me right. check out the half step passenger from 1/31 and the smokin sugaree from 2/1.

1978 Grateful Dead smells like corduroy shorts and moustaches.

But then there is 12/28/78 with that monster LL>Supp to close the first set, followed by an incendiary Shakedown Set 2 opener and one of my fave Estimated...So the uneveness was there throughout the year. But complaining about the ups and downs of 78 are almost laughable as most of us who were seeing shows in 1978 were very lucky...

should be an upgrade to the SBD version that currently circulates that is missing Bertha thru Samson...

Ossified is a good word, Phil has used it on occasion to describe the shows after early April '78

Many songs were dropped from the rotation:

Dew played well in April, gone until 11/79. Comes a Time, one great version in May.

Not played for the year: High Time, Might as Well, China Doll, Big Railroad, China Cat>Rider, Don't Ease(maybe not missed)

"Still great shows generally, with killer versions of songs like Music Never Stopped with wild Jerry rave-ups, but the transitions suffered and the band was losing the rock solid group mind they had going in the Fall, which took away from the music in a big way, even if the raw energy was higher at times."

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

"Big Railroad, China Cat>Rider, Don't Ease"

Could be wrong, but I don't believe that any of those had been played since (at least) '74 anyway so it's not like they suddently disappeared.  And yes, I stole "ossified" from Phil, but it fits perfectly.

those "ragged edges" and that "roughed up" rowdier sound is exactly why 78 is a better year, imho. Ill take Winter n Spring 78 thru the Summer shows over all of 77 any day 

This sold out 2 hours before I got the email. I may never hear it.

my attempt at humor

>>>I'm just glad he kept me alive and out of the hospital...

me, too, judit.....it'd be hard to slight anyone for wanting to see a Dead show in the '70s, no matter the circumstances.

???? 1978 has plenty of great moments after Shakedown St recording..... Egypt just kinda sucked all the air out of the room a bit and Jerry got sick during tour in November but there are lots of great shows it's just that the set lists were becoming samey and Keith was essentially in a coma but it's not like he ever carried the band anyway, he was (except for moments in 1972) strictly a passenger

Keith was more than a passenger for years after '72.  Some of his work up through '77 is great, but by '78 he was uneven at best and by the fall he was just gone.  He's actually one of the big surprises about that '78 box set, his presence in the mix is outstanding and his playing isn't too bad. 

He might not have carried the band, but he was an integral gear in the mechanics for years.  Once that gear wore out the watch didn't run as smoothly.

Keith was way better in his stint with JGB 76-78 than that same time with the Dead. I mean, I like his playing, I think he just developed a special relationship with Jerry outside the Dead which made him lose interest in the band that paid the bills.

 Jerry also developed a special relationship with music outside the Dead which made him lose interest in the band that paid the bills.

But not until later on.

Ah sweet Peggy O

It came in the mail today! 

4-16-78 AND 4-21-78 are not only great shows but are some of the cleanest high quality Betty Boards. Yes they do vary in quality...

>Jerry also developed a special relationship with music outside the Dead which made him lose interest in the band that paid the bills.

I don't think outside music made him lose interest in the GD, nor did the Dead's music put Jerry ill at ease...... the stardom, responsibility and touring did.  

>Yes they do vary in quality..

as well as the amount of reverb she decided to add on any given night...

Rocked my Saturday afternoon and sounded great.

Want to hear this someday, will get a flac of it eventually, probably, thru the "pool".  The existing sbd's I've ever heard all have some weird distortion in them, like one of the generations was made on a machine with a warbly drive motor.

And yeah, April/May '78 to me was a real dropoff especially in the setlists, they really got into that post drums "Bobby Rocker/Jerry Ballad/Bobby Closer" rut they never really got out of the rest of their career.  To me, Black Peter & Stella Blue just became easy Cop Out's for Jerry & lost all their passion during/after this time period (with a few rare exceptions).  My 4th show was Spectrum 5/13/78, even @ age 17 I knew it basically Sucked (drums right into that awful Whistle/Marching Band Truckin' intro -> Black Peter -> Sugar Mag/ 1 More Sat Nite - hardly the most Inspiring setlist ever . . .)

The other 2 shoes I saw in '78 were hardly barn burners either (Giants Stad & Rochester).  '78 & thru 1st half of '79 I saw Black Peter @ 5 out of 7 shoes.  The only exceptions were Giants Stad & Shea's Buffalo 1/20/79 (the only arguably "good" shoe I saw during that era).

Sideshow Bob, one of the greatest versions of Stella Blue is Winterland Oct 78.... here it is if you want to check it out

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-10-21.mtx.seamons.94852.sbeok.flac16

Also Lexington 78 Stella was included on that box set the name of which escapes me....maybe you should check it out too.

Maybe you just don't like the song?

You might have been there, but recorded evidence disproves what you say

Here's the Blacksburg 78 Black Peter too for you to check out

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-04-14.sbd.miller.83717.sbeok.flac16

And this one too 5/7/78

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-05-07.130513.mtx.eichorn.sbeok.t-flac16