October 19- October 25, 2009

Welcome back to the Tapers' Section as we continue our run through October, where this week we'll listen to the music from throughout the 1980s, and a taste of 1973 to start things out.

Our first stop this week is on 10/25/73 in Madison, WI, where the Grateful Dead would be playing their second magnificent show in this cool city in 1973 (the previous show was 2/15/73). From the end of the first set, we have this great sequence of Tennessee Jed, LL Rain, Deal, El Paso, Row Jimmy, Playing In The Band. The entire tour, and really the whole October 19-December 19, 1973 span, features some of the deepest, most inspired playing by the Grateful Dead ever, up there with Europe '72, September-December '72, and April-June '77.

Next up is going to be music from the second of two shows at the Saenger Performing Arts Center in New Orleans, on 10/19/80. As we mentioned last week here, the band took a brief “break” from the giant runs of shows at the Warfield and Radio City by stopping in New Orleans for two of these terrific three-set affairs, complete with acoustic sets. From 10/19/80, we have the start of the third set, featuring Scarlet Begonias>Fire On The Mountains, Samson and Delilah, Terrapin Station .After this, they'd head to New York for their eight shows at Radio City October 22-31, 1980.

From four years plus a day later, on 10/20/84 at the Carrierdome in Syracuse, NY, we have the second set opener of Shakedown Street>Samson, He's Gone>Smokestack Lightning>Jam. This was one of the first live concert tapes I was given, just weeks after the concert (thanks, Terry…), and although I still have my old XLII-S, it is worn down after being played so many times. Thankfully the vault has a master Beta PCM of this concert, from which this jam was drawn.

Lastly this week, from 10/23/89 in Charlotte, NC, we have a very good chunk of the first set, including a couple of cool things to note: California Earthquake, Feel Like A Stranger, Loser, Walkin' Blues, Bertha, When I Paint My Masterpiece. This is the second and final live version of California Earthquake by the Grateful Dead. As some of you may recall, the band was on the east coast playing one of their most highly regarded tours in years, when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck on October 17, 1989, on a night off for the band, during the pre-game show of the Bay Bridge World Series. A couple of nights earlier in Philadelphia, the band played this song for the first time, followed by the Charlotte version. Also worth noting is the sort-of-rare mid-set Bertha.

Be sure to stop by next week for more great music, when we'll stick mostly within the 1980s, but, like this week, we'll take a detour into 1973. As always, we welcome and encourage you to write with comments or questions about the Tapers' Section. The email address below will get to me, and I try to respond to all correspondence.

David Lemieux
vault@dead.net