Between 1965 and 1995, the Grateful Dead performed over 2,300 shows. But you already knew that.
As a new listener, you may have been told to check out 5-8-77, the late '60s, Europe '72, One From the Vault, avoid the '90s, avoid Brent songs, avoid audience tapes, and probably that you should avoid the studio albums. Frankly, this advice is good natured, but ill-informed. I've enjoyed many a "Samba in the Rain"... it's not a matter of fact that a certain song, tour, or era is entirely "bad".
The Grateful Dead By Tour is an approach to the band's live output that takes a step back from everything you've been told, and treats each show as equal. Even though one can find interviews where Dick Latvala (the band's original archivist) cautions against creating fantasy shows from multiple nights, I'm doing it anyway!
Dick Latvala is on record with countless others saying the magic died on a certain date, during the hiatus, when a certain keyboard player left, when a player switched to a certain piece of gear, or when someone sobered up. As we listen more than 20 years after the last show, there's no reason to have a chip on your shoulder about any tour. It's over. Now enjoy as much of it as you can!
Many of my compilations are focused on a specific tour, for example Spring '83, Summer '69, Spring '92, etc. I didn't go straight for the heavy hitters because there are plenty of official releases and write-ups on those shows. And honestly, the "big" years seem to be all the Dead machine is interested in releasing. Probably a wise move - I'm not throwing stones.
If you can't tell by now, I don't rely on popular opinion and I want to find the gems for myself. For those without the time and patience to do the same, I hope you can find a new favorite tour or begin to appreciate some songs you may not have enjoyed yet.
Sometimes I'll deviate from the tour format and bring themes, such as a disc of one-off or rare performances, recreated aborted albums, or seamlessly connected instrumentals, consisting of jams so unique that the listener will have a hard time finding out which song they came from. At this point in the digital age, live recordings are easy to find and acquire. Let's mix and match, and have a little fun with them.
With my background in music technology and archiving, I create seamless shows with segues and crowd noise from the actual performances with an ear to creating as realistic of a "show" as possible. Feel free to download, share and comment however you like. Anytime I visit a setlist site or Archive.org, I scour the comments. If nothing else, they can be colorful. Happy listening.
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