If you checked to see if there was an opener that went unrecorded before Me & My Uncle, you’re not alone. But no, in the name of mixing it up, the Grateful Dead did open this Friday night in Seattle with Bob’s tale of travel and (spoiler!) homicide.
Instruments and vocals play a bit of hide and seek, but Kidd C. has firmed up the mix before the end of the song.
Nothing wrong with the opening salvo, but something about Bob’s delivery, Keith’s solo, etc. make a crisp The Race Is On the first highlight of the evening.
Before a good El Paso (for El Paso), we track the early evolution of Scarlet Begonias. Jerry chuks out the rhythm for a good bit (about as fast as you’d want it) to give the band the tempo, and once they kick in, he jumps to the vocal almost immediately.
Donna’s pre-solo bit seems extended a little before Jerry steps up. They play and end it cleanly, but it still doesn’t have that certain something it would have before long.
Another first-set highlight is knowing that after tonight’s Money Money, no Dead audience will ever have to waste five minutes listening to Money Money again.
Another first-set highlight is knowing that after tonight’s Money Money, no Dead audience will ever have to waste five minutes listening to Money Money again.
The still-full Weather Report Suite is decent, maybe a little disjointed as Phil briefly fakes (or unsuccessfully feints) an exit from the jam. They’re still skipping the familiar wind-down whenever they segue into something else, sapping the arrangement of some of its power. This isn’t a 17-minute song that needs to segue.
In this case, the Dead complete what has to be the only Me & My Uncle / China Doll set of opener/closer bookends.
Playing (And Playing) (And Playing) In The Band
A version of Playing In The Band you may have heard about opens the second set. The song proper is clean and then the band departs the city limits, with Phil assertive in playing and the mix. A decent jam begins to veer a little weirder toward the 10-minute mark as Garcia’s tone and playing have gotten a little creepy-crawly.
I’d like to know if maybe this was supposed to end the first set like usual but they had to cut to the break a little early.
Of course, I have time to wonder about that now because we know something the Seattle audience didn’t: This was going to be the longest Playing ever – in fact, the longest live Grateful Dead song ever — clocking in at over 46 minutes. It’s basically the Double Stuf of Playing’s. Did they agree to just stretch it way the hell out during intermission?
Things get more interesting around 15 minutes, with Bill’s quicker groove coexisting with squalls of whales-through-sound-effects type noise from Keith. At least I’m guessing it’s Keith. I can hear everyone else.
You’d think the plan to stretch it out might find the band spending more time than usual in any particular theme, but it didn’t. This Playing has many 2-4 minute angles. They keep seeing what’s around the next corner.
After some typical jamming, the Dead open the door into another more interesting room around 24 minutes, due in part to Keith creating a more compelling space on the electric piano. It only lasts a couple of minutes before things dissolve briefly into space and then back out into a new ensemble groove.
One interesting thing here is that while the Grateful Dead are of course renowned for improvisation, even moderate fans know that the band had performance patterns and habits. The Playing In The Band had a general structure around this time, too. But the commitment to go long (really long) on the Playing shook up the formula a little bit, which was kind of cool.
You’d think the plan to stretch it out might find the band spending more time than usual in any particular theme, but it didn’t. This Playing has many 2-4 minute angles. They keep seeing what’s around the next corner.
They also close strong, with a nice mellower vibe around 35 or 36 minutes in, and then the start of an unhurried and above-average (I don’t say that lightly) reentry into the atmosphere of the song. It doesn’t quite follow the normal contours, but it’s a successful twist on the usual.
The longest ever does not translate to the best ever, but this Playing is more than just a novelty.
Playing (Some Other Songs Very Well) In The Band
U.S. Blues avoids a post-marathon letdown. Then, with something more Entwistleian about Lesh’s tone, something decidedly more Jerry Lee Lewis about Godchaux’s first solo, and the usual amounts of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir coming from Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, this is an above-average Big River. It sounds great.
Next up, the set offers what seems like the fairly rare chance to enjoy a Stella Blue that starts instead of being segued into. The band do a great job of breathing through the previous song’s energy and putting this vibe where it’s supposed to be. Keith drops a couple of, well, Godchaux bombs to great effect.
Everyone has at least one choice fill over the course of the song. That, combined with Garcia’s performance and how Weir blessedly allows it to come to a full stop instead of fender-bending it into Around & Around, makes it an exceptional Stella Blue.
With something more Entwistleian about Lesh’s tone, something decidedly more Jerry Lee Lewis about Godchaux’s first solo, and the usual amounts of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir coming from Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, this is an above-average Big River.
As for the Around & Around, the kids like the rock and roll, and Bob Weir would drive the rock and roll truck right through your neighborhood and down your street.
Eyes Of The World is typical ’74 quality, except it semi-breaks down into an unusual space for a minute before recomposing itself and heading into the beloved 7/8 jam of the era. Only a few seconds of solo Garcia would bridge this not-quite-14-minute Eyes to the Wharf Rat.
From Big River on, I think what’s going on here is the combination of quality execution and a recording that has just a little extra magic dust on it compared to the releases from earlier in the tour.
Sugar Magnolia feels a little slower than most, and as with 70% of the cases where something’s played just a little slower than most, it helps. Garcia spits out some 16th-note runs with attitude coming down the homestretch of his solo.
Back for a second scoop of Chuck Berry to close out the evening in Seattle (and the Pacific Northwest box set), Weir brings that rock and roll ice cream truck around one more time, just like a-ringin’ a bell.
Grateful Dead
5/21/74 Seattle (PNW box)
Set 1: me and my uncle / brown-eyed women / BIODTL / deal / Mexicali blues / it must have been the roses / the race is on / scarlet begonias / el paso / row jimmy / money money / ship of fools / weather report suite / china doll
Set 2: Playing in the band / u.s. blues / big river / stella blue / around and around / eyes of the world / wharf rat / sugar magnolia / johnny b. goode
