Live / Dead

My inner dialogue… Upon seeing this as today’s album: oh no A minute into the first song: maybe I will like this, it’s kind of cool 9 hours later and the first song is still going: No.

I went into this with an open mind. I'm not a Dead fan, but they seem like cool guys, so I saw this as a chance to fully engage with their live music, and I hoped that I would finally appreciate this band that is beloved by so many. That did not happen. This is actively bad music. Everyone raves about their jamming, but they are a terrible jam band. First of all, no one is playing anything remotely interesting, there were clams all over the place—especially by the bassist, and worse still, none of these guys are listening to what anyone else is doing, so it's like everyone is playing a different song. (And not in a good way, like Ornette Coleman or Ascension-era John Coltrane.) What's more, there's no fire or passion. This is the limpest, blandest, hackey-sackiest music I've ever heard. The fact that these tracks were not taken from one concert, but were instead hand-selected from a few different shows blows my mind. Like seriously? These were the best takes? Good lord. Please, people. Do not listen to this music. If you want that jam-band spacey vibe, there are so many better live albums out there that will slake that thirst: Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service, At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers, or Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970) - It's About That Time by Miles Davis. Those are great albums. This one is just not good.

When I heard all those stories about people following these guys around for years, I really didn't think it would just be a bunch of blokes noodling on guitars and doing silly voices. Most of the material here either felt completely aimless or like a bad rip of other, better artists. Not free-form or experimental enough to be interesting, not structured or melodic enough to be engaging. One and a half. Fave track: Feedback

i don’t give a shit, life’s too short to try the Grateful Dead again

Fuck me what a slog. I tried to imagine myself on a lawn at a music festival, with a little half tab deep inside me, and I decided I'd only hate it more. The one song that connected with me was 'Death Have No Mercy'. It's hard to imagine anyone in a Grateful Dead audience enjoying this more than the band themselves, who for the majority of this are off on their own tangents with sprawling guitar solos and out-of-time drums. I straight up don't understand how this can be referred to as psychedelic, it doesn't leave any space to go on your own journey. 1.5/5 for the sporadic moments on this album where it all comes together and does create a little piece of magic.

Of course I have to give this a 5! This album shows the Dead at their wildest and while it's no Europe '72 it does have a few Glorious moments. The St. Stephen-Eleven-Lovelight suite is exceptional and made me jealous of anyone who got to see this lineup of the band in their prime. An entire album side of just "Dark Star"? Wow. I would totally understand if anyone takes off an entire star for "Feedback". This is probably a 4.5 because of that but what the heck.

I turned this on with every intention of giving it a chance. Three minutes in, out of respect for myself and my sanity, I stopped. This band managed to seal the deal in that short amount of time. From the tones of the instruments to the meandering disjointed playing, I cannot abide.

Last summer, as my friend and I left Boulder for Yellowstone, we were delayed by traffic outside the CU football stadium. Frustratedly craning my neck from the passenger seat, I spotted a sign: Dead and Company. We realized that neither of us had ever listened to any of the Grateful Dead. Aware of their massive following and contributions to American music history, I decided to remedy that by downloading a Grateful Dead playlist from Spotify. Leaving Jackson a day later, we lost service and Spotify switched to offline mode: downloaded music only. Cruising down the highway through the heart of the Wild West with nothing but open road ahead, Tetons clawing the sky to our left, Great Plains unfurling to our right, and roadtrip vibes immaculate, seemed the perfect time to indulge in some quintessential Americana. We made it through four Grateful Dead songs before turning on something else. If that wasn't the time to appreciate the Grateful Dead, when is? Not now either, apparently.

Gotta give it a 5 to help counter all these 1s, yes it's weird early Dead but it still far superior to random 80s pop band

(Granted this is a live album so it might not be as great as studio ones) But this was the first exposure I've ever had to Grateful Dead, and with the amount of hype, "dead heads" I know, and how much praise is heaped onto the band, I expected the music to be a bit... better? It's nothing terrible, but I feel like I've heard this exact style and musical ideas so many times in this list, nothing stood out whatsoever.

Can someone please inform the Grateful Dead that they don't have to be boring when they're playing music? I really feel bad for the audience, this must have been terrible to sit through.

Yawn

This is a great live album with the remarkable quality that it either works as something you listen to very closely or has the power to run in the background and spurs you on to do some great creative work.

10/10 jazz rock is a flawless genre I think one of those songs was in 11/8? perfection!

I just keeps going and going and going. Half the album is the band tuning.

Great album to just vibe out and chill to.

Great sounding and groundbreaking live album. If you are gonna listen to the Grateful Dead, it should be a live album, just be careful if you ask a room full of Deadheads which one is best. I have always said Jesus and The Grateful Dead have a lot in common for me, I love and respect their work but their followers annoy the shit out of me.

good

I’ve loved this album since I was a teenager, so objectivity is impossible. What I will say is that I could see the singing on this to be a deal breaker for new listeners. It’s rough. If you can get past it, though, I think this album does everything you want a live album to do. It’s high energy and acts as a time capsule. It’s considered a classic deservedly.

Jam rock psicodélico, mayormente instrumental. Me ha gustado. Venga, vinilo.

Maybe if my formative experiences with psychedelics were soundtracked by The Dead, I’d have more patience for their nonsensical noodling…but they weren’t…and I don’t.

Okay, the middle track, which has more singing and is 15 minutes long is enjoyable, but the rest of it is interminable jam band noodling. Never trust an album where the artists are enjoying it more than the fans.

I never understood the appeal of the Grateful Dead, and, believe me, I've tried. Their studio albums are dull and enervating to my ears, but everyone says "oh, you really had to experience the Dead live, they're such great musicians, and they take improvisations to a higher plane. It's transcendent". OK, so here we are listening to Live/Dead, so let's see what it has to offer. Fuck me, this is a terrible band playing terrible music terribly. It takes a full 35 minutes before the start playing like a coordinated band playing the same song. All of Dark Star and most of St Stephen and the first half of The Eleven is seven musicians independently noodling without listening to each other at all. I almost thought they had recorded themselves tuning up at interminable length, except for the fact that their guitars are not in tune. The. Guitars. Are. Not. In. Tune. And then there is 'Feedback". Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of copious feedback and noise in a live settings (I'm seen my share of Sonic Youth shows) but this is interminable. The only time they sound like a competent band (and only a barely competent bar band at that) is with Pigpen singing 'Turn On Your Love Light'. As a non-American, I can't really understand the American fascination with the Grateful Dead — admittedly not all Americans — but it is notable that the Dead don't really have the following in any other market. I suspect that everyday experience of enduring racism, capitalist exploitation, creeping fascism and gun violence is so soul-destroying that that it is a welcome respite to put on a tie-dyed t-shirt, smoke dope, drop acid, and hang out with a few thousand like-minded souls while you chill out and dance to non-threatening musical noodling. Hard to blame anyone for that, but please don't make me listen to it. I don't understand the praise for the Dead — Allmusic says that this album "was able to relay the intrinsic sonic magnificence of a Dead show in real time... including the sidelong epic and Deadhead anthem Dark Star". Sonic magnificence my arse. 'Dark Star' in particular is tuneless meandering and unfocussed waffle. This is a 1.5 star record, rounding down because of the deluded way that the Cult of the Dead praise this shit. I don't care if you like this band, just don't try to browbeat me that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You're delusional. I would have to take _a lot_ of drugs to sit through a performance like this. I once snapped both bones in my forearm and dislocated my wrist. The hospital shot me full of morphine to handle the excruciating and unrelenting pain while I waited for surgery. I reckon I could sit through a Dead show on that amount of drugs, but no less.

I bet the dead are grateful that they never have to listen to this. Stupidly long 'songs' devoid of any form or hook. Just impenetrable jazz rock noodling. It started badly and got worse. I saw that the penultimate track was 7 minutes long and called 'Feedback'. I thought 'it can't be, can it, surely not...?'. Yep. It is. Rating: 1/5 Playlist track: St. Stephen Date listened: 20/10/23

Worst album ever.

Scant song-like moments and the late attempt to experiment can't save this recording as an official live document. Violent disagreement with the Dead.

Annoying drugged out hippies!

I did not enjoy this album. If I wanted to listen to good improvised blues rock I'd listen to Cream. This is over bloated, boring crap. 1/5

Meandering crap. Endless noodling. Make it stop.

Very chill for a jam rock album, i appreciate that.

When I hear the jams on this, I just instinctively picture a whole crowd of white middle-aged dudes, watching on and nodding slowly while stroking their massive beards. I guess this was the 60’s, so I need to slightly re-calibrate and make the crowd a bit more hippy-ish, but it’s the same thing. There’s an enormous amount of noodling here though. Is this what this band is all about? The first track is 23 minutes of gratuitous, over-indulgent wanking on guitars. I can’t imagine how boring that would have been to watch live, and with the first track! Christ. When the band do kick in and sing, it’s really muddy sounding. And boring. And repetitive. ‘Turn on Your Love Light’ was a slog and a half. I do actually like some of the music, and some of the jams. I think they have some skill, despite what a bunch of other prominent reviews here say. When they kick in with that nice solo guitar and electric organ I’m all for it. But you’re talking a few sprinkles in amongst a massive bloated whole. Not that impressed with this one.

One of their weaker albums ..

Too unstructured for my liking, dragged on.

You know why the Grateful Dead suck? Because, individually, none of them listen to what the others are playing. It’s like 5 guys playing 5 different songs at the same time. Their rhythm section is terrible. The bass, drums and rhythm guitar are rarely playing in time, even on their traditional “songs”. If you’re gonna have wanky guitar solos over and over, at least have the decency to have a tight rhythm section anchoring your wanky clustershit down instead of letting it become an impenetrable, cacophonous blob. This is hands down the most overrated band in American history. They are so fucking bad, and yes, I am taking the Eagles and Red Hot Chili Peppers into account in my assessment. In fact, for my third and final Grateful Dead review (Working Man’s Dead), I’m going to list 101 bands and artists that are better than Grateful Dead. Keep your eyes peeled.

One of the most effective DEA recruitment pitches ever made.

What a interminable slog, Jesus Christ. "Death Don't Have No Mercy" was mostly a song after 45 minutes of musical diarrhea and then they follow that up with 7 minutes of literal amplifier feedback. I'm grateful they are dead.

What the hell is this.23 minutes of mindless soloing followed by nonsense lyrics.I hate this the songs have no hooks,they’re too long and they’re not even musically interesting.I can’t believe this but I think it’s worse than GENESIS.At least those guys were weird with it.The drummers really good but he can’t save this wreck.THERES A 7 MINUTE LONG “SONG” OF FEEDBACK THIS ALBUMS A 0.

Ok, this is pretty cool, love the vibe. Really liked Dark Star, didn't really dig Turn on Your Love Light but still giving it a 5.

An excellent live album.

While this doesn't necessarily contain the definitive versions of each of these songs, as a whole it is an essential encapsulation of the early dead when they were still pushing the psychedelic aspects of their music. They've always been a jam band, but they really embrace the improv explorations here. Lovelight and Death Don't Have No Mercy take a more typical type 1 form, bluesy numbers that let Pigpen shine as a front man with a lively call and response from the rest of the band. This is the Dead at their most adventurous, exploratory, and unburdened by the machine they'd become. Jerry's voice is clear and cogent. A classic Betty board with excellent sound, and the best Live compilation album that captures their raucous, psychedelics beginnings.

Patient exploratory jamming that captures the very best of the early psychedelic Dead for one of the best live albums of all time - not just the hits performed in front of an audience, but an album who's liveness, the presence of performance, is what makes it what it is. Dark Star alone makes this a five-star album: the interplay between the band, listening, responding, building, and turning each others melodic and rhythmic ideas as they improvise their way through the (more structured than you'd think) segments of the peice is staggering. There's so much space in the music despite the number of instruments contributing to it. Through Dark Star > St Stephen > The Eleven they ratchet up the tension, go dark to dwell in some minor key modes, bring it back to a bright joyous major key, let the music dissipate, wrangle it back together for a verse, segue from song to song to keep it rolling. The album climaxes in the raunchy RnB rave up Lovelight, before the mournful dark blues of Death Don't Have No Mercy, which eventually dissolves into feedback, the controlled chaos of signal becoming noise becoming signal.

Album is interesting one and interesting choice. I don't think many "Deadheads" listen to this era much, esp the Dead and Co people. This album attempted to capture the uncapturable, the Grateful Dead live in the late 60s. As fan I find it enjoyable esp the Dark Star - > St Stephen -> Eleven. Death don't have no Mercy is great as well. It's not for everyone but that's fine.

Thoughts before listening: The best American band of all time and one that has really shaped my musical interests as an adult. Growing up in the 90s, with Jerry Garcia dying when I was 14, I never actually saw the Dead live, but their legacy was the blueprint for much of the music I would chase throughout most of my young adult years. This is a document of their early, purely psychedelic live shows, and in some ways it's more interesting than good I guess. Still though it's an important recording for an important band. Review: What the Dead don't get much credit for is their songwriting, which often gets overshadowed by the psychedelic live show and the fans. On their 70s albums they wrote some absolute gems, which unfortunately don't show up on this album focused on the craziness of their 60s era live shows. I understand why other reviewers on here are throwing 1s out for this album. It goes way out there, especially opening with a 24 minute "Dark Star" that certainly has it's moments, but also has plenty of meandering atonal sections as well. This is the version of the Dead that was the house band for Ken Kesey's acid tests, not the one selling out football stadiums in the 80s and 90s (let alone Dead & CO's 20+ sold out shows at the Sphere). I like both versions of the band, but I certainly personally prefer arena rock Dead. The highlight here is "St. Stephen">"The Eleven">"Lovelight", just an exceptional suite of songs with energy that's missing from much of the "Dark Star". All in all this is an interesting listen showing an early stage in the life of an institution of American music. While this album isn't a 5-star album to me within the Dead's catalog (that's reserved for American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, and Europe 72) I'm giving it 5-stars here since it'll be the band's only inclusion on the list....and to counteract the inane 1-star reviews.

Good shit

This was a long one but a good one, some of the tracks were 20 mins long but didn't overstay their welcome I really enjoyed this more jam based album. In particular feedback stood out to me as It was essentially a proto drone/ambient noise song which impressive since it came out 6 years before lou reeds metal machine music which I always considered to be the first instance of that genre Also the recording quality is impressive for 1969

First song only y ta bien serio, lo escuché con el vence en discord shout out bence. 10/10.

Tuvo bien serio

Two really great live albums in a row generated. Last one was at Budokan now this. So glad I waited until I was able to play this on proper speakers and not just AirPods. You can see why they had their legions of Deadheads.

🤘🏼

is this the best album on this list? no is this the best grateful dead album? not even close still 5 stars though

Not sure why the recorded tuning their guitars at the beginning but this is picking up. St. Stephen is my kinda jam. Loving this track The Eleven is great too. Turn on your love light rocks. I love this tune. Death don’t have no mercy is great. The start of this album was rough. The rest is great. Tracks one and seven had to be an influence on Gregg Ginn

The first album to capture the live sound of the most famous live band of all time. Changed the recording and nature of live shows in rock forever. That, and holds up today, even if it's only one of a myriad superior live offerings available on your nearest streaming service today. I can't imagine what holding this other-worldy vinyl between your hands might have felt like in 1969.

This is for all of you here who just can’t stand this, who think it’s boring, long, too much noodling, not very interesting. I used to be like you. That’s why I avoided the Dead for years. It’s kind of the exact opposite of all the other music we all love. That music is carefully thought out, composed. It reads like a book, it has drama and intention and characters. This is… a bunch of guys noodling? But then I realized, listening to the Grateful Dead radio night that Vermont Public Radio dutifully provides, that there’s something else going on. Amid all of the endless droning numbers, my brain started to kind of relax and accept it. I stopped waiting for something to happen. I stopped being impatient with the music. I just sat back and let the music be there, and let its own internal structure unfold. This is a kind of music whose rhythm and melody and shape isn’t written down by anyone— there really isn’t an author. It’s just a collision. It’s what happens when one musician does whatever feels natural to them at that moment, without thinking, without much regard for what anyone is doing at all. I kept closing my eyes and seeing waves crashing on the beach. I really think there is something there. You can stare at waves on the shore for long enough, and the experience is soothing and hypnotic, even as the slight variation of each individual wave might pop out to you. It has its own internal logic and drama, even if Nature is the ultimate author. I really feel like this music works the same way. If you sink into it, and stop waiting for anything to happen, its own pleasurable logic reveals itself to you, and the variations you hear are just enjoyable moments in the larger texture. And man, it’s kind of soothing! And healing in a way. This is a way of listening to music that I almost never do. I’m always listening to things written by other people, where there is an author on the other end, a creator. I’m always waiting for something to happen. But there’s something deeper and more soothing and satisfying going on here. 5/5. This album wasn’t the one that got me into the Dead, but it did give me that insight last night, lying awake, letting the whole drama unfold.

Masterpiece! One of my favorite albums. Guitar riffs are perfect!

I loved it

lovely

live dead!

One of my favorite St Stepen renditions.

I spent a lot of years, mostly in my teens and early 20s, being really into the Dead, seeing tons of shows, etc. I still return to them from time to time and I'm usually reminded of just how remarkable they were as musicians and as a cultural...not sure what, anomaly? phenomenon? novelty? who knows... Amazing what they did and how they did it. I always admire their willingness to try things and given the absurd amount of touring they did for decades, and the heavy and nasty drug abuse that clouded the band on and off from the beginning, there are times when they just don't sound very good, but there are so many times when they reach new heights. I was fortunate enough to witness live some of those moments, and it's mind-boggling they amount of recorded concert material we can still access to this day. When this band is on, they are ON.

A really good album, I'm a fan of instrumental music so this was a big hit for me.

Favorite Songs: Dark Star St Stephen Holy moly, what an Album. The mixture of Kathy tunes and 60s rock is just mindblowingly good.

The Dead never die.

I like The Dead but they pretty much define "overrated".

Masterfully made prog rock/acid rock tracks with range of impressive instrumentals, including an organ solo on "Death Don't Have No Mercy". 'feedback' the weakest track imo but still earns a 5/5 for me.

Groovy 🤟🏽

Is this the best live album on the list? Best track: Turn On Your Love Light

I’m not really a jam band person but the Grateful Dead are very good and the solos are great

I am a big fan of Grateful Dead, especially their music that feels so free and improvised yet somehow still so composed and premeditated. This album has elements of that, however I don't think it's the best live album that the Dead have to offer. Still enjoyable to listen to, but it has its ups and downs. I like the bluesy feel throughout, and the layered instruments (multiple guitars, drums, organ, bass, vocals) all working in unison. I experienced a few "get on with it" moments while listening to periods of songs that felt like they took forever to evolve - I believe the jam band genre gets this criticism quite frequently. Fave tracks: Dark Star, Death Don't Have No Mercy

Early legit non-bootleg albums, A joy!

hippies noodling blues

This is what I HATE about Grateful Dead: the jammy nonsense that turns enjoyable enough songs into intolerable wankery. Take the opening song Darkstar for instance; that's a fine song on its own but it does NOT ever need to be 20 minutes long. It's just tedious. At least St. Stephen (a song I enjoy quite a bit in it's studio version) stays at a tolerable enough 6 minutes. I know a large number of GD fans say the live versions are the true representation of the band, but I despise it. I like the studio versions far, far better and even then I'm far from a super fan. I can give it a 2 for at least having some good songs at their core, but man this is otherwise insufferable.

You probably had to be there

No/Thanks

fine, not my cup of tea.

For the life of me, I just don't understand the draw of Grateful Dead. :(

Tough week with the random generator got tougher

Boy am I glad that’s over with. I have long held the belief that the Grateful Dead one of if not the most overrated band ever. (KISS is a close second.) this album did nothing to dissuade me of that. I suppose if you are a big fan of psychedelic drugs and jam bands, this is your holy grail. For everyone else, i recommend avoiding it. Especially that Feedback track. I’m not sure who that appeals to, but it ain’t music.

For being a jam band, these dudes fucking suck at jamming. 1/5

there is absolutely no excuse for this

Live / Dead is such a slog, I can't even get through a single song in the entirety of my commute... twice over. This is torture, not entertainment.

Boy howdy I didn't like this. Saint Stephen was the only song I enjoyed at all.

Apparently listening to the Grateful Dead is supposed to bring enlightenment to your soul. The only moment of enlightenment I had after listening to this is the Grateful Dead are a truly awful band and I don't understand why so many people like them. Fucking dreadful.

Two albums later, I've concluded that I do not like The Grateful Dead. Far too much of long, unstructured, dull songs which never resolve themselves. I also hate live albums, with very few exceptions, and the live factor is hugely influential in the love for this band. I can understand someone being able to like them, because I too enjoy listening to music under the influence of questionable substances. But I'm sober currently, and wishing I wasn't listening to this dreck. 17/01/24

At one point I self classified as a Dead Head. This listening experience brought on an epiphany—what if it’s not the music I liked but the soft cotton skirts and the hippy boys? Indeed. If I’m being honest with myself there was always something unsettling with the devout Dead Heads. Yeah I love the songs Box of Rain and Terapin Station but those jams…ugh…meet me in the parking lot where I’m buying a flowy skirt and some mushrooms. Andre and I were recently at a bar with Dead Head friends and a Dead cover band was playing. It all came back when our friend got up to do that Dead dance… that uncomfortable feeling—-CRINGE. I looked around at the zombie dance groove these folks all partook in and ugh…Super cringe. And that’s how I felt listening to this live album…vocals are off, those “jams” make me feel like I’m drowning, flowy skirts and hippy boys ain’t my jam.

Fucking MID

Super fucking garbage

I’ve gone from disliking to grudging respect to genuinely liking the Dead, and this is the best Dead album I’ve heard yet. The joke of songs taking forever and meandering around with no purpose is clearly misguided, the longer songs are given room for exploration, and when it’s good, it’s downright thrilling. A couple songs kind of stay in the standard blues arrangements that don’t do as much for me. But the rest was pretty great.

was pretty underwhelmed and took it as a sign of how far jamming has come in the last 55 years - and then Turn On Your Love Light came on and oh boy it's fantastic

Live / Dead is the fourth album from the Grateful Dead, and their first live release. The album was much more successful than their first three, and came close to capturing the live, improvisational dynamic of their live performances. The Grateful Dead was primarily a live act, and their shows became a cultural phenomenon. The Grateful Dead's songbook is an iconic element of modern music, and their improvisational sound is the model for jam bands of a range of genres. Their impact on modern popular music cannot be overstated, and this live recording is a snapshot of the magic that was a Dead show.

интересное исполнения рока

Grateful Dead picked up where Cream left off (at least live) and took it even further. This is psychedelic blues improvisation at its finest. They would go on to have a very long career but it was built on live performances. This album was the first live release and opened up the band to a much larger audience outside the Bay Area.

I’m the perfect amount of high. Bi-rite sammy hitting hard. I think I’m two songs in and I have pro-shot of one of their performances on tv, muted, and the AirPods play the album. Turn on Spatial Audio and center it on the tv. Honestly doesn’t matter that the song I’m hearing is not what’s on tv. I guess that’s the … lost my train of thought. Oh I meant to say that I recommend that while listening to this, you get so high you think that you’re seeing is what you’re hearing can transcend time and connect the present with the past. I hear the jazz influences on this rock (?) band! Even how the keyboard can sound like a horns section. Blues! They look like hippie early garage startup individual contributors that met in music school 30 years ago and decided to reconnect in their midlife and do hallucinogenic drugs and try to play instruments like the good old days. Maybe that’s just Jerry Garcia. Man if I move my head with Spatial Audio, it’s like right in front of me. My legs and arms are all tingly. If this just The first song, I’m screwed. Oh ok thank god it’s the 4th song. Turn on your love life, singing is very southern rock. I bought crunchy snacks because that’s what usually love but now I want something sweet! Mercy song. Found chocolate cereal and creamy peanut butter. I keep feeling the jazz and blues in this. But then there will be like a very classic guitar riff that pulls you back into this tumultuous genre bending song. One and a half eternities left in Death Mercy song. I have these chickpea snacks. Not hitting. Need way more flavor, Biena. Bbq like turns bitter. Ho shit there were flames on stage. I got cold and put two jackets on because I don’t trust myself to light a pilot light right now. Oh now I’m getting dizzy looking at my phone with this feedback track. Oh I might throw up if I keep looking at my phone. Looking at TV for a bit. Need candy. Found frozen fruit. A fave. Jerry isn’t wearing shoes. Awwwww this little lullaby is so cute and good! Railroad song and Beatles. AWW THAT’S IT?!? I want like TEN MORE MINUTES OF THIS LULLABY! 5 star idgaf

A legendary Dark Star for a perfect 5 stars

Who knew I was a Dead Head? I even loathe live albums and this just felt like an hour long song. Very little crowd interaction good or bad which I prefer, just straight up funky, groovey, bluesy jam session.

Jedna od boljih death starova je ovdje. I ovo im je možda najbolji live period. Strašno organska i intuitivna svirka.

obviously a huge part of the grateful dead experience is a sort of Ritual aspect that i cant get from just listening to one show...becoming familiar with the songs as frameworks from which New but Metatextually Related experiences are to be grown each time. thankfully im atm perfectly fine just being left with The Music here which is so obviously incredible lol...ive been most prepared for this by my dives into live frank zappa and the like, but i already prefer this to a lot of that. the hypnotic, mind-expanding qualities are so sincere and carried to a great variety of places, from colorfully dexterous jazzy explorations to crushing churning blues to fucked up noise...extremely inviting for such supposedly difficult music, they just wanna blow ur mind!! intensely likable as a vibe and extremely pleasurable as a collection of sounds. im sure ill carve out more time for the dead at some point

Damn, I loved this album as a creativity boost. Got me in the zone.

10/10

Grateful Dead - Live/Dead The first live album by the Dead. I first discovered the Dead in 1987 when they released their song, Touch of Grey. I still remember the video and watching it on MTV. Then I never thought about them again for many decades. In 2000ish I started my fascination with Phish and with the advent of the internet, I found my way back to the Dead. Starting that journey I started listening to American Beauty. It became my starting point into their catalog. I never got fully obsessed with the band, but I did respect their contribution to the music landscape. One thing I did find out was that their live shows reflected their true musicianship and while I enjoyed the studio albums, they couldn't hold a candle to the live stuff. Live/Dead is the beginning of what would become their legacy. The live shows and tape trading made them immortal. We still get new live shows released that have been remastered from those tapes. While I never got to see the Dead play live, I can sit back with any of their live recordings and feel like I was there. 5/5

If I had a time machine I would travel back to the late 60's and be a Deadhead. A surefire way to get rid of the upright squares is to open your gig with a 20 minute banger. I still miss Jerry.