Jer, Bob & Friends @ The Keystone, 32 Years Ago

Listening to music has occurred so little in the past week. That means my running has stopped. Not for long, though.

But here's another show that I was happy to listen to (and I'm about to listen to it again this morning, for the third time in a few days) and I hope some folks out there dig it, too.

I wasn't planning on putting up another so soon but why live by a plan? 2 shows in 2½ days -- definitely not normal. Truth be told, I kind of wish it was normal. The thing is, giving a nice little cushion of time between shows helps me not get tired of it. Adding in 2½ tons of other stuff helps me appreciate the Dead and Jerry even more as the weeks and months and years go by. Unless scientists discover some miracle treatment allowing us to live till about 2 or 300 years of age, I'll never get to listen to every show this way... but I'm gonna enjoy the heck out of everything I do Press Play on!

Jerry Garcia
Band

New Year's Eve

12/31/75

Keystone
Berkeley, California

Jerry & John Kahn
Nicky Hopkins - keys, vocals
Gregg Errico sat in for Ron Tutt on drums
special guest Mickey Hart drummed along

1st Set

Let It Rock, It's No Use, They Love Each Other, Pig's Boogie

(2nd Set)
Countdown to Midnight -» Auld Lang Syne,

1976 (2nd Set)
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),
Catfish John, Mystery Train

3rd Set
Tore Up Over You, C.C. Rider, (I'm A) Road Runner

A nice Set 1 but it's Set 2 when the band seems to really kick it up. Matt Kelly, who played harmonica on the middle two songs of the first set, comes out for all of Sets 2 & 3, as does someone else to play rhythm guitar, a close friend of Jerry's -- Bob Weir.

There's a small and weird sound problem of some sort during How Sweet It Is, but only for the first half or so. It sounds like someone's squeezing the neck of a goose and each time the goose's neck gets squeezed, a goose honk kinda noise occurs. It's not too bad, though, and it's gone soon enough. Also, the mix isn't always dead on even: Weir's off in one channel along with Hopkins while Kelly's over in the other. Jerry's guitar, sorta sadly, dominates in one channel but his voice and Kahn's bass and drums are all right up the middle. Despite these facts, which don't really mess with music, the overall sound is still pretty sweet. Just enjoy!

Bobby's rhythm guitar on Catfish John I'm totally diggin'. I think it's cool as shit he sat in this night. He's not a huge addition to the music but since the JGB had no one else on guitar except Jer, it's a little different. Nicky Hopkins also really helps this song shine. He was with the band for only not even 5 months but it's like he and Jerry (and Bobby) have been playing this tune for years together.

The first set of music from Jerry & Bobby in 1976 doesn't consist of that many songs, but Catfish John and Mystery Train, while the former doesn't transition into the latter, still accounts for almost 40 great minutes! I listen to a huge variety of music but this is just heaven to me.

A great way to get people really shakin' again -- Tore Up. Oh man! Such a great groove once again that these guys are in. Jerry is just gorgeous on lead while again Bob adds so nicely on rhythm. To leave anyone else out would just be dumb: a great freakin' sound here from everyone! 'Scuse me while I get up and dance around my house for a few minutes?!

Bob adds some more on the next tune, in fact with him at the mic and singin', plus stepping up what he adds on rhythm, this almost becomes the BWB rather than the JGB. Jerry and Merl Saunders gave C.C. Rider a spin early in '74, quite possibly only because a guest came out. And even though it didn't debut with the Grateful Dead until late in 1979, Bobby was quite familiar with it all through '75 while playing it with Kingfish.

Somewhere a little past 2 in the morning, Road Runner finally finishes the night off. It's sort of an anti-climatic ending, methinks, compared to the 2nd Set, but I bet bein' there, those few extra songs were better than goin' home!

Since festivities on New Year's Eve for the Dead really started to take off after this, '75 would be the last time there'd be a Jerry show on this night. All in all a pretty nice 2+ hours of music. Definitely an interesting piece of history.

Coincidentally, of all the NYE shows he could've picked,
Bob at eCache gave this '75 show a listen today, too.
He put up a nice review so check it out
if you'd like another perspective.

Source: SBD>analog>DAT>CD
Sound Quality: not flawless but still A+!

Download The Show Right Here

1st Set - JGB 12/31/75

JGB NYE 12/31/75 - Set 2

3rd Set - JGB 12/31/75