Back to Winterland... few years later this time

Have no fear, the tunes are (still) here...

10-20-78 Winterland setlist & soundboard mp3 download a.k.a. 10/18/78 aka 78-10-18

THANKS!

To all the people who've commented in the past day or two -- Thanks!

To everybody who has commented here before -- thanks.

But all of you in the past couple days or so, you've helped lift my spirits. No worries, twas just an unreasonable Momentary Lapse of Frustration. I think I'm all better now

Posting up shows has never been about getting comments in return... it's about spreading the tunes. My good friend and posting buddy here at Inspiration, Move Me Brightly, Sugarmag, helped me remember there will always be a bunch of ungrateful people out there who will take and never say anything, no expression of thanks whatsoever. (Maybe they actually are Grateful for the downloads, they just never say anything.) That makes the rest of you, all of you who occasionally post a comment, much cooler than you already are!! You guys rock! I believe in community, not in always silently taking, so thanks again for your comments -- they're welcomed and appreciated!

Let's get on with the show... Let's Go!

On with the tunes... from 30 Years and a Day Ago Tonight...

Grateful Dead ~ October 20, 1978
Winterland Arena, San Francisco

1st Set: Minglewood Blues, They Love Each Other, Cassidy, Dire Wolf,
Tennessee Jed, It's All Over Now, Loser, Lazy Lightning-> Supplication

2nd Set: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo-> Franklin's Tower,
Dancing In The Street-> Drums-> Space->
Not Fade Away-> Black Peter-> Around And Around

Encore: Johnny B. Goode, Shakedown Street

If you want a mediocre show, do not download this.

by COREY SANDERSON This show comfortably nestles into the overall ten best of '78 and is not only a must-have, but a must-have in both formats. the 21st and 22nd are well known and widely respected, but this show deserves the same serious attention. Set 1 is jam-packed (pun intended) with extremely mature, fiery playing and loads of fun. Three words sum up the audience recording: band crowd interaction. This relationship is breathtaking; it completely makes the show. You can't stop the smile from reaching up to your earlobes. You can almost touch the energy that flows between band and audience. "They Love Each Other," packed with funky punchiness, sets the standard for the evening's performance. The band works consistently from this high level of energy throughout the rest of the night. The crowd, particularly thankful for the tasty morsel just bestowed upon them, responds to the boys by joining the drummers in clapping out the beat. "Tennessee Jed" is another crux of superb playing that delivers more intense interaction and high energy. It is quite obvious that every in Winterland is having a real good time, especially when Jerry bellows out his vocals. Jerry's final solo is white hot: this is as close to the ideal as you could ever hope for. Ascending little by little, he suspends the peaking almost as if he were waiting for everyone to arrive at the same space. The crowd follows him every step of the climb until they reach the summit. Kicking off a set 2 with a "Half-Step" > "Franklin's Tower" pairing is fine in my book any day of the week. "Half-Step" is great but the crowd steals the spotlight when the boys break into "Franklin's Tower." The eruption is magnificent! The crowd's mini-triumph almost drowns out the music. But wait, the best is yet to come, in the form of this wild "Dancin'" montage. "Dancin'" starts out straight ahead, then starts swerving (on purpose, of course) with the skill of a Formula One driver. Deep, almost jazzy explorations take the lead as the band plummets headlong into deeper jams. The drums are there throughout, although they abandon their post as timekeepers in favor of soloing right alongside their comrades. It all grows to become quite chaotic (actually crossing the line into temporary insanity) and is tinged with the avant-garde. Once again the crowd explodes with approval in a ferocious manner. This is truly one of the most far-out jams in circulation. Like good heroes, the boys come back from their journey, returning to reality. "Drums" takes it slow as the crowd keeps the beat. Billy and Mickey actually sound more like Ginger Baker and Max Roach playing together in a drum duel. Melodic ride patterns, jazz accents and phrasing: all adds up to a great "Drums" segment. "Space" is short and weird, but when the band quickly layers into "Not Fade Away," everyone in Winterland becomes connected. After "Black Peter" they break into one of my favorite versions of "Around and Around." Bobby totally takes control of the band while the crowd goes berserk throughout the whole song. When they hit the double-time feel, the smoke pours off of Jerry's fingers as he rips and shreds the chord progressions apart. The audience's clapping pushes the band into a frenzy. The band responds by unleashing more energy. Then the boys bring it all the way down and soooo silent, keeping the music quiet as a mouse until . . . KABOOM! They smash through Winterland with the power of twelve natural disasters. It is quite inspiring! The band shows their gratitude to the crowd with a very special double encore. "Johnny B. Goode" and "Shakedown Street" is all you need to know. transcribed from: The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume II: An In-Depth Guide To The Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1975-1985 [out of print]

Well, there's no Audience version at Archive.org so you'll have to hunt that down yourself. Methinks the Soundboard is just gorgeous. It's 5-star, Dick's Picks quality nearly throughout but a little noise here and there requires me to not call it 100% perfect. A bunch of noise at the beginning of Lazy Lightning is quite annoying but doesn't last long. Funny thing, right after that it's like either Phil just showed up or he just got plugged in. Wow. If one digs Phil's bass bein' loud and clear, this is a show for that, at least from Lazy Lightning on.

Another beautiful aspect of this recording is the presence and beauty of Bob's rhythm guitar. Seriously. He compliments Jerry PERFECTLY. He ain't just strummin' for the sake of strummin', his playing inspires me as much as Jerry at times. Seriously!

Around and Around is definitely a highlight here of the whole show! I'm not sure I've ever said that before. Well, maybe not THE highlight but it's so much fun and a lot of that is because of Donna. Seriously!

Really, there's no song here played poorly. It's all good! Oh wait, well, the encore(s) didn't do much for me... almost an anti-climax but ya know what, that's just me. I thought they kinda left me feeling eh but other parts of the show were just exceptional. So glad I listened to this!

Source: SBD> Cassette Master> DAT> FLAC Audio Quality:

10/20/78 Winterland @ Archive.org: the Soundboard for Listening Only

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Download it Right Here Dead at Winterland -- 10/20/78 -- Part 1 October 20, 1978 -- Winterland -- Part 2 Part 3 -- 10/20/78