Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Magic of 13 begins with 1

Jerry Garcia on Broadway -- Playbill.  Acoustic: Jerry Garcia, David Nelson, John Kahn, Sandy Rothman, Kenny Kosek, David Kemper.  Electric: ummm... Jerry, of course.  And John Kahn, Melvin Seals, David Kemper, Jaclyn LaBranch, Gloria Jones.100 Days of the Dead
(and Garcia!)
Day 23


Jerry Garcia on Broadway
October 15, 1987

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
New York City


21 Years Ago Tonight...


Bright Morning Stars, Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standing On The Corner),
Spike Driver Blues, Short Life Of Trouble, Two Soldiers,
I'm Troubled, Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie, Rosalie McFall,
It's A Long Long Way To The Top Of The World, Ragged But Right



How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Forever Young,
Stop That Train, Think, Mission In The Rain, Evangeline,
My Sisters And Brothers, That Lucky Old Sun, Deal

Encore: And It Stoned Me

13 Magical Nights On Broadway. Actually it was 13 nights of music spread across 17 days with 18 shows in all. And this is the show that started this unique run.

The audio quality of the acoustic set suffers a little. There's excessive crowd noise and the vocals seem a wee bit far away. When the music's playing it ain't too bad. I got used to it just fine. Maybe one day we'll get the soundboard... but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. For now, this is the only source known to exist.

Bright Morning Stars, done a capella, is a tune no one had ever from Jerry until now. It's brand new on this night. Same is true for It's A Long, Long Way To The Top Of The World and Ragged But Right. I'm not so sure about kicking things off a capella on such a mellow note. It mighta been better to start out with somethin' square-dancin' and foot-stompin' to get people a-dancin'. Well, it finishes that way so that's cool. Ragged But Right works well as the acoustic encore (or closing tune) -- leave 'em exhilarated.

One sucky thing about Jerry acoustic in the 80's -- no banjo. Sandy Rothman handled that instrument. Methinks it shoulda been Jerry. Oh well. Still a nice set of acoustic tunes.

Wow -- New York City in the Fall, the Great White Way. Leading things electrically is a perfect How Sweet It Is.
Jerry's inspired and you can hear it. Beautiful versions of Forever Young and Stop That Train settle the fans in. I think Think is a tune that was practically custom built for Garcia's guitar playing. Here it's just soooo good and the crowd soooo knows it and soooo appreciates it. Mmmm! Everything that follows is just so smooth and tasty. That Lucky Old Sun reaches some nice heights; it had me practically writhing in my seat. So nice.

Unfortunately, during Deal, John Kahn's bass sounds a bit annoying but really other than that this is an okay recording. Van Morrison's And It Stoned Me is a nice mellow encore to cap the night off.

Someday I'll work on posting more of this legendary run of shows but for now this was a great start!

Source: Front Of Board (Nak 300's) Audience Master Cassette> SHN

Audio Quality:

as of 10/15/08: still no Garcia at Archive.org...


...Download It Right Here
10-15-87 aka 10/15/87 aka 87-10-15 setlist 320 kbps mp3 SBD download
Garcia on Broadway ~ 10/15/87 ~ Acoustic Set
10/15/87 ~ Lunt-Fontanne Theatre ~ Electric

6 comments:

Nazz Nomad said...

I was at one of these shows. The thing I remember the most was how, in this venerable old theater, the entire downstairs by the bathrooms was engulfed in pot smoke!

Anonymous said...

Chris, thanks man. I really appreciate what you do here.

"anonymous Deadhooker"

Anonymous said...

Thanks greatly for this and all the shining Dead/Jerry. It's really so much I can't keep up. Hey--I almost have a life, ya' know? So keep 'em posted as long as you can, and watch out for trolls and Palins.

Zoooma said...

Very cool you were there one night, Nazz! But pot smoke at a Grateful Dead related show? Noooooo. Surely you jest.

Hey Deadhooker... haaa, that's funny -- Deadhooker. Or should that be sad? I'm confused. Anyway -- thank you! I appreciate your appreciation!

Anonymous #2 -- thank you, as well. It's so much I can barely keep up myself! The tunes ain't goin' nowhere, they'll be here for you to grab at your leisure :) And once the new year starts, for a little while I'll go into somewhat of a show posting hibernation to allow people to play catch up.

Oh, and trolls are always welcome... and so are Palins! Happy to have 'em! No exclusionary practices here... well, there might be some discrimination against Nazis (especially those who molest monkeys) but that oughta be understandable!

Nazz Nomad said...

hey don't call me shirley!

Unknown said...

thanks man

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated