Lovin' Me Some 69

Rainy and cold, a good day to stay in, veg out, drink coffee and not even go outside. Lots of college basketball on TV which would normally make me gag -- little girls playing a man's game??? (Yes, I have to make that comment every time, for college football, too.) But Sugarmag's team is on ESPN: the 24/25th ranked University of Illinois, at home against Wisconsin in Assembly Hall (where the Dead played thrice upon a time.) Since she's busy today I figured I'd watch some in her honor... or honour if you prefer the European spellin'. Even more than the game, when comin' back from the commercial breaks, it's kinda cool seein' camera shots of the cold and snowy U of I campus. I'm not even really watchin', I've got tunes in my ears... but I think Illinois is up at Halftime.

Speakin' of tunes in my ears... mmmmm.... I do love me some 69!

40 years ago tonight...-

Grateful Dead -- January 24, 1969
Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco

1-24-69 aka 01-24-69 aka 1/24/69 aka 01-24-69 aka 69-01-24 --

1st Set: Cryptical Envelopment-> The Other One-> Cryptical->
New Potato Caboose, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Doin' That Rag

Set 2: Dark Star, Turn On Your Lovelight-> Drums

Once again, this ain't the best soundboard but it's all we've got. The first two to three minutes are marred by some sound problems on the recording. That crappyness clears up and the sound levels out okay until Dark Star when some channel fluctuations occur here and there. They'll be fine if you're stoned or tripping but otherwise you might find them a little annoying. (I didn't mind too much.)

In the last couple minutes of Cryptical this show begins to really kick in. New Potato I can't get enough of. Oh mama. In the first half of the song don't be surprised if the Phil solo rocks your house off its foundation a few inches. Is it even Phil? It doesn't sound exactly deep like bass and it's relatively fast at times. There might be some bass heard very faintly and infrequently in the background during this solo and at the end of it I hear Jerry come in so those two things lead me to believe it might not be Phil. Is it Bobby?!?! It's gotta be Phil. Wow. At the end of the solo, the motion of the song changes somewhat but stays just as powerful right to the end. Deadgasmic. Abso-freakin-lutely.

The direction changes with the first known live performance of Dupree's and right after that they roll out another brand new song and creep back towards where they were before Dupree's. New this time is -- and again, the first known live performance -- Doin' That Rag. They get on a nice roll in the end, never slowing down with a lot of Phil. If that was the first ever, I'd say not bad!

Aside from the aforementioned sporadic channel fluctuations, Dark Star is a powerful force at times as well as the psychedelicist moment of the evening. At almost the almost 12 minute mark, I'm approaching my second Deadgasm of the show now . . . And then enjoy the ride to the end. Whew.

Lovelight gets cut into a little but what a stark contrast to what was before it -- from subtle Garcia to wild and to the point, from delicate playing by the band to right there in the crowd's face. Then what the hell is going on with the screaming? "Ohhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Just havin' fun, I guess! Holy moly, full steam ahead this goes. Pig's mic goes at some point but he just keeps singin'. He eventually gets a working one again and it's like nothin' ever happened! Another mic problem happens again as Drums starts -- Pig wants to hang out and have fun with the crowd but what happens is just... my goodness, just... I don't know and I can't describe it. It's -- wild.

Have fun!

Source: Soundboard> Master Reel> Cassette> DAT> CD> SHN Audio Quality:	1/24/69 Avalon Ballroom @ the Internet Archive: the Soundboard for Listening Only
Download It Here -- 1/24/69 Avalon Ballroom