Memories of the Dead
The Dark Star Orchestra are recreating the Dead’s performances at Alexandra Palace, London on 15-16 September. Here are some reminiscences of those concerts
Alexandra Palace, London. Pic: Jack Rose, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
One of the seminal experiences of my early life was seeing the Dead at Ally Pally in September 1974.
I had seen the Dead before, at Wembley in 1972 and as a 16-year old that had left a strong impression on me. By ‘74, supposedly an adult, I was ready for the full Dead experience. I’d had a drifting couple of years and was starting to get back into focus having successfully applied for the Communications course in Sheffield. So these shows were about to propel me into uncharted territory. These shows were the only appearance in the UK of the “Wall of Sound” banks of hi-fi speakers behind the band.
The Wall of Sound. Pic Ron Wickersham, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Mars Hotel had come out somewhat unexpectedly and contained some of the best songs Garcia/Hunter had written along with the Lesh classic “Unbroken Chain.” Would they play that song, we wondered? (They didn’t)
They played Ally Pally on the 9-11 September, which was Monday to Wednesday. They came on late and sounded pretty ropy at first (must admit it doesn’t sound too bad on the tapes, could have been the mix) Word went around the auditorium that they were jet-lagged, although Weir makes a comment that one of the generators had broken down. Garcia was pretty much clean-shaven while Lesh was sporting a beard.
The first song that really made an impression was Must Have Been the Roses, which was a new one for us. In the second set things started to take off during “Truckin” where Garcia seemed to have got the measure of the acoustics of the place, which is vast and cavernous and even with fabrics hung up as mufflers was pretty echoey. Jerry used that to rain notes down upon us and they went out on a good note.
The next night was a different proposition. The tapes of the show on Deadbase don’t match my memories, but they certainly turned in a deft first set with Peggy-O, China Cat/Rider with an extended section that you can hear on the Grateful Dead Movie DVD but not played again to my knowledge. The full Weather Report Suite was an opportunity for all the vocalists to be upfront, then they got coerced into playing Not Fade Away by the audience clapping the Bo Diddley beat but it wasn’t a version that got anywhere much. In the interval Phil Lesh came on with Ned Lagin and treated us to some electronic music. In the second set, the ponderous opening riff of Dark Star drew a cheer and initially a tentative, spacey approach morphed into a thunderous roar. Garcia was scrubbing his guitar to make an effect like a rocket taking off and Lesh making full use of the Wall of Sound to drop enormous bass chords. I was standing directly in front of Garcia and felt like the top of my head was being sawn off! A girl we were with fainted. That segued into a mighty version of Morning Dew. We went home with much to absorb. The apocalypse had occurred on stage right in front of us.
On the Wednesday the band were on stage at 7 and a crisp drum roll kicked off Scarlet Begonias - clearly a song about the UK, “as I was walking round Grosvenor Square” and drawing on the folk tradition but with a reggae beat. I wondered if Donna’s singing without words was influenced by Dark Side of the Moon’s “The Great Gig in the Sky” .The first set was sprightly and Phil and Ned came on at the interval, but this time they stayed on stage and the rest of the band trickled back on, the stage in darkness apart from the lights of the equipment and the lit end of something being smoked. The music creeped around the hall and made its way into all the dark corners until they crashed into a dance version of “Eyes of the World” and got everyone back on their feet, As they entered the tricky instrumental section at the end of the song, Weir broke a string - no guitar techs rushing on with a spare axe in those days, he just stood there and replaced it while Lesh and Garcia vamped on. Just as the key changes that he was crucial for kicked in he was back playing and raising a cheer from the crowd. That morphed into Wharf Rat - what a song that is, covering homelessness, alcoholism, injustice, lost love, infidelity and the possibility of redemption in the space of ten minutes - and they finished with a quartet of classics to keep people on their feet.
They say you either “get” the Dead or you don’t and these were the shows where I finally “got” them which has stayed with me for the rest of my life, to the annoyance and frustration of various friends and girlfriends. I turned up in Sheffield with some dodgy tapes of the show and never looked back.