The Daily Nugs - May 7, 2024
From Grateful Dead of the Day
A very happy birthday to Bill Kreutzmann! He came into this world on this day back in 1946 and has been taking care of the drums for the Grateful Dead almost as long.
On Billy's birthday back in 1972, Pig blasts a Good Lovin' and Lovelight, the boys send a Dark Star> Other One for the ages, and everyone comes together on a powerfully emotional Sing Me Back Home at Bickershaw, the muddy British music festival. The music was so good that it inspired a young Elvis Costello, who stood rapt throughout the lengthy set, to form a band and embark on his own music career. Give the entire set a listen and see what it does to you at Grateful Dead of the Day. And you can also watch two minutes of Jerry being interviewed along with video of the crowd while the Dead play Mr. Charlie at the festival in Lancashire, England, in the midst of the Europe '72 tour.
The rapture of May '77 is on full display here, no more so than on the arguably best-ever Mississippi Half-Step; the peaks that Jerry reaches, each one higher than the last, are epic, and everyone is locked in, anticipating and building on one another in a virtuoso display that is exceptional, even for the Dead. A luscious Wheel also climbs out of a short Drums interlude, the depth and richness spilling forth like a gentle, surging, but implacable wave that tumbles onto a spacey, dream-like beach in the latter half. But that is just some of the cream of this superlative show. Listen to it all at Grateful Dead of the Day.
Future Grateful Dead quasi-member Ned Lagin helped bring the Dead to MIT’s campus for today’s 1970 show. While the historical import is off the charts, the show itself is dang hot and the recording puts you right in the gymnasium, hearing chatter from the tapers and thrilling to the music. There is a precious I Know You Rider, a scorching Other One suite, and intense Lovelight with a Darkness Jam inside it among many other highlights. Don't miss it at Grateful Dead of the Day.
May 7th Shows and Recordings:
1969 - Polo Field, Golden Gate Park - San Francisco, California
1978 - Field House, Rensselaer Polytechnic institute - Troy, New York
1979 - Allan Kirby Field House, Lafayette College - Easton, Pennsylvania
1989 - Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University - Palo Alto, California
Until tomorrow, spread the love and enjoy the music!
That’s a real thick, and creamy “Jack Straw”