Welcome to the weekly Grateful Dead listening guide that brings you writeups of the best music for the week ahead, along with the most interesting and significant facts from Grateful Dead History. The idea is to give all you Heads a "heads up" on the interesting and cool stuff the Grateful Dead were up to on this week in history. So hit the Subscribe button below to get this delivered to your email every week!
As I begin the second year of writing these weekly listening guides, I've been experimenting with some ways of improving these weekly listening guides. That said, this year I'm going to try some different formatting and some other improvements that I hope you'll like. It will require some extra work on my part, but I think it's worth it.
The first thing I'd like to do is make it easier for you to capture the highlights of each show so you can mark it in your book as you follow along. So, instead of using double quotes (") around the highlighted songs, I'm just going to bold them. I really think that makes them pop more (as my wife likes to say, as she's talking about the new pillows she just bought). I wanted to give you an expedited way of getting the highlights if you didn't have the time at the moment to read the whole review. You can quickly scan my listening guide, find the bolded, highlight songs, and underline or highlight them in your copy of my book (if you have it), or jump into the music and start listening. I trust however that you'll come back later and read every word since I'm giving up so much time of my life doing this. (Yes, that's sarcasm). Either way, I do really hope that helps, so let me know in the comments on the blog site if you like having the song highlights bolded.
The second enhancement is that I'm going to include a link to the Relisten web page where you can find and stream the music. What I'd really like to do is build a shareable playlist for all the shows each week, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. If anyone knows how to do that, let me know. More to come on that!
And the third change is to leverage my partnership with JerryBase a little more so that I can include links to searches and other interesting context as it relates to my review of each show. We've built out some pretty cool features on the site that I think will augment these posts quite nicely and give you a lot of extra information.
By the way, If you're looking for my previous posts from 2024, you can still find them on my Gumroad page, which will remain up for the time being.
Anyways, on to the music! Here's the highlights for Issue 1, for the week of January 6th, 2025. I hope you like the new format!
Interesting historical facts for this week in Grateful Dead history:
Happy heavenly birthday to Bill Graham (1/8/31)
Kickoff of the Winter 1978 tour: https://jerrybase.com/tours/157
Kickoff of the Winter 1979 tour: https://jerrybase.com/tours/151
January 6th
1/6/78 Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA - This is the only circulating show on this day in Grateful Dead history. This show kicked off the Winter '78 West Coast tour that would have the band doing 10 shows in California, and 1 show in Oregon between January 6th and the 22nd. If you're a Bobby fan, the first few shows of this tour are for you, because Jerry developed a nasty case of laryngitis during the first set of this show so Bobby had to sing most of the songs. Be forewarned that Jerry's laryngitis would affect him for most of the shows on this tour. For this show, I think it led to some interesting set list selections in the 2nd set, and some nice extended jamming. You will of course notice that the singing is "not the same". The 1st set doesn't have many highlights but I do like Big River, Looks Like Rain, and Lazy Lightning > Supplication. After realizing that Jerry isn't able to sing anymore, they pull a rabbit out of their hat and manage to string together a rather nice 2nd set. On paper it doesn't look very long, but they substitute song quantity of jamming, which is nice. They kick off with a nice long, tasty Playing that clocks in at over 23 minutes and includes some dramatic exploratory jamming. This leads to a unique segue into Estimated Prophet. Forced by Jerry's laryngitis, this would be the only time they ever played this song combination. They give this song a proper workout. I particularly like Jerry's guitar work here. The outro jam is nicely extended because they realize they need to fill some space. Drums is only about 8 minutes long, and there's no Space, but instead they plow headlong into a powerful Other One, which segues into Truckin', another unusual song pairing that they only performed 6 times: https://bit.ly/40dSNlm.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1978/01/06
January 7th
1/7/78 Golden Hall, Community Concourse, San Diego, CA - 1st of a 2-show run. The second show of the Winter '78 tour with Jerry's voice out of commission. But what he lacks in singing, he makes up for in his guitar playing. I guess the realization that he isn't going to sing has inspired him to focus all his energy on the fretboard, and we're treated to an excellent show because of it. Bobby has also become comfortable with the fact that he's doing most of the singing and sounds very confident. In fact, the whole band sounds better, not being under pressure to figure out how to pull off an entire show without Jerry singing. They obviously took some time before this show to talk about it. The 1st set is full of highlights. We've got a ripping Minglewood, a beautiful take on Cassidy, a high-voltage Passenger with fiery Jerry leads, a beautiful and emotional Looks Like Rain, and a fierce El Paso > Let It Grow > Promised Land trio to end the set. The 2nd set highlights are Jack Straw, Dancin' > Samson. Playing In The Band is good but average in that it doesn't develop into any interesting jam, but Not Fade Away is incredibly powerful, and probably the peak of the entire show. It's one of my all-time favorite versions and at almost 16 minutes, it's a monster. A rousing Around & Around ends the set, and we get a standout rendition of Saturday Night for an encore.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1978/01/07
1/7/79 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - 1st of a 2-show run. The Winter 1979 tour was born out of the cancellation of the last 11 shows of the Fall 1978 tour, after Jerry developed severe pneumonia following the 11/24/78 show. This would be the band's first appearance at The Garden, and many of the ticket stubs had the original date of 11/30/78. Like the year before, Jerry's vocal chords are strained, but he manages to keep it together. 1st set highlights are Jack Straw, Cassidy, Jack A Roe, a standout performance of Looks Like Rain, one of the last ones with Donna (she and Keith would be out of the band in about a month and a half after this). They close the set with a powerful Passenger. 2nd set highlights are Miracle > Shakedown Street (Phil bombs and super funk!), Estimated (with some very nice guitar work by Jerry in the jam) > Eyes (incredible energy, frantic Jerry solos) > Drums > Space (still possessing that Egypt '78 feel) > Not Fade Away. The rest of the second set is average but I do like the Good Lovin' encore. You'll notice some sound system gremlins on the tape, by the way. Apparently it was pretty jarring for the audience!
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/07
January 8th
1/8/78 Golden Hall, Community Concourse, San Diego, CA - 2nd of a 2-show run. Jerry still has laryngitis and another Bobby-lover's delight. 1st set highlights are Jack Straw, All Over Now, Lazy Lightning > Supplication. 2nd set highlights are Samson, Estimated > Drums. There isn't any Space to speak of on this one, and The Other One is standard but they transition into a fierce Truckin' > Sugar Magnolia. The Johnny B. Goode encore rips.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/08
1/8/79 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - 2nd of a 2-show run. This is an excellent show that's not as well known because of the issue with Jerry's voice, but his singing is really not that bad. There's a crack in his voice in a few places but all-in-all he doesn't sound bad to me. Bobby's slide guitar on Minglewood is way worse! They open the 1st set with a fiery Half Step > Franklin's that energizes the audience and sets the pace for the rest of the show. Other 1st set highlights are Friend Of The Devil, All Over Now, Lazy Lightning > Supplication. They kick the 2nd set off with a powerful Scarlet > Fire that builds into a big crescendo in the final jam and slams into a great rendition of Playing. Drums features Mickey’s Egyptian sound, and without any Space to speak of it leads into The Other One featuring massive Phil bombs. Wharf Rat is very well done, which segues into a high-voltage Good Lovin’ to close the set. A fun U.S. Blues encore closes out this fine show.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/08
January 9th
There are no known Grateful Dead shows on this day in history!
January 10th
1/10/70 Golden Hall, Community Concourse, San Diego, CA – There’s only an hour and a half of music here, but it’s dense with some really excellent music. Highlights include Hard To Handle, Mason’s Children > Black Peter (picked for release on The Golden Road box set), Good Lovin’, and a nicely jammed 25+ minute Lovelight to close it out.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1970/01/10
1/10/78 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA – Here’s an excellent, high-energy show that again features Jerry’s crackly voice, but he manages to use it to texture his songs, and a lot of people find that these versions are some of the more emotional and personal sounding versions because of that. 1st set highlights are Bertha > Good Lovin, Brown Eyed Women, Deal > Cassidy. 2nd set highlights are Estimated > He’s Gone > Drums > Other One > Wharf Rat > Franklin’s Tower > Around & Around.
Music Link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1978/01/10
1/10/79 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY – 1st of a 2-show run. This is a fabulous show with great energy and a killer set list. They kick off the 1st set with a strong reading of Promised Land, after which we get a perfect upbeat Dire Wolf. Other highlights include Tennessee Jed, Passenger, and Music Never Stopped to close the set. The 2nd set kicks off with a powerful (but on the shorter side) disco-funk version of Shakedown Street. After that you get a really good rendition of a classic trio Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin’. And then the real highlight of the show, the one that everyone was waiting for: Dark Star > Drums > Space > Wharf Rat > St. Stephen > Around & Around. They close the show with a blistering Johnny B. Goode.
Music Link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/10
January 11th
1/11/78 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA – 2nd of a 2-show run. Here’s another blistering high-energy performance. 1st set highlights are s strong Minglewood opener, followed by Dire Wolf, a mellow but heartfelt They Love Each Other, Brown Eyed Women, and a wicked Let It Grow to close the set. 2nd set highlights are the big jam segment that accounts for most of the set: Terrapin > Playing > Drums > Space > St. Stephen (Jam Anthem version) > NFA > Playing and the only time they ever encored with Passenger, which I kind of like in that spot, and it’s a ripping version.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1978/01/11
1/11/79 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY – 2nd of a 2-show run. This whole show is outstanding. I prefer SHNID 1861120, which seems to sound the best to my ears. There’s a soundboard that circulates but it’s plagued with a lot of tape hiss. They kick off the 1st set with a blistering Sugaree that clocks in at 14+ minutes. Other highlights include a pretty Peggy-O, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw (Jam Anthem version. Bobby says “we used to play for acid, now we play for Clive”, a nod to Clive Davis, the founder of Arista who signed the band in 1976) > Deal. The energy and passion is taken up a notch for the 2nd set, and you’re left with some really great renditions of these songs: Miracle, Estimated > He’s Gone > Drums > Truckin’ > Other One > Stella Blue > Good Lovin’. You can skip the Casey Jones encore, IMO.
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/11?source=1862120
January 12th
1/12/79 The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA – An excellent show filled with energy that propels the band to some really nice peak moments. 1st set highlights are Jack Straw, Candyman, Tennessee Jed, and a rousing rendition of Deal to close the set. 2nd set highlights are smoking Samson to open (Jerry absolutely lights his guitar on fire on the solo), Dancin’ > Jam > Drums > NFA > GDTRFB > Sugar Magnolia
Music link: https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1979/01/12?source=337767
BTW, If you're not yet familiar with Jam Anthem versions of songs you can read all about it in Deadology II by Howard Weiner. Check it out here along with all his other great books.
And that's all for now! Of course, if you want to follow along in your very own copy of my book On This Day In Grateful Dead History: A Daily Listening Journal I still have some copies available here. Once they're sold out, I will have to decide whether or not I'm going to have more made. The costs of printing and shipping have gone way up in the last few years since I had them printed so I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. So get one now while you can! https://www.gratefuldeadbook.com/tigdh
Peace out my good people. Until next week!
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