The First 20 Shows 4/29/71 Fillmore East

     Kempepedia is proud to announce the launch of a new series, “The First 20” I’ll be reviewing and generally gushing about the first 20 shows I got on tape way back in 1989. How can I remember what shows I got? Come on, we’re talking about shows here people.
    First up is one of my favorite shows of all time, 4/29/71 at the Fillmore East, New York City, NY.

04-29-71 Fillmore East, New York, N.Y. (Thu)
1: Truckin, Bertha, Hurts Me Too, Cumberland> Me & My Uncle, Bird Song, Playin, Loser, Dark Hollow, Hard To Handle, Ripple, Bobby McGee, Casey Jones
2: Morning Dew, Minglewood, Sugar Magnolia, Black Peter, BIODTL, Second That Emotion, Alligator> Drums> Jam> GDTRFB> Cold Rain, China Cat> I Know You Rider, Greatest> Johnny B. Goode
E1: Uncle John
E2: Midnight Hour> We Bid You Goodnight
"Me & My Uncle" appears on "Skull Fuck" - final "Alligator" - final "Second That Emotion" - last Fillmore East show - also: NRPS - Orchestra $4.50

    The Fillmore East was a venue (formally a movie theatre) that one Bill Graham opened in New York as a sister venue to his Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The Fillmore Auditorium is a different venue than the Fillmore West. That was the Carousel Ballroom, a rather poorly run venue owned by the bands of the San Francisco scene. Bill took it over and rechristened it the Fillmore West. But all of that is for another post.
    The Fillmore East was really just an East Coast venue where all the bands from out West could feel comfortable in playing to the much more rowdy and vocal crowds of the East Coast. It only held 2700 people and opened in 1968. The Dead made it their NYC home and played there 39 times and some of their best shows (2/11/70, 2/13/70, 2/14/70, 5/15/70) occurred in its hallowed halls. This show was their final show there. Bill was closing it because bands had gotten too big and making too many demands. He even threatened to quit concert promotion all together but wisely decided not to. But enough of that, let’s get on with the show.
    It opens with a slightly sluggish Truckin. First set highlights include the Cumberland>Me and My Uncle (a twofer that would continue up to 1995), a rare electric Dark Hollow and a rocking Hard To Handle with a solo by Garcia that builds and builds until it peaks like a fireball in the night sky. While good, the first set is just an appetizer for a life changing second set.
     Life changing you say? It changed mine. The second set has all the charging improv that are what make the Dead the Dead. With no Dick’s Picks, Nugs.net, or other sources for the cream of the crop, this was my first eye opening experience with IT, when the music takes you to another place and upon return your mind, body, and soul are enlightened.
     An epic Morning Dew opens the set followed by the most rocking Minglewood EVER. Things continue to build to a head with I Second That Emotion, with another incredible Garcia guitar solo. Then the boys really throw it down. PigPen goes front and center for Alligator>Drumz (featuring just Billy as Mickey had left the band in Feb of 1971)>Jam. Words alone can not begin to describe the interplay between Phil and Jerry during this jam. It continues to build and build until they find themselves in a superfast St Stephen Jam. The tension built finally releases into one of the boy’s best transitions into Cold Rain and Snow.
     Bill Graham comes out before Midnight Hour to say a few words about the Dead and ends up berating the audience for always wanting more and more from the artists. Only in New York. As Billy lays down the drum intro for Midnight Hour, you can hear someone exclaim “Yeah Pig!” I’m gonna assume he did a cartwheel to get to the mic to throw down THE definitive version of Midnight Hour. A delicate Bid You Goodnight ends a night for the ages.

You can stream an audience recording of the show here.
http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-04-29.weinberg.warner.26568.sbeok.flacf


It will also be available to download a soundboard copy of the show sometime this week from here (They’re doing the 1971 Project, which is when they post every show from that year. )
http://www.shnflac.net/torrents.php
And finally, on the official release “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead” discs 3 and 4 cover the majority of this night.