"Reflecting on the Grateful Dead's Capitol Theatre Shows and Toby Keith smoking with Willie Nelson"
Larry Michigan discusses the Grateful Dead's historic show at the Capitol Theatre on February 19, 1971. Larry reminisces about the atmosphere of the venue and the significance of the performance, highlighting the debut of several iconic Dead songs. The discussion delves into the band's evolving musical style, particularly the transition from psychedelic blues to Americana influences. He explores the historical context surrounding the show, including Mickey Hart's departure from the band and the impact of manager Lenny Hart's embezzlement. He also touches upon the significance of the show's release in the "From the Vault" series and discuss other notable releases in the Dead's catalog. Additionally, Larry provides updates on Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers' postponed performances with the National Symphony Orchestra and share news about upcoming music releases.
Grateful Dead
February 19, 1971 (53 years ago)
Capitol Theatre
Port Chester, NY
Grateful Dead Live at Capitol Theatre on 1971-02-19 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive
The second of the legendary six night run at the Capitol Theatre in late February, 1971:
Feb. 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, and 24
INTRO: Loser
Track #3
2:55 – 4:24
Hunter/Garcia tune that was released on “Garcia”, Jerry’s first solo album, in January, 1972, the last song on side one of the album. It was a standard first set tune, part of a rotating number of Jerry first set ballads including Candyman, It Must Have Been The Roses, High Time, Row Jimmy, To Lay Me Down and others. A very sweet melodic tune that tells a great story by way of a beautiful piece of music.
SECOND time played
Played a total of 353 times
First time: “Last”night 2.18.71
Last: June 28, 1995, The Palace of Auburn Hills, outside Detroit
THIS SHOW:
Last year we covered the Feb. 18th show famous as the debut for Bertha, Greatest Story, Loser, Wharf Rat and Playin In The Band and the Beautiful Jam out of Wharf Rat and back into Dark Star. It was also Mickey’s last show before his almost three year hiatus before he returned for the final 1974 show before the band’s 1975 year off
February 19th show is just as historical: The band’s first show without Mickey since he joined the band in 1967. Many people theorize that this was Mickey’s response to his father, Lenny Hart who was the band’s manager stealing almost $155,000 of the band’s assets before disappearing. Although he was eventually located by a private detective hired by the band and arrested in San Diego on July 26, 1971, convicted and spent six months in jail, the money was never returned. The song, “He’s Gone” is based on Lenny Hart’s embezzlement and disappearance. Ashamed by his father’s actions, Mickey left the band after the 2.18.71 Capitol Theater show returning full time in 1975. Lenny died of natural causes on Feb. 2, 1975. According to Dennis McNally, "Mickey went to the funeral home, cleared the room, took out the snakewood sticks that had been his inheritance, played a traditional rudimental drum piece, "The Downfall of Paris" on Lenny's coffin, and split."
Starting with this show, the band became a very lean mean fighting machine with just five members (Jerry, Bobby, Phil, Bill and Pig) until Keith jointed the band seven months later in September. On this night, the band played the five songs debuted the night before and debuted Deal and Birdsong.
Pig also has a strong showing this night leading the band through four standouts:
Hurts Me Too
Smokestack Lightning: the third to last time it would be played with Pig in the band
Easy Wind: the second to last time it would be played without Pig in the band
Good Lovin
This really marked the beginning of the band’s hard shift away from psychedelic blues (Primal Dead) to the more Americana style music that began with Workingman’s and American Beauty. Within a year, Pig would be very ill with just enough energy left for the Europe ’72 tour. But this night, he was rocking the house like only he could do. Here is the first of his four featured songs:
SHOW No. 1: Hurts Me Too
Track # 5
2:08 – 3:42
Great showcase number for Pig featuring his singing and harp playing. We got just a bit of Jerry’s lead but all this great music is too long to fit into one clip – don’t want Dan getting mad at me!
"It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues [songs]".[1] First recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red in Chicago, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar. It borrows from earlier blues songs and has been recorded by many artists. Release on May 10th with Tired of Your Reckless Ways on the B-side.
In 1949, Tampa Red recorded a variation of "It Hurts Me Too", titled "When Things Go Wrong with You".[9] It was recast in the style of a Chicago blues, with electric guitar and a more up to date backing arrangement. The song was a hit and reached number nine on Billboard'sRhythm & Blues Records chart in 1949.[10] (The original "It Hurts Me Too" was released before Billboard or a similar reliable service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which version was more popular, although the former's title won out over the latter's.) Although the song retained the refrain "When things go wrong, so wrong with you, it hurts me too", Tampa Red varied the rest of the lyrics somewhat. This would become the pattern for future versions, in which succeeding artists would interpret the song with some of their own lyrics.
Noted covers:
Elmore James
Junior Wells
Grateful Dead – with Pig singing the vocals. Was first released by the Dead on Europe ’72 album. After Pig left the band, the song was retired.
The Dead played the song a total of 59 times
First: May 19, 1966 at the Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco
Last: May 24, 1972 at the Lyceum Ballroom in London (last show of Europe ’72 tour
“FROM THE VAULT”:
This entire show was released by the Dead as “Three From The Vault” in 2007. The “From The Vault” series, launched by the Band in 1991 with One From The Vault – August 13, 1975 at The Great American Music Hall, with first live performance of the songs from Blues For Allah. In 1992 the Dead released “Two From The Vault” – August 23 and 24, 1968 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Then, along came Dick Latvala and his Dead scene changing Dick’s Picks series which was wildly popular, so much so that the In The Vault Series was put on hold. For 15 years. Until 2007 when they circled back to the original series of live releasees with Three From The Vault which features the same show we are talking about today from the Capitol Theatre. That was it for In The Vault releases. The Dead did have several other “Vault” like releases – multi-track recordings including Hundred Year Haul, Dozin’ At The Knick, Fallout From the Phil Zone, Terrapin Station, Live At the Fillmore East 2.11.69, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead, Nightfall of Diamonds, Trucking Up To Buffalo and so many more. They just stopped calling them “From The Vault”. Dick’s Picks, of course would go on to have a total of 36 releases, the last few releases coming after Dick’s death in 1999. Which led into the still wildly popular Dave’s Picks from David Lemieux who took over for Dick and now has 49 releases and still going strong. And “short” lived, but generally popular “Roadtrips” series. And all of the box sets that are all amazing but too numerous to name except for the Complete Recordings, the four-night run at the Fillmore West from Feb. 27 to March 2, 1969 – four shows with the band at the peak of Primal Dead, and Europe ’72 which consists of the live recordings for all of the shows on that tour. Another milestone for the Dead in terms of their ever expanding reputation for Jam Band, psychedelic, and amazing song catalogue, even at that “early” stage of the band’s existence.
SHOW No. 2: Playin In The Band
Track # 7
2:23 – 4:05
By: Weir and Hunter
"Playing in the Band" is a song by the Grateful Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and rhythm guitaristBob Weir composed the music, with some assistance from percussionist Mickey Hart.[1] The song first emerged in embryonic form on the self-titled 1971 live albumGrateful Dead. It then appeared in a more polished form on Ace, Bob Weir's first solo album (which included every Grateful Dead member except Ron "Pigpen" McKernan).
The instrumental break of "Playing in the Band" was introduced as early as the February 19, 1969 "Celestial Synapse" show at the Fillmore West, in which it appears somewhat indistinct from the preceding and following jams.[5] The completed song was also included on Mickey Hart's 1972 solo album Rolling Thunder within "The Main Ten", making reference to the song's time signature of 10/4. "The Main Ten" appears on Dick's Picks Volume 16, from their performance at the Fillmore West on November 8, 1969. On that set, it appears in the middle of "Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)".
During a Bob Weir and Wolf Bros concert livestream on February 12, 2021, Weir credited David Crosby with the composition of the main riff. Weir stated, "David Crosby came up with the seminal lick... and then he left. We were out at Mickey's barn. So Mickey said, 'Make a song out of that'. Next day, I had it"
It has since become one of the best-known Grateful Dead numbers and a standard part of their repertoire, usually as a second set pre-drums jumping off point for jams to who knows where. According to Deadbase X, it ranks fourth on the list of songs played most often in concert by the band with over 600 performances.
If you download this show from Archive.org, and play this track, at the 3:20 mark during the mid-song jam, they get to the point where they would normally dive back in but instead, Bobby plays on for an almost additional 30 seconds and then just dives back in to the song. He is clearly still working it out. Over the course of the Europe ’72 tour, it was played almost every night as Bobby finally worked it out
This is all really good stuff.
SECOND time ever played
661 times (No. 1)
First – “last: night’s show, Feb. 18, 1971 Capitol Theatre
Last: July 5, 1995 at Riverport Amphitheater, Maryland Heights, MO outside of St. Louis.
SHOW No. 3: Greatest Story Ever Told (The Pump Song)
Track #13
Start – 1:41
By Weir, Hart and Robert Hunter (some give credit to Rev. Gary Davis)
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972),[1] was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, then converted to Christianity and became a minister. After moving to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah"[2] and "Death Don't Have No Mercy"
Per Hunter: "Also known as "Pumpman" and "Moses"--I wrote this to the rhythm of the pump in Mickey Hart's well."
Released on Ace on May 1, 1972
First song on the album with Bobby setting a rocking tone
Another tune that was played almost every night of and refined during the Europe ’72 tour
283 times
First: “last night” 2.18.71
Last: June 27, 1995 at the Palace at Auburn Hills outside Detroit
SHOW No. 4: Bird Song
Track #15
:42 – 2:15
By Garcia and Hunter
Second song on Garcia
Robert Hunter originally wrote the song as a tribute for Janis Joplin. Phil Lesh now sings "All I know is something like a bird within him sang", transfering it Jerry Garcia instead A regular for the Dead, and still played by Dead and Co., Bobby and Phil and Friends.
Beautiful song, even for the fist time you know it’s going to be special.
Played 301 tines
First: This is it!
Last: June 30, 1995 at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA
OUTRO: Deal
Track #17
Start – 1:33
May 16, 2023 by Chris Huber of Chill
One of the Grateful Dead’s live staples, and many gambling songs is the Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia collaboration, “Deal”. First performed on February 19th, 1971, the song was in regular rotation until the end, both for the Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band.
“Deal” saw studio release as the opening track to Jerry Garcia’s 1972 debut solo album, Garcia, which also contained several other classic Grateful Dead live songs including “Sugaree”, “Bird Song”, “Loser”, and “The Wheel.
Although it would move around a bit in the set list early on, this debut version is consistent with the ultimate tradition of the song closing out the first set. Even in JGB sets it was a first set closer. And would always leave you waiting through the break to see how they were going to kick off the second set and keep the show moving along. For a first time played, this version stays true to the version we all know and love from a few years later.
Played 428 times
First: This is IT
Last: June 18, 1995, Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ
Thank you.
.Produced by PodConx
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Larry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
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Sound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/
Recorded on Squadcast
