Loyal readers will know that TotD features show recommendations only rarely, and virtually never engages in any of that “on this date in Grateful Deadery” business, but I will now recommend a show that happened on this date. I am unpredictabel. (Not a typo. Just showing you the depths of my unpredictability.)

The Champion of Cascadia, Mr. Completely, described 8/24/72 at the Berkeley Community Theater as “pretty much the same show as Veneta, but the guitars are in tune;” this is an accurate observation, but I shall go him one better: this show is better than Veneta.

I will now prove my argument:

  1. No Ken Babbs. The delight of not having to listen to Chatty Crappy in between every damned song ordering people around and fingering himself to the sound of his voice real loud is a palpable and sensuous delight. Not hearing Ken Babbs gives me a boner.
  2. As I mentioned, the guitars are in tune. Or, you know, the Grateful Dead definition of “in tune.” And, obviously, Garcia still ends Playing with three strings sharp and three strings flat, but for the most part? In tune.
  3. There’s no such thing as the best Dead show, but if there were, it would have an intro by Bill Graham.
  4. Naked Pole Guy and his terrifying penis are in no way affiliated with 8/24/72.

Counter-argument:

  1. Veneta’s got that Dark Star>El Paso>Sing Me Back Home sequence. 8/24/72 has a massive Dark Star, but it goes straight into Morning Dew and loses a bit of rustic psychosis that the Veneta pairing had. (Fun fact: you can hear Garcia try to steer DS into Dew at Veneta two or three times, but Bobby pretends not to hear him and plays his cowboy song.)

Risible-argument

  1. Oh, so everyone you disagree with is a Nazi?