tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post6762470796489263834..comments2024-03-25T06:33:12.809-07:00Comments on Lost Live Dead: April 22, 1971 Bangor Municipal Auditorium, Bangor, ME: Grateful Dead/NRPS (Northern Excursions)Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-14076765687697967472023-11-17T14:49:00.158-08:002023-11-17T14:49:00.158-08:00My first Grateful Dead concert with a group from T...My first Grateful Dead concert with a group from The University Cabins in Orono, Maine. Awesome, especially when we figured out that it was Jerry on pedal steel with NRPS.Gordon Wark UMO '71.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-26326843644933287802023-09-18T12:37:56.561-07:002023-09-18T12:37:56.561-07:00I went to that show from Colby. What I remember is...I went to that show from Colby. What I remember is that Jerry played pedal steel using the cinder block walls to keep the bouncing reverb in time. That was one of my favorite performances Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-21543496716256881512021-10-09T09:57:13.694-07:002021-10-09T09:57:13.694-07:00Thanks for the eyewitness account. Can you give so...Thanks for the eyewitness account. Can you give some details about what has happening around Bangor at the time? There seems to be no trace of it on the web.Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-62653111643906295522021-10-09T09:49:01.074-07:002021-10-09T09:49:01.074-07:00I was there, just having dropped out of college in...I was there, just having dropped out of college in Florida. I had all of their lps, plus the NRPS lp. Lots of freaks, we were surprised that there were so many of us. Jerry played the 'peanut' guitar, and yes, "Johnny B Goode" was EPIC.<br />There was much more of a music scene than the author realizes.Patrick Ginnatyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00863301695222617707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-35785343190823939892021-05-09T13:56:07.907-07:002021-05-09T13:56:07.907-07:00I was at the 1971 concert in Bangor. My husband wa...I was at the 1971 concert in Bangor. My husband was a seminary student (avoiding the draft) and I was a student at UMO. While I'd never heard the Dead in person, I was familiar with their music. What I remember is that when they threatened to shut off power, Jerry asked to play one more song. It was Johnny B. Goode--for 45 minutes. At least that's what I remember...<br />careyleahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02283518481030857364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-85301073765199656442019-12-23T18:53:10.025-08:002019-12-23T18:53:10.025-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.truongmuunghenhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04147136240476753936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-19179653321738019712018-10-12T03:17:35.837-07:002018-10-12T03:17:35.837-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.tushar sonihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06356193602426242324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-64270232092672830582018-10-07T23:50:32.505-07:002018-10-07T23:50:32.505-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.tushar sonihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06356193602426242324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-88483399342602571412018-10-01T00:26:34.591-07:002018-10-01T00:26:34.591-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.tushar sonihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06356193602426242324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-27600085343519976662015-12-28T08:24:17.949-08:002015-12-28T08:24:17.949-08:00Does anyone have the spatial coordinates of where ...Does anyone have the spatial coordinates of where the building was located?Fate Musichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648291938690043423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-9811736275378285042015-09-13T07:18:57.684-07:002015-09-13T07:18:57.684-07:00I was at the Bangor Auditorium for that show ...re...I was at the Bangor Auditorium for that show ...remember the lites coming on and the concert over. I was also at the James Gang ( Joe Walsh ) concert at Hudson College previous to that show....was the spotlite operator at the Mountain show at orono Umaine...got to shake hands with Leslie West !! I barely remember other shows at Bangor Aud....with Quicksilver MS...Dino being pissed with the lousy sound system..and original Steppenwolf band played there also. Bangor was a GREAT place to be in late 60's !!!! I was the drummer with Fat Boy Jake and the Mainliners at the time...the Village Green Preservation Societyand the Barricuda's were the other local bands playing Bangor/Brewer area then.Jack Hammerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10855816047052976311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-5117575675286798452015-04-23T09:57:46.305-07:002015-04-23T09:57:46.305-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10205110195282453371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-10051650683310627122015-01-21T12:51:11.534-08:002015-01-21T12:51:11.534-08:00I grew up In Lewiston moving their in 1967 (my par...I grew up In Lewiston moving their in 1967 (my parents meet at Bates College in 1955). The big FM radio station in Maine, WBLM started in 1973 according to Wikipedia, although the Bates College Radio station WRBC played the Dead in the early 1970's (I know because as a punk teenager I threw a rock thorugh a window and saw all the Dead albums with magic marker on them saying PLEASE DON'T STEAL THESE RECORDS). I only know of one Lewiston Deadhead who went to the 1971 show in Bangor. The highlight of my Dead career was doing vitamin C with Phil as my friends were involved with the concert promotion in Lewiston and I got to drive with Phil from his Lewiston motel to the concert. but thats another story for another Dead. Maine was always filled with Deadheads back in mid-70s and 80s. I moved to Berkeley in December 1980 so my last Dead concert outside California was Lewiston. Grateful Secondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16866611234014012885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-60937237745089914072015-01-15T20:03:52.881-08:002015-01-15T20:03:52.881-08:00Corry, I have some pics from a 1970 Boston Globe a...Corry, I have some pics from a 1970 Boston Globe advertising a GD show at Harvard Stadium. Where do i send them? chistopherakeating@gmail.com<br />Keatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09558047546538336454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-52036677692468214002015-01-04T19:52:50.975-08:002015-01-04T19:52:50.975-08:00Dl, thanks for the regional insight. Since Maine i...Dl, thanks for the regional insight. Since Maine is so pretty when the weather is nice, it's certainly an inducement for everyone in the region to take a road trip.<br /><br />I think your perception that the Dead purposely chose not to play "the hits" like their contemporaries is correct. However, I think the strategy seems to have been too far out for 1971 Maine. It worked in PA, Central NY and NJ, but Maine just doesn't seem to have been ready in 1971. Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-21744015838991483502015-01-04T17:49:39.975-08:002015-01-04T17:49:39.975-08:00Thanks for starting the year with an interesting p...Thanks for starting the year with an interesting post. While I agree with all that you say, I think there is more coincidence that any pre-conceived plan not to play the “hits”. Just as their approach led the band not to duplicate any set (for the most part), it seems that they only slightly deviated from what they we playing. Their primary jams at this time were China>Rider, NFA>GDTRFB>NFA, Good Lovin (sometimes with drums), and Truckin>D>Other One. They played half of these. The enforced shortness of the set probably played a significant role in the limited nature of the set, but there are other short sets in the week before and after. Truckin’ was literally the next song they played at the next showThis is also a band that seemed to go out of their way to not capitalize on their success in any conventional way. Perhaps this was their way of telling an audience, that its not what we play, its the way that we play it, so as not to condition them to hear “hits” the next time through.<br /><br />And why no “next time” for another seven years? It may be that there are/were simply not that many people there. As late as 1995, when the band played Highgate, VT, there were more people at the show than the biggest city in state (Burlington). Heads in that part of the world were no different than the ones in obscure Midwest locales or Europe. They had to wait for the rare visit, and in between they were fervent believers who waited for any information that the band might be on their way.<br /><br />Once regular shows started in 1979, I think they could draw a decent audience because heads south of there found the idea of seeing the band in beautiful Maine very appealing. It certainly helped to bring me to the second night of Augusta 1984, Portland, 1986 and Oxford Plains in 1988. I am sure the rock and roll circuit in that neck of the woods was also well established by then. Yet after playing a generally hot show at the University of Vermont in 1983 (On the same tour as the Orono show), it would be another 11 years before they played the state again (and six years after played Oxford Plains). <br /><br />As for the Orono show, I think its pretty good for the period. A little short, but not too unusual at the time. After “On The Road Again”, Weir says, “Next time we will learn to make that one longer.” The Sugaree is nearly 18 minutes and is also very nice.<br /><br />By the way, the Cumberland County Civic Center and the Roanoke Virginia Civic Center are virtually identical buildings for those of you with venues on your mind.DLeopoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12539597705353359882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-48159679306268363082015-01-04T00:56:33.662-08:002015-01-04T00:56:33.662-08:00As a huge fan of your blog, I was really excited t...As a huge fan of your blog, I was really excited to see post about my home, the great state of Maine! It's true, even today the Dead have a huge hold on the area. It's also true that Portland is a great city, though it's snowing and about 25 degrees here rigth now! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10136054152878366603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-3282790245647432242015-01-01T14:28:39.170-08:002015-01-01T14:28:39.170-08:00LIA, great catch about the band members on the pos...LIA, great catch about the band members on the poster. And thanks for putting the Dead's attitude about playing "the hits" into perspective.<br /><br />Of all their Northeastern shows that tour, Bangor had to have the fewest who had seen the Dead before. They were four hours from anywhere they had played before, for one thing. For another, some schools that the Dead had played would have had at least some people from Dead strongholds. The University of Maine, however, mostly would have students from Maine. Just about all of the crowd must have been first-timers, with nothing to go on except a few existing albums.Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-62382434722263073812015-01-01T14:25:14.217-08:002015-01-01T14:25:14.217-08:00Bob, thanks for the kind words. The Dead definitel...Bob, thanks for the kind words. The Dead definitely had something unique going on in Maine and upper New England, but it's funny how this show seems to have just been too early to be part of it.Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-37395783380134018832015-01-01T13:49:21.550-08:002015-01-01T13:49:21.550-08:00Gotta love how the poster for the show features a ...Gotta love how the poster for the show features a bandmember who hadn't been in the band for over a year, and another who'd quit a couple months earlier... <br /><br />By spring '71, the Dead were already familiar with the phenomenon of newcomers shouting for "the hits" at their shows. Many new listeners had piled into their fall '70 shows, expecting to hear songs from the albums. But the Dead's setlists followed their own whims, and generally didn't reflect what was on the latest albums. <br />The Live/Dead repertoire was over two years old, and now somewhat rare. Workingman's Dead songs had been played extensively live in '69-70, but most of them were phased out by '71. American Beauty was very much a "studio" album in that few of its songs were actually played live in the year after its release. And the profusion of covers that filled the Dead's '71 shows were mostly not included in albums at all.<br /><br />I don't know how much of the Bangor audience came expecting to hear "the radio songs" (or which songs were even on the radio in Bangor) - or how many people there had previously attended Dead shows. <br />At any rate, the show's shortness as the Dead tried to meet the midnight deadline meant that a few regular songs got left out - this is one of only a couple shows in spring '71 in which Truckin' and Sugar Magnolia weren't played, and I'd guess they would have been played if there had been more time.<br /><br />But of course the Dead played what they wanted, not what the audience was expecting. (As Garcia said on 8/22/72, "We'll get into all that top-40 shit later man, don't even worry about it.") <br />Another classic instance is in the 10/30/71 Cincinnati show, as someone in the audience repeatedly shouts for Truckin' and Garcia replies: <br />"Come on, man! You gonna be a cop? 'Play Truckin', play Truckin'!' We'll play whatever we like! 'Course, that's not saying you won't like it. You might like it too. It might be all right; it might be something perfectly OK. What about all those people that might not like Truckin'?" <br />(The Dead proceed to play it anyway, Phil announcing, "This is the one you've been waiting to hear.") <br /><br />As an aside, after Cumberland Blues the 4/22/71 Bangor show features one of the band's more boisterous microphone/monitor checks, as they make funny voices. So they were evidently in good spirits, though there's otherwise very little stage banter (other than a couple stage announcements after Sing Me Back Home), perhaps indicating that there wasn't much interaction with the audience.<br /><br />At the end of the show, Good Lovin' gets a big crowd response, but Garcia laments, "That seems to be as much time as they'll let us have in this place. They're just about to pull the plug on us!" <br />Phil says, "One more. If they cut us off in the middle of the song you'll know who's doing it." <br />Phil teases Uncle John, but they rush into a rowdy Johnny B Goode instead.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-89525328770787359522015-01-01T10:10:37.052-08:002015-01-01T10:10:37.052-08:00Happy New Year! This is some great stuff to digest...Happy New Year! This is some great stuff to digest along with the usual post-NYE fare like hashbrowns (scattered, smothered & covered) and bloody marys. Thank you so much for keeping a regular blog brimming with excellent insights & history of the band and written so well. I like some of the other GD blogs but wish they updated more often. You definitely don't let us down on that score!<br /><br />As for the topic at hand....I knew a couple of Deadheads from New England while going to school in the DC area (where I first got to know about the Dead) and to them the band was almost a religion and they talked about the music constantly. I had prior commitments when they played the Oxford ME shows in 88 but my friends from DC that did go say the energy up there was on another level....VERY die-hard "locals" at those shows, even in the post-Touch years. <br /><br />So anyway, thanks again for this great blog and keep on keepin' on!<br /><br />Peace,<br /><br />BobBob Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05763338331599327026noreply@blogger.com