Grateful Dead: Orpheum Theatre 7/18/76

CD449 - 3 CD

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Grateful Dead: Orpheum Theatre, S.F.
7/18/76

THE FINEST GRATEFUL DEAD SHOW OF THE MID-1970s The natural gravitation to 1977 as the year of choice for many deadheads often leaves 1976 looking like the younger brother of the high school quarterback. But 1976 might just be the best kept secret in the world of Grateful Dead alternative recordings. 1976 had a number of things working against it that may have led to its bad rap. Historically there were few shows available to tape collectors, except for a handful of nights from June of that year, when a series of FM Broadcasts were made which subsequently changed hands in fairly reasonable quality. June has lots of fabulous moments, but taken in context the best of the year lurked in the much more hard to come by tapes from the rest of the year. This is not to say that June is bad - oddly the shows that didn't widely circulate from June are a good deal better than those that did. But, when you were a young taper, the easiest shows to score from '76 were from June, and they would tend to sound sort of the same. That would often cause one to back off from looking for more from that year. Because of all this, many people think 1976 is very sleepy and underwhelming. It might not be 1972, but it is by no means something to overlook.

The first set is a bit of a warm up. There's not much to write home about there. But to quote another great taper, Rob Bertrando, in his archive.org comments, "I rate the second set jam 5 stars, as good as anything the Dead ever did." It is hard to disagree. From the Dark Star like hush that casually blows into Comes a Time, through jam after inspired jam, you'll find this second set wastes no time grabbing the golden ring.

DISC 1
1. Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodleoo 09:52
2. Cassidy 04:20
3. Row Jimmy 09:47
4. Mama Tried 03:03
5. Scarlet Begonias 11:22
6. Looks Like Rain 07:10
7. Tennessee Jed 09:14
8. New Minglewood Blues 04:56
9. Loser 08:00
10. The Music Never Stopped 06:49

DISC 2
1. Might As Well 05:54
2. Samson And Delilah 07:10
3. Candyman 07:47
4. Lazy Lightning 07:30
5. Supplication 01:21
6. Let It Grow 06:49
7. Drum Solo 03:22
8. Let It Grow (Reprise) 04:46
9. Wharf Rat 15:47

DISC 3
1. The Other One 06:21
2. St. Stephen 08:37
3. Not Fade Away 07:00
4. St. Stephen (Reprise) 00:58
5. The Wheel 06:02
6. The Other One (Reprise) 03:20
7. Stella Blue 10:47
8. Sugar Magnolia 10:05
9. Johnny B. Goode 04:00