tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post1820504340252907939..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: March 17, 1970: Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NYLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-58619813100137575992019-11-26T23:01:43.972-08:002019-11-26T23:01:43.972-08:00Les Kippel's full report:
"I heard a sto...Les Kippel's full report: <br />"I heard a story about one of those legendary Dead concerts the other night. It seems that this concert was with the Buffalo Philharmonic. The band played Dark Star, Saint Stephen, and Good Loven [sic] with them. Mickey took over the drums, gongs, etc of the orchestra while their man took over his drum set. The concert was in front of 3000 people, none of whom knew who the Grateful Dead were. From what I understand, it was quite something to see and hear. Imagine 40 violins during Dark Star. For the tape freak--YES, it was recorded....on a 68 track machine." <br /><br />This was a secondhand report, and somewhat garbled... I'd bet that everyone in the audience knew who the Dead were, and had come for that reason. And the orchestra did not play during Dark Star (or any of the Dead's songs), the rock/orchestra jam was in a separate set. And the 68-track machine was somebody's joke! <br />The drummer exchange did happen, though - from other reports: <br />"Lynn Harbold, Philharmonic percussionist, joined in [Dark Star] on Hart's drums, doing a fine job."<br />"I remember clearly a Philharmonic drummer sitting in with Billy, while Mickey played various percussion instruments around the stage."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-52411310573145795842019-11-25T19:12:30.440-08:002019-11-25T19:12:30.440-08:00I didn't take the time to see if you reported ...I didn't take the time to see if you reported this, but Les Kippel, in Relix 3, 1 (January-February 1976), reported that this event was recorded on a 68 track machine. The publication date was not 4/1, so I don't quite know what to make of this, but there you have it.Fate Musichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648291938690043423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-49762483288073644562018-02-28T19:20:41.768-08:002018-02-28T19:20:41.768-08:00A 9/28/70 article in the Spectrum complaining abou...A 9/28/70 article in the Spectrum complaining about the anemic music scene in Buffalo had a paragraph on this show: <br /><br />"The Grateful Dead appeared with Lukas Foss and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. The music could only be described in one word - Bizarre. The Dead played a set which included such numbers as "Saint Stephen", "Dark Star", and the Pig Pen Fan Club favorite "Lovelights". The Philharmonic even let its hair down playing a piece by John Cage and a Foss piece called "Geod" which showed the versatility and imagination of the composers as well as that of the musicians. Then after all this, The Dead combined with the Philharmonic in a sort of battle of the bands type of thing that was unmatched by anything else that I've ever seen in the Buffalo area, and this was all made possible through a ticket price of only four dollars."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-25432225109381643022018-02-28T16:19:21.829-08:002018-02-28T16:19:21.829-08:00Though most of these articles have also been poste...Though most of these articles have also been posted on the Dead Blog site, I'm also including them here in the interests of completeness and duplication of sources. I combined several accounts of the show in the old GD Guide post reconstructing the show, which also has more memories in the comments. <br />Although the audience memories have many elements left out of the newspaper reports, these reviews also include more specific detailed descriptions of the night's events, so we need all of them to fill out our knowledge of this remarkable lost show. With no recording, we're lucky to have an hour-by-hour account from many witnesses. <br /><br />The Spectrum (the student newspaper of the University at Buffalo) does not seem to have reviewed the show, unfortunately. <br />The show was a benefit for the Philharmonic Orchestra - the Spectrum reported on 4/8/70, "The proceeds for this concert served directly to benefit the Philharmonic in its annual maintenance fund drive."<br /><br />There is some confusion over how many sets the Dead played - the advance announcements state that they will play two sets, but it appears the other band, the Road, joined the program unannounced and played a set of their own, cutting the Dead down to one set. (The audience was not happy about this: "they were terrible.") <br />But some attendees recall there being two Dead sets, one after the big jam with the orchestra: "The Dead did another set... They sent word that they were too tired for an encore, and everybody got up to go... The Yellow Brick Road offered to play another set, but no one wanted them to." <br />Another witness clarifies, "The Dead wanted to play a second set and started to but it went past 11:00PM so the union electricians cut the power to the stage and brought the house lights up. Angry response from the crowd. Jerry may have said they 'were too tired to play more' to calm things down."<br /><br />One thing not mentioned in the papers is that during the "battle of the bands," members of the audience joined in - dead.net attendees recall: <br />"I was on stage at the end of that extended jam session playing some percussion with a bunch of other folks from the crowd!"<br />"My dad was at this show and during the extended jam at the end he was on stage and got to take the drums for a few minutes." <br />(This is along with the audience "making music themselves by imitating the instruments and calls of the musicians," clapping along and "making knocking, popping mouth sounds," as the newspapers relate.) One witness says, "I also remember Pigpen playing this huge set of gongs and other percussion during the jam with the Philharmonic." <br /><br />Another interesting detail omitted from these articles: "The Dead played on top of a lift platform, which rose when they played and dropped when the symphony played." <br />"Kleinhans had a motorized orchestra pit that could lift up flush with the stage. The Dead were down in the pit when they started their set in the dark with a very slow and loose Dark Star. They segued into St. Stephen after rising up to stage level."<br />"The stage is a hydraulic platform that was down and all you could see was a few red lights from the amps... They started with "Feedback" before the stage slowly rose out of the ground with the band on it running right into the next song."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com