tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post6388843130050828925..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: October 28, 1972: Public Hall, Cleveland, OH - Show AnnouncementLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-38645567747248688562015-06-30T15:05:52.206-07:002015-06-30T15:05:52.206-07:00I don't have an actual review (or even audienc...I don't have an actual review (or even audience account) of this show, but the announcement is interesting in itself. It was on the front page of the Scene, a Cleveland entertainment weekly.<br /><br />The writer thinks Pigpen is still with the band - he evidently didn't get the band newsletter, which announced that Pigpen wasn't going to be on tour. He's also uncertain whether Donna (or even Mickey) will show up. <br />He mentions that the Dead's last show in Cleveland, 10/29/71 at the Allen Theater, was "much overcrowded" - the Allen had about 3000 seats, the Public Hall had 10,000. <br />He doesn't give any personal reaction to seeing the Dead before, or what to expect, other than to say that any Dead show is going to be "a memorable occasion" and that they're "among the leaders of the rock establishment."<br /><br />This is our only contemporary evidence that the Rowan Brothers opened for the Dead on this tour. Garcia had spoken highly of the Rowans in his Rolling Stone interview (Columbia used his comments to promote their album), and he & Kreutzmann had played uncredited on their album: http://deaddisc.com/disc/Rowan_Brothers.htm <br />Garcia also played pedal steel with the Rowans on a couple occasions (7/2/71, 11/3/72). But apparently they did not go over well on the Dead tour - their manager Richard Loren recalled in his recent memoir: "At the insistence of Columbia Records, the Rowans went on tour as the opening act for the Grateful Dead. With their boyish charms, delicate Simon & Garfunkel-Everly Brothers harmonies, and catchy commercial songs, the Rowans could not have been more dissimilar to the Grateful Dead. The Dead's audience wanted to like them because Jerry had said they were great, but the match was all wrong." (High Notes p.114) <br />A reviewer who'd seen them open for the 8/5/71 show was also not impressed: "In spite of all the Rowens' hokum dating back to the early days of rock and their attempt to have an audience-participation show, the kids did not join in. They listened and some of the pieces evoked mild approval but there was no real communication. As musicians the brothers were okay." <br />http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/august-5-1971-hollywood-palladium.html <br /><br />The last time the Rowans opened for the Dead was on 12/12/72 (when both bands wore Nudie suits). I don't know how many shows in the fall tour they opened for - haven't found any posters or audience memories of them. <br /><br />For that matter, I don't have reviews of any fall '72 shows. So this will conclude my run through 1972 for now - next month I'll post some older articles, then continue with 1973. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com