tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post1960538037393183924..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: November 11, 1971: Municipal Auditorium, AtlantaLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-82076160293158706192021-04-20T23:54:33.408-07:002021-04-20T23:54:33.408-07:00Garcia recalled the Atlanta show in an interview l...Garcia recalled the Atlanta show in an interview later in the tour: <br />"Texas was great. Yes, amazingly enough it was. Atlanta was a bummer. I mean that was kind of like the old days. It was a police scene. It was a civic center, public-owned building. They always have a lot of police there to protect the property, that sort of thing. At one point a cop jumped up on stage and started goin' after Phil. In their mind there's a riot going on because everybody's standing up. And with us, we know that isn't happening, and we're capable of handling it in a way where nobody gets hurt and nobody gets uptight, either. But the police always have to try and do it their way... We never wanted to be bait for a trap where you go to have a good night with the Grateful Dead and end up getting gassed." <br />(I don't think I've come across this interview yet but the quote is from http://www.blairjackson.com/chapter_twelve_additions.htm )Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-84032329067217024572018-08-24T19:33:47.868-07:002018-08-24T19:33:47.868-07:00As kind of a random find, here is part of a Great ...As kind of a random find, here is part of a Great Speckled review of another show at the Auditorium, illustrating the kind of police presence the Dead had at this show: <br /><br />"Right after the Chicago Transit Authority began to play, people went down to the area between the first row of seats and the stage. Immediately the cops moved in as they had all night, and cleared everyone out. But this time they grabbed one guy who didn't have a shirt on and took him out of the auditorium, and probably to jail. For what reason I know not, but this guy was not bothering anyone which can't be said of the cops. First, there were twice as many this time as the last (Donovan), and they insisted on standing in front of the stage, rootin' and snortin' and blocking people's view and making people very uptight. Who asks these cops to be there anyway? The promoters? The City? Why are they there? To protect the bands? I doubt it. Did you see any cops protecting The Grateful Dead, et al, in Piedmont Park? Did they need it? It's quite obvious harassment - I doubt if leather jacketed cops in motorcycle helmets stand in front of the stage at the Metropolitan Opera or the Atlanta Symphony. In fact they wouldn't even be there. And if they were, the culture vultures would surely raise hell. Anyway, it sure would be nice to go to a concert without cops present for a change." <br />(Charlie Cushing, "The Man," GSB 11/10/69, p.13 - the review also mentions the "atrocious acoustics" in the Auditorium) Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-39749706210652650582013-11-21T08:44:37.824-08:002013-11-21T08:44:37.824-08:00There are some nice moments in this concert, but o...There are some nice moments in this concert, but overall it is a very passable show and after reading this review it makes sense. Rather happy they moved up to the Fox Theatre in 1977-85. That venue has amazing acoustics and is possibly the nicest venue I have ever entered. Rich Strahshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081676910913934756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-12623418049957170602013-11-21T03:00:04.292-08:002013-11-21T03:00:04.292-08:00The reviewer's opinion of this lackluster show...The reviewer's opinion of this lackluster show was accurate. As one Archive witness wrote, "I was at the show itself, and it was one of the most unpleasant and disappointing ever. The band was annoyed at the Atlanta cops' overzealous behavior and did the bare minimum to get through the show." <br />The Atlanta cops were hassling the audience as usual; after Bertha you can hear Phil shout, "Hey that's not really necessary, man! There ain't gonna be no music as long as there's cops on this stage!" The audience chants, "Pigs off the stage!" Cutler comes on and tries to calm things down: "Hey man, you might be into a radical trip, we're into playing music, that's all we want to do." He explains that the fire marshal won't turn the power back on til the audience clears the front of the stage... <br />Garcia's response to a song request doesn't seem to be on the tape: "That was two years ago, man. If you can't pick up on what we're doing now, I guess we'll have to leave you behind." (The tape has many cuts between songs, though.) It doesn't sound quite like Garcia - but then again he must've been in a bad mood, muttering "total bummer" as he fled the show. <br /><br />Another witness pointed out, "The sound was not that great at the show. The old Auditorium was a big concrete box with an echo impossible to compensate." (Note the reviewer's mention that the piano was barely audible.)<br />"Indifferent" and "listless," the band was professional enough that the show isn't atrocious (many reviewers point out that it's still pretty snappy), but they hurried through the show with hardly any jams - our tape is less than 2 hours! (Songs may be missing, though.) <br />You can imagine the poor audience members, not only being harassed by the cops, but remembering what the legendary 7/7/69 and 5/10/70 had been like - "the diehard Grateful Dead fans kept hoping for the band to take off on one of those legendary hour long numbers that used to leave them numb for hours after the show was over, but that kind of Grateful Dead music never came." <br /><br />At least the New Riders get a few kind words!Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com