tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post5993400353848389..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: May 3-4, 1972: L'Olympia, ParisLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-64598608224648698812022-07-08T02:28:27.266-07:002022-07-08T02:28:27.266-07:00More on the police presence at L'Olympia, from...More on the police presence at L'Olympia, from the Rolling Stone article "The Beautiful Dead Hit Europe": <br />"The police -- the flics -- got nervous whenever young people gathered. Two nights earlier, when the Doors played the Olympia, there'd been rioting. So when the Dead walked to the theater, there were seven busloads of police at the curb, many of them in riot helmets and armed with rifles. Inside it was friendlier... So mellow was the mood at the concert's end, the police outside had nothing to do but smoke cigarettes... The second night at the Olympia...there were only 30 or so cops on hand -- down from 180 the night before."<br />http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/09/may-1972-paris.html Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-18234729490367985052022-06-17T02:03:53.904-07:002022-06-17T02:03:53.904-07:00An interesting review of a show at the Olympia. Mu...An interesting review of a show at the Olympia. Muller had seen the Dead at the Empire Pool the month before, so he was able to compare the Dead at two venues - he did not like the Empire Pool, a "monstrous concrete cube" with no intimacy and poor acoustics; but even at the smaller, friendlier Olympia, he was distressed by the security henchmen. So he laments not being able to see the Dead where they could really establish an ideal atmosphere. <br />Nonetheless, they sound impressive as it is; when he conjures up the scene at the Empire Pool, it reminds him of the magical days of yore in San Francisco. Even more at the Olympia, he's struck by the relaxed atmosphere the band creates, in which the whole audience is friendly and high and feels like part of the band. <br />Musically, he finds that the two shows were about the same, and he describes at length how the Dead progress through their sets, building up to their long free improv ("The Other Side," he calls it, an improvement on the actual name). He's surprised that in concert, they remind him of the Band - he likes the Band more, but both groups with their melding of genres are "the pure expression of America." <br />The number of Dead fans in Europe is growing, and he predicts that within the year they "will be the most famous and popular American band in Europe." I don't think this happened! But he suggests the process in which the Dead were at first just a mythical name from America, with only a small cult interested in them, but then became more well-known through their records. Now the audiences are enthusiastic, and he guarantees you'll have a great time if you see them (not that many readers would get the chance). <br /><br />But he also talks about the Dead's role in show-business, and here he's more skeptical: the Dead aren't actually independent of the music industry but rely on the business for their success; they can't "escape the machine." "Without showbiz there wouldn't be a Grateful Dead." But even though he finds Garcia naive and the Dead's self-reliance just another myth, he still appreciates how "beautiful" it is that they're still so good, popular, and sincerely idealistic in the "rotten environment" of the music industry. <br />Lebrun's article strikes a similar note in dispelling the Dead myth, observing that as they became more successful & organized they became part of "the system": "The experience of the Grateful Dead, like that of the entire California movement, is, socially, a failure. Nothing has been fundamentally called into question by marginal community attempts, nothing has upset the sordid logic of show business. There remains the warmth of the attempt, its atmosphere, its spirit, transmitted to us by the generous rock of the Grateful Dead."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com