Grateful Dead—Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA. w/ The New Riders of the Purple Sage, August 6, 1971
One of the best-known audience tapes from the early seventies, this Rob Bertrando field recording is something else. The tape, produced with a Sony 770 portable 7-inch reel deck and two battery-powered ECM-22 condenser mikes, is close to perfect with soundboard quality instrument separation and a good balance of crowd noise. Bertrando was one of the original Grateful Dead tapers who, along with Relix founders Les Kippel and Jerry Moore, worked their cunning magic back when recording shows demanded coming up with wily methods for getting gear into concert venues. This was long before tapers’ sections were the norm at Dead shows, and stories abound about the band’s sound and road crews putting the stops to every recording operation they witnessed. Cords were cut, tape decks smashed, and tapes were often confiscated. It’s amazing that bootlegs like this Palladium gig ever got made in the first place.
The show roars out of the gate with a fiery Bertha, and the high-octane atmosphere continues throughout the performance. Stellar takes on new and old tunes litter the first set, including a tight Mr. Charlie, a blistering Cumberland Blues, a fine Brokedown Palace with competent harmonies, and a damn pretty version of Loser. The highlight of the opening frame is the tremendous Hard to Handle. A featured track on the Fallout From the Phil Zone compilation, this Hard to Handle has long been considered one of the best the Dead ever played. Garcia’s solo section is absolutely ablaze with power; the raw energy is palpable, and the reflection back from the frenzied Palladium audience perfectly captures the symbiotic relationship between the band and the crowd in a way that is elemental to the Grateful Dead’s live effect.
Set two opens with one of the last pre-vacation period takes on St. Stephen. The stand-alone version is full of swagger and doesn’t disappoint. A respectable Truckin’ is next, replete with some acrobatic guitar work from Jerome. From here, a quick drum solo bridges the way to the jewel of the night—a fabulous, opulently textured Other One. It’s a classic '71 version, filled with dark, ruminating jams and crackling verve—exactly what we’ve come to expect when listening to performances during this peak transitional period. Me & My Uncle appears midway through the song, a combination that would occur many times during the fall and winter tours. Tonight’s take has a little something extra in the chamber and the segue is close to perfect. After the Cowboy Weir interval, a free-form jam ensues and advances—with great instrumental fervor—to the final verse. The show concludes with a few rockers, a superb Morning Dew, and a 24-minute Lovelight finale, packed with blues-soaked riffs and plenty of righteous McKernan rap.
Many early field recordings suffered greatly from being made too close to the stage. That certainly wasn’t the case with this tape. Almost every note from each instrument is audible and the inflection of the band’s voices is evenly modulated. The sound quality and musicianship make this a show for the ages. Warning: repeated listenings are conducive to a condition of heightened jubilance.