Grateful Dead—Quadraphonic Radio Broadcast, Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA, October 4-5, 1970
The Dead kick off a busy October with two Winterland dates accompanied by the Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The Sunday night opener is a significant day in the history of media: the first live quadraphonic television broadcast. The technical setup had the sound piped from the stage out to Wally Heider’s remote truck on the street, mixed on a 16-channel machine, and then returned into Winterland where Bob Mathews mixed it to 4 and sent it out to radio- and TV-land. For those who weren’t lucky enough to have a ticket, the audio-visual compilation made home viewing a good second option. Imagine a handful of folks gathering around a television, a big FM tuner, and a few other radios to settle down to four channels of Grateful Dead. Not quite as happening as being at Winterland, but more lifelike than stereo.
Two archived recordings are available in an FM/soundboard format. The first, properly dated Sunday 10/4/70, begins with one of the six live takes of Till the Morning Comes. It comes off remarkably well and it’s a shame they didn’t play this one more often. The Brokedown Palace that follows is achingly beautiful, clearly benefiting from all the August-September studio takes during the American Beauty sessions. The remainder of the short set is very good, chock-full of superb ensemble playing. Of note, the second half of Good Lovin’ contains some of the fiercest coda jamming of the year. The second tape we have is mislabeled as The Matrix 10/17/70 but is in fact a sampling of the Sunday and Monday performances. The quality of the mix on this recording is considerably better, with exquisite versions of Candyman, Dancing in the Streets, and Uncle John’s Band.
In the end, the experiment was more a novel happening than something the artists or organizers wanted to replicate. The shows themselves provided a fine example of the band’s transitioning sound from the adventurous and exploratory output of Live Dead, to the distinctive Americana of Workingman’s and American Beauty, awash with bright harmonies and folk and country trimmings.
Without further ado, the Grateful Quadrophonic Dead.