One of the most fascinating aspects of the Dead was their decision to allow fans to tape their shows. Doing so, the fan was able to leave the concert with a document of the event, and then share it as well as trade with other fans and their collections. It was musical blogs way before musical blogs were even dreamed of. Before long, the tapers helped create the an ever growing community of like minded individuals, building relationships over their common interest, the Grateful Dead. The real Deadheads are those that followed the band around the country, hanging out in venue parking lots, and taking in hundreds upon hundreds of shows.
Allowing taping proved to be the Dead’s smartest business move (and the Dead were great businessmen). It helped secure the band as relevant throughout the years after so many other similar acts were seen as pure nostalgic. Another smart move the Dead made was changing up their sets each night, which gave the taper the opportunity to capture rare performances that became quite valuable on the trading market. People wanted to be a part of the scene, and the taper gave them the opportunity to be in on the fun as well as relive old memories (some of which may have been hazy at the time). Recordings are often separated into two fields, soundboard and audience recordings. The soundboard copies are quickly being produced into CD’s while the audience recordings are free and up for grab to anyone who wants to download them. For many Deadheads, the only worthy Dead recording is a good audience recording.
As someone you loves to document life, I was instantly drawn to the tapers. Tapers feel the music belongs to the world and are happy to get it out there for all to enjoy. Today, tapers are still going strong on Live Music Archive, with over 80,000 recorded shows. My favorite taper of today is NYC Taper who updates his blog nearly daily with newly recorded shows from today’s best bands. And then, of course, there are the audience recordings from the Dead tapers, who have documented over 7,000 Dead shows throughout their career. Check out the full list here.
Here are some of my favorites:
Live at Haight Street (3/3/68)
An early, high energy show from the Haight-Ashbury ambassadors with the late Ron “Pigpen” Mckernan fronting the band.
Live at the Music Box (4/15/69)
Even poorly recorded shows have high merit if they document a good night.
Live at Hollywood Palladium (8/6/71)
It’s amazing how advanced the tapers had become in only two years. One of the best sounding audience recordings, perfectly blending the music with the scene.
Live at Cornell University (5/8/77)
Often considered the best Grateful Dead show ever! This is a matrix between the soundboard and audience recordings. A perfect marriage.
Live at The Centrum (11/5/85)
Proving the Dead were still going strong in the 80’s despite less than stellar harmonies. This is a fun show that includes the Dead Birthday wishes to one of the most famous Deadheads, NBA star Bill Walton.
Live at the Pyramid 4/2/95)
One of the Dead’s last show was in Memphis at the Pyramid. Here the boys excite the Southern crowd with numbers like Dylan’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” and the Dead classic “Tennessee Jed” with the lyrics “Tennessee, Tennessee no place I’d rather be.” Crowd pleasers to say the least.