1-2-1970 NYC, NY – Fillmore East, Late Show (#130)
Set List: Uncle John’s Band, High Time, Dier Wolf, Easy Wind, China Cat Sunflower, I know you Rider, Good Lovn’, Me & My Uncle, The Monkey & the Engineer, Dark Star, Saint Stephen, The Eleven, Turn on Your Lovelight
The Late show with the “Grateful Dead”, here’s Jerry! As with the earlier set this recording is excellent and pretty much every song is a joy to listen to. After a great opening they play “Dire Wolf”, they really want this to be a crowd sing-a-long, and Jerry tries to get the crowd involved. I like this song but Pigs keys are prominent and remind me of a merry-go-round calliope. I kept picturing a kid riding a 600 lb wolf going in circles. A cut in “China Rider” makes it a short ride. After a few broke strings, and an enjoyable “Monkey”, they play a stellar 30 minute “Dark Star” that jams a little brighter than usual. They tie up the show with a standard “Lovelight”, I guess disbanding the song from the set list wasn’t part of their New Years resolution. Darn.
Highlight: Dark Star
Recommendation: One for your archives
Grateful Ted 