Grateful Dead at the Pico Acid Test - 3/19/66

Pico Acid Test
Carthay Studios, Los Angeles CA
3/19/66

Track List:

1. Viola Lee Blues
2. One Kind Favor
3. I Know You Rider
4. You See A Broken Broken Heart
5. It's A Sin
6. PA Complaints
7. Beat It On Down The Line
8. PA, Etc. - Stage Banter
9. Heads Up (Instrumental)
10. PA, Etc. - Stage Banter
11. Next Time You See Me
12. Ice Cream Break
13. Stormy Monday Jam
14. //Death Don't Have No Mercy
15. In The Midnite Hour//
Total Time: 66:20

The next installment of the Merry Pranksters trip was the Pico Acid Test held at Carthay Studios in Los Angeles. Their house band, the Grateful Dead, were of course on hand for the event. The actual date of the recording is, like much of 1966, up to some speculation. The tracks circulate as both 3/12 and 3/19. For lack of an exact date and with the stage banter and PA problems, I felt as though the show is probably 3/19 at the Acid Test. Listen for yourself and let me know your opinion!

The Dead on this night were on. The "Viola Lee Blues" to begin the set is intense, and is a great introduction to live versions. If it is a harbinger intense jamming, I am quite excited to experience more of Viola Lee's! Jerry's roving guitar riffs during the song reminded me of Bear Stanley's initial reaction to hearing Jerry play. He said that he felt overwhelmed by the experience because of, "Garcia's guitar, which seemed to come out of the universe and try to eat me alive" (McNally 118). The quick, wild quality with which he plays brings to mind a bridge to another universe.

Another interesting note of the show is that it contains the only known performance of Pigpen's song "You See A Broken Heart," according to David Dodd (Dodd 12).

If you have any information about whether this show occurred on 3/12 or 3/19 of 1966, please feel free to leave them.

Take a listen to the Viola Lee's Blues and the rest:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-19.sbd.scotton.81951.sbeok.flac