Grateful Dead at the Fillmore Auditorium: 7/16/66

Grateful Dead
Fillmore Auditorium
San Francisco, CA
7/16/66

Set One:
1. I Know You Rider
2. Big Boss Man
3. Standing On The Corner
4. Beat It On Down The Line
5. In The Pines
6. Cardboard Cowboy
7. Nobody's Fault But Mine
8. Next Time You See Me
9. He Was A Friend Of Mine
10. Cream Puff War

Set Two:
11. Viola Lee Blues
12. Don't Ease Me In ->
13. Pain In My Heart
14. Minglewood Blues ->
15. Sittin' On Top Of The World
16. You Don't Have To Ask
17. Cold Rain And Snow ->
18. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl ->
19. It's All Over Now Baby Blue
20. Dancin' In The Streets

The show from 7/16/66 seems to be the first "complete" show (fitting the schemata of later shows having a first and second set) that I've encountered so far. In between the two Dead sets is a Jefferson Airplane set, as Garcia tells us after concluding Cream Puff War. Bill Graham also introduces the band as "the oldest juveniles in California." That may have been, especially with LSD still legal,  but the Dead played this night like something more than juvenile.

To me, set one seemed to be standard '66 fare. Cream Puff War was the most jammed song of the set, keeping with the momentum they've built up on that tune to this point. Set one also has the first Cardboard Cowboy I've encountered before. Does anyone else think it's kind of a weird song? - Not bad, just odd. I also really dig Nobody's Fault But Mine, but couldn't find any additional information about it. Set 2 is where the show really took off to me. I love the version of Viola Lee, which Lesh tells us afterwords, is a song about jail. In Minglewood you hear Weir's earliest attempts at singing. Bobby's unique style and newness to the job are both quite apparent in this version. I had to turn my stereo down at one point to reign in Weir's screeches.

7/16/66 represents the first time the Dead performed Don't Ease Me In. The lyrics are very similar to those sung in later years. The playing of the tune, however, matches the 66-style of the band. And although this is the first official performance by the Grateful Dead, the tune sounds as though Jerry's played it before - perhaps in one of his bluegrass bands from earlier in the decade.

I suggest anyone give this show a listen. Set 2 especially warrants at least a listening of the show. 
You can listen here at archive: http://archive.org/details/gd1966-07-16.sbd.miller.21063.shnf


For a quick listen, here is Viola Lee Blues: