7/17/66 - Grateful Dead at the Fillmore Auditorium

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

Tracklist:
1. Big Boss Man//
2. Cold Rain & Snow
3. It's All Over Now Baby Blue
4. Cream Puff War
5. King Bee
6. Stealin'
7. Dancin' In The Streets

The tracks I have for 7/17/66, as seen above, is the correct one according to Charlie Miller. In the past, the performances of In the Pines, and Cardboard Cowboy from 7/16 have been attributed to this date. Miller has since corrected it.

I found this show to be a little underwhelming as compared to the night before. Obviously it's a smaller amount of music, but I don't think the intensity of 7/16 is matched. The majority of Big Boss Man is cut, giving the last 26 seconds of the music. It also sounds as though there is a cut in the middle of Baby Blue - but I have no idea how much music is missing. Cream Puff War and King Bee are the two highlights from this tape for me. The Bee is bluesy Dead at it's best. Pig's voice is growing on me, and really fits the style of song he performed. Fitting with the trend, Cream Puff is explored nicely after the lyrics.

This show is mentioned in McNally's "Long Strange Trip." He says,

"...The ALF [Artist's Liberation Front] turned to the musicians for a benefit, and on July 17 the Dead, the Airplane, and Sopwith Camel played the Fillmore, capping the evening with a "Midnight Hour" that included Marty Balin, Pigpen, Joan Baez, and Mimi Farina trading vocals. The ALF would not accomplish much, but it planted a seed in various minds. "Free" was a very powerful idea" (McNally 150).

I would LOVE to find a copy of that Midnight Hour as well as the Airplane set, but haven't been able to uncover either. I bet the Dead set is truncated because it was a benefit with a number of bands playing.

If you want to give it a listen, head over to archive. Here is Charlie Miller's correction: http://archive.org/details/gd66-07-17.sbd.miller.21064.sbeok.shnf

I'm not off to listen to a show from the Dead's first real road trip, when they traveled up to Vancouver at the end of July 1966! Enjoy the music!