Grateful Dead Flac

Sweet liberty! We're venturing into the depths of 80s Dead with the complete show from 4/20/84 at the Philadelphia Civic Center and we're placing bets you'll think this one is more than fine. A strong contender for our mega 30 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN boxed set, 4/20/84 missed the cut by virtue of its setlist being a wee bit too similar to the years before and after.

Three CDs. Madison Square Garden, the world-famous New York City arena, was a home away from home for The Grateful Dead, a reliable sanctuary where the band would ultimately play 52 shows, a record at the time. The venue's fine acoustics combined with the fans' unbridled energy consistently brought out the best in the Dead. At the band's 2015 induction ceremony into Madison Square Garden's Walk Of Fame, Bobby Weir said "This place was both horrifying and titillating with an audience that was discerning but ravenous. We had to rise to the occasion every time."

"Certain people" will know that we're coming in hot with one that's got all these things and more, Dave's Picks Vol. 41: Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD, 5/26/77. Yes, there's still plenty of spectacular May '77 to go around. Nearly chosen for Dave's Picks Vol. 1, 5/26/77 delivers three-fold. There's one count for the energy - all the precision of the Spring tour conjuring up the raw power of the Fall tour that was to come. There's another for the setlist which featured beloved songs from WORKINGMAN'S DEAD and soon-to-be favorites from the freshly recorded TERRAPIN STATION. And a third for its element of surprise (or shall we say surprises) from an astonishingly peak 15-minute "Sugaree" to new delights ("Sunrise," "Passenger," "Jack-A-Roe') to a rare first-set finale of "Bertha" to the second set's "Terrapin>Estimated>Eyes," traveling leaps and bounds towards the improvisational journey that is a nearly 17-minute "Not Fade Away."

The Grateful Dead's first tour outside of North America was immortalized on 'Europe '72', a triple live album that distilled peak moments from the 22 shows the band played in six countries for thousands of Europeans. It took place on April 7, 1972, at Wembley Empire Pool in London. This 2CD 50th anniversary remastered edition was mastered by Grammy award winning engineer David Glasser with restored audio by Plangent Processes.