Grateful Dead – BERKELEY COMMUNITY CENTER 1971 VOL.1 (2LP) Vinyl Double Album

EXCEPTIONAL LATE SUMMER ’71 SHOW FROM THE LAST DAYS OF THE ORIGINAL 5-PIECE GRATEFUL DEADJust a month after closing down the Fillmore venues (both East and West) Bill Graham presented this two-night stand at the Berkeley Community Center, with the Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage. These were marathon shows for Jerry Garcia, who was onstage with both bands. These were to be some of the last ever performances by the original five-piece Grateful Dead line-up.The Dead’s second night at Berkeley, as presented in full on this new two-instalment set (with both the early and late sets included) is a bit more exploratory than the previous night, although it contains much of the same material. The pair of 1970 studio albums are represented by “Casey Jones”, and “Cumberland Blues”. Again, a lot of newer material is being perfected, much of it soon to be staples of the band’s repertoire. Garcia/Hunter classics like “Sugaree” were reaching the definitive stage of development. Pigpen’s vocal dominance is again minimal, but when he does surface, it’s thoroughly enjoyable however. He delivers one of the earliest performances of “Mr. Charlie” as well as “Big Boss Man”.