Dead of the Day: 02-07-1969
Stanley Theater
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Though there is another noteworthy show on this date, we had to go with the musically transcendent pair of shows from February 7, 1969 at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as our Dead of the Day. Topping a three-band, two-show bill, the Dead could not play extended setlists during either show, but they made good use of their time, firing out of the gate with a Dark Star. The rest of the first show is very fine and tight, though only fifty minutes long. The second show is not much longer, but just flat out smokes. It is hard to pull out a single song as standing above the rest; they are all phenomenal, with jams throughout that just set off on a mission, exploring the outer reaches of the tune’s consciousness. For instance, the brilliant Alligator conjures the beast, and you can hear it slinking around the edges of the beatific swamp that is Drums and then feel its presence in the short China Cat jam before it resurfaces completely, transformed into something both darker and more blessed, but still all reptile, in the Primal Alligator jam.
Other artist(s): The Velvet Underground; The Fugs
The shows brought together three bands that seem quite discordant, but as one paper noted, “such a collection of freaks could hardly lead anywhere but up.” First, the Andy Warhol-managed, Lou Reed-led, antithesis of the Grateful Dead, the Velvet Underground, opened each time, blasting the crowd with their high volume music. It was so loud that one attendee, “FanSince68,” says on Archive that the only reason he can still hear is “because someone near me brought extra cotton balls.” It seemed they played phenomenally though, with a reporter claiming the music was “loud enough to reach the inner core of being without shattering the transcendence of community,” which sounds like high praise. The Fugs took the stage next. And, though we know less about their sets that day, their irreverence, political bent, and occasional psychedelic rock was probably on display, warming the crowd up for the Dead. On top of the bands, the Yippee founder Paul Krassner served as the MC, and the Solar System Light and Power Company not only put the whole happening together, but also provided a light show. (If you are interesting in the relationship, or lack there of, between the Dead and the Velvets, check out the Grateful Dead Guide’s exhaustive post on the subject.)
The Stanley Theater, where it all happened, had only recently started to host concerts again. Built in 1928, it had been one of the nation’s best live music venues during the big band era. But sometime in the 1940s, the place had been converted to a grand movie house. And, even after the Stanley started hosting concerts once again, the films continued to play. Not long after the Dead’s 1969 shows, a bomb threat greeted the debut of a Martin Luther King documentary and an actual incendiary device exploded above the ticket booth while the 1970 film The Great White Hope, with its interracial love scene, played. The Dead would return to the Stanley in 1979 and 1981. Those four shows bracketed another major event at the Stanley, Bob Marley’s last concert on September 23, 1980. Today, the theater still stands, but it has been converted to a theatrical stage – the third largest in the country – and is known as the Benedum.
According to “Duane2” on Archive, back in 1969, following the late show, all three bands went out to a nearby commune that was having an acid party. While Lou Reed “smoked weed and argued with the hippies…Jerry and Pigpen sat up on the 3rd floor and played nothing but solid blues songs!”
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