06-21-1971

Chateau d’Herouville

Herouville, France

The Dead had no intentions of playing a historic French chateau on this date in 1971. But when the free concert they were scheduled to play was canceled, they just set up shop in the back of the estate they were staying at and threw down for the townspeople who, as Jerry described in Blair Jackson’s Garcia: A Life, “came — the chief of police, the fire department, just everybody. It was an event and everybody just had a hell of a time — got drunk, fell in the pool. It was great.” This is the Dead at their absolute finest: raw, impromptu playing with the chops to back everything up.

Recording info
Use alternative player
Identifier:
gd1971-06-21.sbd.miller.94356.flac16
Source:
SBD -> Master Reel -> Dat -> CD D
Notes:
Patch Info: SBD -> Master Reel -> ? -> Dat -> CD supplies: Johnny B. Goode (complete track) Notes: — Disc change is seamless — The intro to Truckin’ is cut — First few notes to Me And My Uncle are cut — Thanks to Rob Eaton for the discs — Thanks to Joe B. Jones for his help with the pitch correction
Description:
Playing In The Band Big Boss Man Black Peter Bertha Casey Jones Cryptical Envelopment -> Drums -> The Other One -> Wharf Rat Sugar Magnolia Sing Me Back Home Johnny B. Goode
Lineage:
CD -> Samplitude Professional v10.1 -> Adobe Audition v1.5 -> FLAC
Transferrer:
Charlie Miller
Play
Pause
Back
Forw.
Volume
00:00
1
Truckin’
09:52
2
Loser
08:26
3
Me And Bobby McGee
07:59
4
Next Time You See Me
03:53
5
Morning Dew
11:19
6
Me And My Uncle
04:09
7
Hard To Handle
11:09
8
China Cat Sunflower ->
05:07
9
I Know You Rider
08:01
10
The Promised Land
02:52
11
Deal
06:05
12
Playing In The Band
04:41
13
Big Boss Man
06:04
14
Black Peter
08:18
15
Bertha
05:49
16
Casey Jones
05:48
17
That’s It For The Other One ->
16:45
18
Wharf Rat
08:21
19
Sugar Magnolia
06:07
20
Sing Me Back Home
09:32
21
Johnny B. Goode
03:40
Choose recording

The Dead’s fiery raid on Herouville begins with a mighty Truckin’, oozing with a cantankerous spirit: Jerry’s guitar, Phil’s bass, etc. The energy is off the charts, and the boys don’t let up the rest of the show. Loser and Bobby McGee come out next, before Pig takes over on Next Time You See Me, bawling to the audience in the type of intimate gathering that he really loved playing. Morning Dew emerges out of the shadows, painting an apocalyptic atmosphere on the canvas of rural France. The whole band is firing throughout, beginning with Billy’s expertly-timed cymbal fills that plunge everyone head-first into the face melting maelstrom. After the dust settles, Bobby heads west with Me & My Uncle, before the Frenchies get another shot of Pig on a rocking version of Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle. And the China>Rider that comes next is, put, simply, mind-bending. The China Cat scorches in the interstices between the verses before launching on a bluesy jam into Rider. And the Rider itself is stratospheric with some beautiful harmonies. Promised Land and a short Deal and Playin’ follow, lacking nothing but a few more minutes of jamming. Then Pig comes back again on Big Boss Man with some bruising harp and vocals. We don’t get a Lovelight or Good Lovin’ out of the band on this night, but Pig tears up each of his tunes, all while playing piano throughout the show rather than his organ. Black Peter, Bertha, and Casey Jones, all of which feature some of those Pig keys, come out in succession next. Then it is on to The Other One, which is dark, searching, and insatiable as the boys throw it back to their primal roots, playing sixteen minutes of trippy, face-stealing music. We can only imagine the drunken French minds that were blown that day. Eventually, the band brings it back to Earth, transitioning into a mesmerizing Wharf Rat. Sugar Mags surges forth afterwards. Just picture the townspeople stumbling into the pool while they shake their bones to the tune. Then Sing Me Back Home slows things down, as it will, but still bristles with emotion before the final release of Johnny B. Goode caps the night in the French countryside.

In the two months before the jump across the pond, the Dead had only played two shows – back-to-back at Winterland – partly because Bill Graham was shuttering the Fillmore. A little bored, the boys jumped at a chance to play a free festival on the outskirts of Paris, earning nothing more than their flight and expenses. When they arrived on the continent, the Dead learned that the festival had been canceled because of heavy rains. But the boys stayed on for a few days, staying at the Chateau d’Herouville, a 1740 rambling structure where Chopin had a love affair and Van Gogh had painted. After a few days of wine, drugs, and tennis, the Dead decided to throw a concert at the place. As McNally writes in Long Strange Trip, “on the solstice, June 21, the weather cleared and they set up in back of the chateau near the pool, which the children of Herouville had encircled with hundreds of candles.” The mayor and chief of police, as well as all the townspeople, were in attendance. “No Dead Heads – it was just boogie down,” Lesh relates. “A little acid being passed around, not too much, just right…It was the classic garden party with the GD and the LSD. Talk about a piece of San Francisco transplanted to the heart of France.”

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Comments

2 responses to “06-21-1971”

  1. JealyEar Avatar
    JealyEar

    Love love love the story behind this show… and the Dead were always good for telling a story and/or creating one for the ages! However I think 4 out of 5 stars for this one is a bit generous. To me, the vocals were a bit rough all around on this night… don’t know, too much Burgundy wine perhaps. ????????????????

  2. JealyEar Avatar
    JealyEar

    Ok. Spilled the tea too soon. Things pick up considerably by Deal… I can’t tell if the sound issues are on the stream, the recording or if the boys had issues at the start on stage that they eventually got figured out. Anyway. Fun listen

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