Dead of the Day: 12-23-1970
Winterland Arena
San Francisco, California
Once again, we have three shows from this date in Dead history, but only one extant recording. Fortunately, that show, from 1970 at Winterland, is pretty sweet and more than worthy of being our Dead of the Day. The show gets started after Jerry yells “bloody murder” and Phil kindly wishes everyone a “Merry Christmas.” Despite being billed as an acoustic show, the boys come out with a rare electric version of Deep Elem Blues, which is mellow and taffy-like. A standard seven-beat opening to BIODTL comes next, and the song maintains the reserved and deliberate sound of Deep Elem, making for a lovely take on the regular Bobby tune. Then, that full, slow sound morphs into some downright lusty blues as Jerry goes all BB King and Pig delivers deep and hearty vocals along with wailing harp chords. Then it is back to Bobby for a steady, measured Me And My Uncle. With Bobby proclaiming that “we’re going to risk it and try another one,” things get just a little bit spicier with a fine little Cumberland. The tune is clipped at the end, and it is not at all clear if a few more songs are missing. Regardless, a delightful Me And Bobby McGee rolls out afterwards with a solid Dire Wolf coming on its heels. But the highlight of the show is surely the Good Lovin’, introduced by Phil’s reverberating bass, which continues to throw off bombs the rest of the way. The drummers have a long, righteous solo in the early going, and then Jerry throws down as the rest of the band comes back in to mix it up, taking it through a scintillating jam before a final return to the lyrics. A tasty Casey Jones into Uncle John’s then sends the show out.
There is quite a bit of confusion about both the setlist and the actual date of this show. The show is sometimes credited to the 17th or 24th of December. Given Phil’s Christmas wishes at the beginning and end, the earlier date seems unlikely. It seems that somewhere there must be evidence that could clearly settle the confusion given that the show was a benefit for Stanley Owsley and, reportedly, a Montessori School. With Hot Tuna and the New Riders sharing the bill, surely there must be some posters and other advertising out there. The setlist questions are more difficult to parse definitively. For instance, a Dancin’ is often noted in place of the Casey Jones, which seems possible given the short cuts in between tunes. Other songs pop up on various lists for the show, including a Cold Rain And Snow, Candyman, and Hard to Handle, and it seems entirely possible that all those tunes and more could have been played on that evening without making it onto the recording. What does seem fairly settled, based on multiple accounts from attendees, is that a large trashcan of dosed apple cider was available to all comers before the boys took the stage.
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