No, it's not the best show on the Grateful Dead's Europe '72 tour. Not top 5, maybe not even top 10 for some fans of the 22 shows of the glorious tour. It's during the last 4 nights at the Lyceum, which would definitely be tops on my list for time travel--should some day I could go to the 4 nights in London from 5-22 to 5-26-72, I would go with bells on to see the Dead at their peak in such a great venue. But everybody (rightfully) dwells on 5-26-72, which is just about as good as it gets and we forget about 5-24 and 5-25, which I sort of re-discovered.
The show starts with a relatively new song to the repertoire, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land," which has some false starts and a missed ending, but shows some promise. The bones are there for a song that will stay in the routine for decades, and the poor ending is just chalked up to the Dead always learning a tune in front of an audience.
The second set jam suite has some poor transitions: "Uncle John's Band">"Wharf Rat" is indecisive. The move between "Wharf Rat" and "Dark Star" is forced. The "Dark Star">"Sugar Magnolia" takes 2 attempts from Bobby to spur the rest of the band into the pure rock n' roll of "Sugar Mag."
But the "Uncle John's Band" is the best of the tour. The "Wharf Rat" the most emotional. The "Dark Star" could be the most exploratory with many passages driven hard and really far out. A "Feelin' Groovy" passage in the middle that lasts a while with Bobby then pasting rubber ducky decals to the tiles with his spaced-out guitar. Let's just say it...it's extremely psychedelic.
But it was the buddy songs that got me.
I re-visited this show after receiving the news that my rescue dog Lu has several metastatic tumors. Cancer. Prognosis = "poor." And "survival is likely to be less than a few months." Shitty news. I was devastated.
But the next day, after the diagnosis, it was extremely sunny after a long spell of cloudy days here in one of the darkest places on the planet. I took Lu and her best friend Mar out for an adventure and 5-25-72 just serendipitously happened to be the soundtrack. It just was what I had in the CD player on my RAV.
It truly was the buddy songs that got me during this listen, together with Lu and Mar, Kirsten out running a race in Seattle, the dogs and I just needed some buddy time. The "Jack Straw" focused. The opening lines have always rang true for me as the definition of friendship: "We can share..." It truly is the essence of Friend. Kris Kristoferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," a song about a traveling pair, hitching the backroads of the USA, made me think of Me and Lu. So good it hurt. On the "I Know You Rider," when they sang "I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone," it really put a gulp in my throat.
A "Big Boss Man" delivered by Pigpen that just cuts to the soul also resonated with me. When Pig sings, "You ain't that big...you just tall that's just about all," it made me think of Lu, who is so tiny, but is so, so huge, just so huge in spirit.
Kirsten and I've always seen Lu and Pigpen as kindred souls. Rough and tough exterior, aloof and indifferent to phoniness; but extremely sweet on the inside. That's Lu and Pig. Lu would be so keen on Pig if they were together in the same room. Lu projects that same toughness and aloofness, but when you know her, when you really take the time to know her, it's the sweetness that sticks. And that's Pig, too.
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| Pigpen. Tough exterior, sweet inside. |
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| Lu. Tough exterior, sweet inside. |
And listening to 5-25-72, probably Pig's last great show before he died, like Lu's swan song, makes me want to re-visit other Pig gems. God, when Pig was on, he was just so on. He did not live life in half-measures. It was balls to the wall or nothing. And that was his music. And that's Lu, too.
12-6-71 came in the mail, also serendipitously, just the other day. Also, a wonderful Pigpen show. A "Smokestack Lightning" that is deep, raw, real. Perfect for Lu. Tough on the exterior. Soft and sweet inside. The music. The vibe. The heart and soul.
What I love about Pigpen and also Lu is that they were/are the heart and soul of what they did. Neither were perfect, but they're the only ones who do what they do. True originals. As Bill Graham said of the Dead, which perfectly fits Pigpen, their heart and soul: "They're not the best at what they do; they're the only ones that do what they do." Pig gave his all to the Grateful Dead. Lu gave everything she had for the Adventure Buddies. Neither Lu nor Pig were/are innately talented. But both were/are great because they put everything in--their heart, their soul, and everything that they were.
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