GRATEFUL DEAD

Live At The Cow Palace: New Years Eve 1976

$31.98 CD

The three-disc set includes more than 180 minutes of music capturing the Grateful Dead playing in their Bay-area backyard at the peak of the group’s live prowess and just a few months before the release of the band’s ninth studio album, Terrapin Station. The deluxe packaging features rare photos and extensive liner notes from Glenn Lambert, one of the DJs covering the show’s original live broadcast on KSAN.

Mixed from original 16-track master tapes, LIVE AT THE COW PALACE contains 22 Dead performances recorded December 31, 1976, and presented in pristine HDCD. The band's line-up at the time featured Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann on drums, Phil Lesh on bass, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards and backup vocalist Donna Godchaux.

The concert takes flight in the first set with covers of Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” and Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” coupled with Dead classics “Bertha,” “Deal” and “Playing In The Band.” After the countdown to midnight, the band kicked off the second set and two more hours of sublime music with “Sugar Magnolia” followed by a sustained 40-minute run of music that ranks up there as one of the best-played jams of 1976. Starting out with the new, faster, more powerful version of “Eyes Of The World,” the jam then slips into a beautiful “Wharf Rat.”

After a note-perfect “Not Fade Away,” the band ends the massive second set with one of the longest and most emotionally draining versions of “Morning Dew” ever performed. A three-song encore ends the night, capping one of the most intriguing evenings of Grateful Dead music, one that bridges the gap between the exploratory jazz of 1973-1974 and the orchestrated perfection of 1977.

Pre-order Live At Cow Palace from Dead.net and receive a very special bonus CD, Spirit Of ‘76, produced especially for this release and featuring more than an hour of previously unissued music from 1976.

See more releases by Grateful Dead.

Selection # 74816

::Watch Videos By Grateful Dead