Pentangle - Berkeley Community Theater 5/29/70
Pentangle had the juju by this point. Following every musical idea as far as it would take them, the band expanded just about every definition one could ascribe to folk music. Even traditionals in their hands sounded like the new thing. This concert reminds me a great deal of the BBC recording from the same era and even has a similar level of sound quality, making this an incredibly pleasurably experience. No question to my ears that all the musicians really weave one tapestry here, making it difficult at times to talk about the great talent of the instrumentalists as they so effortlessly fulfill the needs of the music and no more.
Alquin - PGO, Amstelveen 10/14/04
I’ve had this forever, but mentally filed it in the “reunion concert - probably going to be, at best, mediocre” file. So imagine my surprise when they sounded completely authentic down to the organs. It even had me wondering if the year should have been 74 and I had it wrong, but the slightly fuzzy sound quality would make it difficult to detect modern or 70s signatures. It’s also mastered very low which applies quite a bit of hiss, but like anything expectation cracking I was enjoying the experience nonetheless. Alquin always struck me as a slightly ambitious rock band who by dint of the era got thrown in the prog bin, and after creating two strong albums, Marks and Mountain Queen, started to move to a different sound. However, nearly everything here reminded me of those two albums.
Grateful Dead - Cal Expo Amphitheater, Sacramento 5/26/93
I’ve lived 15 minutes from this arena since I was 10 years old and it’s quite possible, way before I was any sort of fan, that I was listening to this outside the venue on the day while, um, shopping. I found the show a bit of a surprise, probably because I guess in retrospect I can deal with Vince Welnick (at least I think that’s him), and we get a rather nice, late version of Here Comes Sunshine and a rather respectable suite for the era with a Playin’ sandwich. While I can’t get as thrilled about this as I do about shows during the classic years, Garcia at least seemed to be in good health on the day and in many ways this reminds one of the old days. On the other hand, Bob Weir’s continual hamming it up on older songs is always irritating and I’ve long thought they need to take the mike away from Lesh (”Box of Rain”). I will say one thing however, in 1993 I would have hated this. Not enough angst or drama.