Grateful Dead: July 4, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

July 5, 2015
By

gd screenie 4
[screen cap from the live stream]

Tonight is the last official performance of the band formerly known as “The Grateful Dead”. The entity known as “NYCTaper” would almost certainly not exist in its current incarnation were it not for the Grateful Dead and the tapers who captured the shows. These fans were essentially the courageous pioneers whose persistence, imagination and sacrifice created the very idea that a rock band could have “tapers”. After years of back and forth, the band ultimately recognized the value of the tapers and created an official “taper’s section” for them to do what they do. I spent quite a few nights in the late-era version of that section and it was an orderly community with its own set of particular rules and mores. In our own way here at NYCTaper, we try to apply a similar set of rules and use the code that made the tapers so successful and apply it to today’s technology and the music world at large. Indeed, our friend Jesse Jarnow is writing a book about the early days of the Grateful Dead tapers and gave us a small sample of his work in an article published in Wired Magazine on Friday.

The community aspect of the tapers’ creed is also a large reason why these recordings are coming to NYCTaper and doing so very quickly. Our friend Bill won the “lottery” and nabbed taper tickets to each of the Chicago shows and very generously volunteered to have his recordings posted here at NYCTaper. I’ve met Bill and I’ve known him in taper circles for a while, and acidjack has spent time with Bill down in New Orleans, but this joint venture is more about a camaraderie between relative strangers bonding over a taper ideal that began back in the old days of the Grateful Dead. In a way, its our tribute the band’s last shows that we can come together to take the original idea and transform it to a 21st Century version of the old “taper’s section”.

The second of these three shows was a standard Saturday show — that is to say it was a show longer on songs and shorter on jams. A show not necessarily for the diehards, but more for the “weekend fan”. Its been a phenomena for these weekend runs in Grateful Dead lore for years. The Friday show is a high-energy party, the Saturday is a song night, and the Sunday show is a night for obscurities and jams. We’ll find out in a few hours if this final run follows the old trend. However, that’s not necessarily an indictment of this show. It certainly had its moments — a surprising spry first-set “Friend of the Devil”, the Jerry-tribute “Bird Song” to open the second set, and a wayback machine drive along “The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion” (streaming below).

This set was recorded by Bill in the same manner as the July 3 show and the quality is equally excellent. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “The Golden Road”:

Grateful Dead
2015-07-04
Soldier Field
Chicago IL

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Taper’s Section

Busman BSC2 + AKG 480/CK61 + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Tascam DR-680 > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded by Bill Walker
Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1
[Total Time 1:22:19]
01 Shakedown Street
02 Liberty
03 Standing on the Moon
04 Me and My Uncle
05 Tennessee Jed
06 Cumberland Blues
07 Little Red Rooster
08 Friend of the Devil
09 Deal

Set 2
[Total Time 2:02:16]
10 Bird Song
11 The Golden Road
12 Lost Sailor
13 Saint of Circumstance
14 West LA Fadeaway
15 Foolish Heart
16 Drums-Space
17 Stella Blue
18 One More Saturday Night
19 [encore break]
20 US Blues
21 [Fireworks]

If you download this show from NYCTaper, please support the band and buy anything from the plethora of available music and merch at Dead.net.

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19 Responses to Grateful Dead: July 4, 2015 Chicago – Flac/MP3/Streaming

  1. Denny Evans
    July 6, 2015 at 1:52 am

    Thank you so much for recording these shows! After watching them online, this is the best I could hope for since I was unable to make the shows.

    Peace, Love and Karma!

  2. Stuart
    July 6, 2015 at 9:01 am

    Couldn’t agree with Denny more. How was the 3rd night?

  3. AndyC
    July 6, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    Outstanding. I was at the July 4th show. The first set was almost a religious experience for me. The 2nd set had a couple of slow tunes back-to-back, which sucked some of the energy built up by the first set, but it had the rocking version of The Golden Road, and ended well. The drum/space was one of the best (and weirdest) But the sound system was perfectly tuned into Soldier Field, and from the first notes of Shakedown Street, it was the unmistakable unique, only-can-hear-it-live, sound of the Grateful Dead. The first set alone was an hour and a half, so regardless of the second set, it was a plentiful amount of nirvana that can only be created by the Grateful Dead. Just like Bill Graham said, “They’re not the best at what they do, they are the only ones that do what they do”. I will be sad to see them go. Thank you so much to nyctaper for being such a constant presence and flag bearer of the taping tradition.

  4. Kyle Thompson
    July 6, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    These are wonderful! Hearing Trey sing Standing on the Moon made me like that song more than ever before. Thank you for all you do. Are you going to post the 7/5 show as well?

  5. Forever Dead
    July 7, 2015 at 5:10 am

    My comment in on the July 3rd download page;
    Once again, thank you

  6. joe
    July 7, 2015 at 7:53 am

    I was curious if the taper ‘camaraderie’ would appear here for these shows. I’m happy they did. And am very grateful for the efforts of NYCtaper & acidjack for all that you do. You guys go way beyond the normal aspects of melodious archiving. Very grateful for the trailblazers like Stanley, Candelario, Healy, Menke, Falanga, Wise, Stankiewicz, & Rogers. They paved the way for the likes of these greats; Cantor, Walker, Scotton, Oade, & Lynch.
    The Golden Road made my day, I never thought I’d hear that tune live. They seemed to have a lot of fun for that tune.

  7. J.Dub
    July 7, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Thanks so much for posting these! I was only able to make the 3rd show, so getting to hear the first two now and keep the buzz going is great. Will you be posting the final show as well? Hope you can!

  8. Pdub
    July 7, 2015 at 9:14 am

    “Weekend fan” set of songs on the 4th?!
    You crazy.

  9. nathan coblentz
    July 7, 2015 at 10:23 am

    These sound amazing. THANK YOU! It is awesome to hear the crowd swells with the music; I am getting choked up.

  10. A HUMAN
    July 7, 2015 at 10:25 am

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Astounding work getting this all cleaned up and out for us fans. Keep on truckin man.

  11. Bryan
    July 7, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    It started with Shakedown and ended with US Blues.
    What a show. I think i remember most of it.
    Did anyone see the blimp?
    Or was a big steal your face floating above the stadium?
    Thanks NYCtaper.
    Stay Kind!

  12. Bryan
    July 7, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    It started with Shakedown and ended with US Blues.
    What a show. I think i remember most of it.
    Did anyone see the blimp?
    Or was a big steal your face floating above the stadium?
    Thanks NYCtaper.
    Stay Kind!

  13. Jshkolnik
    July 7, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    Thank you so much for posting these shows. Are you posting the 7/5/2015 show too? Peace Out

  14. rukind710
    July 7, 2015 at 4:43 pm

    Thank you for posting these shows. I was lucky enough to catch the Sat & Sun shows. Love the sound of these aud tapes. The crowd sounds adds so much and makes these more fun for me to listen to than the feed from the PPV.

  15. July 8, 2015 at 1:19 pm

    thank you, thank you, thank you

  16. RCIII
    July 8, 2015 at 7:16 pm

    I personally thought the Saturday show was my favorite and certainly don’t think of myself as a “weekend fan”. My wife and I have been deadheads since ’78. Anyway the music will never stop and thanks for the posts.

  17. Thomas
    July 9, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    These are outstanding pulls; is the 5th on it’s way ?
    Thanks for recording & sharing.

  18. Jay
    July 9, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    This will be enjoyed! Thank you…

  19. R. Roth
    July 11, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    Thanks Billy! Love your feedback of the awesome sounds you captured and shared. Until next time, much love!

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