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Live/Dead: The Grateful Dead in 1969

Abigail Devoe | February 22, 2026



One man gathers what another man spills.

Welcome (or welcome back) to Vinyl Monday! This is my series where I give the who/what/when/where/why and how I feel about classic albums in my collection. This week is a little different: here’s an examination of the Grateful Dead in 1969, with my thoughts on Live/Dead (released 1969.) Subscribe for more Vinyl Monday!

Keep in touch:
Instagram: @abigaildevoe https://www.instagram.com/abigaildevoe/
My website: https://www.abigaildevoe.com
Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@abigaildevoe
SpunIt (it’s Letterboxd for vinyl geeks): spunit://spunit.io/friendProfile?profile=sZN9N7hTusP0ifQ20TdlzbBvtHd2
I cohost the Dolls Podcast!: https://open.spotify.com/show/4JsH0rsXUNjgvFLIbwYgnK?si=798d0d6d67864c4e
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unveiling-the-legends-dolls-of-the-60s-70s/id1749327932

Timestamps:

intro – 0:00
art/packaging/personnel – 1:37
1968 – 5:48
1969 – 11:45
track listing/release – 19:36
Live/Dead – 28:38
thanks for watching! – 46:38

Music:
Intro Music: Yeah Yeah Yeah (Long) by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Outtro Music: Ticket To Nowhere Man by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Vinyl Monday logo by Callum: https://www.youtube.com/@clynaack

#vinyl #vinylcommunity #gratefuldead

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Written by Abigail Devoe

Comments

This post currently has 47 comments.

  2. @JohnSecleter

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Hello Abigail, I very much enjoy your comments and history sharing for the music. Unlike others that talk about the music, you live in the music and give us you first-hand account / boots on the ground, insights and deeply held feelings about it. Thank you for being you !!!
    — My favorite live album by the Grateful Dead is the 1969 Live Dead album because of the Dark Star version it contains. In my mind, the Dark Star in 1969 Live Dead, is the most Grateful Dead song and is a wonderful summary of their playing in the moment and improvisational exploration of what could be; Let's see. Built on a great foundation of Aoxomoxoa (your first pronunciation is the way I heard it from longest time Deadheads) and Anthem of the Sun, the 1969 Live Dead album cut an excellent cross section of the Grateful Dead musical philosophy, mission and musical heart. For folks that like songs with words, the Europe 72 album would be the choice. However, I have noticed that the Dead are at their best when they leave the words alone and concentrate on playing their instruments. Hence, Dark Star from 1969 Live Dead is the capture of a moment in time of GD just jamming on a theme and being themselves. (There is a guy named Phil Everson on YouTube that splices Dark Stars from many concerts into long beautiful experiences usually based on the year that the concert was played. It is great fun to listen to.)
    >>> Please consider doing a Vinyl Monday exploration of "Vintage Dead" on Sunflower Records label with songs from 1966. ( Who has a pre-Record Contract record, but the GD !) It has my favorite "Dancing in the Streets" version as well as "The Midnight Hour" and "It Hurts Me too." During this early phase, Pig Pen did the heavy lifting of being the "Front Man" and the majority of the vocals, which allowed the rest of the guys to focus on playing together and exploring the instrumentation inter-mix. It is for this reason, I feel that Pig Pen's front man duties was the catalysis that enabled the GD to become who we know them to be now. In many ways Pig Pen's participation launched the improvisational jam style by enabling it's evolution. Maybe it can be a Pig Pen tribute edition.
    — Fun side note: The band that had the name Warlocks and a recording contract under the same name, which lead to the Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Band Champions to become the Grateful Dead, eventually they changed their name too, from the Warlocks to the "Velvet Underground".
    >>> I started out listening to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention with my friend whose older brother was a big Frank Zappa enthusiast. Think "Hot Rats" and play "Peaches en Regalia" here. In your Women of Rock scope of attention. please add Ruth Underwood, who made some of Frank's best stuff come to life. Ruth is super terrific and will become one of you favorites.
    >>> Thank you for your Vinyl Monday edition of "American Beauty" and tribute to Phil Lesh. Phil is my favorite GD musician because of the way he takes the bass to new places and stirs the improvisational soup with an extra big spoon !

    PS – Consider doing a "Movie Monday" special of the Grateful Dead as part of the 1970 concert tour known as, "Festival Express", which is a Movie DVD. Janice Joplin was along for the ride, Buddy Guy and so many more. This is a wonderful idea that crashed and burned in a most unresolved experience. It would be a noble goal to complete the rest of the Festival Express tour from Calgary to Vancouver BC with the"Next Generation" of musicians that have the spirit and love of the music.

    PSS – I love the way you dress in support of the music that you are sharing. Super well done !!!

  10. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Musically speaking 1970 would arguably be their best and most prolific year. 1970 was the peak of the first phase of The Grateful Dead. 1971 would see them essentially in a reconstruction process after the departure of Mickey Hart, and later with the first departure of Pigpen and the addition of Keith and eventually Donna.

  12. @bisonhappenstance

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Oh, you really are a Deadhead, even if you say you are in a quasi state and just "on the bus." Your knowledge and emotions reveal you, but what are labels? Like all deadheads, you are so much more than just that and can have other musical passions! You, in fact, are a brilliant communicator, very delightful, and I might just have to check out some Sonic Youth. An older dude, but I am always looking back to see what I missed and looking around to see what's coming around, ya' know?

    Subscribed!

  13. @garret6464

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    One of my favorite Dead records. I love St Stephen, The Eleven with the “William tell interlude,” into a pretty cool Lovelight. I had so many moments doing random stuff to that Eleven. Not much beats riding the train listening to a jam like that. Thank you for reviewing it.

  14. @SimonGeller

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Don't forget Skullf*ck Abigail. That was where they brought all the aspects of their musical development together in my opinion – country, blues, good ol' rock and roll and the spaced-out improvisation – The Other One crackles and Not Fade Away/Going down the road is on overdrive.

  15. @stevedale616

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Live/Dead is such a vibe, love 60s dead, not as much as 70s era but those early years / albums are amazing and necessary to fully get the “ride” that is the Grateful Dead. Definitely giving this a spin again after this, thanks, Abby!
    Rip Bobby… Looks Like Rain was probably me favorite Bobby tune

  18. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Jerry's dad died in a fishing accident when he was 5, so he (at the very least) had certainly reckoned with mortality by that point. I think Phil's grandmother had also died by that point as well, if I remember correctly.

  19. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    As great as the Dark Star is here, it's even better when you listen to the actual Fillmore West show where they play Mountains of the Moon and transition into the Dark Star. The Dark Star doesn't just come out of nowhere. It comes from somewhere else. Unfortunately, the Lovelight from this show isn't nearly the work of perfection as the January 26 Avalon Ballroom show, but still a fun ride nonetheless.

  21. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Love me some records, but this album was really made for CD. It just sounds like one big show on CD even through the tracks weren't all from the same show. The editing is masterful for 1969.

  22. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Phil usually sang the high part in their 3 part stack. Jerry and Bobby would typically alternate the other two parts depending on whose song it was. Pig often sang the low part in their 4 part harmonies.

  23. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Although, it's entirely possible that they hung out with Crosby and Stills at Monterey, and possibly even other places along the way, they didn't really connect until Woodstock in August of 69. (At least according to the lore so far as I've heard it told…) And then they hired Jerry to play pedal steel on Teach Your Children. Gram Nash gave Jerry the famous "Alligator" Stratocaster. The boys tought CSNY how to really jam (although, Buffalo Springfield were one of the first rock bands that could really jam around the same time The Dead were forming…), and Crosby taught the boys how to harmonize like CSNY. However The Dead had been harmonizing from the very start just like Buffalo Springfield was jamming long before The Dead taught them how to jam.

  24. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    The repetition of a lick is often a musical cue that we're moving to the next part. Jerry would take a lick and twist it up and then someone else would cut the tether and everything would snap into something else.

  26. @timhrklittimothyherrickvid169

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    what a wonderful essay. Do the new vinyl releases come with the lyric sheet? Out of all their official live records released when they were active, this one I play the most — otherwise I play the Dick & Dave picks etc. and all their other archival releases more often. I always hear something new and after this video my ears will b e newly alert.

  29. @larrywest42

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Another miscommunication re Altamont: I've also read that the particular group of the Angels that were hired was different from the one recommended (and known to the musicians).

  35. @warrendietzel1953

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    TC actually stayed on throughout 1969. His final show as a regular member of the band was 01-30-1970, the day they were busted in New Orleans. I've been unable to ascertain difinitively whether his leaving had anything to do with the bust, but the next night The Dead would play one of their first acoustic sets that would come to be a staple of 1970 Dead shows.

  37. @thenazarite2444

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    Superb analysis my Deadhead friend ❤ My favourite album is also Anthem, though I'm now going to dig into Aox based on your opinion ❤️💥🍄🌹⛰️🏔️🌼🌻

  39. @bullyproofyomama

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    “Got on the bus” is such a worn out hackneyed slogan, take it from someone who in 1975 literally (and not in the redundant misused sense of the definition of the latter) got on the freakin bus @ the ripe old age of 16 after taking almost a whole hit of the proverbial “windowpane” as it drove me to school thinking it was going to be a little stronger than my usual at the time wake n bake haha boy oh boy was I mistaken and boy oh boy did I get a pop quiz that day that I failed miserably. My pupils are still dilated .

  40. @mynamismudd4883

    February 22, 2026 at 6:13 am

    At the beginning I almost stopped watching…..Once she started reviewing the album and raving about Dark Star I realized this was somebody who loved all the things in that song that I loved. It was almost like I was reviewing it because I love the album the same way she did. Appreciated the same brushstrokes they put in the album. I honestly have to say it was both review and affirmation somehow. THANKS….

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