Cant go wrong with fall seventy one!! If you were there you would understand what Im saying. There have been other time periods where the band goes into these insane runs of energy and musical breakthroughs, and this is one of those periods. No use deciding what song, what year what show, this show is a great example of where they were at just about the beginning of 1972, and were preparing for their big trip to Europe !!!!!!

I was at this show and had a tape deck that I managed to get to a friend of a friend who didn't go to the show and agreed to tape it. I think this was the show I was at where I came walking down the left aisle and was about 10 or 15 feet from the stage when they launched into Bertha. Garcia was on the left side of the stage and I was maybe 20 feet from him when they hit it. He had four Twin Reverbs, 2 JBL 12" speakers (K120s?) with the aluminum domes in each amp. The stage lights were bright enough that you could see the speakers through the grill cloth. When he hit the first chord of Bertha you could see the cones jumping. It was quite a rush. I also remembered the "wait a minute - hold everything" moment because the piano and organ were not in tune with each other ,as well as Bobby's comment about Truckin' ("straight to the top of the charts in Turlock") but over the years I had forgotten which shows they happened at. Also a memorable show because a woman that I knew from the town where we both were living was there and it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we were going to connect. We ended up living together for 3 wonderful years, but she had the good sense to dump me in late August/early September of '73. Consequently I was not in a state of mind to really appreciate their Oct '73 shows at Kiel Auditorium or maybe the hockey arena. Too bad. I listened to them many years later - they were really good shows.

Love the fox, the best sounding hall in town. I'd always heard the dead wanted to buy it because they thought it was the best as well. They sound great here, of course I wasn't there I would have been still in my mom's belly. Great show, thanks for the time to get it up on here for me to enjoy!

Excellent!

Having been a Deadhead since I was 12 in 1982 and having been trading tapes since 1985, I thought I'd heard it all. For some reason I shied away from 1971. Maybe I thought without Mickey they would have lost something. How wrong could I be?!?!? It may have taken a while but I have dived head first into a stellar year! And this December run is no joke! This show in particular stands out for too many reasons to note in this review. TOO->SOTOTW->TOO is brilliant. But I think it's the NFA->China Cat Jam->GDTRFB->NFA with Pig backing Bobby that has me seriously dancing so hard my shoes are melting. Thank you Grateful Dead for continuing to reveal yourself to this Head after so many years. Let the lovelight keep on shining!

finest Big Railroad ever - with a stellar Truckin'
Black Peter from 12/9 rules.
CM's 1st set upgrade brings it to 5 stars.

Quite a transitional time for G-Dead.

Great to have Pig back with the band. Keith's settling in on keys more, not trying so hard to hammer the lead melody all the time, getting real jazzy with Garica and Lesh, hinting at greatness to come. It really isn't until 72' that Keith gets fully into his groove with the band, but these December shows are all really strong powerhouse playing energy wise.

Miller's transfer of the 1st set is much better sound imho, but this is fine. A little distant and hissy at points, but totally forgivable especially considering the quality of the performance.

The transition from Other 1 into Sitting on top of the World is phenomenal. I know they did this sandwich a few times and this version is just killer. Other 1 hits all the familiar themes that they were doing historically, getting further away from the raw-stready psychedelia of 69-70 and closer toward the avant guard acid attacks of 72-73.

Great renditions of all the then new material. Comes A Time finds Garcia in fine vocal form. Even the classics, such as Big Railroad, are really expanded upon from the versions you heard on Skull-Fuck.

NFA->GDTRFB combo is hot.

Just check out all the stuff that looks good because it is good.

5 stars for the performance
3.5 stars for sound

round it off to 5 because we love Pig+Keith shows!

Wonderful show, Fantastic Recording. Thanks so much to the tapers and those who put these up. Listen to the hidden china cat riffs in Not Fade Away....hmmm....complex for those days eh?

Great show from begging to end!

Ill say it once again, the best lineup in GD history.
The addition of Keith just 2 months before added a whole different dimension to the already great band. Keith just added that one key piece that is indescribable. The band was really starting to hit a good stride warming up for their European run.
This is a real Gem.

the best. 71 top

Just a note to hyperboy below: you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't include the five great shows they gave on December 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. (December 5 is my favorite.)

the and we bid you goodnight outro of gdtrfb has a sweet china cat lick interlaced with it, very very cool! in addition to the china cat jam before it, also very cool

Oh man! I surely do love these December '71 shows that really ended in May of '72 when Pigpen ended his touring days. This is my favorite incarnation of the band; Keith & Pigpen on keyboards, plus Jerry, Bobby, Phil & Bill.. the original band plus Keith Godchaux. Most of the songs are new, the band is happy, creative and firing on all cylinders. They are also playing in a theatre that they like very much; the Fox in St Louis. At one time they actually looked into buying it. They played one show in 1970, (after their bust in New Orleans), plus three shows there in 1971, each one a classic, including this one. Shows like this, the Fox Theatre in St Louis in 1970 and 1971 are very special. This is one of the best of 1971.

Could someone who has this recording contact me atsaberfiend@gmail.com? I'd appreciate it more than I can say.

Check out Pigpen backing up Bobby on NFA. Didn't know that ever happened! What can I say that hasn't been said already? Glad I got this while it was still available!

Great show, I was there and have been trying to get this for 36 years. I was at this show. I was broadcast on FM and I had a reel-reel tape rolling at home. Unfortunately, the link provided by the phone company to the radio station was poor, resulting in a whisteling tape of the show. When I found the SBD here 2 yrs ago, I was psyched. I saved my money and bought a LaCie hard drive to download full resolution files from here. When I went back here on Thanksgiving, the soundboards were gone. Now I have software to record streaming audio...I finally have a "line copy" but has anybody else noticed that "latvalla's cassette" is running slow...playback ....it is out of tune. Better explained, there is a speed imbalance between the recording cassette machine and the playback cassette I'm guessing. Would people please upload things that are IN TUNE. This crap drives me crazy....mind twisting. You can play along with an out of tune tape. And this ain't what I call HiFi .... So...still on my quest for a quality copy.

weird--i went to the archives looking for fall 73 stuff and STILL got a dicks pick. the other 1 is DESTINATION OUT.sittin on top of the world is just perfect what the f***. always had a hollywood/palladium tape around the house--need to get back to some more 71.this song--it aint never gonna end!

i have all the dec 71 and have had it for a while now yea it took me a while to get to reviewing this one but this show is impressive and powerful at times especially the second set i would not go as far to say that any of the songs on here are the best versions ever done about the best of anything but i would say this show is really impressive and the whole month is def deserves a spot in any collection the 1st set is well lets not say the best but gets it done the second set is where the show picks up and is where the real energy/magic starts other>sitting>other as mentioned and a sweet nfa>china cat jam>goin>nfa to cap off the night
stars: 3.5 (break down set 1: 2.5 set 2: 4.5)
sound: 5

Having experienced this incredibly fun show from the second row in a state of mind one would expect, The Dead mix rock n roll and psychedelia perfectly. Keith's first Midwest tour with the boys, sounding like he'd been there for years, Bobby emerging into his own, Jerry turning us on to those great new songs, Phil and Bill providing the perfect support, and Pig keeping it real. Thank you for making this now in New Zealand deadhead a VERY happy man,I haven't heard this recording in 30+ years. YEAH!

Not sure this time but I think I just landed a seat at a fantazmagroovical show. And am I glad I did! gotta say yet another one for the DL machine. And I must say that after I finish wakeing up Im gonna go to wally world to buy the biggest freaking CD case they have. There is just no way I can fit any more cds in my car without it. Its insane! the pure love of this is 5 stars. Ill give it a strong 4.5

DAMN! This show, just like 12/7/71 (Felt Forum), is SMOKIN' from start to finish!! December 1971 is like a magnet right now. I can not get enough of it. From 12/7/71 to 12/31/71, it is nonstop perfect playing by the boys. And so many of these tunes are so fresh at this point...that's what I love. It is hard to believe that just a year later their sound will have changed so much without Pig.

Anyway this show gets 5 stars all around. Get it now. All of December 1971 is golden!!

This second set may be the Dead's best of all time. That's quite a statement and I could shoot it down myself with probably a dozen other awesome second sets but from Truckin' all the way through Not Fade Away you'll be in for a hell of a ride. There's nothing like this one in my book. Very good sound (A-) and a herculean performance (A+) makes this download a must. I've had this one for a long time now and it's not going anywhere! Certainly a top five for '71, it's not one to be missed.

This other one is is lumpy. Whole show especially Pig shine.

Great recording!Awesome performance!

The piano sounds really nice in this one! GET IT! In the top 5 of 1971 - this show is the definition of swweet. Although the setlist may look similar to a 72 show, the player-piano sound of Keith's early tenure with the band, and the freshness of the new tunes, set this one apart.

This show is lovely...Worth the download for the stunning 18 minute Good Loving- with Lovelight-esque Pig rap in the middle... just do it!

This could be the best ever post-drums. The transition between Other One to Sittin' on Top of the World back to Other One is like nothing else you've ever heard.

All of these Dec 71 shows are worth getting,BTW. Admittedly, there's many unknown 1971 shows just now being circulated, and hopefully more from summer 71. But for now, my highpoints are spring and December. This is a high energy show, with many standouts. An early Comes a Time, a hot Good Lovin and of course Brokedown. The Other One remains one of my favorites for the year, well jammed and mostly on the mellow side. Very visual and cosmic. Listen to this one, and the masterful version on 12/31/71, and see if you don't detect an influence from David Crosby's IF ONLY I COULD REMEMBER MY NAME which Jerry and Phil had just worked on. The rare seque into Top of the World may be the only time??
Add this show to your 1971 collection!
Dr. Flashback

It sounds really good, too!

This was always one of my all-time favorites tapes from a great December tour. Pigpen is back and sounds great on Chuck Berry's Run Rudolph.
Brokedown Palace is one of the best renditions, and the whole second performance is as good as it looks on paper.