Finally Busting out Cats at the End of the Cats Tour: JGB at the Philly Spectrum, March 16, 1978

 LN jg1978-03-16.jgb.all.aud-petrunis.124066.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
Spectrum Theater
3601 S. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
March 16, 1978 (Thursday)
Petrunis aud shnid-124066

–complete show (10 tracks, 87:45)–
t01. The Harder They Come [10:36] % [-0:02]
t02. [+0:02] /Mission In The Rain [10:40] %
t03. /That’s What Love Will Make You Do [10:25] %
t04. /Gomorrah [#7:15] %
t05. //Tore Up Over //You [#7:#48] %
t06. /Love In The Afternoon [#10:44] %
t07. //I’ll Be With Thee [5:25] %
t08. //Cats Under The Stars [#7:14] [0:02] %
t09. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:11] %
t10. /Midnight Moonlight// [#8:23#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! Member: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! Member: John Kahn – el-b;
! Member: Keith Godchaux – piano;
! Member: Buzz Buchanan – drums;
! Member: Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals;
! Member: Maria Muldaur – vocals.

JGMF:

! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the “real” time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19780316-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/28790 (unattributed aud, possibly this source); http://etreedb.org/shn/124066 (this fileset).

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=3601+S.+Broad+Street,+Philadelphia,+PA&hl=en&sll=38.997934,-105.550567&sspn=7.587664,16.907959&t=h&hnear=3601+S+Broad+St,+Philadelphia,+Pennsylvania+19148&z=17

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/spectrum-and-spectrum-theatre-3601-s.html

! review: Matt Damsker, “Garcia Offers Some Homespun Folk-Rock,” Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), March 17, 1978, p 34. The band’s “affection for casual variety was well received by approximately 6,600 fervent followers of the Dead.” His basic characterization: positive about their “homespun folk-rock”.

! see also: Mike Grosswald and Glen Blavat, “Jerry Garcia’s Band Under the Stars,” Happytimes (Philadelphia), March 31, 1978, p. 15. See notes at http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-grosswald-mike-and-glen.html.

! R: field recordist: Rich Petrunis

! R: field recording gear: Sony handheld recorder

! R: field recording media: 1x Lafayette low bias cassette, no NR

! R: transfer: nak dragon > tascam hd-p2 24/96 > pc > adobe audition 2.0  > cd wave > tlh flac, transfer & seed by Rob Berger march 2013.

! R: notes: “thanks to LL’s powrtoch for loaning me his Dad’s masters. great sound for a hand held and a classic Mystery Cats set.” There is some nice color, including folks near the taper, perhaps the folks he was with, struggling with folks standing in front of them.

! P: t01 HTC Garcia’s guitar work in 5-6 minute range is potent, aggressive, exploratory. Very, very nice.

! R: t01-t02 tracking maybe a bit off. MITR cuts in.

! P: t02 MITR vocals sound OK at this point, relatively speaking. Having had the day before, two of the last three, off seems to have helped. I love the way Jerry is singing MITR here. This song wore well (thematically, if not vocally) as he suffered his travails. And I love the harmony arrangements with Donna Jean and Maria, the one’s “white gospel heartiness” with the other’s “white  blues sultriness” (Damsker 1978). A little madonna-whore thing going there, but whatever.

! R: t03 TWLWMYD I suspect taper might have stood up, because a minute or two in, the hi-hat is much more present. Or maybe the PA was still settling in. The Damsker review notes the below-GD-par sound quality.

! R: t03 TWLWMYD clips in

! R: t04 Gomorrah clips in

! R: t05 TUOY cuts in, splice @ 4:18

! P: t05 TUOY never really takes off, to my ears.

! R: t06 LITA clips in.

! song: Cats Under The Stars (t08): This is the first time played on this tour. Funny to be “touring behind” (really, because they were catastrophically late, “touring in front of”) an album named Cats Under The Stars, and not breaking out the title tune, which I gather Jerry hoped would garner some airplay, until midway through. I suspect they finalized (and possibly began working on!) a serious live arrangement for the song on the off-day (the day before). The two known versions from ’77 (11/21 and 12/2) were definitely at the “work in progress” stage.

! setlist: It is impossible to tell from this recording whether HSII and MM, or just MM, or neither, represented an encore. I would guess that MM was the encore, but I can’t really tell for sure.

! P: t10 MM sounds to me like JG and BB are not on the same tempo to start, but it could be the boominess of the room and all the ambient clapping. This is a nice energetic version of MM. But Jerry is losing steam at the end.

! R: t10 SQ change, slightly more muffled, @ 3:45. Maybe had to put mics down, or someone stood in front of taper? Opens back up @ 8:02. Straight bad tape cut on the back-end, but by this time it’s just as well — not that much missing, I would guess.

! itinerary: Fly out Wednesday, March 8th (all but Tutt: United #72, DC8, SFO 9:45 a.m., arrive Cleveland 5:05 p.m.; Tutt: United #78, LAX 11:30 a.m. – Cleveland 6:40 p.m.) to start tour in Cleveland on the 9th. Shows 9-10-11-12, Monday 3/13 off. Show Tues. 14th in Boston, another day off, then this show in Philly. Staying at the Hilton, 10th & Packer, “across the street” from the venue (http://goo.gl/maps/NyEhx). This is hardly a downtown location, but it’s right across from the gig and probably much better than the next night’s digs, at the HoJo’s in Clifton, NJ. Levon Helm and His R.C.O. All Stars opened, scheduled to go on at 7 pm, JGB on at 9 with an 11 pm closing. Five shows the three nights following, then home sweet home on TWA #25 on Monday 3/20.