Soft, Gentle and Round vs. Burning, Fiery and Huge: JGB at Laker Hall, SUNY Oswego, February 17, 1980

LN jg1980-02-17.jgb.all.aud-gatto.9017.sh2flac

The adjectives in the subject allude to the contrasts that really defined Garcia’s guitar playing in 1980. Some tunes, like “I’ll Take A Melody” featured both modes, the contemplative and the rockin’. “Friend Of The Devil”, here in one of its last electric GOTS performances, features long, gentle, lovely progressions, as does “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry”. “That’s Alright, Mama” delivers the fire, as do “Money Honey” and “Let It Rock”.

For whatever reason, the two obvious setlist highlights, “Positively 4th Street” and the “After Midnight -> Eleanor Rigby -> After Midnight” melody, get no notes. A reviewer noted that Eleanor Rigby kicked off at the stroke of 12, which is a good touch. Apparently John was pretty stationary, as he had a 102 fever and had visited the local Krankenhaus earlier in the day.

I used to do backflips over this show, this time I find it merely very-good-to-excellent. Strong. Fine. Enjoyable.

Jerry Garcia Band
Laker Hall
SUNY Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
February 17, 1980 (Sunday) – 8 PM
Gatto MAC shnid-9017 shn2flac retrack

–set I (7 tracks, 83:47)–
s1t01. //I’ll Take A Melody [#17:35] %
s1t02. Friend //Of The Devil [9:#06] [0:02] %
s1t03. /How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [#9:20] %
s1t04. /Catfish //John [#12:#06] %
s1t05. /Deal [#9:14] [0:08] %
s1t06. /Positively 4th Street [#14:17] [0:06] % dead air [0:13]
s1t07. [0:05] /That’s Alright, Mama [#11:31] (1) [0:04] 

–set II (8 tracks, 79:56)–
s2t01. /Money Honey [#9:12] [0:02]
s2t02. Sitting In Limbo [12:54] %
s2t03. Let It Rock 9:13] %
s2t04. After Midnight [12:21] ->
s2t05. Eleanor Rigby [5:34] ->
s2t06. After Midnight [4:45] [0:06] % dead air [0:11]
s2t07. /It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry [#10:45] [0:01] %
s2t08. [0:05] Harder They Come [14:44] (2) % dead air [0:02]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-b;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers – keyboards;
! lineup: John D’Fonseca – drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: 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/19800217-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/9017 (this fileset)

! band: JGB #11a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/awDzv2i26GP2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/03/laker-hall-suny-oswego-ny.html

! seealso: GratefulSeconds, “JGB’s After Midnight>Eleanor Rigby>After Midnight Reigns Supreme in Oswego February 17, 1980,” URL http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2019/06/jgbs-after-midnighteleanor-rigbyafter.html.

! ad: Oswegonian, February 7, 1980, p. 12;

! preview: Finn and Donoghue 1980; condensed version appeared as preview: “Jerry Garcia Band to Play at Laker Hall,” Pulaski (N.Y.) Democrat, February 13, 1980, p. 12.

! review: [positive] Fausner 1980; “Kahn’s lack of movement was due to the fact that he played the show with a 102 degree fever and had been taken to the hospital prior to the show.” According to reviewer, Eleanor Rigby (in middle of “After Midnight”) was started right at midnight – nice touch!

! historical: Rachel Sweet billed to open, but “announced the cancellation of her tour last week, much to the delight of Garcia fans” (Fausner). A ticket from ebay shows “Special Guest The Tom Johnson Band”.

! R: field recordist: Keith Gatto

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 300 > Sony TC-D5

! R: lineage: MAC > DAT > CD > WAV > SHN. shn2flac and retrack to sets, jgmf 2/17/2021

! R: Note: This was originally seeded with a corrupt d3t02 (HTC).

! R: good tape but for the cuts

! R: s1t01 ITAM cuts in

! P: s1t01 ITAM Jerry engages in some long wonderful mandolin fanning late 14 over 15.

! R: s1t02 FOTD presumed brief splice @ 0:40

! P: s1t02 FOTD it seems to me that this was relatively rare at this point, but maybe I just haven’t paid attention. This version has some very lovely, gentle passages, but it ends a little abruptly. Update: Jerrybase shows it played again 2/22 and 2/23 and 7/24/80 the last GOTS electric version – after that it’d be JGJK, JGAB, JGBW (12/4/88) and JGDG only.

! R: s1t03 HSII levels lower, hiss higher until 8:47.

! P: s1t03 HSII Garcia’s guitar work this date feels really round, soft, gentle. Not the least bit shreddy so far, but it’s lovely.

! R: s1t04 CJ clips in, splice @ 10:44

! P: s1t04 CJ some really nice stacking chunks 10:15ish

! R: s1t05 Deal clips in

! P: s1t07 TAM shws the first real fire of the evening in Gar’s guitar work.

! s1t07 (1) JG: “We’re gonna take a break for a little while …”

! P: s2t01 Money Honey ol Jer is playing some burning guitar in the 7 min range.

! P: s2t03 LIR huge, huge guitar work 6-7

! P: s2t07 ITALTL, ITATTC back in the gentle, contemplative guitar picking space.

! s2t08 (2) JG: “Thank you.”