The Who and the Dead

[jgg@iac.net (Joseph Grimes)]

>I think it would be a great idea to have what Greatful Dead fans have with
>live releases. I'd like to see the following shows on CD:
>
>Tanglewood 1970
>SF 1971
>Cleveland 1975
>Pontiac 1975
>
>Greatful Dead fans order these releases directly from the Dead fan club.
>These aren't sold in music stores. I'm not a Dead fan, but I read about this
>recently in The Boston Globe Calendar Magazine.

I am a big Grateful Dead fan.  The Dead has a Vault filled with unreleased
tapes, which they are releasing as the "From The Vault" series in stores
and are selling great but incomplete shows by mail order only as "Dick's
Picks".  Dick is the tape archivist.  So far there have been two releases
of each.

I'm pretty sure the Dead tape every show themselves, in addition to
allowing audience taping in a special section.  Soundboard tapes have been
leaked into the trading community over the years.
>From what I've read, the Who were against having their shows recorded,
either on video or audio.  And with exception of the Fall 1969 American
tour, I don't know if the band ever taped many complete shows themselves.
What this means is there is no record of the best period of the band.

The Who would never be able to sustain the mail order and merchandising
system the Dead have.  For one thing they don't exist anymore, unlike the
Dead, who will likely tour until they ARE dead.  Also I'm not sure of the
marketability of live Who material to the average fan.  The Dead has an
enormous set of songs to draw from, and constantly rework old material.
They also do a lot of jamming, which the Who never did.  The Who played
almost the exact same set every night for whole tours.  I have 5 or 6 shows
from 75-76 and it's hard to tell them apart.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't buy all the Who live material put out.  Just
that commercially it wouldn't work.

Joe