TIGHT ! Bobby & Jerr's vocals are the best at this time. Early Don't Ease Me In is just pure enjoyment. First set wastes no time in setting the good vibe. There's nothing like a GD concert. This is one.

I had the opportunity to listen to this entire show straight thru and it really is a peach.
Many of the highlights already mentioned but somewhere during the 1st set EYES this show just builds momentum but even before that Phil is up in the mix. Weir is pretty animated and Garcia is well Garcia!
Good sound from Keith and as one who grooves on Donna Jean a great show for her as well.
The Playing>Scarlet>Playin even with the sound issues during Scarlet is just fantastic.
SEASTONES is a great set connector and by the time the band hits UJB it is all sweetness. throw in a Black Peter for an ongoing mellow mood.
Garcia is throwing Lightning Bolts during El Paso and the Big River always fine during the 73-74 era.
The Ship of Fools is very kind. probably the best year for this tune. If you think of the political climate during this time so appropriate. And really this cautionary tale informed my relations to the powers that be.
Come back step, like to walk on air....
Don't miss all the jams from Sugar Magnolia onward especially the well developed Spanish Jam.

This one kicks butt

'74 funk style meets get up and dance in a big, well-faved show. This was a single show, following the two nights in Philly, in a minor-league baseball stadium, outside NYC (just two miles west of the Statue of Liberty), before leaving for England to play the incredible Ally Pally run (check 9/11/74 show), and Bobby mentions the news (the terrorist bombing at LAX and the leaked Watergate Tapes were both happening on this date). This was a well-traded show long before a few lesser parts were released on Dick's Picks #31 and the band is hot hot hot. Seems this was, for many of us, our first '74 tape. One of the 1st things to decide, however, is whether a SBD is best served by the Wall of Sound. Check the AUD and decide. This was a re-schedule from a rain-out on the 2nd. Note "Rain or Shine" - not! Roofless stage!. This was around the time some people were first able to hear the From the Mars Hotel album (due to the band's distribution at the time, it was harder to find in stores). The show was oversold (hence Bobby policing the mosh) - maybe the band fed off this? Because Dick's 31 wasn't complete, it misses the best stuff and loses the sense of the purposeful development of the show.

1st set - hardly any pauses, the band just wants to go go go (opposite of the over-rated Veneta 72). The kind of set that makes you reset what you call "5 stars"! I think it's due to Billy's propulsion and extra fills (this is right before Mickey first came back). Bertha is very pop-and-lock. This is the Mexicali you want as well. Be attentive for Jer's descending half-slide 2mins into BioDtL-9 1/2 (somebody thought it was 10...). Sugaree has incredible sustain tone! But Keith doesn't run with it so they tidy up, making it average for '74. Conversely, Jack Straw is perhaps the best of '74. Every single member is freaking spanking Eyes in a top 20 all-time version. This is where Jer was a genius - who else could come up with that many variations and themes? C'mon man, gimme my face back. He's so animated on Promised Land that Bobby has to give him some room during the verses. There's barely a pause into Deal, the expected set closer. The set low point, it's still above average ('74 was the Deal-e-o year) and doesn't hint that a sandwich will now be served. So uptempo you would think it's Playin' too fast, it has been much remarked by traders. But, though unique and super-long (quantity isn't always quality in Dead Land), it's not the best playing of the set. Still, the tempo, the hotness of the band this night, the backline, and Jer mostly put it over, with lots of hints of '76/'77. The meat is a pre-Fire Scarlet (!), but it's kind of Jer deciding "look, here's Scarlet, guys", though the jam gets better. The sandwich-bottom is a good-enough, 27-minute excursion. Not the best of '74 but it goes to some cool places and even Donna's prescriptive wail is circumscribed.

2nd Set - Super long. Uncle John's has another jam , in a jammy show, and again the jam is the tighter section. It's a full stop and Phil tries for El Paso before Peter. Again, the end jam is best, but it takes a long time to get it to really melt. Phil gets his El Paso (now say thank you, Bobby). Jer is all over it like the GOP on an anti-science soundbite; like escaped chimps on the overturned banana semi. Best of '74 (else, 8/4/74). Loose Lucy is tight, funky, and inventive. Big River was performed so heavily in '74 but damn if this isn't up there (with 8.13.75, 12.19.73, 6.16.74, 9.11.74, 6.9.76, 12.30.77, 10.14.83) and I can't recall a better Ship. Often given a plodding tempo, this one's possibly better than 9/11/74 & 4/21/78. Donna is good in a peppy (not draggy) Row Jimmy but it's Billy that makes it here. It's a golden segue with Phil on the harmony section of He's Gone and though Bobby flubs Truckin (like he does Sugar Mag), Jer and Billy are hammers. Sunshine Daydream is mostly an opportunity for Bobby yelp and Donna screech but the encore is astonishing (after bumps?). Jer so rarely did punk-styled, single-note staccatos, so it doesn't come across as a generic riff, but punctuation. As good as Ally Pally & some of October.

1st Set = A+
2nd Set = B+
Overall = 5 Stars

Highlights:
Entire 1st Set, with A+ Bertha, Mexicali and Eyes
El Paso, Lucy, Big River (A+), Ship, Spanish Jam, GdtRFB, U.S Blues (A+)

Sources: Gans CD of SB>Powell. But don't do the it's-only-'74-scoff at the merin.weiner.5914 AUD. This a good one for the AUD-energy experience/knowing what the Wall of Sound was actually like.

Great review by kochman, below

No music on this page and a notation that reads "This show has been commercially released as "Dick's Picks, Vol. 31". Uh, NOT! Dick's Picks 31 has ONLY 5 songs from this incredible concert, ALL of the others are from the preceding two days. Scratching my head at what is going on here. There is a major flaw in this daimond of an archive. Such a great show, such a worthless page.

An incredible audience recording can be found here: https://archive.org/details/gd74-08-06.merin.weiner.gdADT.5914.sbefail.shnf

What a show! What a recording! Dick screwed up again, by playing Archive Deity and meshing together three shows when it should've been just this one (not taking anything away from the Philly shows) and shame on the Archives for a momentary slip of consciousness...

Bertha comes out strong, nice SQ to start us off.
Mexicali is brimming with energy, Billy in particular throws some nice drums rolls in. The dog days of summer in the NE, can they maintain for 3.8 hours?
Don’t Ease
BIODTL
Sugaree has, through the era, been progressing nicely. This version is no exception.
Jack Straw has a short but sweet intro with Jerry throwing in an unusual little dervish.
Eyes blows my doors off! The first verse solo has a screeching Jerry solo. The 2nd verse jam finds yet more energy in this already energetic show. The third verse/outro jam has a Slipknot theme buried in there. This outro jam gets wild and amazing, great stuff, one of the best Eyes out there. A+.
Promised Land
Deal
PITB>Scarlet>PITB
A PITB meat sequence/sandwich to close the 1st set is a nice touch. Once we hit the jam Jerry has a great tone, somewhat “watery”, and easily could drift into… a Tiger. The tempo stays up beat until just after the 7th minute, where it gets more jazz improve style. There’s an awesome break down type of segment to the jam starting just before the 10th minute. 16 minutes in the jam is in a completely different place, which is awesome. Phil starts laying down some powerful notes and it’s fully exploratory verging on space at this point. By 19 in we return to a jazz blues type of fusion jam which verges on funk and is pretty awesome… Scarlet comes right into this jam and turns it fully jazzy. Nice work here, and an especially sweet segue back into PITB’s reprise to close out the awesome set!

Seastones

UJB has a great intro. 74 was the year where they started to extend the jam segment (not surprisingly). It’s a decent jam, but not earth shattering. Seems like it could never really gather steam until they head into the reprise.
El Paso is perfect.
Black Peter is bluesy and beautiful, you feel this version inside.
Loose Lucy is funky and fun.
Big River is fun as always.
Ship pretty good. Keith wasn’t as prominent as I like, but the mellowness was a nice contrast.
MAMU is great!
Row Jimmy is subtle and cool. I like the organ on this much better than the piano sound.
Sugar Mags>Gone>Truckin>Spanish Jam>TOO>GDTRFB>SSDD
Nice line up for a meat sequence. The sugar mag is energetic and full. Out of nowhere, the Gone chords surface where SSDD normally takes off. A bit sloppy, but cool. It’s a good Gone, and the energy goes up a bit when it gets to the outro and transitions directly into the rapid fire opening notes of Truckin’. Bobby blows the lyrics before the "Busted on Bourbon St" and literally says "Whoops!" into the microphone before recovering. Classic Bobbism. It's a fun Truckin, with Bob aptly racheting up the energy before we head into the heady part of the sequence... however, the build up to the explosion slows back down as Jerry goes into Blues mode. We don't actually get the typical explosion, which is somewhat of a bummer, but we do get a cool jam starting at 8 minutes. They go dark and deep rather than doing their typical thing. Phil has a powerful solo with lots of reverberating bass bombs before the drums and guitars start picking back up, having been operating deep in the background. Bobby starts the chords to the beloved Spanish Jam, and Phil maintains the lead for a bit. After about a minute Jerry starts pushing for the lead, yet Phil stays prominent. Phil tries to head into TOO, but it doesn't happen, so he retreats to making really odd, Seastone like noises while Jerry noodles... the jam basically leaves Spain and Bobby now pushes for TOO. Jerry obliges, Phil takes the bait after the rest of the band is fully on the theme. About 5 minutes of TOO and we get to the verse. TOO then heads into space quickly. Considering the previous energy of the show, this meat sequence has been much mellower. The space doesn't stay there long this time! Jerry takes us full bore into the eye of the Tiger! After the short but furious Tiger there's a jazzy jam that ends with Jerry putting the intro notes to GDTRFB into play. The solo has you dancing in your seat or on your feet. They head right into Sunshine Daydream out of the closing notes to end the set.

Encore: US Blues is played in preparation for the coming US Invasion of Western Europe come September '74. Nice and energetic, great closer.
__________________________________________

Performance Summary
3.8 hours of awesome. Ok, throw out the Seastones, like I did... it would have been nice intermission sounds anyhow. The main meat sequence was nice, mainly mellow with moments of greatness... however the PITB>Scarlet>PITB to end the first set would not be denied. Put them together... and drift.

Sound Quality
A for SBD, A+ for Official Release snippets. One of the best SBDs of the day, and COMPLETE.

Quite a memorable show. Friends had made an audience tape which was distributed and played til the tape wore out by everyone. Exceptional playing by one and all. Only downside was Ned and Phil sandwiched in between. They don't make 'em like this anymore......

But this show is the SHIT! And this recording is the SHIT! Outstanding indeed! Not sure if any one track is the best of '74, but the sum of it's parts equate to the best overall show of the year. 4 hours of Americana at it's finest. Regrettably I was just 10 years old and the folks wouldn't let me thumb a ride to Jersey to see this. How dare they!

the greatest uncle john's band ever -PHIL!

if anyone has this soundboard and would like to trade please email me. after listening to dicks picks 31 numerous times i cant help but want the rest of this show. if anyone could help me out ide be very grateful. peace

cb18201@hotmail.com


where are the Dicks picks 31 left overs?

The Dead SHINE in 74'. If they had supposedly ended their touring career with 10/22/74, then the band would have gone down as this infamously flawless band with amazing and never-failing musicianship. But thank goodness the journey didn't end there. But on the flip side, it is hard to argue against the fact that the most consistently amazing G-dead is from February 69 till their mid 74' hiatus. The band is simply in top form and (minus Pigpen) not negatively affected by substance in the slightest.

This show is just another example of the amazing jamming of 74'. The unusual Playin'>Scarlet>Playin' is quite energetic for a year of spacey Playin' jams. Every member is properly feeding off of the energy of the moment, like any good Dead show, and delivering exceptional versions of both songs. The second set Sugar Mag on is sooo tight. My words cannot do this show any more justice than simply listening to it.

Some of these songs were used in Dick's Picks 31 and if you listen you'll know why. The first set is very, very good. Eyes is fantastic, and the funny interlude by Bobby "Don't climb on the fence, idiot" is a humorous bit of advice to the fans that tried to scale the barbed wire topped barrier in front of the stage. But the real meat of the first set is the Playing> Scarlet> Playing jam. It's 37 minutes of playing as amazing as the Dead ever got in 1974. Following the first set is the first and a half set?, the second set? In any case, Phil and Ned Lagin cut loose for 16:30 with some industrial sized electronic ear damage for your amusement/annoyance. The second set?, third set?, whatever, starts out with a strong Uncle John's Band complete with excellent jam in the middle. Good but not outstanding versions of Black Peter, El Paso, et al follow until the magnificent closing segue of Sugar Magnolia> He's Gone> Truckin'> Spanish Jam> Other One Jam> The Other One> Going Down The Road Feeling Bad> Sunshine Daydream. Hot damn what a great show. The only complaint is that like all '74 shows there's that persistant flat and farty sound to the vocals and that tinny drum sound. I sure hope the wall of sound sounded better to the audience than it comes across on tape. The Dick's Picks from this era have mitigated this problem somewhat but on "raw" tapes you get what you pay for;-) It's a five star show sound notwithstanding, I tell you what.

I agree with KickaPooJoy, this was an EXCELLENT show,TWICE! Well not really twice; I mean the band only played once, but we were all there in Roosevelt Stadium waiting and waiting for the rain to stop, so the band could come out and play, on the stage that had no roof. Needless to say, the band gave up waiting (we all probably would of waited until the next day)and made the annoucement that they were cancelling the show for that night. With that statement, came all the catcalls and boos, were silenced when the announcer quickly said, "Don't worry nobody's gonna get burned. We're gonna do it in a couple of weeks; just hold on to your ticket stubs....! As Kicka said, as we left the stadium, we discovered 'clusters' of people who were encircling people from the venue handing out outdated 'Ike and Tina Turner' tickets as 'rain checks'. I remember going up to about 6-7 and sticking my hand through the 'cluster', a ticket was placed in my hand; altogether we all had 15 'rain checks'that we took up to the show and gave away. I do remember getting 'the evil eye' from one dude, who was standing out front of the stadium hawking 'his rain checks'for $20.00, when my friend and I looked at each other and simutenously yelled out, "Free Dead Tickets Right Here"! The guy was shocked, mad and we just laughed.
Then of course the show was GREAT , too!
Aiko-Aiko

Of course the highlights of this show are delicious, no doubt about it. The 19-minute Eyes is definitely tasty with a couple of stellar moments and rolling to a flawless ending. The Playin'>Scarlet>Playin' definitely rocks and is basically perfect (with the obvious exception of Donna's God-awful wailing during Scarlet...fuck man, what were they thinking featuring her in that song?). The thing I love about the Playin' is that the jam never goes too far off the deep end; you think that a huge meltdown is going to take place a la 5/21/74 but instead Billy K. throws in the groovy Scarlet beat that considerably stabilizes the situation and paves the way for the Scarlet.

However I think the 2nd set is a tad overrated. Don't get me wrong, I think it's really good, but there are better jams in '74, such as 6/28 and 10/18. It's still a great show, no matter how you look at it.

This was originally rained-out and rescehduled. I remember thaht on the way out of the cancelled night they handed out "rain checks" which were like some kind of Motown artist tickets. About 3 of us went to that night and 10 of us came back for the real deal (they weren't too tight on how many you took on the way out). The place went from mudpit to dustbowl and what an awesome show. Roosevelt Stadium was one big, old dusty dancefloor with surrounding amphitheatre bench seating. I saw every show at that place and this was my FIRST Dead show (with hundreds to follow)! This is the one that hooked me. And is this not the setlist you would put together yourself if you said "This is what I want to hear?" I give it 5 stars because, even if it sounded like crap, it's still my most memorable show. And yeah, they had a fence about 8 feet high that seperated the crowd from the stage in Roosevelt (I almost got crushed at CSNY that same year I think). Once you made you way up there, you were at the mercy of the crowd.

one of my all time favs. The playin>scarlet>playin alone are mind blowing. If you are not a fan of early dead, this is the one to baptise you.

1974 is as good as the Dead get and this show proves it. Set I starts slowly with a Bertha>Mexicali. A few songs later we get a reversal - Sugaree>Straw. Very nice. Then it's Eyes of the World. A true top 10 version. The interplay after the vocals is AMAZING! Jerry leads this from the start and after 19 minutes they finally come to a complete stop. The highlight of Set I is the Playin>Scarlet>Playin closer......37 minutes of wicked jams and wierdness. Like most Playin's from 74, this one gets out there until Keith reels Jerry in from outer space and develops a groove on the electric keys. This morphs into a sweet Scarlet Begonias. They finish Playin' and its break time.

Set II starts with a great reggae version of UJB into a rare Black Peter. The main jam of the night starts a few songs later....Sugar Mag>He's Gone>Truckin'>JAM>Other1>GDTRFB>Daydream. Folks, this is a solid hour of improvisational magic from the heavens. Great Jerry leads, a few Phil bombs and a great team effort all around. A sin they end with US Blues

Had this show on disc for a couple years, Fantastic! Don't know if it's on this copy, but after Eyes Bobby is telling people to stay off the fence since it had barbed wire. Of course some dude starts climbing causing Bobby to say in disgust "Don't climb on the fence Idiot"
Funny Stuff Five Star Show

For me this is the one. No Dark Star and no MLBJ but no matter this one is awsome. I can't believe they didn't release the whole show.
I guess from the fantastic copies circulating they figured on going a different route.

IMHO this show is the best from a banner year.

Sound quality is 5 easily and the jamming is especially good.

Hilites: Playin>Scarlet>Playin, Eyes, Bertha, Truckin>Spanish Jam>Other one

You can't get this show here but GDlive.com has it in all its glory.

A must have for any collector.

For me a Top-10 all-time show !!!

Wow!
Eyes. Scarlet.
Wow...
A must have for all DeadHeads.

This is another unreal 74 show that will leave your cd player in smoke and flames!!! This whole show rocks not stop. Not much jamming until the 4th disc, but wow what a great 4th disc!! Only 5 tracks were released on DP31. If you don't have it, get the AUD in archive, or go to www.gdlive.com/ and download this show. They have the same copy.

Just want to let you guys know that only a minority of this show was released on DP31: Eyes, Playin>Scarlet>Playin, and Uncle John's Band. If the policy permits it, it'd be appreciated if the rest of the show were made available for download in SBD. Thanks again for all your hard work at the Archive.

I don't always agree with Dick's choices, esp. in 1977, but he mostly gets it right, and definitely so here. A monster show,with 4 CD's worth of great 74 material. And,IMHO, the first set outdoes the second! First they give us a nice first set Eyes- surprise! Then the Playin>Scarlet>Playin alone is worth the price of admission. Simply jaw dropping!
The He's Gone>Truckin>Spanish>Other One jam, while not my favorite for 74, is very strong. Can't add much more to what's been cheered about here already, except to say that the doctor was in college in 1974, and the news of Nixon's resignation put us all in that old 60's spirit of unity once again, if only for a moment. This was the summer that spawned Saturday Night Live that fall, along with the first Prarie Home Companion in July. A spirit of celebration was ablaze across what was, in 1974, still a very loose, free and stoned country. 20 somethings take heart, it's coming back, hold on! A timeless and historic show. Can't recommend it enough, buy it!
Dr. flashback ;-)

Great, looong show. First set in particular is a favorite of mine. For those who were not aware, the news they refer to in the first set is Nixon's resignation on that day. Is that why they were so loose?
Oops, I could sworn that was the day, but seeing as I was only 10 yrs old, maybe I got the date wrong. Even more interesting as a historical setting.

This concert was scheduled for a few days earlier (august 4th I believe).The original date was simply beautiful until about 3pm when the heavens opened up and lighting was everywhere.all you needed to get into the makeup date was your ticket stub.90% of the ticket stubs were unreadable due to being caught in the storm. Many people got out any old stub and soaked it in water until it became unreadable also.the bottom line is there wre twice as many people at the show then the facility allowed for.the show was one of the best I ever saw as the band seemed to feed off the crowd and certinaly one I will never forget.Down load this show Asap.
Ps The news that Nixon was Going to resign did come out on the 8th as I saw CSNY at the same venue and Stills and Nash wre doing cartweels accros the stage.
Glenn

Great energy throughout. Excellent sound quality. Particularly hot "Deal" -- the best I've heard. Top notch show.

Note that comment between Bertha and Mexicali Blues about the day's news refers not to Nixon's resignation (which occurred on August 8 1974), but the repercussions of the previous day's release of the June 23, 1972 "smoking gun" tape, which confirmed Nixon's involvement in Watergate and forced his resignation.

One of the great shows of an amazing year, and rendered here in a terrific recording. One of the best sounding shows I have. Phil is phat, sharp and prominent, laying out the big beefy bombs. An intense Sugaree and Eyes in Set 1, and as others have said, a fabulous Playin' > Scarlet > Playin', which takes off into must-hear territory. Set 2 is great as well. Be not afraid! Download it now, thank me later.

The second set of this show is typical '74 Dead, which is to say, the boys and gal at the top of their game. The first set though, is truly exceptional. It contains a long, well-jammed Eyes of the World that must rank among the best of the year, and a fantastic Playin' > Scarlet Begonias > Playin' jam (the only ever such sandwich?) that visits some exciting jazz-funk places along the way. Few 80s or 90s shows boast such a jamming SECOND set, let alone first..

This is one of those must-haves for anyone who considers themselves to be more than a casual GD fan. Jerry and Phil dominate most of the jams and the singing really isn't that bad compared to some other shows from the era (well, okay...Donna makes sure we know she's there during her patented Playin' screaming).

The fourth disc alone is some of the best Dead you will hear.

I got this show ages ago, it was my first introduction to the band in 1974 (and the mind melt of seastones!). The first set is very good, can't say too much about the rest of the show as I have listened to it about twice the whole way through, but the first set is really good. The Eyes, Playin'>Scarlet>Playin' turn up on Dicks Picks 31, which is where they deserve to be!