Don't judge a tape by the gear: JGB at Stages, East St. Louis, May 23, 1983

The only tape circulating for the Garcia Band show at Stages in East St. Louis, May 23, 1983, was recorded using the built-in mics of a Sony D6 by one Steven Shayman. Looks like it entered circulation in June 2004 as a shn fileset put together by Dr. Chris Ladner (neo_levo) as part of the MisSHN in the Rain offshoot of the The Music Never Stopped (TMNSP) project to canonically archive and circulate, well, everything.

I have always loved that tour, and consider 5/31/83 to be an all-time great Garcia Band show. There are lots of great tapes from known tapers using fancy gear, in venues we know and love such as the Cap, from the back end of the tour. The band plays encores the last eight shows of the tour, and eleven of the last twelve -- and not always "Midnight Moonlight", but some killer "Rhapsody In Red"s and other stuff. It's hot.

The early part, by contrast, wobbles a little bit. I know the Saturday Rainbow show in Denver was a late-add and didn't sell out, though I like it pretty well. The next night north of K.C. was canceled for reasons unknown --I presume that ticket sales were just too slow for a room that was much too large-- and the gig at the incredible Shea's Theatre in Buffalo on the 25th gets a "meh" from me, though that may be because the tape is kinda rough.

Anyway, for all of these reasons, I suppose, I have utterly neglected little ol' 5/23/83. And I was wrong to have done so.

The tape is actually quite a delight. It sounds really fresh and nice. Shayman must have found a good spot, and the D6's built-in mics pick everything up. As any taper will tell you, location > gear. There's plenty of the sellout crowd, and everyone seems to be having a great old time. Jerry hadn't played St. Louis outside the GD since 1976, and everyone seems enthused to have hime come through. A review from unidentified publication (Durrwachter 1983) captures the vibe nicely, invoking a happy crowd packed onto the club floor, dancing a vital, lively, tight band. All of that comes through on the tape.

He even looks pretty good!

Jerry at Stages, East St. Louis, May 23, 1983. Picture credit: Madeline Dames, via https://www.gdao.org/items/show/826463

I don't have a ton of @@wowwowwowwowwows in my notes. I hear some fanny goodness in "Catfish John," a rockin' "Let It Rock," and some of the period's chacracteristic beautiful spirraling guitar figures in both "Harder They Come" and "Dear Prudence". Not a lot of the metallic, hair-on-fire burn here, even in "Deal", at least not that I noted. The show has a cooler, smoother, sweeter vibe than we'd hear after another week-plus on the road. It's just a really nice listen from both a recording and a performance standpoint. Don't make the same mistake I did and leave it neglected for 17 years.

Tour table follows, then listening notes.

Table xxx. Spring '83 JGB tour 

Date	Venue	JGMF
1983-05-20 [Fri] Early	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO
1983-05-20 [Fri] Late	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO
1983-05-21 [Sat]	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO	Errico is a monster
1983-05-22 [Sun]	Civic Arena, St. Joseph, MO
1983-05-23 [Mon]	Stages, East St. Louis, IL	don't judge a tape by the gear
1983-05-25 [Wed]	Shea's Theatre, Buffalo, NY	meh
1983-05-26 [Thu]	Auditorium Theatre, Rochester, NY
1983-05-28 [Sat]	Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, MA	average for the tour
1983-05-29 [Sun]	Bushnell Auditorium, Hartford, CT
1983-05-30 [Mon]	Bushnell Auditorium, Hartford, CT
1983-05-31 [Tue]	Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY	Mamma mia, what a show
1983-06-01 [Wed]	Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
1983-06-03 [Fri] Early	Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
1983-06-03 [Fri] Late	Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
1983-06-04 [Sat] Early	The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY
1983-06-04 [Sat] Late	The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY	pretty strong
1983-06-05 [Sun] Early	Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA	swan song for JGB #15c
1983-06-05 [Sun] Late	Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA	swan song for JGB #15c

Jerry Garcia Band
Stages
550 State Highway 203
East St. Louis, IL 62201
May 23, 1983 (Monday)
Shayman MAC shnid-24498 shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 47:25)--
s1t01. [0:12] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:41] [0:25] % [0:11]
s1t02. [0:15] Catfish John [10:03] [0:11] % [0:11]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [7:53] [0:17] % [0:08]
s1t04. Let It Rock [8:55] [0:12] % [0:07]
s1t05. Gomorrah [5:48] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses// [4:56#]

--set II + encore (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 71:09)--
--set II (5 tracks, 59:44)--
s2t01. [0:05] Mission In The Rain [10:07] [0:19] %
s2t02. [0:18] I'll Take A Melody [14:01] [0:26]
s2t03. Harder They Come [12:37] 0:36] % [0:07] %
s2t04. /Dear Prudence [#12:03] ->
s2t05. Deal [9:01] (1)
--encore (2 tracks, 1 tune, 11:24)--
s2t06. ambience [3:04]
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [7:43] [0:37]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Greg Errico - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] 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/19830523-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/24498 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/Aa5XDQacPhrJpXxL7

! JGBP: 

! band: JGB #15c (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! R: field recordist: Steven Shayman

! R: field recording gear: Sony D-6 w/ internal microphone

! R: lineage: 1st-generation cassette; CDR transfer by Gary Cameron, May 2004.

! R: seeder notes: All cuts were on the master seed. All in the "crowd noise". Cuts were smoothed out with Sound forge. AddaWav was used to reconnect all tracks and CDWwave was used to retrack. shn'd using mkw with appended seek table by wally direwolfnfa@hotmail.com . Another installment of MisSHN in the Rain branch of TMNSP, 06/04.

! R: You might fear what a handheld D6 built-in mic tape from a little club in E. St. Louis might sound like, but this is perfectly nice.

! P: s1t02 CJ some big huge notes in 8. Fanny goodness.

! P: s1t04 LIR characteristically smokin'.

! R: s1t06 RFTR cuts @ the end, faded out. Not much missing.

! R: s2t01 Mission in The Rain fades out

! R: s2t04 Dead Prudence clips in, drop out @8:47

! P: s2t04 DP has some great circular stuff mid-9, as HTC had had. Crowd is fired up to hear Jerry, who is playing well.

! s2t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

! s2t06 this seems like a true encore. I imagine that Jerry  had no intention of coming back. But the crowd really is going wild. Love having this three minute track, capturing the wild cheering, then, from 2, "Jerry! Jerry!" Most crowds that did this were left without satisfaction. But here Jerry and crew do step back out. It's only a Mid Moon, but still.