Farewell to Ronnie at the Rainbow: JGB in Denver, November 19, 1981

LN jg1981-11-19.jgb.all.aud-unk-vamarty.25792.shn2flac

If Garcia's local gigs paid for his smokes and such, his east coast jaunts paid the big bills. In the book I will try to narrate coherently (ha!) that late 1981 through 1982 showed Garcia trying to straighten out his financial and business affairs (including a relatively local early 1982 "tax tour" that never really materialized). I have myself persuaded that the "Return of Ron Tutt" tour of late 1981, mostly in the eastern time zone before working back through Chi and Denver, forms part of this initiative. Even at this late date, Garcia, Kahn and Tutt (dba Jerry Garcia Band) faced tax liens and unpaid bills, and an out-of-town run could have provided what for to reconcile everything. Ronnie also worked on Run for the Roses, and though I don't have much precise session information for that record this presumably also involved him getting paid.

These out-of-town tours fascinate me, not least because they often give the lie to the art-commerce tradeoff, with some great music accompanying the ever-expanding paydays as the years went on. I should compile my various tour posts and bring together some summary judgment on the progression of things, but that might have to wait for actual time to write. I know I have said some explicit stuff about the 11/74, 4/75, 11-12/77, 2/80, and 11-12/83 tours. Just gotta poke around, and all that.

The fall '81 tour is not one I have any inside information about on the commerce side, though I estimate that JGB #14b's swan song, this tour of 19 gigs in 20 nights, grossed about a half million dollars. 

I have written a fair number of listening reports, often connecting to Ron Tutt and sometimes to Pete Rowan:

• 10/31/81: "JGB: Halloween 1981"
• 11/3/81: "Nothing to Write Home About on a Charlie Miller Birthday Show" 
• 11/4/81: "Positively Garcia and the East Coast Deadhead"
• 11/10/81b: "BOAT TWYDTTYD: JGB, Palladium, November 10, 1981 (late show)"
• 11/13/81: "Ronnie's and Rowan's Returns"
• 11/15/81: "Ronnie's Return, Pete's Payoff: JGB in Provy, November 15, 1981"
• 11/17/81: "Old Folks at Home for a Very Long Show: JGB at the Uptown, November 17, 1981"
• 11/19/81: this post

There are some monster performances here, especially, it seems to me, on the back end. Chicago on 11/17/81 has such a long second set (almost 90 minutes) that it was long thought to be a complete late show (i.e., separately ticketed). The windy citizens certainly got their money's worth that night. And the gig in question is another big one, though not as big as we used to think. Forever and ever, 11/19/81 at the Rainbow in Denver was thought to have been one of the only three-set Jerry Band shows (maybe 12/31/75 is the only one that actually happened?). But, as I have long suspected, and can now demonstrate, it was actually an early show and a two-set late show. The smoking gun comes from Mike Cutler, who sent along scans of his ticket stubs, which I reproduce below.

Regardless, this is a kickass show. I *really* wish I could listen blind to stuff, because I worry that knowing it's his last gig leads me to hear Ronnie Tutt playing as well as he ever had with Jerry. About six minutes into the early show-closing "Deal", the band opens the song up in a way I don't really recall hearing before. (Maybe it was always like that in this period, and I haven't noticed or have forgotten.) Things get really spacious and open, I hear Ronnie doing some very inventive stuff, almost like he and Garcia are duetting for awhile. This piece is very worth your ear time. I note Tutt specifically again in the late show's opening set versions of "I'll Take A Melody" ("Tutt is playing so well ... incredible 10:30 ish - so inventive!") and "Harder They Come" ("Ronnie sounds great ... Tutt is on fire!"). During "Dixie Down", toward the end of the show, Tutt spends some time playing a march which is just about the perfect Civil War beat. All it needs is a little fife for color. Again, I don't recall ever having heard him do this.

Garcia sounds great too, in good voice, working carefully with his lyrics, and playing that incendiary 1981 guitar of his. Like so many others from '81, Ronnie's farewell at the Rainbow will reward whatever ear-time you can give it.

Jerry Garcia Band
Rainbow Music Hall
6358 East Evans Avenue
Denver, CO 80222
November 19, 1981 (Thursday) - early (7:30 PM) and late (10:30 PM) shows
aud vamarty shnid-25792 shn2flac rename

Mike Cutler's ticket stub from JGB 11/19/81 early show

--early show (7 tracks, 59:55)--
e-t01. Sugaree [10:01] [0:02] %
e-t02. [0:04] I Second That Emotion [9:36] [0:02] %
e-t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [7:49] %
e-t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [13:35] %
e-t05. [0:07] /Sitting In Limbo/ [#10:12#] %
e-t06. /Deal [#8:33] (1)

--late show, set I (6 tracks, 55:26)--
l-s1-t01. //TWYDTTYD [#6:42] [0:05] %
l-s1-t02. [0:31] ITAM [12:44] [0:06]
l-s1-t03. [0:04] % [0:18] (I'm A) Roadrunner [5:50] [0:08] %
l-s1-t04. [0:10] Valerie [6:41] [0:02] %
l-s1-t05. /Mississippi Moon [#11:05] [0:04] %
l-s1-t06. Harder They Come [10:55] (2) [0:05]

Mike Cutler's ticket stub from JGB 11/19/81 late show

--late show, set II (4 tracks, 39:03)--
l-s2-t01. [0:25] Mission In The Rain [8:57] [0:02] %
l-s2-t02. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:01] ->
l-s2-t03. Dear Prudence [11:04] ->
l-s2-t04. Tangled Up In Blue [10:29] (3) [0:05]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - electric keyboards;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = 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/19811119-01 (early) and https://jerrybase.com/events/19811119-02 (late).

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/25792 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/116909 (early-p, late-p, flac1644).

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

! JGBP: URL http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/rainbow-music-hall-east-evans-avenue.html

! preview: "Jerry Garcia Band to appear at Denver's Rainbow Music Hall Nov. 19," Gazette-Telegraph (Colorado Springs, CO), November 6, 1981, p. 8E

! caption: Gazette-Telegraph (Colorado Springs, CO), November 13, 1981, p. 10E

! personnel: Jerry's last live performance with Ronnie Tutt.

! metadata: this traveled forever as a single three-set show. But Mike Cutler's ticket stubs confirm a single early set and a two-set late show.

! setlist: The setlist still has some fuzziness. First, old lists long included a TLEO between Sugaree and ISTE in the early show. It fits pretty plausibly there, but Cutler didn't remember it there and it is not on the tape. Unless more tape shows up, it's hard to know. We no longer list it at Jerrybase. Second, Mike and friends recalled the late show as two five-song sets, with ITAM not appearing second in set 1, but leading off set 2. Their notations on the back of the ticket stub had it in the former position, crossed out, and then in the latter position. We will leave it where it is on the tape (late show set 1, second song) and hope that another master comes forward to shed more light.

! R: unknown aud, shn2flac and rename by jgmf 9/5/2020. Not bad at all, all things considered. The drums sound amazing. A layer of his becomes more noticeable to me late 5, but maybe it was there and I just wasn't paying close attention. By STOF, the hiss is thick as SF summer fog.

! P: e-t04 TWLWMYD Tutt is killing here! bass feature 6:49ff

! R: e-t04 STOF drop @ 3:43

! P: e-t06 Deal interesting. It gets quiet late 6, Tutt does some amazing shit, and this version is really open here for a bit. Unusual!! It's like Jerry and Ronnie duetting, almost.

! e-t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

! R: l-s1-t01 TWYDTTYD cuts in

! P: l-s1-t02 ITAM JG sounds good, committed to these lyrics late 3. God, Tutt is playing so well. Incredible 10:30 ish - so inventive!

! P: l-s1-t04 Valerie very slowly paced for this tune early in its tenure. Love it!

! R: l-s1-t05 Miss Moon clips in

! P: l-s1-t06 HTC man oh man, Ronnie sounds great, Jerry sounds great here in the 3 minute mark. Tutt is on fire! Tempo seems to pick it up even further 5:20ish.

! l-s1-t06 (2) JG: "Thanks. We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back in a litle bit."

! l-s2-t01 MITR Garcia is noodling something spookily interesting before MITR

! P: l-s2-t02 TNTDODD Tutt is doing some march beats in 5:30 that are so perfect for the civil war! I don't remember ever hearing him do this.

! P: l-s2-t04 TUIB Garcia on fire 9, crowd appreciative.

! l-s2-t04 (3) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."