Let’s Go Get Stoned: Jerry Garcia Band 1984 Summer Soundboards Surface

Four crispy Jerry Garcia Band soundboard recordings from the summer of 1984 have recently entered circulation. The classic JGB lineup’s performances from the Bay Area spanning July 28 – August 1, 1984 can be streamed below.

The shows documented on the newly-surfaced recordings took place less than a month after the classic Jerry Garcia Band of guitarist Jerry Garcia, bassist John Kahn, keyboardist Melvin Seals, drummer David Kemper and vocalists Jacklyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones first took the stage as a unit on July 10, 1984 at the Keystone Palo Alto. The Garcia/Kahn/Seals/Kemper/LaBranch ensemble would go on to play over 200 shows through November 19, 1993 — far more than any other of Jerry’s solo outfits.

On July 28, 1984, the Grateful Dead guitarist would bring his freshly solidified JGB iteration back to Keystone Palo Alto for the first of two shows at the venue. The Jerry Garcia Band would then head to The Stone in San Francisco to play concerts on July 31 and August 1, 1984 before the lineup headed to the East Coast for a tour.

Jim Blackwood transferred and mastered Charlie Kaiser’s soundboard tapes of all four shows and broadcast the audio on Dead Air on 91.3 FM KXCI Tucson earlier this summer. Jason Chastain adjusted the speed and pitch and the resulting recordings are pristine. The recordings from July 29 and August 1, 1984 have never circulated before while the other two recordings are major upgrades.

Lossless files were posted on shnflac.net over the past few weeks. Streaming audio of the soundboards were shared by JerryBase on YouTube.

Jerry Garcia Band fit a few surprises into the first show at Keystone. The guitarist’s premiere performance of Allen Toussaint’s “Get Out Of My Life, Woman” came during the first set, while the second set featured the return of Nix, Penn’s “Like A Road Leading Home.” August 1, 1984 was Jerry Garcia’s 42nd birthday and was one of only seven times Garcia performed in public on his birthday.

Both two-night stands give a great taste of where the Jerry Garcia Band was at during the summer of 1984. Listen to all four recordings below thanks to JerryBase’s Let’s Go Get Stoned playlist:

Set One: I’ll Take A Melody, Get Out Of My Life Woman [1], Run For The Roses > Love In The Afternoon > Deal

Set Two: Cats Under The Stars, Like A Road Leading Home [2], Tore Up Over You, Gomorrah > Midnight Moonlight

• [1] First performance
• [2] Last performance (by JGB) 1981-04-25 (198 events ago)

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Set One: Sugaree, They Love Each Other, I Second That Emotion > Tangled Up In Blue

Set Two: Harder They Come, Mississippi Moon > Don’t Let Go > Midnight Moonlight

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Set One: I’ll Take A Melody, Get Out Of My Life Woman, Like A Road Leading Home, Run For The Roses > Deal

Set Two: Rhapsody In Red, Russian Lullaby, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Gomorrah > Midnight Moonlight

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Set One: Cats Under The Stars, Mission In The Rain, Love In The Afternoon, Run For The Roses > Tangled Up In Blue

Set Two: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), When I Paint My Masterpiece, Dear Prudence > Midnight Moonlight

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