The Grateful Dead Performs ‘Uncle John’s Band’ In 1974: Pro-Shot Video

The Grateful Dead shared pro-shot video of “Uncle John’s Band” for the next edition of their All The Years Live series. The clip comes from GD’s October 19, 1974 concert at Winterland in San Francisco.

Footage from the Dead’s run at Winterland that year would go on to become The Grateful Dead Movie, the band’s first concert film, released in 1977. Jerry Garcia also co-directed the flick. While “Uncle John’s Band” didn’t make the original cut, Jerry had wanted to kick off the movie with the performance of the Workingman’s Dead opener. GD archivist David Lemieux wrote about how they were able to honor Jerry’s idea with the DVD release in 2004.

“Before Jerry decided to open The Grateful Dead Movie with Gary Gutierrez’s magnificent animated sequence, we had originally slotted this version of “Uncle John’s Band” to open the film,” Lemieux wrote. “When we produced the DVD of the Movie in 2004, we felt it was appropriate to open the Bonus Songs feature with this version of “Uncle John’s Band.” This was produced from the original 16mm camera negative.”

Watch the Grateful Dead on “Uncle John’s Band” from Winterland in ‘74 below: