The Grateful Dead‘s next live album release as part of their Dave’s Picks live series will feature a recording of the band’s December, 3rd, 1979 performance at Chicago’s Uptown Theatre. The band announced on Tuesday that Dave’s Picks: Vol. 31 will see a limited release of just 20,000 numbered copies, set for release on July 26th.
The 3-disc package, as with all releases in the series, was curated by Dead archivist and noted outdoorsman David Lemieux. As the band describes in the announcement, the recording of their 1979 performance “Signals a true rebirth of the Grateful Dead, reimagining classics and foreshadowing their 80s sound. This is as much in part due to freshly-minted member Brent Mydland bringing the organ back in as it is to Jerry [Garcia] finding new vivacity with his custom Wolf guitar.”
The show in Chicago that night featured performances of Dead setlist staples including “Brown-Eyed Women”, “Ramble On Rose”, “Althea”, “The Music Never Stopped,” a 28-minute “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain”, and “Truckin'”, just to name a few. The audio to be used on the live album was pulled from taper Dan Healy and remastered for modern listened by David Glasser.
To make the release even more special, the third disc in the package will feature three recordings from the band’s show the following night on 12/4/1979.
Hear David Lemieux discuss the 1979 show and the upcoming release below.
David Lemieux Dave’s Picks Vol. 31 Announce
[Video: Grateful Dead]
Click here to head to the album’s pre-order page, where you’ll also be able to listen to three of the recordings from the forthcoming release including “Music Never Stopped”, “Althea”, and “Samson and Delilah”.
