The Grateful Dead have offered another preview of the upcoming Listen To The River: St. Louis ’71 ’72 ’73 box set with “Mr. Charlie” recorded on December 10th, 1971 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO. Out on October 1st via Rhino, the expansive collection will host seven Dead concerts recorded in St. Louis over a 22-month period from 1971–1973.
Of all seven shows on the 20-CD set, 12/10/71 comes as the second-oldest behind the previous night’s show. The expansiveness of the Listen To The River collection allows listeners to see the progression of a young band that does a lot of growing up over a relatively short period of time. Here, we still hear a band that follows behind its faithful leader/team mascot Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. Though future figurehead Jerry Garcia manages to poke his head out with some minor flourishes throughout the live cut, this still remains Pigpen’s show, as evidenced by the brief four-minute runtime.
Related: 10 Songs We Hope Dead & Company Will Debut On Summer Tour 2021
Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux notes in the video’s description,
The final Pigpen-Hunter collaboration that would be released on an album, this shuffle was a standout on Europe ’72. It was played a total of 50 times after its debut on 7/31/71 in New Haven, the same show at which Sugaree debuted. It was played at all 22 shows of the Europe ’72 tour
Listen to the Grateful Dead perform “Mr. Charlie” at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO on December 10th, 1971. Listen To The River is available here for pre-order.
Grateful Dead – “Mr. Charlie” – St. Louis, MO – 12/10/71
[Video: Grateful Dead]