Grab your pipe and slippers and pour yourself half a cup of rock and rye, ’tis the season to curl up by the fire and enjoy a bit of holiday cheer. No need to mess with the chimney, though, thanks to the Grateful Dead yule log. Now streaming via the Grateful Dead YouTube channel, the virtual holiday hearth plays video of a crackling fire and, of course, classic Dead jams.
This year’s yule log features recordings from the bands PNW ’74 tour, which was featured in the Pacific Northwest 73-74: The Complete Recordings box set released in 2018. That set included six complete shows from two consecutive summer tours in the PNW, documenting two visits each to Vancouver B.C., Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA. The region had become a stronghold for Deadhead culture by then, with the band progressing from selling out large theaters to filling sports arenas. Fans eagerly braved the region’s notorious rain to stake out good spots, astounding local journalists with their tenacious commitment to the band.
The shows from 1974 featured in the yule log live stream include 5/17/74 at P.N.E. Coliseum in Vancouver, 5/19/74 at Portland Memorial Coliseum in Portland, and 5/21/74 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington in Seattle, which notably featured a 46-minute “Playing In The Band”, the band’s longest song ever. The recordings were mastered in HDCD from the original master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Mockingbird Mastering Masters, transferred and restored by Plangent Processes Original.
Tune in to the Grateful Dead yule log below.
Grateful Dead Yule Log – PNW ’74
Setlist: Grateful Dead | P.N.E. Coliseum | Vancouver, B.C. | 5/17/74
Set 1: Promised Land, Deal, The Race is On, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw, Dire Wolf, Beat It On Down The Line, Loose Lucy, Big River, It Must Have Been The Roses, Mexicali Blues, Row Jimmy, Playing In The Band
Set 2: U.S. Blues, Me & My Uncle, Ship of Fools, Money Money, China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider, Greatest Story Ever Told, Sugaree, Truckin’-> Nobody’s Fault But Mine-> Eyes Of The World-> China Doll, Sugar Magnolia
Setlist: Grateful Dead | Memorial Coliseum | Portland, OR | 5/19/74
Set 1: Mississippi Half Step, Mexicali Blues, Big Railroad Blues, Black Throated Wind, Scarlet Begonias, Beat It On Down The Line, Loose Lucy, Money Money, China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider
Set 2: Promised Land, Bertha-> Greatest Story Ever Told, Weather Report Suite Prelude-> Weather Report Suite Part 1-> Let It Grow-> Wharf Rat, Big River, Peggy-O, Truckin’-> Mind Left Body Jam-> Not Fade Away-> Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad-> One More Saturday Night,
Ecore: U.S. Blues
Setlist: Grateful Dead | Hec Edmundson Pavilion | Seattle, WA | 5/21/74
Set 1: Me & My Uncle, Brown Eyed Women, Beat It On Down The Line, Deal, Mexicali Blues, It Must Have Been The Roses, The Race is On, Scarlet Begonias, El Paso, Row Jimmy, Money Money, Ship of Fools, Weather Report Suite Prelude-> Weather Report Suite Part 1-> Let It Grow-> China Doll
Set 2: Playing In The Band, U.S. Blues, Big River, Stella Blue, Around & Around, Eyes Of The World-> Wharf Rat-> Sugar Magnolia
Encore: Johnny B. Goode