Courtesy of Dead.netA 15-CD live Grateful Dead box set — focusing on five shows that the band played in the northeastern U.S. in June 1976 — will be released on March 20.
The collection, simply titled June 1976, featured previously unreleased complete recordings of concerts that took place on June 10 and 11 at Boston Music Hall in Boston, June 14 and 15 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, and June 19 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey.
The performances were among the first shows the band played after returning to active touring following a nearly two-year hiatus.
The recordings are part of the famous “Betty Boards” tapes, a collection of reel-to-reel recordings that engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson made from The Dead’s soundboard from 1971 to 1980.
Only 12,000 copies of the box set, each individually numbered, will be available. You can pre-order copies now exclusively from Dead.net. High-res digital versions also are being sold.
Among the songs performed at the June ’76 concerts: “Friend of the Devil,” “Playing in the Band,” “U.S. Blues,” “St. Stephen” and “Sugar Magnolia,” as well as covers like Buddy Holly‘s “Not Fade Away,” Chuck Berry‘s “Johnny B. Goode,” and the band’s disco-influenced rendition of Martha and the Vandellas‘ “Dancing in the Street.”
The group also showcased lots of new material at the concerts, including selections from its then-latest studio album, 1975’s Blues for Allah.
Recalling how he felt about the June 1976 recordings when he first heard them, longtime Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux says, “These were like the best live albums I’d ever heard, played by the best band I know, during one of the Dead’s many live performance peaks.”
Here’s the June 1976 box set’s track list:
Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA (6/10/76):
Set One
“Promised Land”
“Sugaree”
“Cassidy”
“They Love Each Other”
“The Music Never Stopped”
“Brown-Eyed Women”
“Lazy Lightning”>
“Supplication”
“Row Jimmy”
“Big River”
“Mission in the Rain”
“Looks Like Rain”
“Might as Well”
Set Two
“Samson and Delilah”
“Help on the Way”>
“Slipknot!”>
“Franklin’s Tower”
“Let It Grow”
“Friend of the Devil”
“Playing in the Band”>
“Dancing in the Street”>
“U.S. Blues”
Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA (6/11/76):
Set One
“Might as Well”
“Mama Tried”
“Tennessee Jed”
“Cassidy”
“Candyman”
“Big River”
“Scarlet Begonias”
“Looks Like Rain”
“It Must Have Been the Roses”
“Lazy Lightning”>
“Supplication”
“Brown-Eyed Women”
“Promised Land”
Set Two
“St. Stephen”>
“Dancing in the Street”>
“The Music Never Stopped”
“Ship of Fools”
“Samson and Delilah”
“Sugaree”
“Sugar Magnolia”>
“Eyes of the World”>
“Stella Blue”
“Sunshine Daydream”
“Johnny B. Goode”
Beacon Theatre, New York, NY (6/14/76):
Set One
“Cold Rain and Snow”
“Mama Tried”
“Row Jimmy”
“Cassidy”
“Brown-Eyed Women”
“Big River”
“Might as Well”
“Lazy Lightning”>
“Supplication”
“Tennessee Jed”
“Playing in the Band”
Set Two
“The Wheel”
“Samson and Delilah”
“High Time”
“The Music Never Stopped”
“Crazy Fingers”
“Dancing in the Street”>
“Cosmic Charlie”
“Help on the Way”>
“Slipknot!”>
“Franklin’s Tower”>
“Around and Around”
“U.S. Blues”
Beacon Theatre, New York, NY (6/15/76):
Set One
“Promised Land”
“Sugaree”
“Cassidy”
“Candyman”
“The Music Never Stopped”
“It Must Have Been the Roses”
“Looks Like Rain”
“Tennessee Jed”
“Let It Grow”>
“Might as Well”
Set Two
“St. Stephen”>
“Not Fade Away”>
“Stella Blue”
“Samson and Delilah”
“Friend of the Devil”
“Dancing in the Street”>
“The Wheel”>
“Sugar Magnolia”
“Scarlet Begonias”>
“Sunshine Daydream”
“Johnny B. Goode”
Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ (6/19/76):
Set One
“Help on the Way”>
“Slipknot”!>
“Franklin’s Tower”>
“The Music Never Stopped”
“Brown-Eyed Women”
“Cassidy”
“They Love Each Other”
“Looks Like Rain”
“Tennessee Jed”
“Playing in the Band”
Set Two
“Might as Well”
“Samson and Delilah”
“High Time”
“Let It Grow”
“Dancing in the Street”>
“Cosmic Charlie”
“Around and Around”>
“Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad”>
“One More Saturday Night”
“Not Fade Away”
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