Don’s Pick • The Grateful Dead Live Channel

A Rough Tape With a Raw Spark, Straight From a College Gym in Bethlehem

Grateful Dead • September 25, 1981 • Stabler Arena, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

Not every legendary tape sounds pristine, and this one’s proof. The Dead kicked off their fall 1981 tour at Stabler Arena on Lehigh University’s campus, the classic lineup of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart taking the stage in front of a crowd that, according to at least one attendee’s memory, had campus football players grumbling in the locker room about the sudden invasion of Deadheads. What followed earned its reputation the hard way, through raw energy rather than polish.

Circulated soundboard transfers, most notably the versions passed around by longtime archivist Charlie Miller, come with a well known asterisk attached. The underlying recording starts rough and only gets rougher as the night wears on, which has pushed serious collectors toward audience tape patches to fill gaps in key tracks like “The Music Never Stopped” and “Fire On The Mountain.” It’s the kind of show where the performance outran the recording gear meant to capture it.

Set one moves through a strong “New Minglewood Blues” opener before settling into a run of “Friend Of The Devil” into “El Paso,” and “Peggy-O” flowing straight into “Little Red Rooster.” “Bird Song” transitions into “Beat It On Down The Line,” and after “Cumberland Blues” and “Passenger,” the set closes on “Althea” running directly into “The Music Never Stopped,” a strong finish to send everyone into intermission already buzzing.

The second set is where this particular tape earns its reputation, clocking in at well over a hundred minutes. “Might As Well” pairs beautifully into “Samson And Delilah,” a combination one longtime attendee singled out specifically as a highlight decades later, and “Scarlet Begonias” into “Fire On The Mountain” delivers the kind of extended jam this era of the band built its live reputation on. “Never Trust A Woman,” rare enough that some fans in attendance recall it as the only time they ever caught it performed live, leads into the “Lost Sailor” and “Saint Of Circumstance” pairing before Drums and Space open up the middle of the set. From there, “The Wheel” into “Sugar Magnolia,” “Black Peter,” “Around And Around,” and “Sunshine Daydream” carry the night to its close, with “U.S. Blues” sending everyone home for the encore.

Bad tape, great night. Sometimes the soundboard fails you and the performance carries the whole thing anyway. Don’s pick, warts and all.