Jerry Garcia Band
The Catalyst
Santa Cruz, CA
1982-02-02
Set 1
01 How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
02 Catfish John
03 Let It Rock
04 Simple Twist Of Fate
05 I Second That Emotion
Total time: 54:51
Set 2
01 I’ll Take A Melody
02 (I’m A) Road Runner
03 Russian Lullaby
04 Valerie
05 Tangled Up In Blue
Jerry Garcia – electric guitar, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann – drums
Jimmy Warren – keyboards
John Kahn – electric bass
Julie Stafford – vocals
Liz Stires – vocals
Melvin Seals – keyboards
Originally posted on my Substack, where you’ll get even more info, posters, and music.
The Midnight Cafe Review.
After our last show in San Francisco on January 13, Jerry Garcia took a couple of weeks off from playing in front of a live audience, but did spend at least five days in the Grateful Dead’s studio working on what would ultimately be his last studio album as a solo artist, Run for the Roses. He’d spend the rest of February and March playing gigs with the Jerry Garcia band all over California (and one gig in Reno) before heading out on the Spring Tour with the Grateful Dead.
At this point, the band consisted of two keyboard players: Melvin Seals and Jimmy Warren. They were a duo with the band from early 1981 until Warren left in the summer of 1982. Melvin Seals, of course, was around until the end, and he continues to play in the JGB band as a tribute to Garcia.
This show is the first time I’ve really paid attention to the duelling keyboards. I’m guessing I’ve listened to some shows with them from 1981, and I certainly listened to the two shows from earlier in 1982. With those shows, I definitely noticed there were a couple of different keyboards being played, but I don’t think I could ever hear them played at the same time and just assumed it was Seals playing two different keyboards. Which is dumb, I know, especially since I listed the band members. No one ever said I was a very smart listener.
But here you can really distinguish the playing, and they are both awesome. You’ll hear that a lot in this review.
They get things rocking with a nice “How Sweet It Is.” There is some nice interplay between Jerry and the keyboards. For part of “Catfish John,” Jerry guitar tone sounds different, almost like a steel drum. There is lots of great jamming.
“Let It Rock” rumbles on for nine minutes, and it feels like just one long groove. Garcia gets in some great solos with the band interplaying underneath him. “Simple Twist of Fate” is fine, nothing spectacular, and it ends on a long, pointless bass solo.
“I Second That Emotion” is killer. I love that song, and it’s got some terrific energy here with the whole band on point. Great way to end the set.
“I’ll Take a Melody” begins pretty lifeless, but between the verses, Jerry revs things up, and the band kicks right in. It is a short burst, and things settle back down for the next verse, but once it is over, Jerry jumps right back in, and the band follows. It is interesting to see how very much Jerry is the leader of this band and the rest of them follow his example.
I’m not much of a fan of “Russian Lullaby”; it is too slow for me, and the lyrics don’t prick my ears. This version is quite good. Probably not good enough that I won’t skip it the next time I listen to this show, but it is better than a lot of the versions I’ve heard. Jerry’s throws in some nice licks, and John Kahn does a hot solo that gets the audience screaming and clapping.
“Valerie” is another song I don’t love, but this version is energetic. “Tangled Up In Blue” is a fantastic closing song with some really great playing by everyone.
Overall, this is a very good show. Completely enjoyed it.
Jerrybase lists six sources for this show. I listened to SHNID 110350, which is an excellent audience recording. There is a soundboard recording of the second set, but I found that one of the keyboards was way too high in the mix – drowning out Garcia’s guitar and making it unlistenable to my ears.