48 years ago on March 14, 1971 the Grateful Dead played at the Camp Randall Field House, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. This show is a crisp and clear recording, often hard to come across for Grateful Dead shows in the early 70’s. The whole band sounds on the ball tonight, but the lights are shining bright on Pigpen especially for this show. In my eyes Pigpen was one of the most important members in the early years for the Dead, his singing was one of the best and when he passed it was a tragic loss for the Grateful Dead. The in between songs are nonetheless still well done but emphasis should be put on Pigpen tonight.

Here’s the set list for the night:

Set 1: Truckin’, Me & My Uncle, Hurts Me Too, Bertha, Me & Bobby McGee, Hard to Handle, Loser, Good Lovin’

Set 2: Casey Jones, Sugar Magnolia, Wharf Rat, Greatest Story Ever Told > Johnny B. Goode, E: Uncle John’s Band

Set 1 is the real meat and potatoes for this show I think, after all it is where we see all of Pigpen’s stellar performances tonight. Pigpen’s first appearance tonight comes in on Hurts Me Too, a soulful and gripping tune where Pigpen absolutely wails on harmonica and vocals, really top notch stuff, the rest of the band tie the whole song together all around as well. Next on the list: Hard To Handle, what a song this one is too, I’d say even better than Hurts Me Too, not only does Pigpen take this one but the whole song just gets better the longer the Dead jam on it. The first set comes to an end with a beast of a song in the form of Good Lovin’ that clocks in at over 21 minutes. Probably the highlight of the show, the whole band makes the song their own, Pigpen’s amazing vocals, Bill’s killer drum solo about 3 minutes in, great guitar work by Bob and Jerry, and of course the thick and tight bass from Phil. I swear this song just gets better the longer it goes on!

Set 2 comes around and it proves pretty challenging for the Dead to top a spectacular first set like that one. They carry on though and still manage to turn out some decent songs in the second set, attention for this set should be turned to Wharf Rat and Greatest Story Ever Told. Both of these songs have their own vibes and the Dead manage to bring out the best of them tonight. Interestingly enough 1971 was also the first year the Dead debuted Wharf Rat live, with this show being the 8th time the Dead played it. The first time the Grateful Dead played Wharf Rat live was on February 18, 1971 at Capitol Theater, Port Chester, New York, it’s a pretty good show so if you have time check it out here.

As I said this is definitely Pigpen’s night, so make sure to at least check out his songs for this show: https://archive.org/details/gd71-03-14.sbd.cole.6115.sbeok.shnf