Friend Of the Devils: Florida, 4/78

Rich Mahan (0:05)

The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast, the official podcast of The Grateful Dead. I'm Rich Mahan with Jesse Jarnow, exploring the music and legacy of The Grateful Dead For The Committed And The Curious. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Deadheads, welcome to season 10 of The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast. I'm your co-host Rich Mahan, thank you very much for tuning in. We are excited to be back with a new season of The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast for you, and we're kicking this one off by taking a close look at the shows from the Spring 78 Tour that make up the new Grateful Dead box set, Friend Of The Devils. This episode focuses on the three Florida shows from April 6th, 7th and 8th, 1978 This new limited edition Friend Of The Devils box set is selling quick and with good reason. The band was playing great in Spring 78, and as the name suggests, this 19 CD box set presents eight unreleased concerts that feature the rise of drums and space as second set traditions. Friend Of The Devils April 1978 includes complete shows from Curtis Hickson Convention Hall, Tampa, Florida for $6.78, Sportatorium Pembroke Pines, Florida for $7.78, Veterans Memorial Coliseum Jacksonville, Florida for $8.78, two shows at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia on 410 and 411, the Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina on 412.78, Cassell Coliseum in Virginia at the Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg on 414, and the Huntington Civic Center in Huntington, West Virginia on 416.78.

The Concert at Duke is the breakout show from this box and will also be released separately. Duke 78 will be available in 3 CD, 4 LP, and digital configurations. Both Duke 78 and the limited edition Friend Of The Devils will be released on September 20th. More info and orders are happening now over at dead.net. Head on over to dead.net/deadcast and check out all of our past episodes, including the complete seasons 1 through 9 And you can link from there to your favorite podcasting platform so you can listen how and where you like to listen. Please help this podcast by subscribing, sharing us with your friends on social media, hitting that like button, and if the spirit moves you, leave us a review. Thank you very much. Hey, were any of you heads at any of the shows in Spring 78 up and down the East Coast? Well, we want to hear from you. We need your stories to illustrate just how wonderful all these shows were. Record your tour story at stories.dead.net, and you may hear yourself on a future episode of The Deadcast. Sure, you're listening to your favorite podcast about our favorite band in the world, but you like to read about them too, right? Well, you're in luck. We have transcripts from many of your favorite Deadcast episodes available for your reading pleasure. Head on over to dead.net/deadcastdashindex and check them out.

1978 was a busy and transitional year for the band. Both Jerry and Bob had new solo records out. Jerry's voice went through a transformation, and a new segment was born into the Dead's set structure, as you are all about to hear. Please welcome back your friend and mine, Jesse Jarnow.

Jesse Jarnow (4:11)

Charge up the solar-powered micro or macro bus. We're going on Spring Tour 78

SPEAKER_1 (4:17)

Hello? Hello, just a few more seconds. We'll have the drum riser nailed together, and we'll be able to begin.

Jesse Jarnow (4:25)

On April 6th, 1978, The Grateful Dead began a nine-show, 11-night jaunt through the South. And that's where we're pointed to start this 10th season of The Good Ol Grateful Deadcast, covering the music on the brand-new Friend Of The Devils box and then some.

The April shows included songs from Terrapin Station, recorded the spring before, as well as Shakedown Street, recorded a few months later. They also included the birth of the significant new part of Grateful Dead shows, now called Drums. And space. But in the spring of 1978, they were the Rhythm Devils, making new friends wherever the tour stopped. Please welcome back our buddy, Grateful Dead archivist, legacy manager, and Friend Of The Devils producer, David Lemieux.

David Lemieux (5:35)

The Dead changed their sound quite a bit within pretty much every year. But 78, I think more than any other year. It's like defined many years within the year.

Jesse Jarnow (5:47)

In the 60s and earlier 70s, the Dead's phases were easy to define. The psychedelia of live dead, the Bakersfield twang of Europe 72, or the jazz rock of Blues For Allah. But as the 70s creep towards the 80s, the changes can be more subtle, though no less real.