Dave's Picks Volume 18 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on July 17, 1976 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, California. It was produced as a limited edition of 16,500 copies, and released on May 1, 2016.[1][2][3][4]
The album also includes seven songs recorded live at the same venue the previous night. A bonus disc, included with shipments of the album to 2016 Dave's Picks subscribers, contains eight more songs from the July 16 concert.
Recording
In July 1976 the Grateful Dead played a six-show, seven-night concert run at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. The shows were promoted by Bill Graham. The final show of the run, on Sunday, July 18, was broadcast by KSAN radio. Each audience member was provided with a glass of champagne, used for a surprise toast to the band at the beginning of the concert.[5]
Sites that archive information about Grateful Dead concerts[6][7][8] break down track 1 on the bonus disk into two songs. "Playing in the Band" occupies the first three minutes or so, and is followed by "Stronger than Dirt" for about twelve minutes. The latter is the first section of an instrumental suite called "King Solomon's Marbles" which appears on the Blues for Allah album. The July 16 concert was the last of the six times that the band played "Stronger than Dirt" live.
The song list for the July 16, 1976 concert at the Orpheum Theatre was:[9]
First set: "Cold Rain and Snow" · "Cassidy" · "Deal" · "Mama Tried" · "Row Jimmy" · "Big River"[A] · "Brown Eyed Women"[A] · "Looks Like Rain"[A] · "Peggy-O"[A] · "The Music Never Stopped"[A] · "Scarlet Begonias"[A]
Second set: "Playing in the Band"[B] · "Cosmic Charlie"[B] · "Samson and Delilah" · "Spanish Jam"[B] · "Drums"[B] · "The Wheel"[B] · "Playing in the Band"[B] · "Around and Around" · "High Time"[B] · "Sugar Magnolia"[B]
^Scott, John W.; Dolgushkin, Mike; Nixon, Stu. (1999). DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists. Cornish, NH: DeadBase. p. 36. ISBN1-877657-22-0.