Dave's Picks Volume 34 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on June 23, 1974, at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami, Florida. It also includes a fourth, bonus disc recorded at the same venue the previous night. It was released on May 1, 2020, in a limited edition of 22,000 copies.[1][2][3][4]
The album features the first live performance of "Seastones", an experimental electronic music composition by Ned Lagin and Phil Lesh. It also includes the Dead's only performance of the Chuck Berry song "Let It Rock".[5] Lagin also played for most of the second set; he did not perform on "Big River," "Uncle John's Band," "One More Saturday Night," or "Casey Jones."
The album was originally suggested by former archivist Dick Latvala for inclusion in the "Dicks Picks" series.[6]
Critical reception
On AllMusic, Timothy Monger wrote, "Although beset with technical issues and difficult to tour with, their gargantuan sound system on this tour [the Wall of Sound] brought a clarity that was unparalleled at the time. Captured from Kidd Candelario's tapes, this complete concert set from June 23, 1974 features highlights of the era..."[7]
"Tico-Tico" tuning before "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo"
The set list for the June 22, 1974 concert at the Jai-Alai Fronton was:[5]
First set: "Promised Land" · "Bertha" · "Greatest Story Ever Told" · "Deal" · "Me and Bobby McGee" · "Scarlet Begonias" · "Jack Straw" · "Loose Lucy" · "Mexicali Blues" · "Sugaree" · "The Race Is On" · "It Must Have Been the Roses" · "Playing in the Band"[A]
Second set: "China Cat Sunflower"[A] · "I Know You Rider"[A] · "Me and My Uncle" · "Ship of Fools" · "El Paso" · "Eyes of the World"[A] · "Wharf Rat"[A] · "Sugar Magnolia"[A]
^ abScott, John W.; Dolgushkin, Mike; Nixon, Stu (1999). DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists. Cornish, New Hampshire: DeadBase. p. 33. ISBN1-877657-22-0.
^ Mark A. Rodriguez (2022). After All Is Said And Done: Taping The Grateful Dead 1965-1995. Anthology Editions. p. 197. ISBN978-1-944860-50-9.