Dave's Picks Volume 31

Dave's Picks Volume 31 is a three-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It contains the complete concert recorded on December 3, 1979 at the Uptown Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. It was released on July 26, 2019, in a limited edition of 20,000 numbered copies.^[1][2][3][4]

Dave's Picks Volume 31
Live album by Grateful Dead
Released	July 26, 2019
Recorded	December 3, 1979
Venue	Uptown Theatre Chicago
Genre	Rock
Length	217:24
Label	Rhino (R2-573509)
Producer	Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead chronology
Fillmore West 1969: February 28th (2019) Dave's Picks Volume 31 (2019) Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 (2019)

Dave's Picks Volume 31 also includes three songs performed at the same venue the following night. Additional tracks from the December 4 Uptown Theatre show can be found on Dave's Picks Volume 47.

Uptown Theatre

Uptown Theatre in Chicago, ca. late 1970s

The Uptown Theatre is a large, very ornate theater that was built in 1925 and was originally used for showing silent movies. It seats about 4,400 people. From January 1978 to February 1981 the Grateful Dead played there 17 times.^[5] Still standing, the theater has been closed since 1981.^[6]

Critical reception

On AllMusic, Timothy Monger said, "Plucked from a Chicago run at the end of 1979, Dave's Picks, Vol. 31 features a jaunty trio of sets from the Grateful Dead, who were at the point still in the honeymoon phase with their newest recruit, keyboardist Brent Mydland."^[7]

In Glide Magazine, Doug Collette wrote, "In front of close to forty-five hundred attendees, the Grateful Dead were opening a three-night run... and proceeded to blend together tried-and-true material like "Brown-Eyed Women" and "Wharf Rat" with fairly new compositions such as "Alabama Getaway", "Althea" and "Fire On The Mountain"."^[8]

Track listing

Disc 1

First set:

1. "Alabama Getaway" > (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) – 7:05
2. "Promised Land" (Chuck Berry) – 4:35
3. "Brown-Eyed Women" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:48
4. "El Paso" (Marty Robbins) – 4:26
5. "Ramble On Rose" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:44
6. "It's All Over Now" (Bobby Womack, Shirley Womack) – 8:58
7. "Jack-a-Roe" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 5:39
8. "Lazy Lightning" > (Bob Weir, John Perry Barlow) – 3:16
9. "Supplication" (Weir, Barlow) – 5:25
10. "Althea" (Garcia, Hunter) – 11:33
11. "The Music Never Stopped" (Weir, Barlow) – 8:17

Disc 2

Second set:

1. "Scarlet Begonias" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 11:42
2. "Fire on the Mountain" (Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 15:28
3. "Samson and Delilah" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 7:45
4. "Terrapin Station" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 14:11
5. "Playing in the Band" > (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 11:20
6. "Drums" (Hart, Bill Kreutzmann) – 10:02

Disc 3

1. "Space" > (Garcia, Phil Lesh, Weir) – 2:27
2. "Lost Sailor" > (Weir, Barlow) – 7:06
3. "Saint of Circumstance" > (Weir, Barlow) – 6:11
4. "Wharf Rat" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 11:05
5. "Truckin'" (Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter) – 9:33

Encore:

6. "Johnny B. Goode" (Berry) – 4:49

Uptown Theatre – December 4, 1979:

7. "Estimated Prophet" > (Weir, Barlow) – 12:01
8. "Franklin's Tower" > (Garcia, Kreutzmann, Hunter) – 10:12
9. "Jam" (Grateful Dead) – 10:27

Personnel

Grateful Dead

• Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals
• Mickey Hart – drums
• Bill Kreutzmann – drums
• Phil Lesh – bass
• Brent Mydland – keyboards, vocals
• Bob Weir – guitar, vocals

Production

• Produced by Grateful Dead
• Produced for release by David Lemieux
• Associate Producers: Ivette Ramos & Doran Tyson
• Recording: Dan Healy
• Mastering: David Glasser
• Art direction, design: Steve Vance
• Cover art: Tyler Crook
• Photos: Jay Blakesberg, Kirk West
• Liner notes essay "A Little Bolt of Inspiration": David Lemieux

References

1. Bernstein, Scott (July 16, 2019). "Grateful Dead Dave's Picks Volume 31 Features December 1979 Concert". JamBase. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
2. Shackleford, Tom (July 16, 2019). "Grateful Dead, David Lemieux Announce Dave's Picks Vol. 31 from 1979 Chicago Performance". Live for Live Music. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. Rosenbaum, Marty (July 17, 2019). "Grateful Dead to Release 1979 Concert from Uptown Theatre". WXRT. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
4. "Dave's Picks Volume 31: Uptown Theatre, Chicago, IL, 12/3/79". Grateful Dead Family Discography. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
5. Scott, John W.; Dolgushkin, Mike; Nixon, Stu (1999). DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists. Cornish, New Hampshire: DeadBase. p. 230. ISBN 1-877657-22-0.
6. Jones, Chris (June 29, 2018). "Uptown Theatre Will Be Restored: $75 Million Plan Unveiled for Grand Palace on North Side". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
7. Monger, Timothy. "Dave's Picks, Vol. 31: Uptown Theatre, Chicago, IL, 12/3/79". AllMusic. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
8. Collette, Doug (November 11, 2019). "Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Volume 31: Uptown Theatre, Chicago, IL. 12/3/79". Glide Magazine. Retrieved January 1, 2020.