Grateful Dead Monthly: Swing Auditorium – San Bernardino, CA 2/26/77

On Saturday, February 26, 1977, the Grateful Dead played a concert at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California.

Swing Auditorium, or “The Swing” as it’s known locally, opened in 1949. San Bernardino, which sits almost 60 miles straight east of Los Angeles, and almost 60 miles northwest of Palm Springs, is a prominent part of the so-called Inland Empire, a once-agricultural area known for citrus. The arena was constructed on the grounds of the National Orange Show, and named for California state senator Ralph Emerson Swing (1876-1961). Senator Swing had a long and storied career as a lawyer, legislator, and player in SoCal’s 20th Century water wars that served as the backdrop for Jack Nicholson’s classic 1974 film noir, Chinatown.

Ralph, in full swing (see what I did there?), perhaps after a meeting with private dick Jake Gittes.

From a San Bernardino County Sentinel bio:

“Ralph Emerson Swing would become one of the foremost lawyers and lawmakers of the region in his day. Early in his public life he would play a leading role in protecting the water rights of San Bernardino County. After becoming a state legislator he was instrumental in bringing Colorado River water to California. Still, in representing the larger venue of Southern California, he became aligned with, and his action assisted, Los Angeles interests, the very ones who had designs on San Bernardino County water assets.”

Earl Warren was California’s governor before he became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

The Swing hosted popular entertainment from the get-go, including a 1958 concert organized by Sammy Davis, Jr. to benefit the San Bernardino Community Hospital, where he was treated after the 1954 car accident that cost him his left eye. Bob Hope appeared there for 13 consecutive years, and amused people for none of them. (Ok, he pry amused people for some of them, but he wasn’t funny.) The auditorium shifted to a strictly-music venue in the ’60s. The Rolling Stones began their first American tour there in 1964, and Buffalo Springfield played their first concert there in 1966. Other acts are listed on Concert Archives. In 1981, a vintage twin-engine Cessna crashed into the place, forcing its demolition. Last show there? Apparently, Def Frickin Leppard on the High ‘N’ Dry tour. LFG.

The Dead played at the Swing Auditorium four times: 12/13/69, 1/6/78, 12/12/80, and 2/26/77. That last show is why we’re here.

1977 was very good. We all know about Cornell and the rest of May. The June Winterland run is a box set. 9/3 is fantastic, and the fall shows get less attention than they deserve – those NFAs go on forever! And 12/29 with its China-Rider bust-out made the first ten Dick’s Picks. So what about the opening night of maybe the best year? Here’s LN CEO (Chief Epcot Officer, he changed his title) ECM to break it down for ya…

Rising first and shining best. The first song the Grateful Dead played in the first show of the magnificent year of 1977 was the first live performance of “Terrapin Station.” As Howard F. Weiner said in his book, The Rise of Terrapin Nation, it was an “absolutely fearless choice.” Although the band keeps things very straight-forward compared to later years, this version of “Terrapin” is ranked #1 on headyversion.com and is many people’s go-to live version. 

Opening with “Terrapin” was a telltale sign that ’77 Dead was going to be a horse of a different color compared with anything else that preceded it. The band had been building to this creative peak year since they returned from a hiatus the year before with a renewed vigor. In the two months that preceded this show at The Swing, the band played NYE at the Cow Palace which was their first NYE show since 1972 and their first show since October. The music was deep and unlike anything they played since returning from their hiatus. Following NYE, the band literally locked themselves in the recording studio to finish up the new album, Terrapin Station. The album’s producer, Keith Olsen, got the band to do something that they rarely did at the time … practice. As such, they emerged from the studio as a well-oiled machine. By the end of February, they were champing at the bit to play live music. When you factor in the new work ethic, the new songs and Garcia’s new toy, a Mu-Tron pedal, it’s easy to see how 1977 would prove to be a banner year for the Dead in terms of the energy and quality of their performances. This classic from The Swing kicked it all off. 

Aside from Terrapin we get another first: “Estimated Prophet.” It is a song that the Dead played at almost every show in 1977 (51 times out of 60 shows). I love this version. Check out the unique, funky effects pedals. The first set has many highlights including a languid “TLEO” with a gorgeous piano solo by Keith which, like “Terrapin,” also tops the charts in votes on headyversion.com. We also get a textbook version of “Sugaree” that would set the standard for that song in 1977 and a mesmerizing, 25-minute, set-closing “Playin>Wheel>Playin” meltdown sandwich that is quite the psychedelic journey. The transition into “The Wheel” is sublime. Even the shorter, composed songs have a little extra something, especially “Deal” and “Minglewood.”

In the second frame we get a rare, mid-set “Help>Slip>Frank” suite that pushes 26 minutes. Garcia’s possessed playing puts the exclamation point into this dark and exploratory “Slipknot!” The ending of “Franklin’s Tower” is both joyous and athemic. Following an oddly placed “Promised Land,” we get another major highlight: “Eyes>Drums/Bass>Dancin.” “Eyes” shines with effervescence and then as it is winding down something very special and unique happens. With just the drummers backing him, Phil Lesh takes a bass solo(!) This was very rare at the time and brought back memories of the 1972-74 era when Phil regularly took brain-melting bass solos. This leads into a full-on dance party version of “Dancin’ in the Streets.” With a fully cranked envelope filter guitar effect, Garcia pushes on into gorgeous pockets of themes and syncopated lines, eventually locking into an infectious, uplifting groove that (almost) rivals the Cornell version. 

This show was one of the first Betty Boards to circulate. I featured it 3 times in my 31 DoD projects: Dancin (2013); H>S>F (2016) and Terrapin (2017). It was officially released as Dave’s Picks volume 29 on February 1, 2019. Essential Grateful Dead.

Thanks, Ed.

Transport to the soundboard recording HERE. And transport to Hunter Seamons’ matrix recording HERE.

Maxell XLIIs, always. Please don’t be a basic b!tch with cheap a$$ tapes. (Full disclosure: I was a basic b!tch back in the day. Good tapes were expensive, and I was a broke college student.)

More soon.

JF