1970-05-03 [Sun]

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Foss Hill, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

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Jerry Garcia - electric guitar (lead), vocals
Bob Weir - electric guitar (rhythm), vocals
Phil Lesh - electric bass, vocals
Ron McKernan - organ, vocals
Bill Kreutzmann - drums, perc
Mickey Hart - drums, perc
Guest Musicians
Will Scarlett ? (partial show) - harmonica

Acoustic Set:
Deep Elem Blues [1] , Friend Of The Devil [1] , Silver Threads And Golden Needles [1][2] , Black Peter [1]

Electric Set:
Hard To Handle [3] , China Cat Sunflower [3] > I Know You Rider [3] , Me And My Uncle , New Speedway Boogie , Good Lovin' > Drums > Good Lovin' , Dire Wolf , Don't Ease Me In , Turn On Your Lovelight > The Main Ten > Uncle John's Band > Turn On Your Lovelight

[1] Only Jerry and Bob performing, apparently other band members were late.
[2] With Will Scarlett (?) on harmonica
[3] Not present on any circulating audio sources, but are on the video.
Tour
GD-NRPS May 1970 East Coast/Midwest
Also Appearing
New Riders of the Purple Sage, Tres Hombres, Swamp Grass, Bone, Tiger Trod, and Tuna Fish
Videos
  • The Grateful Dead - Live at Wesleyan(acoustic set at 25:20, part of electric set at 51:00)
  • Wesleyan University Spring Concert May 3, 1970(acoustic set at 19:20, electric set at 45:00)
    • Photos
    Notes
  • The show was free, and did not take place in the Fieldhouse, but on Foss Hill (per Deadessays blog). According to DeadEssays blog Other local bands also played, which may have included Randy Burns & the Morning After, Bone, Joy, the Nighthawks, Trod Tiger & the Tunafish, and possibly Charisma.
  • review: "Youths Converge on Campus for Program of Rock Music," Hartford Courant, May 4, 1970, p. 24F. Not so much a review of 5/3/70, as a missive to soothe the nervous townies. Writer puts "Rock Music" in scarequotes, and doesn’t like the looks of those "gaudily painted" "unshorn and unshaved" youths over there. 2,500 kids descended on Observatory Hill, overlooking Ardus Field. The GD show had been announced at the Yale protests –remember this is a period of student unrest, reaching its apotheosis the next day at Kent State-- and the Hartford cops were mobilized and out in force, apparently to a man. "The Grateful Dead, a well-known combo well-liked by the younger set, were late in arriving." GD thought they went from 8pm-1am, organizer thought they’d be there at 2 p.m. Property owners and Burghers could rest assured that, as the kids all left at the end of the day, "the police were there, just in case".
  • deadessays: May 3, 1970: Wesleyan University
  • deadessays: Deadbase Corrections
  • Most of these shows were billed as "An Evening With The Grateful Dead". The standard architecture was Acoustic GD, then New Riders, then Electric GD (sometimes two sets). For more, see JGMF, An Evening With the Gratetul Dead
    • Torrents for Date
    Weather
    High: 60.2 °F
    Low: 44.3 °F
    Feels Like High: 60.2 °F
    Feels Like Low: 44.3 °F
    Wind Speed: 9.2 mph
    Humidity: 68.7 %
    Moonphase: 0.93
    Cloudy skies throughout the day.
    Show Certainty
    Confirmed
    Setlist Certainty
    Confirmed