Grateful Dead Releases Huge-Ass Boxed Set

[ronmac]

It's the Kim Kardashian of boxed sets!

[JKL2000]

Ordered! 😖

Facelift cracked me up when he said autobuy! LOL. But it is...

[Mister Triscuits]

Facelift cracked me up when he said autobuy! LOL. But it is...

I think he meant for that kind of money you could buy an auto.

[JKL2000]

I think he meant for that kind of money you could buy an auto.

Autoloan!

[Facelift]

I think he meant for that kind of money you could buy an auto.

I was kind of joking.

6500 is not a small number of these, so I doubt that they'll sell out quickly. If I ever encounter a price below $500, I might be tempted to bite, assuming that I'm in the market for any other big ticket items at the time.

[Joe F.]

6500 is not a small number of these, so I doubt that they'll sell out quickly.

Someone at Dead.net is saying there are under 1,000 of the boxes left and less than 500 of the USB.

[JKL2000]

I believe it - these things go fast. Anyone on the fence, you could easily sell an unopened copy for a good markup on eBay.

[Digital_Man]

Actually 6,500 is a small number but maybe not for Dead fans who actually buy stuff.

[Paulrus]

6500 is not a small number of these, so I doubt that they'll sell out quickly.

Care to revise your statement?

I have a couple friends who are serious Dead fans and they had trouble ordering this yesterday due to high demand. They make pretty good money but I do wonder if this is providing more fuel for the whole discussion about how it seems the Dead (and their fans) have come a long way from their original anti-materialistic, counterculture origins. I mean, $700 is not chump change for ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. And to be selling packaged musical entertainment at that sticker price is pretty remarkable IMO. Sign-o-the-times, I suppose.

[Facelift]

Care to revise your statement?

I have a couple friends who are serious Dead fans and they had trouble ordering this yesterday due to high demand. They make pretty good money but I do wonder if this is providing more fuel for the whole discussion about how it seems the Dead (and their fans) have come a long way from their original anti-materialistic, counterculture origins. I mean, $700 is not chump change for ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. And to be selling packaged musical entertainment at that sticker price is pretty remarkable IMO. Sign-o-the-times, I suppose.

OK, I guess I'm wrong.

I was using the record store day releases as a guide - I think those were pressed in the 8000-10,000 amount and did not sell out in the month of, in either year.

I figured if the show that was released in April, which cost $120 didn't sell out right away, then something that costs $700 and made in similar quantities would also not sell immediately.

But, I suppose the desirability factor of those releases was not nearly as high as this.

Also, even if purchasing this item is contrary to being communal or of the counterculture (and I certainly do not think that it does), I don't think that a mere 6500 is a representative sample of the worldwide fanbase, anyway.

[jkelman]

Care to revise your statement?

I have a couple friends who are serious Dead fans and they had trouble ordering this yesterday due to high demand. They make pretty good money but I do wonder if this is providing more fuel for the whole discussion about how it seems the Dead (and their fans) have come a long way from their original anti-materialistic, counterculture origins. I mean, $700 is not chump change for ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. And to be selling packaged musical entertainment at that sticker price is pretty remarkable IMO. Sign-o-the-times, I suppose.

They had to up the number of Dave's Picks subscriptions this year...truthfully, there are a lot of Dead fan (count me as one) who will jump at something like this (I already did¡) and I won't be surprised if this is sold out in no time, and they ultimately release it, like they did the Europe '72 box, as a "music only" version that has all the music but not the packaging and extensive book.

But truly, I expect this to be sold out in short order. My problem was deciding on the box or the high res USB stick. I went with the box even though I'd love to hear in high res...depending on quality of the source, I suspect not all of them would benefit from being high res.

So I'm happy with my decision..and when I saw the number (Dave's Picks is up around 16,000 and it sold out I believe), just about 50% of Dave's picks for such a big-ass box, I figured I'd better order..and quick!

[jkelman]

Care to revise your statement?

I have a couple friends who are serious Dead fans and they had trouble ordering this yesterday due to high demand. They make pretty good money but I do wonder if this is providing more fuel for the whole discussion about how it seems the Dead (and their fans) have come a long way from their original anti-materialistic, counterculture origins. I mean, $700 is not chump change for ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. And to be selling packaged musical entertainment at that sticker price is pretty remarkable IMO. Sign-o-the-times, I suppose.

True, but the Allmans have been selling entire tour packages the last two years (I bought both, at $599 and have no regrets....for me, the current / final ABB and the Dead are the two bands I'll go to town with because, invariably, the huge difference in performance night to night - set lists and how they play 'em - is well worth it

After coming to the Dead just a few years back, I've managed to acquire all the major box sets; with the ABB I've got full 2013 and 2014 tour boxes, along with the compete Beacon runs for 2009 (which came in a gorgeous black solid wood box) and 2011. Absolutely zero regrets, other than the hole they left in my wallet

[GuitarGeek]

how it seems the Dead (and their fans) have come a long way from their original anti-materialistic, counterculture origins.

The "anti-materialistic, counterculture" thing ended long, long ago. I read an interview with David Gans, the host of The Grateful Dead Hour, where he talked about how the band's "people" (ie managers, publicists, etc) dicked him around for so many years, he nearly considered quitting doing the show at one point during the 90's. I think the line he said was "You don't know how many times I heard someone say 'Jerry says yes to everything, so it's my job to say no to you'". They wouldn't let him play any new songs, they were very controlling of how much of any given show he was allowed to play, etc. He said when Dennis McNally, the band's publicist, started working for them, he basically introduced himself to David and then gave him this "You're going to have to go through me from now on" attitude, with the insinuation being that, once again he was going to say no to everything he requested. And so on.

Also consider the shit treatment Betty Cantor-Jackson was given by the band's managers in the early 80's. You ever wonder how the "Betty board" tapes made their way into distribution amongst fans? Basically, Betty was in the process of trying to buy a new house, when the Dead's "people" decided to stiff her on paying her for work on Dead Set and Reckoning. So she had to put all her stuff into storage, including all of the tape copies she had of various 70's era shows. Then, when she wasn't able to keep up the storage payments, her storage lockers went up for auction. Fortunately, some of the people bidding, recognized the value of the tapes, and began slipping them into circulation, which changed the whole power structure within the tape trading community. When Betty was told about that in an interview in the late 90's, it appears she was delighted, and glad that something good came out of that debacle.

I actually am inclined to believe the only people in the Dead organization who truly had a "counter culture" view of things was the band themselves, and maybe the longer serving members of the crew (eg Parrish, Healy, Ramrod, etc). Everyone else, the managers, people like Rock Scully and Dennis McNally, etc were "suits" in the truest sense of the word who were more than just a little capitalistically inclined, possibly right from the start.

I know I've always heard the story that while the band themselves were ok with people taping shows, a lot of the people at the "front office" (to borrow a phrase I used to hear from the sports world) were paranoid about tape trading ruining record sales, or whatever. Same reason why they gave Gans so much grief about doing his radio show. They wouldn't let him play any new songs, they tightly controlled how much of any given show he was allowed to play, etc.

So, I don't think this is as big a change of pace as some people might think it is. It's just the managerial side of the band's organization looking for more ways to continue to in the capitalistic way they have for the last 30 years, at least.

[JKL2000]

It's kind of sinking in that I ordered an 80 disk boxed set and it cost $700. WTF? It's sold out BTW.

[Rael]

It's kind of sinking in that I ordered an 80 disk boxed set and it cost $700. WTF? It's sold out BTW.

Hope you enjoy it! I pre-ordered it but I cancelled my order a few weeks back. I have way, WAY too much music to listen to; someday I'll be bummed that I didn't get it but if I'm honest with myself, there are a lot of shows there that I would probably never even play.

[JKL2000]

The sucker must be heavy. I hope my wife never finds it...

[ronmac]

Ya know, when you think about it, The Dead have created something more than a boxed set. It should be called a trunk set.

[JKL2000]

How many disks were in the complete Europe 72 box?

[Dan Marsh]

I believe it was 72 discs!

[JKL2000]

Ah, those clever hippies! 30 Trips was limited to 6,500 copies because The Dead started in 1965. 🍄

[Joe F.]

I believe it was 72 discs!

73. They tried to make it 72.

[Dan Marsh]

^Right!

[Dan Marsh]

My box just arrived. Number 986.

Lots of listening ahead!

[infandous]

Still some USB sticks left for sale though.........

I'm just not a big enough fan to shell out that kind of money, but I'd love to hear some of those shows.

[helix]

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