The Grateful Dead that played July 3, 1966, at the Fillmore was not THE Grateful Dead its fans came to know and love. 

At this point, the Dead were a local, unsigned group playing covers and early songwriting attempts to tiny audiences and sounding not unlike any number of bands gigging on the West Coast at the time. 

For that reason, it’s best to approach Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA (7/3/66) – one of the Dead’s earliest known concert recordings originally released as part of 2015’s 30 Trips Around the Sun and now out as a standalone LP – as a sort of sonic history text. 

Pigpen was the leader, blowing harp and singing lead on “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” of which only a snippet survives, and the jumping blues of “Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing,” which quickly disappeared from setlists and could’ve been a real killer with more time. 

It’s titles such as this – and “Tastebud,” “The Monster (Cardboard Cowboy)” and “Gangster of Love” – that add to the gee-whiz factor that one of America’s best-loved bands and songbooks started so humbly. 

But just one year in to their Long Strange Trip, Pigpen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Phil Lesh were showing signs of what the Dead would become with jamming vehicles like “Viola Lee Blues” and songs, including “I Know You Rider,” “New, New Minglewood Blues” and “Cold Rain and Snow” that would remain in the repertoire all the way to 1995. 

Per Garcia’s stage announcement following “Keep Rolling By,” the Dead were playing before and after a set by another local band, Love, who had released a popular recording of “Hey Joe” earlier in the year. 

As it turns out, some of the Dead’s tracks are cut and the music occasionally fades in and out. But the aural flaws hardly matter, given it’s a miracle this 90-minute recording even exists. 

And doesn’t everyone need a miracle?