''Sunshine Daydream'' is a music

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, starring the rock band the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

. It was shot at their August 27, 1972 concert at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon. Unreleased for many years, the film was sometimes shown at small film festivals, and

bootleg recording A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded ...

s of it circulated on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, and as digital downloads. A digitally remastered and reedited official version of the film was released on August 1, 2013, showing only one time in selected theaters as that year's edition of the Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies. It was screened with ''Grateful Days'', a new documentary short that includes interviews with some of the concert attendees. ''Sunshine Daydream'' was released on

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on September 17, 2013. Actor Al Strobel, well known for playing The One-Armed Man in ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...

'', shot footage that ended up in the film. ''Sunshine Daydream'' is also a live album containing the complete August 27, 1972 Grateful Dead concert. Produced as a 3-disc CD and as a 4-disc LP, it was released by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

on September 17, 2013. The name ''Sunshine Daydream'' is taken from the coda section of the Dead song "

Sugar Magnolia "Sugar Magnolia" is a song by the Grateful Dead. Written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, it is one of the most well-known songs by the band, alongside such hits as " Truckin'", " Casey Jones", " Uncle John's Band", " Touch of Grey", and fellow su ...

Concert

The lineup of the Grateful Dead for this concert:

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, Phil Lesh on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards,

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer best known as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979. In addition to the Dead, she performed with the Jerry Garcia Band and the short-lived ...

on vocals, and

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. The show was a benefit for the Springfield Creamery in nearby

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Willamette Valley, Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield, OR MSA, Eugene-Springfield metropolitan statistical area. Separ ...

. Merry Pranksters

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...

and Ken Babbs emceed the concert. The Dead played all afternoon and into the dark after an opening set by the

New Riders of the Purple Sage New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred to ...

. In 2004, the New Riders' performance was released as an album called '' Veneta, Oregon, 8/27/72''.

Film

Production

The concert was filmed using four

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

cameras, in the woods of the Oregon Coast Range foothills, on the grounds of the Oregon Country Fair. The four 16mm cameras were synced to the sound, and remained focused on the stage, along with two additional roaming cameras for crowd shots. Originally even more cameras had been planned, under an ambitious scheme: "The plot was to develop a signature visual style of representing the band: a camera for each of the 16 channels (at least!) emphasizing the visual kinetics of the music making itself as well as the enormous open communication within the band." After initial takes were shown to the band, reception was lukewarm and took a backseat to another film project which would become The Grateful Dead Movie. However, the footage for Sunshine Daydream remained sought after by fans and was eventually released after discussions between producer Sam Field and distributor

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...

Songs in the film

* Excerpts from " Playing in the Band" *"

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

" *" China Cat Sunflower" *" I Know You Rider" *"

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...

" *"Bird Song" *" Dark Star" *"

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

" *" Sing Me Back Home" *"Greatest Story Ever Told"

Album

''Sunshine Daydream'' is a live album by the rock band the

. It contains the complete concert recorded on August 27, 1972 at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon. Produced as a three-disc CD and as a four-disc LP, it was released by

on September 17, 2013. The album was mastered from the

16-track Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

concert soundboard tapes. The album debuted at #19 on the ''Billboard'' 200 on October 5, 2013.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Fred Thomas said, "The three sets here have everything that made this one of the most colorful and captivating eras of the Dead's live playing. Somewhere between the caveman

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

of their beginnings and the bluegrass-steeped folk-rock of their most popular studio albums '' American Beauty'' and '' Workingman's Dead'', Garcia and company refined their live jamming skills into something that seemed almost like a mental synchronization at its best. ... A long-traded fan favorite, ''Sunshine Daydream'' finally sees a properly mixed presentation of the

master tapes of nearly three hours of one of the Grateful Dead's finest concert moments. It's essential listening for Deadheads and possibly the best place for the curious to jump in."

Track listing

Disc 1 :''First set:'' #Introduction – 4:01 #"

" (

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

) – 3:24 #" Sugaree" (

, Robert Hunter) – 7:30 #" Me and My Uncle" ( John Phillips) – 3:16 #"Deal" (Garcia, Hunter) – 4:55 #" Black-Throated Wind" ( Bob Weir, John Perry Barlow) – 7:01 #" China Cat Sunflower" (Garcia, Hunter) – 7:58 → #" I Know You Rider" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 7:03 #" Mexicali Blues" (Weir, Barlow) – 3:49 #"Bertha" (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:59 Disc 2 :''Second set:'' #" Playing in the Band" (Weir,

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

, Hunter) – 19:57 #"He's Gone" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:32 #"

" (Weir, Hunter) – 5:06 #"Bird Song" (Garcia, Hunter) – 13:17 #"Greatest Story Ever Told" (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 5:36 Disc 3 :''Third set:'' #" Dark Star" (Garcia, Hart,

, Phil Lesh,

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco Sound, San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. ...

, Weir, Hunter) – 31:28 → #"

" (

Marty Robbins Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925 – December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American country and western singer and songwriter. He was one of the most popular and successful singers of his genre for most o ...

) – 5:04 #" Sing Me Back Home" ( Merle Haggard) – 10:51 #"

" (Weir, Hunter) – 8:45 #" Casey Jones" (Garcia, Hunter) – 6:25 #" One More Saturday Night" (Weir) – 5:03 Notes

Personnel

;Grateful Dead *

–

– vocals * Keith Godchaux – keyboards *

–

* Phil Lesh –

, vocals * Bob Weir – guitar, vocals ;Production *Produced by Grateful Dead *Produced for release by David Lemieux *Executive producer: Mark Pinkus *Associate producers: Doran Tyson, Ryan Wilson *Mixing, mastering: Jeffrey Norman *Second engineer: Rick Vargas *Recording: Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor-Jackson, Wiz, Janet Furman, Ron Wickersham *Tape transfer, time-base correction, restoration: John K. Chester, Jamie Howarth *Archival research: Nicholas Meriwether *Tape research: Michael Wesley Johnson *Art direction, illustration: Steve Vance *Additional design: Lisa Glines *Tie-dye art: Courtenay Pollock *Special edition liner notes: David Lemieux, Sam Field, Johnny Dwork, Ken Babbs, Nicholas Meriwether

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 documentary films 1972 films 2013 live albums 2013 soundtrack albums Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Grateful Dead live albums Grateful Dead soundtracks Lane County, Oregon Rhino Entertainment live albums Rhino Entertainment soundtracks Rockumentaries 1970s English-language films English-language documentary films American musical documentary films