Grateful Dead and LOUIE LOUIE

Here’s something kinda fun.

Thanks to one of my wonderful spies out in cyberspace, I discovered a page on the official Grateful Dead website that acknowledges the very first performance of “LOUIE LOUIE” with vocals by Brent Mydland. According to the official history it was on April 5, 1988 in Hartford, CT as part of a medley that included “Iko Iko” with “Samson and Delilah.” You can actually download an MP3 of that performance from that page- FREE of charge!

On the semi-authorized archive.org, you can find most of the Grateful Dead’s other recordings of “LOUIE LOUIE” At one point, someone posted a pirate video recording of a 1988 performance on YouTube, but I can’t find it there any more.