He prefers not to give his name. He is a retired sound engineer who worked at Hungarian Radio through the 1970s and '80s, and his interest in the Grateful Dead began as a technical fascination with the Wall of Sound — a forty-foot PA system designed by Owsley Stanley that used 604 individual speakers and weighed seventy-five tons. He acquired his first Dead tape from an American journalist passing through Budapest in 1981 and spent the next four decades building a collection focused exclusively on 1974 — the only year the Wall of Sound was in operation. The tapes are stored in wooden crates in his apartment, catalogued by date in a hand-bound ledger. He agreed to loan the collection on the condition that his name not be published.
The Wall of Sound was the most ambitious live sound system ever built. Every instrument had its own dedicated speaker column. The vocals ran through a separate system entirely. Two complete rigs leapfrogged across the country — one being set up at the next venue while the other was in use. It cost a fortune and required a crew of twenty-one to operate. The band played 37 shows under this system between February and October of 1974, then stopped touring entirely. They wouldn't play again for over a year. The recordings from this period have an openness and clarity that nothing else from the era matches — you can hear the room, the separation between instruments, Phil Lesh's bass occupying its own physical space in the mix.
Every J-card in the collection has been photographed. They are available in the app.
Feb 22, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Feb 23, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Feb 24, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Mar 23, 1974 Cow Palace, Daly City, CA
May 12, 1974 University of Nevada, Reno, NV
May 14, 1974 Adams Field House, Missoula, MT
May 17, 1974 P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
May 19, 1974 Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR
May 21, 1974 Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle, WA
Jun 8, 1974 Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA
Jun 16, 1974 Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA
Jun 18, 1974 Freedom Hall, Louisville, KY
Jun 20, 1974 The Omni, Atlanta, GA
Jun 22, 1974 Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami, FL
Jun 23, 1974 Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami, FL
Jun 26, 1974 Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI
Jun 28, 1974 Boston Garden, Boston, MA
Jun 30, 1974 Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, MA
Jul 19, 1974 Selland Arena, Fresno, CA
Jul 25, 1974 International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
Jul 27, 1974 Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, VA
Jul 29, 1974 Capital Centre, Landover, MD
Jul 31, 1974 Dillon Stadium, Hartford, CT
Aug 4, 1974 Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA
Aug 5, 1974 Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia, PA
Aug 6, 1974 Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ
Sep 9, 1974 Alexandra Palace, London, England
Sep 10, 1974 Alexandra Palace, London, England
Sep 11, 1974 Alexandra Palace, London, England
Sep 18, 1974 Parc des Expositions, Dijon, France
Sep 20, 1974 Palais des Sports, Paris, France
Sep 21, 1974 Palais des Sports, Paris, France
Oct 16, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Oct 17, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Oct 18, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Oct 19, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
Oct 20, 1974 Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
