Big Thief Launch Grateful Dead-Inspired Live Archive
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
Big Thief have launched a free online archive of their concerts, giving fans a way to follow how the band’s songs change across different performances. The collection opens with 10 complete shows, and the band plans to add a new concert on the second Tuesday of each month.
The archive was inspired by drummer James Krivchenia’s interest in the Grateful Dead’s live recordings; Big Thief began recording all their concerts around 2019. The initial recordings were captured by engineers Alice Wilder and Aleda Deroche and mixed by Fabian Prynn. To mark the launch, the band shared a performance of “Incomprehensible” recorded at Dublin’s 3Arena in April.
- Big Thief’s free live archive launches with 10 complete concerts.
- A new show is due on the second Tuesday of every month.
- The launch includes a Dublin performance of “Incomprehensible”.
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Big Thief are an American band whose songs can vary in sound and arrangement when played live. Recording shows over time lets listeners hear those changes and compare performances.
The Grateful Dead, an American rock band, became known for making recordings of their concerts available to listeners. Big Thief’s archive draws on that tradition, offering a way to explore the band’s live music beyond its studio albums.
Full account
Big Thief have opened a free online live archive featuring recordings from across the band’s history. The collection begins with 10 complete concerts, and the group plans to add another performance on the second Tuesday of each month.
Listeners can explore shows from different periods and build playlists of their preferred versions of songs. The archive was inspired by drummer James Krivchenia’s interest in the Grateful Dead’s extensive live catalogue. Big Thief began recording every concert around 2019; the initial recordings were captured by front-of-house engineer Alice Wilder and monitor engineer Aleda Deroche, then mixed by 4AD engineer Fabian Prynn.
Alongside the launch, the band have shared a performance of “Incomprehensible”, recorded at Dublin’s 3Arena in April. The track appeared on last year’s Double Infinity, and the Dublin version presents it in a live setting. The band said that songs change from night to night and that they wanted to preserve the shifting character of their performances over time.
The archive arrives after Big Thief played their forthcoming triple album Horsepower in full at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in August, with Gillian Welch, Iris DeMent and Lucinda Williams appearing as guests. The outlets frame the archive’s launch somewhat differently: one gives more attention to how the collection was recorded, the new Dublin performance and the group’s recent activity; the other stresses that the concerts are fully mixed and links the launch to the band’s live debut of Horsepower.
Where outlets differ
The reports agree on the archive’s core details and the Dublin recording. The first provides additional production credits, playlist features and context about “Incomprehensible” and Horsepower; the second describes the concerts as fully mixed and foregrounds the archive’s launch following Horsepower’s live debut.