The first night of the last Chicago shows during Mike Marat's tenure (as "Bob Weir") start off somewhat inauspiciously, as his microphone refuses to work until the "never was a minute late" line in Promised Land. On the whole, the first few songs fail to deliver much excitement, and Marat again fights technical difficulties during Minglewood (which doesn't pick up until the last third of the song).

At the first notes of Scarlet Begonias, however, everyone seems to wake up a bit -- band and crowd. The crowd obviously did not expect Scarlet as the fourth song of the first set, and a surprised intake of breath is audible on the recording. Lisa's spacy moans after the last pre-jam verse are pleasant and on-key, but don't really go anywhere. The jam hits a good groove and hops along pretty well before John apbruptly reins it in.

Not wanting to give away too much too soon it seems, the band clamps it down for the next few songs and doesn't really stretch out until Playin' In The Band. Lisa really helps fire this one along, and the band embarks on a nice exploration of the cosmos. A spacy jam gives way to a short Drums, followed by The Wheel. Tender vocals, good harmonies, and a spectacular closing jam make this version outstanding. In fact, the entire sequence connecting The Wheel from the Playin' Reprise is absolutely fantastic. If you're looking at this list trying to decide what to download as a sample of this show, grab these two tracks (dso1999-11-26d2t03 & t04) first. While there are still a number of great jams left to go, this is the real highlight of the show. Playin' Reprise is triumphant, and the crowd roars its enthusiasm.

The second set starts off strong, with a great Brown-Eyed Women & a killer Samson & Delilah. At twelve minutes long this is by far the longest Samson on record for DSO, and possibly one of the more interesting versions. The big jam of the second set deserves mention too, as it contains some long, spacy jams that seem to float along the ceiling. Let It Grow & Music Never Stopped (the bookends of the jam) are especially strong (The Other One is marred by a between-verse splice, however -- though I spliced it to "nearly inaudible").

All in all, another fun night in Chicago!