Truly beautiful, inspired playing from this stripped-down version of the grateful dead (jerry, phil, bobby, billy and keith). "Pigpen is home in bed sick, and he couldn't make it on this tour...." (Bobby announcement, post-Loser/pre-BIODTL). This tour is therefore notable for being Keith's first. This is his second show and he sounds phenomenal, fitting right in. The band is in a playful, if testy mood. Lots of banter and Jerry is sassin' the whole show, both the audience and his band-mates.

Much similarity between 10/21 and 10/22. Consensus seems to be that 10/21 is the better show; 10/22 getting the Dave's Picks' treatment due to its not being as widely circulated. 10/21, as Mind Wondrin notes in a review for the following show, "circulated to some extent as an FM simulcast." Not so with 10/22, which remained a "mystery" for a very long time. To be sure, it also boasts a twenty-nine minute bombshell Other One/Cryptical Suite. Must-listen: Phil is a terror and the whole band sounds better than ever.

Back to 10/21. Solid, high-energy Truckin' show opener. Six song debuts played a couple nights prior (Tenn Jed, Jack Straw, Mexicali, Comes A Time, Sat Night, Ramble On Rose) are all played again. Must have been a treat to hear all this new material. PITB is a tight 6 minutes, but from roughly 3:00-4:20 they give us a sense of where they'd take it in the years to come. Love this Dark Star medley. Listen especially around 11 minutes as the jam shifts gears and segues into a surprise SOTOTW and then back into Dark Star. 16 beats on BIODTL; 17 on 10/22. Everything that wasn't played on 10/22 (Truckin', Big Railroad Blues, DS->SOTOTW->DS, BEW, and St. Stephen) made the cut -- and some -- as bonus tracks on Dave's Picks 3 (mentioned above).

No question, this is five-star, cowboy-psychedelic dead.

This is a good show, and I agree is the better of the two nights picked for Dave's Picks 3. The Dark Star, though not as legendary as 10/24 or especially 10/31, is very cool, with some especially engaging interplay during the fast paced jam which builds into a soaring Feeling Groovy segment. Garcia and Weir are particularly inspired, as they deftly move into a spacey transition into Sitting on Top of the World, of all things, and back to Dark Star for the second verse.

Truckin' and Loser are impressive.
Excellent second set includes one of the better Dark Star's of the year. SOTOTW and Brown Eyed are very good.
The Auditorium Theater shows were high energy throughout the 70's.

This is a great recording. Glad to see while it is at an AUDitorium, the recording is a SBD. I haven't really heard the keyboards as high in the mix as in the recent recordings with Keith. I'm happy to finally hear the piano up loud. 5 Stars for a great sound (4 stars in my mind because there is no Wharf Rat). 17 Beats on Beat It and 20 the previous show - gotta love that.

I wish Christoper Guest would do a mocumentary on Dead Heads in the style of "Spinal Tap" or "Best in Show". Sometimes reality is funnier than fiction though.

The most recent in the Dave's Picks series (vol 3), features the complete show from 10/22/71 with a bonus disc from this show. In my opinion, he got things backwards. Top to bottom, this is a better show. The 10/22 show does have one of my favorite 2nd sets from the fall '71 tour (including a superior That's It For The Other One), but the first set is not nearly as good as this one. I think this is one of the best of the October shows from this tour, and this version is another Charlie Miller masterpiece. If you're a fan of this GD era, you'd be hard pressed not to enjoy this show.

I prefer this show to the one two nights previous, when Keith played organ on Tennessee Jed and PITB, among others. But the big deficiency is still there - Pigpen is out sick!

Its fun hearing all the new songs. I actually prefer this early peppy arrangement of TN Jed (2nd version here). This is a great tour!

and another great Miller treatment. It sounds like the Dead switched places on stage since the previous show; he's now in the left speaker, whereas on the show before this he was in the right. Was this switch permanent up until the '80s? Anyway, good show.

Looks like the Archive people have sorted out the problem with the running order on the player (Thank You) but my earlier response to Dylan-M still stands:-

"I appreciate your review but get your facts right about my comments re: the track names being screwed-up on the player (fact). Lazy? ("Took you less than 15 minutes to relabel them on I Tunes"). If you read what I said it mentions that I had already downloaded this upgrade from Lossless Legs so I don't have to use the player - what I said was for the benefit of others, and I don't have to mess around with I Tunes either. Laziness ??????

Yes, I do understand that this privilege is not a given and I am very 'grateful' for all the effort given by all to make this wonderful music (the music that both you and I crave) available to us. That said, when I cock-up, I don't object when people bring it to my attention (provided it is done without malice), I like to get things right and I am sure that they do too. By bringing the mess with the track names on the player to the attention of those concerned, I am giving them the opportunity to put things right, not leave them as they are ,,,,, ssshhh don't mention it.

Go crawl back under your I Tunes rock".

Should be Grateful that he can grab this show for free off the archive.

Sounds like somebody expects something thats certainly not inherently a given.

This is a show quality review blog, we don't want to hear about you laziness in not wanting to rename the tracks. It took me less than fifteen minutes on I Tunes.

Typical sounding show for this period, but typical for fall 71' is great. Keith's second show and he is PLAYING TO IMPRESS. Every fill sounds like he is flush in with Billy, Phil, and Jerr. It's such a shame how downhill he went in the later days, especially listening to the quality of shows like these.

A spacey Dark Star melts into a Sittin On Top Of The World back into Dark Star then out of nowhere, Bobby McGee. I would say along with Halloween this is the best October 71' Keith show.

El Paso and NFA>GDTRFB>NFA missing, like in all the other sources.

BEST SOURCE (i'm sure) since its a Charlie Miller upgrade.

Thanks again pal!

I don't mind if the track listings are messed up. The music is great and the recording is fantastic. If you like late 1971 you might want to check this one out.