The ultimate you-had-to-be-there run; though the last show (16th) ain't bad, and since this one has one of the trainwrecky-est sets ever, if you are just checking out the shows start over there. If you're checking out summer '78, go with either pair from Red Rocks.
First Set. Hamza El Din opens again, with the Dead coming onstage and backing him before taking over with
Promised Land, which trainwrecks on confusion and monitor problems. (Shortcut hint: the rest of the set is a trainwreck too - if not the worst ever, what set is?) The SBDs are missing the vox for the very flat & flubby
Friend of the Devil, so use the matrix. The light-footed shuffle of
Big River is the only normal run-through. This is the single worst
Loser of the 70s.
I Need a Miracle is the 3rd one, testing lyrics "let me to the marrow at a midnight rendezvous". They ace it the next night.
Stagger Lee is a completely lifeless version - so WTF is it a bonus on
Shakedown when there were a dozen better tracks from the month? It's also on
Cradle. One big struggle, this is as one-star as the Dead got. Thankfully the set's only 7 songs/45min before they bail.
Second Set.
Jack Straw is already much better, albeit still not tight (where's the beat?), but
Ship of Fools trainwrecks. Ouch. Even the solo is stilted. Then, in classic Dead style there's a turnaround and, finally, a show starts!
Estimated is punchy and Jer adds chiming arpeggios to a great
Eyes.
Drums>Space has an interesting Egyptian angle. Jer loses the thread again on
Terrapin and it stutters repeatedly, but
Sugar Magnolia is the second-most-together part of the show (still, pretty loose with the beat). They bail on the encore.
1st Set: F
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 1½ (one star show plus ½ for highlight sequence)
Highlights:
Estimated Prophet>Eyes of the World - also the best tracks on the official release
Run:
14th = D
15th = D
16th = C
SOURCES: The best SBD is the
miller.87782. It's a patched version of the
miller.21781. However it runs slow and
needs a pitch correction of +2% until Big River. From there it needs +1%. All of the SBDs have pitch errors, making the show seem even
more draggy.
Rocking the Cradle has six of the tracks but also
runs a tad slow, needing +1%. Stagger Lee is a bonus track on
Shakedown Street.