1-The Alabama starts with Phil so high up in the mix
that it feels like the ceiling is getting ready to drop.
The mix is adjusted upward for everyone
and we find ourselves with a nice sounding board.
This is a good rockin >Promised land and you get Brent laying it down hand over hand.
T.L.E.O- I like the way Jerry phrases "Connection"
almost like Mick Jagger:
"You know she was going to meet her Connection"
I don't have a strong handle on much of this era so I will have to listen to more shows from this time period.
My initial reaction is that Brent is certainly a force to be reckoned with in a different feel but on par with the beginning of the Keith era.
Here we have Brent as simply a good musician becoming one with the Grateful Dead sound by the time I saw him live in 1984 he was also on his way to becoming a front man.
Me & My Uncle>Big River-
Amazing if you think about the history of these tunes
to get them in a cowboy double shot.
This is moving along at a pretty good clip.
In no way shape or form is this like F.O.T.D 1978 laid back. and as soon as i say that Jerry drops a High Time. Which to me I have trouble telling from Too Lay Me Down. Anyway even though this a mellow ballad I still feel like some ummph here!
"Living the good life, Well, you know!"
Minglewood-Weir's Pick-up song
Stagger Lee, greasy,crispy, headstrong ,strung -out
Just listen to Jerry's vocals
Easy To Love You- It does not even really sound like Brent singing this-I can't explain?
maybe he just sounds very young, idealistic.
This is the yin to the Don't Need Love-Yang
Looks Like Rain-> Deal
2-Wow!Music>Sugaree (You don't get that every day)
Well played and the Sugaree really benefits from the Music it is like super wound up. Jerry almost goes meltdown during that jam, the slide is pretty tight as well.
Wow, the jam in Sugaree just keeps on going, hmmm , pretty impressive indeed! That is the Second big climax jam in the tune.
I gotta say I love Garcia's vocals on this recording, his phrasing is so cool.
Crowd really loved that as well.
Estimated >Eyes- Now if this ever got too routine then you were seeing way to many shows because I ate this combo up. In fact I think it was going into the 1990's when they turned this combo around and started going Eyes>Estimated.
Not something I think they even needed to mess with.

I write this in November, as the Dead's annual 30 Days of Dead game is ongoing. Each day, a new song is posted and we try to identify the specific show from whence it came. Similar to reviews one reads on these pages, there is healthy criticism of the choices that are made. I suppose it is a testimony to the quality of what the band did that so many feel compelled to rate, judge and otherwise opine on the relative merits of songs, shows, members and eras. I've passed the half-way point in my attempt to listen to every date that was played (and recorded). With very few exceptions - there is a horrific first set in 1978 I recall - there is not a single one that didn't make me smile.

very poignant high time

Phil was almost blowing chunks of the ceiling off with this version

I love fall 79

This first of two very enjoyable nights was not quite as high-energy as the following night, but had its moments nonetheless. The opener and a few other first-set songs make it a keeper on their own, but throw in the killer Sugaree, Estimated->Eyes and a pretty decent NFA in the 2nd set, and you just want it in your collection. Enjoy!!

First half of second set smokes! TMNS>Sugaree followed by Estimated>Eyes is a great way to jam into drums>space. NFA>Black Peter was done on their last show on the 10th, and just isn't quite as good, and is followed by a disappointing Good Lovin'. However, being a Pig fan, any Bobby Good Lovin' is going to be disappointing. Good energy this night. Liking the vibes, but not quite loving them. 4 stars.

A good show. They Love Each Other has a nice groove to it. Jerry has some flubs in Alabama, and the mix isn't great to start with, but improves. I think the next night was better.

From the kick ass Alabama straight into a fun and funky Promised, Superb Big River (I mean really great), High Time which I never saw at a show that did not just crush it to the over the top Mwood. LL Rain is fantastic and then the Deal to close the set is immortal.

Set II opens with a crushing & rare Set II Music into Sugaree which again is loud and intense. Est>Eyes is wonderful and melodic.

This is the band coming into their own in the high and tight Arista years and while I believe there was a conscious to avoid long trippy jams and meandering this is a welcome difference. What a show and only 19 songs!

I had two tickets that were pretty good, about 1/2 way back on the floor, A freind who was going to go with me backed out at the last minute, so I went by myself. I figured I would sell the two tickets and just buy a single, since I wasn't with my freind I didin't care were I sat. So I sold the tickets within ten minutes of getting there, then I went to the box office and asked for a single ticket,(the Dead rarely sold out in those days) I got one and went in, I had not even looked at the ticket. When I went in and usher pointed towards the front and said just keep going, so kept walking and get almost to the stage, it turned out that the ticket was in the 4th row around dead center, it really was amazing. This was my 5 or 6th show,but I had never been upfront before. Needless to say the show was great. Jerry really hit the floor running with Alabama,and I had never seen Brent before, so that was alittle disapointing at first but I grew to like him before the 1st set was over. I went the next night too, but was pretty far back, As Bob used to say: There's nothing quite like a Grateful Dead Concert

Good mix for Phil fans, he's way up! Sound quality is good, rough around the edges, so 3 for sound, but I give it 4 cause its BOOMIN'

This show (and the 24th) were my first shows.

I thought I knew all the songs but they opened with Getaway and I was really confused. I finally learned what it was all about on this night. 1st set warmup; 2nd set energy building to a fever pitch, back down again for some contemplative space before building back up to the finale.

We drove from Tucson to see these shows and I still remember watching Charlie's Angels with spanish overdub in a San Diego motel room as my dose wore off after the show. Knowing that it would all be new again tomorrow.

It is both uplifting & sad to download many of these shows that were such a big part of my life. Uplifting because I feel so fortunate to have been part of this & sad because I can never go back.

This isn't quite the show the next day was, but it's peers, (including others Golden Hall shows etc.), represent a high standard of excellence. I'm sure glad a board was made of this, since I had technical difficulties and wasn't able to record this show myself, as I did the two following shows here and at UCLA. The board I have in storage isn't that great so even though I haven't yet heard this, if it is no worse, it is adequate and probably better. But, regardless of why the result is the same ie. as elsewhere; I'm commenting primarily on the performance.
Let's see, what's noteworthy ? Well for one thing, one of the last versions (besides 12-28) of High Time on the west coast for several years. This was also still in the heyday of Stagger Lee.
I had a unexpected coincident during the 1st set. Since I managed to move closer than near the board from where I had intended to record like the next day, and because I was on left aisle side of the middle section; for whatever reason seemed to be allowed some slack in terms of dancing' etc. from a usher near me. Therefore, in the interest of continued good rapport etc. and since he seemed receptive to what was undoubtedly new to him, I quickly/briefly suggested to expect an upcoming profound change in the music.
Indeed, that is what happened. However, certainly not the one I was expecting. That is, at the expected point in time, they threw us all a total surprise. What I'm referring to is, during the part of the jam which is in 6/8 of the Music Never Stopped, I just quickly said something like "check out this tempo change coming up". Well yes, we got a tempo change alright, but not into the fast 4/4 end of Music; instead the slow tempo of Sugaree.
I think this was the first time they did this, but I could be wrong. They only did this a few more times, like for example several years later in Alpine Valley in '84 ? in which case, unlike this one in San Diego, they returned to finish Music after Sugaree.
Moreover, even the generic parts such as the post drums section improv. -> Not Fade Away was quite dreamy etc.