Bobby and the boys went into this one with an agenda. It seems like this was a busy festival, and they were given a short window to cram in what turned out to be an energized, superbly-crafted set. Beatles, Dylan, Weir, ‘Dog, Dead, traditional. They make every song count here. The three most prominent elements are jazz, rock, and wonderfully soulful ballads. It’s a fabulous RatDog lineup playing a fabulous setlist.

RatDog is famous for their opening jams where they’d pick a key + tempo, jam out for a few minutes, and just wade into the show. This one could be the illest opening jam I’ve heard yet. Wasserman and Lane barrel right into it like rolling thunder as the other musicians check in one at a time. When it comes to opening sequences, it doesn’t get much more badass than Playing in the Band > It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. They simplify and convert to the old Weir / Wasserman acoustic duo for an earnest pairing of Bombs Away > Blackbird, and Looks Like Rain is really well-received by the crowd. They switch gears again and chop things up with two rockers in a row, one a RatDog original that wasn’t even a year old at the time, and one a Garcia original from Mars Hotel that Bob was already starting to make his own.

The show highlight for me is Welcome to the World. I’ve never heard anything like this song, and apparently the attendees hadn’t either, based on how quiet and transfixed they suddenly became. Totally hypnotic, dreamlike, and surreal. This is a gorgeous, super rare performance of a song with wonderful lyrics and melodies. Just spectacular. They slide back into a jazzy Playin’ jam, which evolves into a trippy conversation between Mark Karan and Kenny Brooks. With time running out, China > Rider has the bounce and flourish to make a perfect show closer.

They didn’t even need an encore. The amount of moods, genres, psychedelic spaces, stories, and entire worlds that this band was able to stuff into 79 minutes is amazing. Fits perfectly on a CD, one that you’ll be sure to spin many times over. Thank you RatDog, and thank you tapers! It sounds like the Battery was fully charged that day as Bob took the dog for an incredible summer walk in the park.