Around & Around is a great opener, and oddly used as a closer most of the time. This version helps gets the blood flowing.
Sugaree is middling.
Beer Barrel Polka Tuning
Mexicali is great, once again. The octane level gets purer here.
Peggy-O seems another slow choice after a Bobby rocker. It also suffers from SQ issues. As for the song, it grows as it goes along, but still rather middling.
BIODTL
BEW sound issues continue but it’s tolerable. The song is fine, nothing amazing.
Cumberland Blues, all aboard! Energy boost train has arrived.
El Paso, listened to this on the Bear source. Great version!
TN Jed is a homerun, the tempo isn’t too fast (does that exist?) nor too slow, the playing by Jerome is spot on.
Jack Straw, great, energetic version.
Row Jimmy was much too slow for this sailor.
WRS is from the GD Movie Soundtrack. The last time they would ever do the Prelude and Part I, which I don’t really miss. I think it slowed down the subsequent LIG by setting the timing. This LIG is good, not a classic version, but definitely enjoyable.

Seastones>Jam>Dark Star>Dew
I listened to the Bear source for this meat sequence/set, as the GD Movie ejects what is easily my favorite Seastones. Then I had to turn around and re-listen because Bear’s source is missing parts, so I hit the Miller version.
These Seastones would have certainly been weird to attend, not knowing if it was going to be awesome and bleed into a set, or if it was going to be a snoozefest. I imagine when the music finally grabbed a person… For some, the subtle beginning may have been heaven at the time. It doesn’t maintain reliable sound until about 11 minutes or so, when we are clearly in a space environment. It grows haunting at the 18 minutes, and that’s Jerry’s cue to come out and join the madness. Once it is labelled as “Jam” it turns into Phil and Billy, Garcia not playing for a while. When he comes back out it’s with the rest of the band, and I’d say Dark Star is actually entered before the Miller delineation. The Dark Star is a great ride, with a heavy return to the theme after the first verse is sung, providing a structure jam flirting with exploration and maintaining a great energy. Getting around 14 minutes things transition from focus/exploratory to full on exploratory, the theme now gone. The Dew appears from a Dark Star that was verging on breaking down into drums after it had gone fully spacey toward the end. Supplemented by massive Phil Bombs, Jerry takes this Dew off the rails at the 6 minute mark for some nice X factor, and we’re not nearly done! Fanning and all the regularly trills and spills we love are in there. The finale is also outstanding, and ends one hell of a meat sequence/set.

Promised Land>Bertha>GSET
Back to basics to start the third set off with the classic Bob/Jer sandwich. Bertha is sort of plodding, unfortunately, after a nice Promised Land. GSET is usually a killer in this period, and while this has that nice Jerry tone, it’s missing the impact it usually delivers.
Ship sails on the smooth sea, Keith is one the piano rather than the organ.
NFA>GDTRFB>OMSN
Back to the GD Movie Soundtrack here,… The increased SQ makes it more enjoyable (I listed to the Bear version of NFA). However, there is the “end” of GDTRFB where it just goes into GD movie crapola… not the real song anymore. This means, Miller is the source to use. The NFA is fun, but kind of drags along in the end, though Bobby does get a solo. Jerry signals the entry to GDTRFB, which is better played. The ending is subtle, and the move to OMSN somewhat predictable. There’s an unnecessary 5 minutes or so of crowd at the end of this track…

US Blues from the soundtrack in all its glory, as most of us remember from the movie!


Performance Summary
The first set takes a minute to get going, but it’s a keeper, starting with Cumberland. The Bobby songs pre-Cumber are pretty hot, but Jerry’s slower songs were mediocre. The 2nd set, classic. The third set? Some disappointments in there, nice GDTRFB saves the set.

Sound Quality
This show was reviewed using many sources. Contact me if you want the break down, or to learn how to get these shows (and all really) in mp3 format. ro_ko@hotmail.com

The first show was the 16th.

Due to incomplete show. Also it's obviously the show from the 18th.

Can't fault the recording or the sound and the band's performance is the best, IMO, of the run. Jerry is excellent throughout as are Bob and Keith.

Perhaps most intriguing to me is the Phil & Ned. The feedback has a sweet touch to it. They seemed to eschew the spookiness that usually spelled this piece. As on all five nights, if you arrived late and were stuck in an area you didn't like during the first set, you only had to wait for the Seastones part of the gig and the floor would clear out enough so that you could move around.

With the Grateful Dead, Feedbacks and Seastones were always treated as break times for the patrons.

I recall as an attendee of this and many old shows that when the band did Feedback I didn't care for it then much either. But as I have become an old fart I have learned to be much more appreciative and understanding of what mssrs Lesh and Lagin and the rest of the band in general (except for Pigpen, who did not share the same enthusiasm) were trying to accomplish. Feedback and Space was the truly unique portion of their act and it took some getting used to but once you did it was stimulative to one's contemplative lobes.

onstage ambient micing...

an aud to me...

the best sound the GD ever had.

enjoy,

**__**

incomplete. Spectacular sound. Taped by Kid Charlemagne. EIGHT STARS.


I think the correct date is the eighteenth. the middle night at Winterland before the hiatus.

The mix here is completely different than the soundboard that circulates. Bear may have taped this from the board, but this is not the same recording as the board in the vault.

You guys should know better then to release a SBD listed as an AUD.

As big a mess as this is presentation wise. I mean really is this a joke or what?? Hit the bong after you post the show.

The music is stellar.

This sound is very good. Im doubting its an audience. It sounds to good. Cool Cover , too