What a show! The second set is the best set of Dead music I’ve ever witnessed. The way the set flows is just perfect. It starts with a great Help that leads into a wild Slipknot. The Slip is all over the place. I think the band even got a little lost for a bit. They find their way back and it pulls together so beautifully. Slipknot goes into the first acapella verse of a Dark Star and another beautiful jam journey begins. This Dark Star is so wonderful. It contains multiple type 2 jams and travels all over the place. There are energetic rocking jams, slow beautiful melodies, noise, dissonance, scary, happy…it has it all. What an incredible musical adventure. It’s everything that a Dark Star should be. It ends in a well executed transition into Unbroken Chain. After 45 minutes of heavy dark jamming, the soft major chords of Unbroken Chain were a welcomed landing. Just enough time to get your bearings before the band launched into an aggressive funky jam. The band sounds so excited and full of energy on this one. Phil is just crushing it. Unbroken Chain ends with a big rocking buildup jam. After the come down, they start noodling their way back into Slipknot. Again, I think they get a little lost and try to initiate the Slip lick a few times before everyone goes along with it. They are vets though and stick the landing. They launch into Franklin’s which felt like the first breath I took the whole set. Franklins never goes crazy deep, but they stretch it out and do some great jamming. They cap the sandwich with a funky NFA. Quality jams in this one as well. After a good old NFA clap out > Donor Rap they encored with a Saturday Night that everyone saw coming a mile away. It was a standard walk to your car version, but it felt like we were all just reeling from witnessing a monster of a set. I almost didn’t make it to this show and I’m so glad I did!

As a younger head I'm happy to say I finally got to see Phil that night for the first time. Say what you will about the state of Phil's voice, I'm just grateful he played in Eugene. He and the band can definitely still rip! I had so much fun at this show, and in spite of the rain and cold I still danced my ass off!
The Help > Slip Sandwich was easily the highlight of my night and had the crowd groovin' for what felt like forever. I heard a few older heads outside the venue talking about how that night felt like a more genuine Dead show than D&C sometimes, and I have to say it felt like a more visceral experience for sure (perhaps it has something to do with Oregon having astoundingly intimate venues that really encourage the band-audience interplay).
All in all a banger show and I'm stoked to finally hear it back on this tape!

Waited all summer long to see a tape of this show pop up. Wasn't there to see it but just by the looks of the setlist I can tell this is gonna be magical. Can't wait to give it a spin!