Phil Lesh's Birthday Run, Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY 2019-03-14

     After a few years of catching Phil at the Capitol Theatre consistently, my parents and I somehow went 2.5 years without trekking down!  Sure we saw Phil and Bob do their duo shows in Boston, but even that was over a year ago now.  So when Phil announced this year's birthday run, we knew we had to go.  This lineup included John Molo on drums, and Grahame Lesh on guitar, both of whom we've seen with Phil.  Also included were two more guitarists who I always wanted to see with Phil, Jackie Greene and John Scofield.  On keyboards was Benmont Tench, a founding member of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, who has never performed with Phil before.  He was the only one I was skeptical about leading up to the shows, but as you'll soon find, my concerns were ill-founded.

     Making it from Boston to Port Chester can be a bit hairy, but we made it down in plenty of time to catch dinner and the opening act.  The first time we came down here there had been a fairly legit Shakedown Street set up down the street, but the last few times it had just been a Shakedown Corner.  This time it was more like 5 people selling some shirts, but maybe we were just early.  The opening act was playing at Garcia's, the bar attached to the Cap, and it was essentially Midnight North with some people I had never heard of.  Grahame did a fair job of playing bass instead of guitar, and Elliot Peck sang as well as ever, but I was too distracted by thoughts of Phil to really get into them.  So I took off, grabbed the poster for this first night, and got up to our seats in the balcony in plenty of time to get into the right headspace.

     Note that this is from memory, and not as in-depth of a review as I would normally post, but I wanted to get this out before the next two nights.  Once I get my hands on the soundboards of these shows I'll revisit them with some more depth, so stay tuned.

                                         

First Set

• Mason's Children (ALL)
• This and Mountains of the Moon are the Phil songs to see these days.  He revived them as soon as he could, and he's been jamming them out ever since.
• Right off the bat I knew that Tench was going to fit in with Phil perfectly.  He had a grand piano, an organ, and what looked like a Rhodes.  He also had some electric keyboard set up, but I didn't see him touch it all night.  He stayed on the organ and the Rhodes for this one, and he wailed on those suckers.  He has a very unique style, especially on the organ, and Phil was beaming.
• This song was mostly led by Tench and Scofield, with Grahame and Jackie providing some heavy backing riffs.
• Mr. Charlie (JG)
• Jackie Greene took the reins with this one, singing and taking most of the leads.  He has a great voice that manages to be high in the register without getting squeaky or strained.  His slide work was also incredible.
• Grahame got one of his few solos in this one.  He an amazing guitarist, but whenever a solo would be nodded his way he would shrug it over to Tench, which I think was pretty classy.  He tours with his dad all the time and gets plenty of time in the spotlight, and I think tonight he was focusing on providing a steady rhythm guitar that would allow the other players to get off the reservation a bit.
• They finished this song up suddenly and Phil furrowed his brow, but then Molo and Grahame led them into the usual ending riff and Phil pointed at his drummer and laughed.
• Bird Song (PL)
• Looking back, this was the sign that tonight was going to be full of wild improvisation.  If Phil puts a jam vehicle like Bird Song this early in the first set, you better buckle your seat belts.
• Everyone got a chance to shine in this one.  It didn't have too many blistering leads, but the jam had a wide open atmospheric vibe to it.  Tench got some good piano work in here, but really grabbed my attention with some spooky organ work.
• The band didn't really pick up Phil's cues to go back into the chorus from the jam, but they got on track with him right away after he started singing.
• Move over JRAD, Grandpa Phil is in town!  All night long Greene and Scofield were throwing in jazz teases and classic rock melodies that I couldn't identify at the time, but always fit perfectly in what was being played.
• Scarlet Begonias > (JG)
• One of the drunk idiots behind me did call this one off of just one tuning note, but when I turned around and gave him a thumbs up he had no idea what I was doing.  Go figure.
• Not only was Phil stealing JRAD's teases, he was stealing their tempos too!  This was the fastest song of the night, and it got everyone up and dancing.
• Grahame again passed on a turn at the solo section, but the other three leads all got two rotations at it, each picking up from where the other left off.
• The outro jam didn't feature the usual Scarlet riff as the jumping off point, instead Phil steered them straight into the Unknown Regions.  The jam mellowed down eventually, and instead of jumping into Fire, Phil shifted them into Eyes of the World!
• Eyes Of The World (GL)
• Grahame did a great job singing this one, which makes sense because he grew up watching Jerry sing it from on top of a road case.
• Jackie took the first solo and really sped through it, getting the tempo back up a bit.  Tench took the next one, and had a very different approach.  Where Jackie's had been like a sprint through a field of many wild flowers, Tench instead found one perfect flower and wanted to show it to us in great detail from every angle he could think of.  It was beautiful!  Then Scofield got kind of bored and started shredding, which was also cool, but not quite as...hypnotic.
• After the final verse Phil wound the jam down to a neat finish instead of segueing into something else.  Molo also helped conduct this wind-down; he was really Phil's second all night long, which makes sense since he might the drummer who's played the most with Phil besides Billy and Mickey.
• So Many Roads (JG)
• This one took me by surprise, and I feel so lucky to have caught it.  Jackie sang it with so much soul and heart, one couldn't help but be moved by it.
• Now seems as good of a time to announce the MVP of the show.  And the result is, drum roll please.....Phil! *cheers*  It was a tight race, seeing as how all the players were at their best, but Phil really took the cake.  He had such good balance between ambient rumbling and clean precise notes, and his singing was as good as it gets.  He was so active, present, and excited during the whole show that he really deserves this award.
• US Blues (GL & JG)
• Normally a boring encore, this song works so much better as a first set closer.

     The band left the stage to raucous applause, and even though the lights didn't come on for another 10 minutes, we all knew it was setbreak.  This was the only night of the run that wasn't sold out, and it was a pretty easy going crowd, being a work night and all.  No one got into too much trouble and we all cooled our feet during an average-length intermission.  The security getting in had involved a good amount of patting down and feeling of shoes, but the staff at the Cap are so nice and professional that the only time I saw them scold someone it was a lady filming with the flash on, not the guy with the vape pen immediately next to her.  So everyone was able to elevate their headspace appropriately for the second set, which as we all know is when they bring the dragons out!  Even John Molo blew out a giant vape cloud when he got to his kit!  White Cloud indeed...

Second Set

• Dark Star (v1) > (PL, GL, & JG)
• I told you, dragons!
• In classic Phil style this started as tuning that slowly turned into a jam that led to the opening riff, but as we all know, it's all just Dark Star.
• This is a case where I'm gonna need to relisten to it at least 5 times before I have much more to say about it besides "WOW."  They got to the first verse pretty quickly, trading the lines in the order I indicated above, and as soon as they wrapped those up things got weird fast.  What followed was a series of mini jam episodes where the "leader" role would shift seamlessly back and forth, all while Phil really led the whole thing.  Eventually (this could easily have been 30 minutes, won't know until a tape comes out) the jam ended up in something sounding very familiar, that turned out to be Box of Rain.
• Box of Rain > (PL)
• First of all, shut up while Phil is singing Box of Rain, you animals.
• Second of all, this might have been the best version of this that I've seen, and not just due to its position in this awesome sandwich.  It was a great tempo, Phil sang it perfectly, and the leads in it were off the chain.  And then the leads turned into a jam, and it looked like we were headed back into Dark Star to wrap it up, but Jackie twisted a lick around and it resolved into Wharf Rat!
• Wharf Rat > (JG)
• This was Jackie's bid for MVP of the night, even more emotion than in So Many Roads, and he sang those lyrics with a uniquely personal style.
• I was convinced they were going to continue the sandwich theme and go from "live the life I should" and go > The Other One (v1) > Morning Dew > The Other One (v2) > etc., but alas it was not to be.  Instead they wound up Wharf Rat with some more heavy riffs from Jackie and Grahame.  They didn't jam much between the two final verses, but the jam back into Box of Rain hit some stellar places.
• Box of Rain (PL & GL)
• When Phil led them back into the lyrics my dad and I, and about 100 other people, pumped our fists into the air.  I was levitating at this point in the concert, I just felt so full of love: love for Phil, love for music, and love for everyone in the theatre.  Love will see you through!
• Speaking of the theatre, I can't think of a better place to see a concert.  The sound is so clean wherever you go in the Cap, and the light show had my jaw hanging loose a few times.  It's no precise, techno-organic monster like Phish has, but instead is more focused on trippy displays on the walls with some tastefully choreographed stage lights.
• Tench's organ work kind of stepped on Phil's singing here, but it all still sounded great.
• Grahame backed up his dad for the final verses wonderfully, and they wrapped the song up, leaving the rest of Dark Star as a floating variable for the rest of the weekend.
• Franklin's Tower (GL, JG, & PL)
• After some ass scratching and vaping by the band, they started up this Franklin's at a blistering speed.  They started it with the Slipknot! ending, which is another thing they're "stealing" from JRAD!  I'll admit that as a Help > Slip! freak, I was a bit perturbed by their absence, but I was too busy boogying to really be bothered.  And hey, maybe they'll do Help > Slip!> Fire one of these next nights.
• Phil got the whole band soloing at once at a few points here, keeping the song nice and punchy, the way I like it.
• Uncle John's Band (ALL)
• Both Frank's and this were strangely standalone versions, but I can't complain.
• Phil sounded like he was having some feedback issues with his rig for this one, but he conquered them before the dark jam got going.
• Scofield was really the one in charge for this, and Tench maybe got a bit lost in the 7/4 meter, but Grahame got him back on track while Jackie goaded Scofield into some crazy syncopations.  That Scofield can get so many different noises out of his guitar that it boggles the mind.
• St. Stephen >  (ALL)
• I saw/heard this one coming from a mile away, Phil really tipped his hand with some power chord tuning.
• There was some shakiness in the bridge and coming out of the jam, but once again the band was quick to get back in the saddle and get things moving along.
• The big jam in the middle had Jackie basically menacing Grahame into taking the lead.  He walked right up to him and started soloing in his face, and Grahame happily took the bait and started shredding.  The two of them made such a good pair, and could get some very grungy tones going.
• Let it Grow > (GL)
• This one took me by surprise, and maybe could have used some more rehearsal, but you could make a good argument for Phil just wanting to play it in his own way.
• Jackie and Grahame started it off with some more grunginess that I was sure would turn into a Tom Petty song.  Molo made some scowls during bits of this, which makes me think it was more of a rehearsal issue than a style decision by Phil.
• Either way, the solo section went off without a hitch as Jackie switched his attention back to Scofield.  The jam mellowed down into a meandering, spacey vibe that was reminiscent of Playing in the Band for a bit, before they shifted through the usual chord changes of the song.  They did hit all of the regular changes and the closing riff, but they did it in a very subtle way that once again may have just been down to not rehearsing a tighter version, but whatever.
• The Wheel > (ALL)
• This segued very nicely out of Let it Grow, and I couldn't believe they were still doing open jam songs this late in the set!
• The only hiccup here was going into the first verse, and the rest of it was the classic Phil Wheel: jam it out between every verse, let the momentum take you until Phil says it's time to sing again.
• The song did come to an end, but with only maybe half a second of being done before Phil started them up into the next song, so I'm leaving the "into" sign there.
• I Know You Rider (ALL)
• At first I thought it was GDTRFB, and rolled my eyes because to me that's the classic "boring" show closer, a real "roll credits" song where everyone gets a turn at a solo while their name appears on screen: Starring Phil Lesh as "Dad."
• But once Scofield shifted the chords I realized that it's the better roll credits song!  Once again Phil got the whole band soloing at once at the end, really whipping the exhausted crowd into a final frenzy!  There may have been some tears shed along with all the sweat.
• Donor Rap
• Before Phil came out for his Rap, people started singing Happy Birthday, and I wanted to tell them that his birthday wasn't until tomorrow.  But it was tomorrow!  Phil had played until after midnight on his first night of the run, which is impressive for a newly 79 year old.
• But Phil interrupted them with a story of a man named Chuck who was an organ donor who recently passed, and he encouraged the rest of us to promise to become organ donors ourselves.
• Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad
• Uhh....see my Rider notes.
• In all fairness this isn't a bad song or anything, it's just a bit cliche.  And they rocked it right out, no matter how late it was!

     The band took a bow, the lights came on, and we sat our asses down after all that dancing.  A lot of people had cleared out early because they had to go to work the next morning, but we took our time getting out and walking back to the car.  All in all this was one of the best Phil shows I've seen, maybe one of the best in general.  I can't wait to see what he has in store for us the next two nights!

Dave's Picks 29 (1977-02-26)

     I would wish you all a happy new year, but honestly who cares about all that nonsense, the latest Dave's Picks is here!  Our favorite archivist is starting the year off strong with the first show from 1977, February 26th at the Swing Auditorium.  And being the nice guy that he is, David also included the last three songs from the next night at UCLA Santa Barbara.  Both of these shows are fairly well known already, but as usual Jeffrey Norman's hard work has made what was already a great recording by Betty Cantor sound crystal clear.  So let's get into Dave's Picks 29.

• Terrapin Station
• As a sign of what the year would bring, the Dead opened their first show of 1977 with this new and incredibly complicated song.  It's a testament to how tight and well rehearsed they were at this point that they not only don't screw it up, but they actually play it pretty damn well.
• It's not exactly perfect, but it is played at a brisker tempo than a lot of later versions and has some surprising twists, like the spacey fade out at the end...that turns into the first technical difficulty of the night!  This also reveals Keith's latest surprise: his Polymoog synthesizer!  React accordingly.
• Terrapin feels weird in the first set, especially as the opener, but we can't hold the 1977 Dead accountable for expectations that would come from 40 more years of playing this song, can we?
• New Minglewood Blues
• 1977 is my favorite year for this song.  It wasn't as light and contained as it was in '76, but not as over the top and filled with slide guitar as '78.  And after that it basically just turned into Just Another First Set Bobby Blues Song.
• Jerry's on the attack right off the bat, and Bob gets growly.  Keith goes for his usual solo spot but Jerry is all over him and then everyone just goes off at once.  Nice.
• They Love Each Other
• Donna's harmonies are especially sweet here.
• Jerry and Keith do a great job of intertwining with each other's parts during their solos, very intricate playing.
• Estimated Prophet
• Another debut in a strange place.  This is a harmless little Baby Estimated, just a tight standalone performance.  I'm sure anyone who saw these early versions were shocked the next year when it it had evolved into a deep, dark, second set jam monster.
• It's cool to see the bones of this song, just the Platonic Form of what Bobby had in mind before he got so...histrionic about it.  It's kind of like listening to a Playing in the Band from before Keith joined the band.  Just an exercise in strange rhythms.
• Keith really makes use of the Polymoog on this one.  I feel like this song is 80 percent of why he played that thing for a year and a half.  There are a couple alternate lyrics, and it winds down to a dark little ending.
• Sugaree
• They had started stretching Sugaree out the previous year, but '77 is when it really hit its jamming stride.  Past readers may recall that I'm not really in love with this particular song, but no one can deny that this is a great version.
• The band just sounds so good in this show.  Besides just the recording itself, Jerry, Bob, and Keith's tones all mesh so well with each other.  Phil's bass comes through clearly, no muddiness or anything.  While the drummers never get a proper Drums segment, their work through the whole show is spot on.
• Mama Tried
• This and Deal can be summed up as such: blistering solos from Jerry, but otherwise not much to say.
• Deal
• Playing In The Band
• Continuing in what was already a strangely shaped setlist, the Dead decided to end the set with what had become a standard second set jam vehicle.  But instead of doing a standalone version to end the set like pre-hiatus, or even like their last show at New Year's, they ratchet up the weirdness even more by making it a sandwich with Wheel!
• They don't hurry through the sandwich either, they take the time to let the Playin' jam develop.  To make a bad metaphor of it, Keith, Jerry, and Phil all try to run off with the jam in different directions, but Bobby has tied them together so that no matter how far afield they run, they always come back together.  Also there are drummers.  Metaphors aren't perfect.
• What is perfect is this Playing in the Band.  Jerry starts melting down while Keith keeps the beat going with some Fall '76-esque progressions, some darkness creeping in around the edges.
• The Wheel
• Jerry shifts keys and the effect is like a beam of sunlight suddenly breaking through dark storm clouds.  Then he slams them into the Wheel without the drummers going into their typical pre-Wheel holding pattern and it's just amazing.
• Like the Playin' that surrounds it, this Wheel is just exactly perfect.  They get all the changes right, they all sing together beautifully, and the outro jam is exquisite.  All the parts fold together seamlessly to move back into the Playin' theme.
• Playing In The Band
• Ok, so maybe by the end Jerry's a little out of tune and Donna forgets to yell, but this whole sequence is still absolutely top shelf.
• Samson & Delilah
• After an incredible first set, they come out guns blazing for the next one.  They're so excited Jerry even comes in way too early to start the song!
• After that it's smooth sailing.  Not the most driven version, but neatly put together with just enough fire to keep you dancing.
• The closing section with the chorus and drum break is arguably wrong, but the band is so together that it doesn't turn into a trainwreck (this time).
• Tennessee Jed
• This is another one where it feels like it almost goes off the rails a couple times, but the band instinctively corrects and you're left scratching your head wondering whether they really did skip a beat at all (they did).
• Great interplay between Jerry and Keith, they spin right off of each other as the rest of the band builds to the peak and the final chorus.
• Music Never Stopped
• More setlist strangeness, both Tennessee Jed and this feel very out of place here in the second set.  But who can complain about a second set Music?
• This is the first version where they dropped the extra bar after the "forgot about the time" verse, and you can hear Bobby count them off to remind the rest of the band.
• They slow things down for the first part of the jam, and instead of shifting directly into the more hard rocking part Keith and Phil force them into a detour through a jazzier little space first.; another '76 holdover that would soon disappear.
• Help On The Way
• One of the reasons I love this song so much is how it showcases Jerry's ability to carve a song into thin air.
• Good tempo, ~103 BPM.
• Half vamp/half intro .
• Keith on piano.
• Hee-ah, hush.
• Jerry's tone sounding a little thin, but he's aggressive on the solo.  Three times through, sounds thicker and more metallic as he goes.
• Only once through the outro riff like in '76, pretty tight through the transition.   
• Slipknot!
• Slip Riff sounds great, if not totally together: the first, second, and fourth rotations have two bars of 8 and then one bar of 9.  The third rotation maybe with just three bars of 8 if you ask Phil.
• Phil leads the jam from the start, Jerry waits a long time to come in.  His tone really gets fuzzier and darker in this song in '77; he turns into Big Scary Jerry.
• Very directed and inspired jam.  Drums present but not overpowering at all.
• Keith on piano.
• Sudden dive into Slipcord, preluded by Scary Jerry making big swoops to take control of the jam, a popular trick they would continue to do through '77.
• Slip Riffs good, almost perfect.  Counterparts from whole band.  Two times through riff like rest of the year.  Solid transition.
• Franklin's Tower
• Bobby teases China Cat throughout the song.
• ~107 BPM.
• There is still a small cut in this, like on the soundboard that has always circulated.  It is patched so well that it's barely noticeable.
• Good and bouncy, pure Jerry bliss.
• Promised Land
• Just to make sure you get it, I'll say it again: this is a weird setlist.  What is this song doing in the middle of the second set??
• Eyes Of The World
• During the tuning before they start up the next song, Jerry teases St. Stephen, presumably just to taunt the audience.
• Eyes starts out pretty and mellow, but turns into a grand exclamation by the end.  Jerry tears up all of the solos between verses, but then it's Phil's turn to shine after that.  This is one of his best post-hiatus solos, very assertive and coherent, with nice backing by Keith.  It feels like it might drift into Drums at a few points, but then Bob and Jerry slide in and it turns into Dancing.
• Dancing In The Streets
• An interesting pairing, a final remnant of that '76 vibe in this show.
• As soon as the lyrics end Jerry hits some combination of knobs and pedals that gives him a fierce wah-tone and then it's shred city from there.  It feels kind of like the rest of the band s chasing after him for the rest of the song, he's totally locked in and not waiting for anyone else.  But they mostly keep up with him and it makes for an exciting take on the song.
• They don't do the typical "disco" riffs at the end of the jam, which I think is too bad, but whatever.
• Around and Around
• No Jerry ballad tonight, they wrap up the second of two weird sets with a standard closer.
• There's either another small cut here, or the band skips a random verse in the final amp up without missing a beat...
• A song that definitely got overplayed in this era, but this one is alright by me.
• U.S. Blues
• A few forgotten verses in here, but it had been a long night so let's all just give Jerry a break.

 2/27/77

• Morning Dew
• The recording starts with the closing chords of Terrapin, and then they take a few beats while Jerry winds up for Dew.
• In a year full of famous Morning Dews, this one often gets overlooked because the soundboard hasn't circulated.  It's not as flashy as 5/8 or 5/22, but it sure does choogle hard.
• I swear I hear Bobby teasing China Cat again around the 10 minute mark...
• The song builds confidently through the verses, and Jerry plays a beautiful solo.  But then the real work starts.  Jerry doesn't actually lead through the outro after a certain point, instead mostly fanning chords while the drummers, Keith, and Phil explode in furious rhythm.  Every time you think they can't go for another rotation, they dive in for another go and around again until they finally come to the final climax.   
• Sugar Magnolia
• Nothing could be more powerful than that Dew, so Bobby decides it's time for some good rock 'n roll fun.  And ultimately I think that was the right thing to do.
• Johnny B. Goode
• The whole band goes nuts on this one.

     Well there it is, one out of three for the year down.  One of these days I'll probably try to rank all the Dave's Picks and rip all my hair out, but in the meantime just know that I would put this up there as one of the best.  In the interest of transparency, making shameless plugs, and laziness, I should point out that I lifted some of my own notes about Help > Slip! > Frank from this guest post I did for Dead Essays.  If the terms didn't make sense, you just might have to read that to figure it out...but anyway, let me know what you thought of Dave's Picks 29, smash that subscribe button, and tune in next time.

Guest Post Notice

I wrote up a piece about the evolution of Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower for the illustrious Dead Essays blog, and I won't lie I'm a little star struck.  Go ahead and read this, and then read everything he's ever written.  You might learn a thing or two about your favorite band.

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2018/12/help-on-way-slipknot-franklins-tower.html

Dave's Picks 28 (1976-06-17)

     The last Dave's Picks of the year has finally arrived!  David decided to cap off the year with a show that I am not very familiar with from the band's first post-hiatus tour.  After starting the year off in Portland, OR, they came over to the East Coast and made their way from Boston, to NYC, and then to Passaic, NJ at the Capitol Theatre.  This was the first night of a three night run, and they started it off strong.

     1976 can be a controversial year for deadheads.  The band was on the road for the first time since the Europe '74 tour, and a lot of new material and reworked old material was getting mixed into the repertoire.  This means there's a lot of uncertainty and inconsistency in some of these early shows, and the tempos were generally slower while the band found its footing.  So a lot of people just skip ahead to 1977 when the band would be more mature; but those fools are missing out.  There are so many hidden gems and unique jams (or hidden jams and unique gems) throughout '76, and this Dave's Picks has quite a few for those who listen for them.  Sure it's a little slow, and it's far from a "perfect" show in a technical sense, but there's a lot of hold-on-to-your-seat moments, sometimes where you least expect them.  The show doesn't quite fill three discs, so David threw in a couple of extra songs on the last one from a few nights later.

• Cold Rain & Snow
• The sound quality is great right off the bat, you can hear everyone clear as day.
• Jerry and Bob are kind of mellow to open the show, but everyone else is already bursting with energy.
• Jerry takes another little solo before the last verse, a sign of the band being really flexible and open to new arrangements of the songs.
• Big River
• Very energetic and creative with great leads from Jerry and Keith.
• Surprisingly upbeat tempo without feeling frantic.
• They Love Each Other
• The tempos start to drag a bit here in the first set.  This one must have felt especially slow to anyone present who had seen the song pre-hiatus.
• The song really does sparkle though.  Jerry's Travis Bean and Keith's grand piano compliment each other so well, and Keith actually kind of steals the show with his solo.
• Cassidy
• You can't have a '76 show without a Cassidy, that's just a fact.
• A little less confident than other versions from this month, maybe just them playing in a new venue.
• This Cassidy is weird in that it ends right after the last verse instead of going through the opening/closing riff like usual.  They did this the following night too, just another case of the band trying out new things, I guess.
• Tennessee Jed
• The greatest casualty of the slower tempo in this set, this one really plods through the verses.  I think it's good they started a lot of these songs out slow in '76 so they could all figure out their new roles in the expanded band, but sometimes it's just a bit rough to listen to.
• That said, the ending jam really picks up a head of steam, and the tempo gives Jerry even more time to play as many notes as he can fit into each bar.
• This song, and many other "Europe '72" songs, found new life after the hiatus.  While this particular version isn't quite a '78 barn-burner, it's easy to see that it was already evolving towards that point.
• Looks Like Rain
• Looks Like Rain took a little longer to start evolving.  By '78 it would basically be a rocker with some sentimental lyrics, but here in '76 it was still a delicate love song.
• Once again Jerry and Keith's playing and instrumentation blend together perfectly.  The Travis could sound thin on some songs, but here it has a nice piercing effect.
• Row Jimmy
• One of my favorites from this first set, this song is perfect at the mellower speeds of '76.
• Keith switches over to the Rhodes, which may be a big part of why I love it so much.  He seemed to lose control over his instruments in the next couple years, being assigned weird moogy-synths and fake pianos as the rest of the band saw fit, so it's nice to hear him on one of his strongest instruments here.
• Donna's voice is one of the best parts of this release, very noticeable on this song and the two on either side of it.  So clean and sweet.
• Music Never Stopped
• A nice, punchy little version of this song, very upbeat tempo.
• Not the smoothest or most exploratory version, though it does feel almost like they go into a unique space before the typical outro jam like they occasionally would throughout the year.
• This, being an early version, still has Bob and Donna oooh-ing and ahhh-ing on the first part of the jam, as well as an extra little half-turn after the "forgot about the time" line, like on the album.
• Scarlet Begonias
• This is the year that Scarlet Begonias really grew legs as a jam vehicle.  They started stretching out the solo section, and the ending jam became more and more searching and open to new ideas.
• Keith gets back on his Rhodes which really gives this version a unique feeling compared to later versions.  It makes for a nice bridge across the hiatus, old instrumentation with a new (old) drummer.
• The jam is kind of laid back and spacey, the band really takes their time.  While some feel that these versions feel kind of empty without the transition into Fire On the Mountain, I love these versions because it really lets them explore this song for all it's worth.
• Promised Land
• Another surprisingly uptempo number from this release.
• Help on the Way*
• No vamp at all, just right into it with a lot of Phil.  Jerry starts with "help on the way" instead of "paradise waits."
• Tempo ~94 BPM
• Keith on piano.
• Fierce solo, two times through.  Very fluid version of the song.  Jerry does a little feedback-echo thing at one point in the solo, very cool.  Phil's approach on this version feels kind of jazzier than normal.
• Hee-ah yes.
• Jerry really flubs the transition.  One extra bar before Slip Riff.
• Slipknot! >*
• 4 rotations.  Jerry does all four rotations with two bars of 8 and then one bar of 9.  Bobby tries to only do bars of 8.  The rest of the band kind of splits down the middle, and the song somehow keeps moving!
• Keith still on piano, still very Phil heavy.
• Jerry comes into the jam right away and launches off with Keith.  Jam has definite direction thanks to the two of them.  Drums not as dominant as 6/14, but still assertive.
• Very thematic, shadows of what was to come later in the year.
• Sudden drop into slipcord.  They nail the outro, way tighter than the intro!
• Franklin's Tower >*
• This song never really changed much, but this is a really fun version of it, very energetic.
• Tempo ~100 BPM
• Smooth outro riff into Dancing.
• Dancing in the Streets >
• Another kind of mellow song, but still danceable with the disco arrangement!
• Everyone basically does small variations on the typical vamp while Jerry solos endlessly over them.
• The disco breakdown part at the end gets a little rough on the last rotation, but they pick it back up very smoothly.
• Samson & Delilah
• A great transition into this, the drummers are very on point tonight. 
• Bob does cut off one of Jerry's solos a little, but Jerry just keeps soloing anyway.  They're good buddies, after all.
• Ok, I said the drummers are very tight and then they kinda goofed on their part at the end of the song.  BUT, it wasn't a trainwreck and actually sounded alright!  Maybe just another case of trying out new things with the new band.
• Ship of Fools
• M. Lemieux said this one didn't drag at all, but I think he may have been pulling our legs...
• Lazy Lightning >
• This duo is at a nice tempo, and like Music Never Stopped feels kind of punchy.
• For being a new song, this is actually very tight, especially from Mickey on the fills!  It's almost like they rehearsed or something.
• My only gripe is more about this point of the year, not this show in particular: they only do half the solo until like'77.
• Supplication
• The second part of the duo is just as tight, with Bobby really leading the way and playing creatively.
• More jazziness from Phil and everyone else in the jam.
• Maybe slows down a little, but this song really falls apart when it goes too fast, so no complaints here.
• Friend of the Devil
• You can hear the surprise from the crowd on this one when Jerry starts singing.  People were definitely disappointed that this song had been rearranged so much and slowed down, but I think the record shows that these slower ones were better overall.  No longer a peppy little country ditty, it became a crystalline showcase for Jerry and Keith.
• Speaking of, both of them play beautifully intricate solos.  I've mentioned Jerry's being mellow a few times so far, but he gets more aggressive on this one.
• Let it Grow >
• Forever removed from the rest of Weather Report Suite, Let it Grow took a while to find a steady place in the rotation.  They would play it throughout this year in this new format with the drum break in the middle, and then drop it for an entire year.  Then they played it more like they did pre-hiatus on and off for a few months and dropped it again until it reemerged with Brent in '79 with the arrangement it would keep from then on.
• This far into the show, I'm really starting to think they complaints about tempo in '76 are blown way out of proportion.  This song practically flies, propelled by the two drummers and Jerry.
• This arrangement of the song has the middle jam stay on just two sets of chords, instead of shifting to the third (and maybe more) set that it has in most other years.  Instead of going onto that third set, they really jam out the second one and then slip into drums.
• Drums >
• Obviously not "Drums" in the sense of '78 onwards, but still a two minute drum break where Billy and Mickey get to explore different rhythms and patterns.
• I really love '76 drums when they really just had their kits and didn't get distracted trying to teach Jerry how steel drums work.  You can feel them having fun on this one.
• Let it Grow >
• They come thundering back into the chorus out of nowhere, playing like bats out of hell.
• Jerry totally takes over, shredding the outro jam for a while and then steering them into Wharf Rat.
• Wharf Rat >
• The new arrangement for the bridge in Wharf Rat is perhaps one of the best changes they made post-hiatus.  It never would have worked with the two drummers to do the kind of a-temporal bridge that Jerry used to play, so they needed to solidify it into 3/4 (6/8?) time.
• Jerry's tone on this is so great, sounds more full-bodied like it would in '77.  He was still figuring out how he wanted that Travis to sound after all.
• Really a stellar version of the song: on point vocals, all the different parts are perfect, and the solos just take your breath away.  Get up and fly away, indeed.
• Around & Around
• Kind of a sudden shift, and as someone who has recently listened to a lot of '78 lately, not one I was particularly looking forward to.  Which is unfair, the band had not yet overplayed this song when the show was played.
• However, this is not exactly the best version.  It really is too slow for the majority of it, but then they all try to jump the tempo up way too much at the end, and it takes them a bit to agree on a new one.
• No encore, booo.
• Sugaree  (1976-06-23, Upper Darby, PA)
• Ok, while I'm glad we got some filler songs at the end here, the way to win me over on a release is not to give me a Sugaree when I was perfectly happy without one.
• But if you're not sick of this song like me, this is a really good version!  It was just on the cusp of becoming the shredding machine that Jerry turned it into, so there's some meaty solos in here.
• High Time  (1976-06-28, Chicago, IL)
• This song really needs to be played right, and apart from a hiccup or two they pull it off.  It's very pretty, and has some great singing, but it just feels a bit staggered at times.

     So maybe not the strongest finish to a release, but look at me, complaining about getting extra music on the internet!  In the end I like this release more and more every time I listen to it.  To be honest I was a little disappointed when it first arrived, but on every relisten I find something new that blows me away, which is what this music is all about.  The first Dave's Picks of next year has already been announced as 2/26/77, which is a show I know so well already that I could probably write a review right now, but we'll all just have to wait for the official release to hear just how good it can sound.

*The notes for Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower are formatted slightly differently from the others because I lifted them from another project I'm working on.  So if you want them to make more sense, you'll have to stay tuned!

Pacific Northwest '73-'74: The Complete Review

     If you've been paying any attention at all the the Dead world, you should know that one of the most anticipated box sets ever was just released.  Pacific Northwest '73-'74: The Complete Recordings is, well, exactly what it sounds like.  Six shows taken almost a year apart from the Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle (in that order each year).  I would try to give you some historical background, but after reading Nicholas Meriwether's official write-up I feel left with either blatant plagiarism or a half-assed recreation of his efforts.  So instead I urge you to find someone with a PDF of his write-up, because while wordy it's a very good read.  With some great pictures!

     Roy Henry Vickers designed the box, and I can easily say without hesitation or hyperbole that it is the best looking box set (that we own).  I'm a sucker for the geometrical designs of May '77 (the original one), but this box and the album art overall are far beyond.  He incorporated his culture's art into a box that perfectly encapsulates the music, and it's enhanced by his avoidance of traditional Dead iconography.  Sure there are some skeletons, skulls, and bears, but all in very different contexts than you would expect from the Dead.  Maybe it's just projection, but I'm already associating elements of each show's album art with the music contained within, and even if I'm crazy it still enhances the listening experience.  Especially combined with the quality of the sound, which is way better than the bootlegs of these shows that I've had for years; it's like listening to them for the first time!

     This is another case where doing a song-by-song review would be too long and honestly kind of boring, so I'll just list some highlights for each show below.  One of the interesting things about these shows is actually how similar they are.  Even the '74 shows have very similar setlists to the '73 shows, which isn't too unusual in and of itself as far as the typical Europe '72 material is concerned.  But with 5 China > Riders, 5 Great Stories and 5 Race Is On's (the races are on?) the shows really do feel to be cut of the same cloth, or at least echoes of the same vibe.  While the shows are so obviously interrelated, they also capture different facets of that vibe I mentioned, sometimes getting spacey, other times getting ferocious, and generally just getting plain weird.  So let's get weird!

• 1973-06-22  Vancouver
• This show is a great way to start off the box.  It's very high energy, and has a special crystalline feeling to it that could be attributed to any number of factors, some of which aren't exactly legal.
• One of the songs that was most hyped for this box was the Bird Song from this show, it's easy to see why.  While '72 versions have a lot of drive and melt to them, these rarer '73 versions have a lot more open space and ambience to them.
• This is a truly incredible Playing in the Band.  Pretty much any version from this '72-'73 is going to transport you somewhere far out, but instead of one blazing mess of weirdness, this Playin' instead is made up of several smaller thematic elements.  This is more like a '76 version in that respect, but still very '73 in its fluidity and agility.  There's even a little bit of Mind Left Body Jam in there from Phil, which as far as I remember was only paired with Playin' one other time (12/02/73).
• Here Comes Sunshine is the secret hero of this show, another great jam vehicle that they inexplicably dropped after this year.  A lot of the Spring versions of this song fall flat for me compared to the stately and pristine versions from the Fall.  While this one isn't exactly pristine, it does stand apart from Spring versions due to its energy.  It sounds almost like they're going to totally break the ending jam open like they did in Boston two months prior, but they eventually decide to close it out.
• The Black Peter here is exactly perfect for the era.  No big fireworks like in post-hiatus versions, just laid-back psychedelic fever music.
• Of course the big vehicle in this show is He's Gone > Truckin' > The Other One > Wharf Rat.  There's no jam after He's Gone, they just go right into Truckin'.  They jam on Truckin' for a bit after the verses, and then everyone gets out of the way for Phil and Billy (as this section is labeled on some tapes) to shred the fabric of the universe.  Even Billy drops out for a bit while Phil gets really metaphysical.  You expect him to slam into The Other One at several points, but instead he crafts a totally unique jam that Jerry and the others can't help but join in on.
• They mellow down and Keith starts getting grokky with his Rhodes, and eventually they twist over to the Other One, though they don't spend much time on the theme.  Once they finish the first verse they evoke the second one by coming across an empty space, and really exploring it.  I was struggling to find words for this, and landed on a foreground of silence with a background of noise.  There is a lot of deliberate and heavy silence, but at the same time behind that you can hear them making a wallpaper or a tapestry of feedback that never quite breaks the surface.
• 1973-06-24  Portland
• The problem with reviewing multiple shows is that you can't help but compare them and try to figure out which is "better."  As a result of that, I feel compelled to say that this show may be the weakest of the box, but considering that it's a show with an amazing Dark Star > Eyes and one of the best Box of Rains (boxes of rain?) of the year, "weakest" is not the word I would otherwise use to describe the show.
• I had been listening to a lot of later Dead recently, so these early Looks Like Rains and They Love Each Others were very welcome changes to me.  LLR used to be so soft and delicate before it became and Jerry and Bob rave-up.  And of course everyone loves a sprightly '73 TLEO!
• Donna is so great on this show.  Not only does she refrain from murdering Bob when he comes in at the wrong time in BIODTL, she also slays You Ain't Woman Enough.
• This Dark Star, as I mentioned above, is fantastic, and not quite typical of the era.  Sure it does have some of the hallmarks, like Phil's 6 jam/proto-solomon jam, but it also features some unusual elements, like a short drum break before the first verse.  It starts out the same way as any other from the era, teasing the theme but ultimately abandoning it until Phil takes the reigns.  Instead of a big, crashing feedback > bliss evolution post lyrics, it just spaces out into a nebulous void until they start Eyes up from nothing.
• There are some questionable chords at the beginning of Eyes that could be attributed to tuning, jazziness, fuck-ups, or just general weirdness.  After than that it's as straightforward as Eyes can be.  Phil hadn't yet started doing his solos in the outro jam, and this is a pretty tight and clean version, especially through the last few changes and 7 jam.
• Phil introduces Saturday Night with, "now since it's Sunday night," because he's a Prankster.
• 1973-06-26  Seattle
• This one might be my favorite of the '73 shows.  It's maybe not as tight as Vancouver, possibly due to technical issues throughout, but I think the playing is just a bit more inspired.
• I really like the opening pairing of Casey Jones > Greatest Story, a transition that as far as I can tell was never done before or after this, even though it works so well!
• This is probably the best China > Rider of the '73 shows, very smooth and confident transitions, and again totally inspired playing.
• The second set jam sequence of this show is what really ties it all together for me.  It's same basic set-piece as Vancouver, but this time He's Gone is a lot slinkier, and they jam it out instead of going right into Truckin'.  Bob name drops Seattle in Truckin' without missing a beat, which is honestly pretty impressive.
• They keep the post Truckin' jam short and Billy flies into some fast and primal drums, followed after not too long by Phil's intro to the Other One. They do a lot more with the theme in this one, really flexing their muscles.  Phil keeps dropping short bombs that Jerry and the others spin off of.  They start to drift off a bit, and instead of coming back into the vocals, they swing into a suddenly sweet Me & Bobby McGee.  Normally when they do these weird sandwiches, the "straight" song in the middle has unusual hints and shades of psychedelia, but this one is so crisp could have been plucked from a first set.
• Once they finish it though, Phil is eager to get back to being as weird as he possibly can.  They get to through the first verse, and then all bets are off.  The rest of the song is pure madness, and Phil is maddest of all, putting his speakers (and mine!) through wave after wave of clawing feedback.  This should come with a warning about operating heavy machinery while listening because...damn.  Phil is working with some very powerful forces here.
• Instead of doing a ballad, or even doing the second verse of the song, Bobby slides into Sugar Magnolia.  Maybe he thought the local authorities would be hot on their tails after that Other One, so it would be best to skedaddle before they could fully collect their brains off the floor.
• 1974-05-17  Vancouver
• Jumping forward almost a year, the band is arguably the best it ever was.  All the new material from '73 had been fully assimilated or abandoned, and the new songs were starting strong out of the gates.  The Wall of Sound had grown into its final form, this being its fourth show fully assembled, and the band was already pretty adept at utilizing it.  While listening to a soundboard of the Wall kind of misses the point as far as audio clarity in the real world is concerned, but you can still hear how cleanly and separately the different instruments were amplified.  Jerry's Wolf guitar especially sounds huge and expansive here, every note clearly heard.
• While it's debatable whether or not this was the best year for the band, it's a hard fact that it was Keith's best year.  Not only was his piano amplified the best it ever would be, this was the year Keith became a master of the Rhodes.  He has some great Rhodes playing in '73, and even some cool electric piano (maybe it's a Rhodes?  I'm not a gear head) in Fall of '72.  But by '74 Keith could play that sucker like no one else.  He could be aggressive, spooky, atmospheric, or all at once, playing it more like an organ (and better than he played the organ) than anything else.
• This show features a relatively rare '74 Dire Wolf.  They playing is good but it is way too slow for me.
• Playing in the Band is as big and deep as you would expect for '74, and there's maybe a hint of them thinking, "I wonder how long we could do this for..." before they do decide to wind it up.  Phil really demonstrated just how rumbly he could get the Wall to be.
• Truckin' here features one of Bobby's worst Truckin' scores as far as lyrics go.  The whole first verse goes right out the window, and he's late for the second verse, but besides some musical ribbing the rest of the band doesn't miss a beat.  They slide smoothly into Nobody's Fault, with Jerry singing instead of just soloing over the lyrics section.  They jam out of it on the theme for a bit before getting real weird and spooky.  You can hear them figuring out where to head from here as they melt down, until Jerry kicks them into Eyes.
• This Eyes has a rocking feel, not as in rock and roll but more like a boat rocks on the water.  It has a certain sway and pulse to it as it unfolds.  The song really opened up from '73 to '74: the solos between verses got stretched out, and the members of the band all know it so well that they can play around the beat instead of just doing the main riff while Jerry solos.  The outro jam on this one is phenomenal, Jerry and Phil totally dominating the soundscape while still listening and reacting to everything else the band was playing.
• 1974-05-19  Portland
• This is the show that they're releasing on its own from the box set, like 5/8/77 & 3/20/90 from previous boxes, and in some ways it's easy to see why, and in others it's a little puzzling.  There are Wall Problems for a good chunk of the concert, including totally obscured vocals from Sugaree to El Paso.  Bobby makes a statement about them difficulties, but those same difficulties make it hard to hear what he's actually saying.  That said, the playing in this show is maybe the best all around of the box, and to put it delicately, the second set kicks a lot of ass.
• Half Step was almost two years old at this point, and is already showing signs of the grandness that it would have post-hiatus.
• Loose Lucy & Money Money kind of go hand in hand for me, two very syncopated and free songs that take advantage of how tight the band was, while also inviting them to loosen up a little.  Money Money sometimes even breaks into 7/4 time, which is part of what makes it such an interesting song to me.  Sure the lyrics aren't ideal, but the music is so angular and exciting, it's a shame they didn't keep it around, maybe tweaked the verses.  To me it's not glorifying misogyny any more than Me & My Uncle or Jack Straw glorify murder, it's just supposed to paint a picture of that character, including how evil they are.  But maybe I'm just justifying it so I can listen to Phil's bass line during the bridge...
• '74 was the best year for China > Riders, and this one has got to be the best of the box.  It just feels so much more complete and full than the '73 versions.  It's very well suited to the bigger sound they got out of the Wall.
• Throughout the marketing of this box, Lemieux kept coming back to the Truckin' sequence from this show, and I can say with confidence that it was not overhyped.  Truckin' started getting jammed out in '72 right before Europe, but in '74 it was repurposed to be a springboard for any kind of musical idea, not just The Other One (or Eyes or Dark Star occasionally).  They usually set it up with a thematic jam like Mind Left Body (which does appear here for a bit) or Spanish Jam, but other times it would go into totally new territory; this is one of those times.  They do touch on MLB, but then they go into something far more hard rocking than I was expecting.  Instead of cavernous echoing feedback this is a driven, bursting-with-life-and-spirit, masterpiece of rock and roll.
• It goes into Not Fade Away, but that almost Primal energy is still present throughout.  Instead of the normal flowing transition into GDTRFB they break the jam down a bit with a little call and response between Jerry and Keith, and then shift naturally into it.  Just exactly perfect.
• 1974-05-21  Seattle
• These '74 shows are a great presentation of Billy's Jazz Drummer Phase.  In the Grateful Dead Movie, he described his drumming as basically dancing, and it's easy to hear that.  He's not holding down the beat so much as flitting around it, trusting that the rest of the band can keep time as well as he can (and they do!).  He plays so free and syncopated in ways totally different from any other year, and it really does sound like he's trying to be a jazz drummer.  Later in the year he got a little too frantic (*sniffsniff*) and the music got a little sloppier, but here in May it totally works.
• This show is obviously known for having the longest Playing in the Band, but that means the rest of the setlist is often overlooked.  You can tell that the band is on tonight right from the start, and call me crazy but I think it's Keith who thanks the audience after Me & My Uncle.  It doesn't sound like anyone else, except maybe Billy, but I think it's Keith.
• Every one of Jerry's solos feels like it's ready to totally burst free of all restraints, like every song should be 47 minutes long tonight.
• There's a lot of great slide work from Jerry on Row Jimmy and Weather Report Suite.  I can't imagine what that must have sounded like in person.  Wolf already so big and and present on the Wall, and then you add that slide to it?  Fughettaboutit.
• We may never know exactly why the Dead played 47 minutes of Playin' this night.  Did they decide beforehand that they were going to play it as long as possible?  Did they just get lost in the powers of the Wall and had no idea how long they were playing?  Did anyone in the band get bored halfway through but had to wait for the rest of the band to circle back to the escape line?  Whatever the case, this PITB is heavy duty stuff.  Different themes come and go as Jerry and Phil dive in and out of tangles of feedback.  It's hard to say much more about it because it's just so dense and filled with ideas, all you can do is listen to it over and over and catch something new each time.
• The setlist "normalizes" a little bit after Playin' winds up, but they release they still had some weirdness left in them and start up a quick and fuzzy Eyes.  It's really a very straightforward Eyes for '74, in that it's fantastic and exciting, but it isn't 20 minutes long.  Not that you can complain about the length of a song after that Playin'!  They settle down into a very nice Wharf Rat, probably my favorite of the box.

     All in all, as good as the box looks, it sounds even better.  It ties six different shows together from the same locations just a year apart, providing not just snapshots of the different years but a way to track the Dead's growth within that year.  Between the changes that happened Summer and Fall shows of '73, the recording of Wake of the Flood, the epic run at Winterland in February '74, the creation of the Wall, and the projects the band members had done on their own, the difference, they were in a lot of ways a changed band by the '74 tours.  But these Northwest shows have a shared energy that bridges the time between them, producing some of the best music the Dead have released.

Another 30 Trips Around the Sun

     Ever since the 30 Trips Around the Sun box set came out in 2015, I've been tempted to write a show-by-show review of it.  Every time I've gone to start it though, I realize just how much work that would be, and now that it's 2018 it seems kind of irrelevant.  About a month ago, though, I had a brilliant idea for something that I thought would be easier: making my own version of the box set!  Everyone had criticisms and other options for the shows that Dave Lemieux chose, and while I think he mostly made the right choices, I figured it would be fun to take my own stab at it.  And it was definitely fun, I'm very happy with the choices I made, it was also a lot more involved than I thought it would be.

     Before we get to the shows (or skip ahead, I'm not your boss), I want to outline some of the considerations I was making that made it so much harder than I was expecting.  My first consideration was to try to put myself into Dave's shoes.  He of course has the Dead Vault to work with, which as you probably know is far from complete.  Apart from shows that are just plain missing, there are various collections of master tapes from Betty Boards to random stragglers that haven't made their way back home yet.  There is enough evidence online to compile a fairly comprehensive list of what Betty Boards exist, which ones have been returned, and therefore which ones are still missing, but I was already in over my head and will let someone else do that calculus.  What I tried to do instead was go off my own personal collection (which is rather extensive if I do say so myself) and kind of call that my Vault.  When it came to years like '86, '92, and '95 that I'm not too familiar with I had to reach out for some help online and utilize the archive here and there, but I'm fairly sure that all the masters from 86 onward are in the Vault...right?

     Besides the obvious considerations of the quality of performance and recording (in that order), I wanted to make sure each show was a fair representation of the year as a whole.  Some years are more dynamic than others in terms of playing style evolving over time ('69 going from Primal Dead to Cowboy Dead for example), so I wanted to pick shows that represented the varying styles of that year.  So for '86, I didn't go with any of the great shows from December, because Jerry and the rest of the band really turned a corner after the coma, and the same is true of '92.  I also wanted to keep the shows from being too similar to the ones that Dave chose, because otherwise what's the point of going through all of this?  One of the trickiest things was balancing the shows so that two adjacent years wouldn't be too similar, while also getting an even showing of the whole catalog of songs across the 30 trips.  I'm realizing now that too many shows are from Berkeley, and I have maybe one too many Scarlet > Fires, but I'm not going back now.  I do think that overall this is a pretty damn good take at a 30 Trips Around the Sun though, and I hope you agree.

     Reviewing each of these shows in any kind of depth might kill me, so I'm just going to post the dates with links to the recordings on the archive, and some relevant notes for each one.  Some of the links I post aren't to the exact recordings I have.  You search for the shows here in my listening log, which is slightly hyperbolic but at least gives an indication of what shows and songs I really liked, and the recording quality on a scale of 1-10, factoring in Soundboard vs Matrix.  Leave your own comments down below on what shows you agree or disagree with.  I tried pretty hard to make sure none of these shows had been released (except for a few songs here and there), but if you know that any of these have been officially released please do tell me; I'll pick another one and only cry a little bit.

• 1966-03-25  Trouper's Hall, Los Angeles, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1966-03-25.139750.sbd.miller.clugston.flac1648
•  This first year of the box gave me more grief than probably any other year.  It's far from the best or most iconic year they've played, but there is a ton of material released from it either in whole or in large portions, which made finding the right show harder than I had anticipated.  I owe a lot to the incredible work done here to figure out the actual dates of shows.
• That said, I'm still very happy with this show, especially because of the standalone jam that really signifies where the band would head in the next 30 years.
• 1967-03-18  Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd67-03-18.sbd.fink.10282.sbeok.shnf
• While a better year than '66 by far, there are a lot fewer full recordings available, so my choices again were limited.  This was still an easy choice though, because this show is great, and is a snapshot of Baby Dead right before they got Primal.  The sleeper performance here is the jam in The Same Thing.  It comes out of nowhere and is totally lysergic.
• 1968-10-12  Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1968-10-12.139745.sbd.miller.Glassberg.flac1644
• Again, thanks to the hard work of Lost Live Dead, Dead Essays, and the comment sections of the Archive, I was able to make sure this was the right date and the full show, which has circulated as 10-13 for a long time.
• Pure Primal Dead, but no Pigpen sadly, which almost made me skip over it.  But this has always been one of the best performances of arguably their weirdest year, and the jam after New Potato is not to be missed.
• 1969-04-21  The Ark, Boston, MA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1969-04-21.sbd.miller.88465.sbeok.flac16
• This one came to mind right away when I thought of a good '69 show.  It captures the Live/Dead vibe from a couple of months earlier, but also has some hints as to where the band would be headed next.
• Not really one particular standout to point to, just listen to the whole damn thing!
• 1970-06-06  Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1970-06-06.sbd.miller.86951.sbeok.flac16
• The version I have of this doesn't have the acoustic set from the beginning of the show, so I think in this case we would say that set is missing from "The Vault," and just put out the electric set.  Because it's incredible!
• Ok, the Dew is kind of sloppy, but the rest of the show is as close to a perfect '70 show as you can get.  It doesn't have many of their new songs with the exception of an early Attics of My Life.  It also features a rare New Orleans in the middle of Good Lovin'.
• You Lovelight naysayers might not love this one, but I think a 24 min Lovelight that goes into NFA and then back into 10 more minutes of Lovelight is a great excuse to boogie down!
• 1971-08-15  Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1971-08-15.sbd.gustin.131.sbeok.shnf
• This and the next show are two more that immediately sprang to mind when I came up with this project, and if you listen to nothing else from this list listen to these.
• Seriously, I stand by this one as the best show of '71.  It's got Super Phil leading the band, and they are willing to follow him even unto the darkest regions of The Other One.
• 1972-09-15  Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1972-09-15.133998.sbd.miller.flac16 
• This is in my Top 5 Shows Ever category, a perfect example of the year as a whole, and an even more perfect glimpse of that wonderful Summer/Fall '72 energy.  Maybe not as good as Veneta for some, but for me it's got everything Veneta has but with The Other One to add a little more edge to it.  The Other One goes into a jam in 11/4 for a while too, just as an extra tidbit.
• 1973-10-30  Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO
• https://archive.org/details/gd1973-10-30.sbd.miller.32367.sbeok.flac16
• This year was kind of hard to choose from because A) So much has already been released, and B) everything is so good!  I went with this one because it's not only a fantastic show, but it's arguably the most '73 a show can be: it has every song from Wake of the Flood except for Let Me Sing Your Blues Away.
• All of the jams in this show embody the Fall '73 duality of bright sunny bliss jams, and dark brooding feedback.
• 1974-07-25  International Amphitheater, Chicago, IL
• https://archive.org/details/gd74-07-25.sbd.fink.1072.sbeok.shnf
• After two Other One shows in a row, I figured it was only fair to do two Dark Star shows in a row, even if this Dark Star doesn't have any verses in it.
• July of '74 is the best month of that year for me.  The band had fully grown into the Wall of Sound, but hadn't yet dissolved into the bickering and tensions that ultimately led to the hiatus later in the year.  Keith especially shines on every show that month, and he really gets a chance to flex his muscles in Weather Report Suite and Dark Star.
• 1975-06-17  Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1975-06-17.sbd.GEMS.96125.flac16
• My hand was kind of forced on this one, as every other show from this year has been released.  I was planning on doing the totally gonzo 3-23 show from Kezar, but that was apparently released as a bonus disc on some other release.
• That being said, this show really is good.  There are no lyrics to Help on the Way or Blues for Allah yet, so it's mostly just another giant jam fest, which is awesome.
• 1976-09-27  Community War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY
• https://archive.org/details/gd1976-09-27.sbd.miller.87664.sbeok.flac16 
• You've probably heard this show before, and you haven't you're missing out.  From the amazing Fall '76 tour, this show falls right between the two that make up Dick's Picks 20, and I've always wondered why it wasn't released on there instead of the Landover show from the 25th.  This must be in the real Vault, because the Other One was released as part of 30 Days of Dead in 2011.
• Besides the second set sandwich that really is as good as it looks on paper, this show also features Supplication without any verses.  While I love the words to Supplication, this means it got even jammier, which I potentially love more!
• 1977-10-02  Paramount Theater, Portland, OR
• https://archive.org/details/gd1977-10-02.123102.sbd.miller.flac16
• This one was kind of frustrating, because the Road Trips series of releases really did a number on October '77. It's all over the place with what shows it picked from, but this one is allegedly totally unreleased.  Which is crazy!
• It opens with the first Casey Jones since the hiatus, and while Jerry totally whiffs the verse after the solo, this leads to the longest ever Casey Jones because they just keep going through the solo over and over until Jerry feels confident enough about the lyrics.
• This second set is also, if I do say so myself, the perfect representation of Fall '77.
• 1978-05-05  Thompson Arena, Hanover, NH
• https://archive.org/details/gd1978-05-05.sbd.miller.112180.flac16
• If I had to write up a '78 setlist, this is what I would come up with.  Which isn't to say that this is just an average show for the era, because on the Dead's only trip to New Hampshire they played their asses off.
• Dave Lemieux has described (in not so many (or many more) words) an era of the band that lasted from May of '77 to July of '78, and May of '78 is a special little epoch within that era.  The band was at perhaps its peak level of confidence and power, but also feeling very loose and funky.  This leads to a lot of fun and inspired playing, including maybe my favorite Lazy Lightning > Supplication.
• 1979-11-02  Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
• https://archive.org/details/gd1979-11-02.142393.sbd.miller.flac1648
• Fall of '79 is when Brent really cemented his role in the band.  And while I generally agree with the sentiment that the 80's started in '79, there's still a bit of that 70's energy, especially from Phil, who kind of faded into the background in the next two years.
• '79 is also another good year for unexpected and unique jams, like the one at the end of Saint of Circumstance.
• 1980-08-30  Compton Terrace Amphitheatre, Tempe, AZ
• https://archive.org/details/gd1980-08-30.sbd.miller.110152.flac16/gd80-08-30d1t01.flac
• Summer of '80 is one of my most recent discoveries, and it's so incredible.  From May-early September the band was on a hot streak.  Their new material was all maturing very nicely, and they were getting a lot more adventurous with their setlists.  This particular setlist is pretty standard, but the playing is all top notch.  Even the early CC Rider is a thrill!
• 1981-08-28  Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1981-08-28.sbd.miller.113680.flac16
• '81 surprisingly gave me a lot of grief.  There are some good shows, but I was having a hard time finding ones that were good throughout.  A lot of the obvious choices fell flat in different parts of the shows, and they just left me feeling meh.  But then, like a bolt of lightning through my skull, this show came to mind!
• Honestly this setlist seems like it was written for me.  It's missing The Other One, and I could probably do without Rooster, but otherwise everything is right up my alley.
• Not to miss are the extended jams out of Wheel and Never Trust a Woman, and of course I'm just an absolute sucker for Spanish Jam, especially when it sounds like this.
• 1982-04-14  Glens Falls Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY
• https://archive.org/details/gd82-04-14.sbd.braverman.7629.sbeok.shnf
• Ok, I've gone this far without saying it, but I think my pick here is better than the official one.  I like my '74 pick better, but that's just taste, both shows are definitely great.  But the official '82 show has an incredible setlist, and while there are definitely some great songs, for me it really just showcases how sloppy they could be.  By the end of the show it's all just misplaced bombs and bloat, and the Dew only kind of makes it better.
• This show though, is hot!  There are a lot of good Playin' sandwiches that year, and this one really does it for me.  And who can say no to Deep Elem?
• 1983-09-11  Santa Fe Downs, Santa Fe, NM
• https://archive.org/details/gd83-09-11.sbd.dankseed.4995.sbeok.shnf
• We all have a certain beret-wearing ferret to thank for reminding me of this show when the latest Dave's Picks was released.  It's an undeniably excellent show from another epoch of excellence in the band's history.
• It's also another setlist that's just designed to catch my eye.  Maybe the best Help>Slip!>Frank of the mid 80's revival, a second set Let it Grow that really grows, and of course a Dew to top it off.  Do not skip this show if you have not heard it before.
• 1984-10-30  Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd84-10-30.mixed.ladner.22256.sbeok.shnf
• Ok, I guess Fall is just a great season to see Dead shows in!
• Scarlet > Fire was always a great pairing, but something about mid-80's versions really makes them stand out to me.  Those melting Spring '77 ones will always be on their own pedestal, but I think that 83' and 84' have so much more power.  And Brent's ability to seamlessly switch from one keyboard to another really makes him a much more adaptable player in this song than Keith ever was.
• 1985-09-03  Starlight Theater, Kansas City, MO
• https://archive.org/details/gd1985-09-03.123078.sbd.miller.flac16
• Ok, this one is pretty similar to the official one, but this year and the next are not in my wheel house.  '85 was a wildly variable year, with setlists and song selections never seen again, and when they were on, they were on.
• The reason this one is so similar to Dave's is because I think we were both trying to capture the best of the variety of that year.  Bringing Cryptical back was a huge move, and Comes a Time was played as frequently as it should have been!
• It's also cool to see bits of Big Dead from that late 80's start to peak through the cracks, most visible in Drums > Space.
• 1986-04-22  Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1986-04-22.sbd-pcm.miller.34768.flac16
• I was at a total loss for this year, but thanks to the suggestion of a good friend on the internet I added this baby to my collection.  And at the end of the day I like this one better than the official one.
• This show seriously blew me away, Jerry is so present and active, and the rest of the band (except maybe Brent...) seems almost up to their tight '87 glory.  This has a nice mix of that tightness but also some gratuitous solos and explorations by Jerry.
• 1987-09-08  Providence Civic Center, Providence, RI
• https://archive.org/details/gd1987-09-08.sbd.miller.106715.flac16 
• I figure one of the most '87 things you can do is put Hell in a Bucket in the place of either Scarlet or Fire, and I think this is a show where it actually worked pretty well.
• The energy in this show is incredible, and while I typically don't like post-coma Other Ones, this one really cooks.
• 1988-07-15  Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1988-07-15.141964.UltraMatrix.sbd.cm.miller.flac1644
• I figure after breaking Scarlet > Fire apart the previous year, I'd better put in a good one to make up for, and if this one doesn't do it for you, I don't know what to say.
• Gimme Some Lovin' > Morning Dew is a surprisingly good pairing, both songs are cathartic in their own ways, and Jerry's lick going into Dew is so simple but glorious.  And then he proceeds to just tear it up.
• 1989-08-18  Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1989-08-18.sbd.walker-scotton.miller.83774.sbeok.flac16 
• '89 is best known for its Fall shows, but the Summer run features some truly mind bending shows, this one included.
• I also picked this show because aside from the quality of performance, it also contains some songs I wanted to make sure were fairly represented, like Crazy Fingers and Iko.
• Victim or the Crime > Bird Song is my kind of pairing too!
• 1990-06-15  Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1990-06-15.sbd.miller.106144.flac16
• In the official release Dave went with the second half of '90, when Bruce and Vince were in the band.  While I definitely have my fair share of Brent in here, I really wanted one last show with him.  And this one's a doozey!
• One of the best latter-day Help>Slip!>Franks, a slinky Just a Little Light (maybe my favorite Brent song), and a weird but fun MIDI jam from Man Smart to He's Gone.
• Even the Around & Around on this is excellent, and that's a song I'm not even sure if I hear when it plays anymore.
• 1991-06-17  Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
• https://archive.org/details/gd1991-06-17.137545.sbd.miller.flac24
• This is probably the most '91 show there is, making it an easy choice.  From opening with Eyes to the bits of Dark Star sprinkled throughout the concert, this must have been one hell of a trip for anyone who was there.
• Seriously, they basically play an entire Dark Star in between and in the middle of all the other songs this show.  Bruce seems to be the main instigator, essentially just playing Dark Star on accordion for all of Masterpiece, but Jerry and Bob are quick to pick up on it and tease it out.
• 1992-03-05  Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
• https://archive.org/details/gd1992-03-05.140299.sbd.cm.miller.flac1644
• This was another year that I struggled with, having mostly avoided anything before December when Jerry made his second (and final) recovery.  I found this one through the help of Deadbase 50 and suggestions from Twitter, and was very pleasantly surprised.
• An early showcase for some of their newer songs like Way to Go Home and So Many Roads, while certainly not one of the Dead's best shows, it is another good portrait of the year it comes from.  The Eyes > Way to Go > Estimated sequence is a lot of fun to me, but I've always had a soft spot for that Vince song.
• 1993-03-17  Capital Centre, Landover, MD
• https://archive.org/details/gd1993-03-17.dsbd.miller.79050.sbeok.flac16 
• I've really come around to '93 recently.  Jerry was at his healthiest for the 90's, Vince had found his niche in the band, and their new songs were being combined more confidently with their classics.
• While Playin', Dark Star, and The Other One are all way too short, the jams that connect them to the rest of the set really pay off.
• Liberty and Days Between are also two of the very best songs from the 90's, so I was happy to have such a tight show that also had great versions of them.
• 1994-10-14  Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• https://archive.org/details/gd1994-10-14.sbd.miller.79167.sbeok.flac16 
• This is a show I stumbled upon a couple years ago that just blew me away.  Fall of '94 is widely known as the last great peak for the band, and for good reason.
• You can still hear Jerry's voice failing and feel the darkness creeping in around the edges, but the playing is totally electrified.  The Fire on the Mountain alone is longer than some Scarlet > Fires, and filled with so many different approaches to the song from Jerry.  Whether he's playing with filters and octave splitters or just plain shredding, you can't deny that he was playing for keeps this night.
• What really puts this show over the top for me is the second set Attics.  Please, stop whatever you're listening to and put this on.  While it's not "exactly perfect," the harmonies and soul bring a tear to my eye every time.  Jerry is singing like he's in a gospel bluegrass band and it's so damn good.
• 1995-03-23  Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC
• https://archive.org/details/gd1995-03-23.142397.dsbd.miller.flac1644 
• I was at a total loss for this year, but once again Deadbase 50 came to the rescue.  Bruce shows up in the second set, and you can hear his presence lift Jerry's spirits.
• So the playing was better than expected, but '95 is just a rough ride if you love Jerry.  Again I think my pick for this year is better than Dave's, but I think it's just because of Bruce's effect on Jerry.  The playing is better than the rest of the year, but his voice just makes me want to cry.

     Well there it is!  Ending on '95 is maybe not the happiest way to end this post, but that's just how it happened.  Like I said above, I'm very curious to hear what you think of these pics.  Is there an even better '92 show I should have gone with?  Is one of these actually mislabeled and from another date?  Or just tell me I did it perfectly and get me a job at Dead.net!  This is coming out right as the newest Box Set is being delivered across the country, so expect to hear some more analysis from me very soon.