John A

Good grief does that ever look like the ultimate tastiness!

Morning Dew (torrential downpour)

Talk about a setlist that'd keep one off their feet from start to finish. An inspired looking flow. I mean, Maggie's -> Mystery Train? Yo! And to top it off a bust out!

2muchfun - I haven't gotten to the Palladium yet (my stereo will blissfully come out of 6 months relocation driven storage next week!), but as fate would have it post drums Buffalo was on Sirius XM as I was driving yesterday. The body of Comes A Time was sublime, and listening to Garcia spit out a tour's worth of gorgeous high pitched notes in the outro jam was breathtaking. That'll be a tough one to beat!

Man, witnessing Spring '77 in person? Regardless you win! And it's sandwiched between Playin' and the Playin' Reprise no less. My memory says 5-9 is the one, but specifically because of the insane volume of beautiful notes Jerry delivers in the outro jam. I will freshly cue up 5-4 in the near future. I'm not suggesting the body of the song can't compete...

That show has a solid claim for the greatest Stella Blue. And that's a weighty statement. At the very least, it's irresponsible to declare another Stella the GOAT better before listening to Lexington. It's akin to Comes A Time 5/9/77 Buffalo. You can't proclaim a different preference for the GOAT without discussing Buffalo.

Hey - nothing wrong with spirited disagreement! I liked the unique angle of the forces outside The Dead as narrated in real time with The Dead's story. I was also intrigued by Jerry's apolitical stance juxtaposed with the political zeitgeist, and I loved how the author wove Jerry's technically non-political views, using Jerry's own words, with what was happening outside The Dead's scene. Of course a boring vs a propulsive read lies in the eye / mind of the reader. I've communicated with few folks who've read the book; a couple loved it and one very much did not. I guess now it's 50/50. But for this experienced Deadhead, the book provided greater insight and enhanced details of Jerry's formative years, his personal relationships, as well as his personal life going forward.

Maybe the craziest thing abut DSO's late 60s recreations is the original sets were sufficiently compact such that the filler can be worth the price of admission. 😁

Set 1: Bertha ; Greatest Story Ever Told ; Loser ; Black Throated Wind ; Bird Song ; Beat It On Down The Line ; Tennessee Jed ; Me And My Uncle ; Friend Of The Devil ; Playing In The Band ; He's Gone ; The Promised Land Set 2: Brown Eyed Women ; Mexicali Blues ; Truckin' > drums > The Other One > Stella Blue ; El Paso ; Ramble On Rose ; Not Fade Away > Going Down The Road Feeling Bad > Hey Bo Diddley > Not Fade Away People should really start using Grateful Sets as a set list source.

Oh, dear... to have experienced these BCT shows, in The Boys' backyard no less (hell, Phil even went to Berkeley High School). The absolute peak of their powers. Talk about hitting some DSO recreation pay dirt. And Veneta was right around the corner. Goodness gracious. I caught DSO doing the show on this run with Dark Star -> Morning Dew, down the street from the BCT at the UC Theatre on University Ave. Perhaps as good as I've witnessed them play; at the least I've not seen better than the Dar Star -> Dew itself. And with a flask from the bottle of Mitcher's Barrel Proof Bourbon that Rude had smuggled in from the bottle he'd hauled from Kentucky - the cherry from mixed case he'd driven out for me. Actually, I think Meili might have smuggled it in. Anyway, you get the picture.

What a show to officially welcome The Boys back - and with all those bust outs, no less! Don't really need filler after that debut Wheel encore. Only show with a Might As Well opener and only show with a Wheel encore.

Try Stagger Lee from 9-15-78, which was included on the release Rocking The Cradle from the Egypt shows. It's the 3rd time they played it live and Jerry's having a good ol' time. Not weak whatsoever!

Fortunately no ROTC marching or bouncing basketballs found their way onto the 5-8-77 recording. 🤣

While we know Miracle > Bertha happened via the partial SBD, we don't know when. The board is cut up, and it's unclear what order the snippets are in. There's no evidence of exactly what happened in set 1 after Stagger Lee, and a likelihood that Cassidy, Peggy-O and Music were not played. Noting Garcia's condition during Stagger Lee, it follows they'd get off stage with less vs more. This invites the possibility that Miracle > Bertha closed the first set after Stagger Lee. If this is the case, the post drums may have been just Black Peter > Good Lovin', but possibly with the likes of an Other One or a NFA before the Peter.

Only to come out the gate with the first Don't Ease since 1974! If you want to know just what the valium did to Jerry, listen to Stagger Lee. But be forewarned, it will hurt to do so... I wonder where DSO came up with this setlist. There are no known audience recordings, and the soundboard that circulates is cut up and incomplete. But there's definitely a transition from Miracle > Bertha in the partial board, which per Tea's post did not happen in the recreation. It's also curious why they stopped the first set after Peggy-O. This is the final Dead show that can rightfully be labeled "set list unknown." Rob B posts here occasionally, so maybe he'll weigh in.