Viva la Zone

nedb on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 – 02:31 pm

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The following review can't be

The following review can't be Bucky due to a glowing endorsement of Stella Blue...

Reviewer: The TRUE Bucky - March 14, 2014
Subject: How About The Wheel?

This show is full of the highest octane, most high energy playing I ever heard from the Grateful Dead. Many songs this evening contain great & even 'best' or 'favorite' versions' for me.

Starting with the double-time CC Rider out of nowhere halfway through the song (we were at a total loss at the time and thought perhaps they had started Sugar Mag for an intstant in fact). The jam in CC Rider smokes & I will guarentee you no other version comes close.
A great Cumberland & sweet El Paso, what more can you want? Well, we got it: The ripping Passenger - show me a better one, followed by a sweeter than sweet Birdsong when the song was upbeat & actually sounded like a bird in flight instead of Dark Star at it's slower pace from the late 80's/early 90's (not that that this was such a bad thing, lol). They finish off things with the best, most shredded Let It Grow I have ever heard: Just the best first set I've ever seen.

The second set features a great Shakedown, a fantasic second set Big Railroad in the Ship of fools slot (how's that for an upgrade?.) A fairly average Playin for the time that features some inspired playing by Jerry near the end that reminds me of ripples of water going outward on a starlit lake that is quite impressive but shortly dissolves into the drums.

As for Lost > Saint, I must say I was damn sick and tired of it by now after 50 shows in 80/'81, of which about half saw 15 minutes of valuable time wasted shilling this duo for record sales for Go To Heaven. Therefore, I'll let others critique it. I will say that it always sounds good on tape these days (but still remarkably similar version to version). We were quite shocked when Bob screamed "What the F*CK you gonna do now!" at the end of Saint though......

The post drums sees the GD at their finest.....

An eerie space is just the start of the period in which the band had been playing some much improved space compared to the previous two years (Dec ember '81-'Spring '82). It's really amazing ~ Hints of 'Jaws' in there...... The Space hits a peak at the end that is incredible with Jerry playing some sc athing notes that almost reach 'The Tiger' before dropping into.. THE Wheel...

The Wheel that follows is just epic, again, the greatest ever, imho.

This version goes on & on, building, Jerry building up the most intense & tastey intro & finally, after almost 4 minutes, the singing begins.

The jam out leads into a sweet & extended Playing Reprise, one of the first of the Wheel > Playin' combination..

Of note, it's the very first time the band extends the Playin reprise in years, a practice they continue the rest of their career. Then a Stella with a superb ending I've never heard topped. (which only left me wondering what a Morning Dew would've been like on this night of extriordinary playing). They finish things off with a tremendous (if vocally chasllenged) Sugar Mag, which was a huge surprise, consideing they had been ending every show on a Saturday the previous 7 months with Sat Night (boy did my friend Dave give me grief over that, but that's another story).

All & all, from the start to the end, one of the best GD shows I ever saw & the playing on just about every song is off the hook. 5*'s.

Added thoughts, 11/39/13:

BTW: Nobody mentions security.. They were jocks from Indiana U I believe. In any case, they would not allow dancing ~ my friend was thrown out during Cumberland Blues as I slunk away...

We couldn't resist during the incendiary Let it Grow, and made it through most the song before being cleared out.

Later during the space, I saw my friend... he'd been readmitted & told his story to the head of security, who had issued a edict to allow dancing. So, we danced from the space on.. :^)