NYE was the big party, but listening-wise, the show is the off-show of the run, with the challenge of following one of the best shows ever. Interestingly, it sounds exactly like a cross between a '77 and a '78. The first set is kind of short at under 1hr, to make room for the NYE countdown. Above-average for a NYE show, but not a standout for '77.First Set. Solid opening songs with a longtuning going into. Lyrics are duffed forbefore Jer lights fire with a weird effect. Phil is great on- though (as with most of the show) earlier in the week it's better.is the month's best. Not a bad set, but not the heights of the previous nights.Second Set.is an unlikely pick for official release - average but not standout.is slop city until the jam, then the set starts to tighten up.has a terrific jam section and Jer stays in the zone into. The rest is off for '77 (or '78, in reality), with Bobby getting hoarse. Jer tries to expand the solo onbut the band isn't exactly ready. With a run this good, an average set of GOGD is the bottom set.: B-: COverall = 3 StarsHighlights:Friend of the Devil - peak of 1st setWharf Rat>Not Fade Away - night's best jam/best JerSOURCES: The tetzeli.fix-286 is the best transfer in terms of clarity and image. Lazy Lightning>Supplication, Sugar Mag, and Scarlet>Fire are bonus tracks on

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Is the recording missing the Sunshine Daydream Reprise?



Been asking that question for years. I have always maintained that the band came back on stage and finished the show with a SSDD encore some 10 minutes post Casey Jones, but no one has ever corroborated that fact except for Larry who attended the show with me.



Blue Moon. A dazzlingly luminous fog free full moon night -- the second of the month. It was our fourth show in five days. We both missed the first set of this show, came in different vehicles, and somehow miraculously found one another before they launched into the countdown.



Frankly, I'm all out of superlatives for this run of shows. In their own right, all four were barnburners. The band displayed an abandon thru those four shows like I've never seen. Very enthusiastic was the playing. Have always maintained that the Thursday nite show (29th) was the GD's greatest show ever. Well, it was for me the greatest show I've ever attended, but now I have to admit in all honesty that this is an equally fine show.



The rub on the Dead was that they didn't play very well on NYE's because of various reasons and I have to concur -- sort of. I saw them play NYE in 70, 71, 72, 76 & 77, and it always seemed as if these were some less than stellar performances. I have to now purge 77 from the list of ho-hum NYE shows and elevate it to the status of one of their greatest shows. Why, just like all three of the previous nights, it's pedal to the metal.



There were reports that the long jams are not extant on this show and it's true but I think the jams are more tailored and succinct. Nothing wrong with that when all the rest of the songs are liquid fire issuing forth like a giant zit exploding out of a volcano.



Simply must tell you more about that night, but I don't feel like it now. Perhaps I will someday recap our glorious night of nights to you at a later date. I say this to try to force or encourage me to write and submit it.



And like Bill Graham I too attended two shows that night, but I should not tell you about that either, except I sang Alley Oop at the Finnish Hall in Berkeley and then jumped into my car and drove to Winterland. I arrived before midnight thinking they would start the countdown on time but they started it late and so Larry and I got to see the entire second set. If either of us would have left the Finnish Hall that night one second earlier or one second later, we would not have located each other at Zoo Winterland. And what's amazing was that just as two people left their seats we materialized instantaneously to claim the now vacant seats at the same exact moment.

- July 2, 2011Missing Sunshine Daydream?