If you ask me the major bummer about the Road Trips series is that there were so many bonus discs. Don’t get me wrong, in some cases the bonus discs were just as good as, if not better than the material in the rest of the release. But the things are really expensive if you’re the type that wants to have everything. It doesn’t seem like there any chance of a “box set of bonus discs” either, although I’m sure something like that would sell quite well.

So with that caveat, I will say that this volume of the Road Trips series is one of my favorites. The playing is killer in my mind and I don’t really mind the frankenstein track listing. Of course, hearing how hot these shows are I can see the point of the “full show” crowd and perhaps the full shows for these should have seen the light of day. But even the two disc set is all killer, no filler so you can’t really go wrong with it if you ask me.

The Wheel first appeared on Jerry’s first solo album but didn’t show up in the Dead’s repertoire until 1976. It went on to be performed over 250 times between 1976 and 1995.

Listening to this version was a revelation of sorts as I note in my description of the song, notably in terms of the rhythm leading out of space.

So see what kind of mileage you get out of the song and let me know about your trip. Enjoy!

The Wheel emerges out of Iko Iko, but the rhythm being played sounds more like Gimme Some Lovin’ than The Wheel at that point. Phil nudges the band in that direction, but it really takes Garcia to complete the transition. Jerry plays some slow, loping lines. It sounds like they can’t quite decide when to launch into the verse and run through the progression an extra time or two to ensure everyone is on the same page. Jerry and Donna duet here to great effect. In fact, Donna really stands out here, making me wonder what it would sound like as a Donna solo song. The song almost takes on a tribal quality with Phil playing straight eighths and the rhythm section following along around the 3:15 mark. This is another song that show cases the band’s dynamic awareness. Billy said that when Mickey returned to the band they couldn’t turn on a dime like the could with just one drummer, but The Wheel shows they could be pretty serpentine when they wanted to! Around the 5:00 mark The Wheel comes off and the band searches for the path to the next song, eventually landing in Wharf Rat.

Complete Setlist 10/7/77

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