favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite

I saw the Dead 86 times and this was my clear favorite. By far. This has been reviewed so much that I’ll try to cover the scraps of ground not already covered on this deservedly legendary show. This concert and the night before may stand as a unique moment in the Dead's career as an example of a stylistic breakthrough that catapulted them to new stratospheric heights and wild new directions. Garcia had been quoted in interviews throughout the 80's about Dark Star no longer being part of their repertoire. He stated, in essence, that "we have just played it out" meaning there was no new territory to cover. So what happened to change his/their mind?The previous night in Hampton saw the band fully integrate MIDI technology into their show where it had been “beta-tested” in Drums/Space for nearly a year or longer. I did not attend the October 8th show, but they were using MIDI in Candyman, Birdsong and Slipknot to name a few standouts. This is also an excellent show that often gets overshadowed due to the other-worldly proceedings the next night.The first set of this show is pretty fantastic. The band sounded like I had never heard them before. I was stunned at all of the strange new sounds from Bobby, Brent and especially Garcia where he was producing a tone and effects that he had never used before. Even the drum equipment had new additions that hinted at mysteries untold. Things were really different in Stranger, the solo in Built to Last, the solo in Ramble on Rose and even sections of Row Jimmy. The crowd was buzzing during the break and as I was above the taper’s section the band’s highly evolved new instrumental and overall concert sound was the topic of most conversations.Lights go down, Playin starts and not just 20 seconds after the “jump-off” point at about 2:55 Garcia busts a tone that had jaws gaping. The tone alone gets a cheer from the crowd. What follows is arguably the most interesting and exciting Playin’ jam since the epic ’72-’74 versions. This is truly “another level” type of mind-think improvisation that we always knew the band was capable of playing, but rarely attempted much less achieved. The segue into Uncle John’s was almost a surprise after touring the outer edges of the universe. This version is really powerful and confident if not precisely perfect (when is it ever?). Back into Playin’ with more digi-weirdness, a pregnant pause and then the famous tetrad of notes that every true Deadhead knows and adores. This was really weird to behold in person. The beginning of Dark Star caused this exceptionally odd sort of hesitancy in the crowd. Nobody could believe their ears/mind. It took until Garcia sang “Dark Star crashes” until we all could truly get over our disbelief and be sure it wasn’t some kind of tease or cosmic bad joke or that we had gone mad. The end of the first verse before the band launches into the “floating part” was sustained ecstasy. The jam in Dark Star is wicked, dark, intense, revelatory, etc. MIDI opened these guys up to tackling their old workhorse once again. Wow. Drums were extraordinary since Billy and Mickey were well aware of the history taking place and the crowd was just in silenced awe.The Death Don’t Have No Mercy is my favorite version of this song. The round-house verses, the cohesive and musically brilliant instrumental jams and the emotion in its execution is another comparable highlight to what had just ensued. The rest of the second set naturally pales in comparison and was frankly hard to digest at the time that night. This is interesting since the versions here are quite superb and at any other concert would have likely been considered the highlight of the night. The Dead had one more trick up its sleeve with Attics as the encore. This, in the old days, had been difficult for me to listen to on tape since the vocals were, um, poor. That made this arguably more impressive breakout that much sweeter. This is a knock-out version and it was obvious from the killer vocals that the band had recently been in the studio and that there monitor sound on stage must have been perfect. This for me was the ultimate instance of the “last sweet kiss goodnight” effect that the Dead rule over in music history with their encores. I have the chills as I write this remembering that the sound and band and audience seemed to be embracing my soul.Something happened after the band walked off the stage that I have never seen before at any of the over 1000 concerts (total of all bands, not just GD) I’ve attended in my life. The house lights came up, the crowd stood standing and stunned. Nobody moved. Then from a few claps the place erupted with vicious applause and screams of pleasure. I was not the only one that had tears of joy and disbelief in my eyes leaving the Coliseum that night.This is the best audience recording of this show I’ve ever heard. It blows away the soundboard since this is a show that requires you to at least have a matrix recording to hear the chill-inducing crowd response. I still thing about Jerry every day. Guess I still miss that old guy.This is a bellwether show, definitely five stars, and arguably the best show the band played going back a decade or more. In my humble opinion, of course.