The first set starts a little sluggish. The "Iko," "Walkin' Blues," "Candyman," and the "Queen Jane" are okay, but the show doesn't start to congeal until the fabulous "Althea." A pleasant early version of "Blow Away" sets up a great expansion "Cassidy." The song had really took a big step forward from the 70's were most versions were under 5 minutes. Here "Cassidy" is the focal jam of the set and is no wonder why the Dead would feature this song on their next live album. The set closes with a rip roaring "Deal."
The second set opens with the common "China Cat," and the band really riffs on the closing jam til Garcia comes in with a curveball of "Crazy Finger." This is the first time that "China Cat" was followed by as song other than "Rider" since 1/2/72. On this version, "China Cat" appeared in the middle of a "Good Lovin'" jam. The first time the duo was paired together is 9/30/69 and besides the one "Good Lovin'/China Cat/Good Lovin'," the band kept the two songs pair together, although sometimes they would be played with a little extra mustard that would be quoted as having a jam between the combo. So this is the only time that the band put a song in between "China/Rider." A unique moment in time. Bobby doesn't let the momentum rest as he launches the band into an energetic "Playin' in the Band." Although the song gets enveloped into a spacey jam the band finds their way back into the "Playin'" reprised before "Drums/Space." The stand out song post-"Space" is the the "Believe It Or Not." The tender love song that Jerry sang 6 times in 1988. Then they did it one more time in 1990 and the song was gone from the repertoire forever.
I: Iko, Walkin' Blues, Candyman, Queen Jane, Althea, Blow Away, Cassidy, Deal
II: China, C Fingers, Rider, Playin', Drums, Space, Wheel, GS Lovin', Believe It, Sugar Mags E: Black Muddy
No comments:
Post a Comment