You Didn't Mean Goodbye

Every once in a while I throw out that an interesting Grateful Dead Box Set would be Europe 81. The band toured there in the Fall of 1981, which was a solid time in Grateful Dead history. The band tightened up some of there sloppy time signatures that plagued some nights in 1980 and was firing on all cylinders. While some of the shows didn't feature many 20 minute jams, the band didn't get lost in some of the more precise tunes.
Now I already featured the Bobby Birthday show from this European tour, where the band borrowed instruments and busted out songs like "Gloria" and "Lovelight." Today's date features a bust out of it's own along with some really clean playing. Download the final Rainbow Theatre show HERE and HERE.
The "Shakedown" opener sets the table for a fluid first set. There aren't may long pauses in between songs like there were in the 70's. The second set opens with a song that was debuted earlier that year in "Woman are Smarter." Wonder what the band reaction was when Bobby brought that song to the table. "He's Gone" is delightful. The band takes their time with the song, which makes it the focal jam of the first half of the set. All the other "Drums/Space" of this run are around 10 minutes long, but at this show the "Space" itself is 12 minutes long. At the four minute mark of "Space," Jerry plays a familiar note progression. The band has not played the tune in six years and only played it three times, but "Blues for Allah" has been dusted off. The band handles it in the abstract, but clearly they are fiddling with the tune. They would only one more "Blues for Allah" jam, in a similar circumstance out of "Space." The next little setlist quirk is the split "Sugar Mags/Sunshine Daydream" that begins after "The Wheel." This is the third of the three that happened in 1981 and all in the Fall. This one is comic because after the "Stella Blue/Good Lovin'," Bobby forgets that they had split up their "Mags." He recovers to rock the English crowd out till "Brokedown" sings them home.

I: Shakedown, Minglewood, Roses, Rooster, Althea, Uncle, Mexicali, Never Trust, Cumberland, LL Rain, Might As Well

II: Woman, High Time, Estimated, He's Gone, Drums, Space, Blues for Allah Jam, Wheel, Sugar Mags, Stella, Good Lovin', SSDD E: Brokedown