Beautiful Crazy Fingers! To me, the most peaceful/enjoyable of all GD songs.

Really nice audience tape. Thanks for making this available on the site!

At the very beginning of the tape, you can gear a guy yelling, very loudly, “Hey That Mic Sucks!”
And that’s funny.

This show comes close to being a great one several times, but they continually pull up the reigns just when things have the chance of pushing it past the 4 star boundary. Of course, this is June 76, so there are several fantastic moments woven into the fold.

They break out in fine fashion. The Promised Land is rollicking. For the 7-10 minute variety of Sugarees, this one is very good, then they sort of stroll through to an excellent Tenn Jed. The Supplication is strong. Sadly, as far as they go, the Peggy-O is unmentionable.

The Playing has all the makings of a monster, but they pulled back at 15 minutes, when it really seemed like they had at least another 10 minutes of aggressive creation in them. Fortunately, it was cut short for a slam basket killer St. Stephen. Especially considering it was only the 6th time played after a 5 year hiatus, not to mention the fact that these 76 St. Stephens, for the first time, saw the band leavings the min/max 3-5 minute Stephen behind, exercising its potential as a jam vehicle. Fwiw, of the previous 5 76 versions, only 4 were jammed as such. In any case, for my money, the St. Stephen is by far the highlight of the show.

Again, the Wheel has all the making of a stellar version, and certainly contains a lot of beauty packed into just a few minutes, but one longs for more. The Crazy Fingers> Stella is fun, and well played, but certainly not the high water mark that combo has the potential to be on paper. Around is fun as well.

As mentioned, while this is a fine 76 show, with several moments showcasing the capacity for otherworldly perfection(See 7/17/76 Comes a Time), When placed next to the likes of the aforementioned 7/17/76, 7/18/76, 6/14/76, 6/29/76, 10/15/76, or 12/31/76 among others, it really comes off as near pedestrian.

Still, easily worth the listening, especially for the Playing>St Stephen.

Restricted by the rules of archive, I give this a
Playing: 7/10
Sound: 8.25/10
Overall: 7.5/10

7.5/10

Everyone knows how the first is. The best band with the best girl at the best time of the world.

This is a fantastic show. Great energy. It is missing at least one track though. I'm listening to a podcast put out by KOPN 89.5 and it appears as though Scarlet Begonia's was played between Looks Like Rain and Lightnin'(here's the link to the show for anyone who's interested:Deadpod).

Hey Now, This show will get my day started just as much as when I was sitting 12 rows center at the classic Auditorum theater in downtown Chicago. A little hollow, but very crisp recording. An exceptual set list too! Definitely worth a listen.
Alot of us could'nt wait for the Dead's return to active playing. Looking back , ashame they did'nt do this in the early 90's, take some time off to regenerate. My best first night experience, two day's before I called my local record station WMMS,asked for some Dead cause I was on my way to Chicago. Well, they did'nt play much Dead on the radio,then, but the DJ told me the Station had 12 complimetary tickets, and nobody from the station was going. if I could get down there he'd give them to me. Damn this was a Miracle! So after getting off the train I had tickets to pass out,trade,&sell. Paid for my room,got my high,and had pretty girls all around me. No Lie. And the DEAD were back baby!

This was one of my first boots as well. I was not being critical in the above just straight... 7/17/76 for instance crushes it all the way through and is virtually unknown - This tape was in pretty wide circulation due to the good quality.

Set I: Promised, Sugaree Cassidy Tenn Jed++
Set II: Playin is great but right when it starts getting to syrupy and out there they bust out a rocking St Stephen with a upbeat and long jam>wonderful but short Wheel. Solid Stella and a good close with Arnd. Falls a little short but I am sure everyone (judging by the crowd on this excellent audience tape) had a good time.

OK, so I was only 13 - I wish I had tuned in by this time and seen some of this incredible Bicentennial magic. For me, this was always a favorite tape and now I can enjoy it on disc, so I echo my thanks. Keith is really pounding. So very tight - I cannot recall a better Tennessee Jed.

This is a real historic show for me... Of course, it is the first Chicago show after the Dead came "out of retirement." But it was also my first show, and it rocked my world. (I'm still obsessed today!) The Auditorium was a neat music venue. Almost like an opera house in character - it was intimate and offered good acoustics. And the audience was really pumped to see the band again, so the energy level was nice and high.

The highlight of this show for me is the Crazy Fingers/Stella Blue suite in the second set. Indeed, watching Garcia for the first time run all over the fretboard, you couldn't help but agree that they were "crazy fingers." And the performance of Stella Blue brought tears to my eyes. This is one of the finest live performances of this song that I've heard.

This is a good recording of a very good show. I'm thrilled to be able to listen to it again! Thanks for putting it up.