Part of a great first set, the band is on fire, and Pigpen in great form. Tight rocker.

Cracklin' and snappy version. The band is über tight and having fun.

Bobby blows a gasket on this one. Raw and powerful, showing exactly where they were headed before Europe. High energy rocker.

I'd argue this was the first Playin' as we came to know it after the end of the "Main Ten" and "country warbler" versions from '71.

After a pretty sloppy 1st set, they charge up and nail this one. Phil goes bananas on the out chorus.

Sublime intro jam, that goes into a Bird Song-like jam around minute 8 just before the first verse. The Phil and Billy-driven transition jam then sets up some modal jazz that prefigures their '74 sound. It's deep, long, and cruising like a ship out of orbit and gearing up to Warp 10. We then re-enter with some beautiful melodicism for a bit just before the madness kicks in with what sounds like Phil or Bobby strumming their axes with a cello bow (weird space bugs and giant vibrating jellyfish). This turns into a white-knuckler not for the feint of heart. Don't let the sweetness of the first sections fool you: This isn't entry-level Dead. Moderate your dose according to need/experience. :^)

Perfect description by the sleuth here. And if there's any doubt, just listen to the waves of happiness sweeping over the audience as they transition to it from that eternal Dark Star right before. There's just no way this was going to ever turn out wrong. This is the kind of Stephen-love that got me on the bus as a baby head back in the day.

Great version with a soaring climax, but here's a slight correction on the first comment: Bobby threatens to kill Bear, and then offers the contract to the roadies. If you know anything about the Dead's crew, this was a much more credible threat! :^)

Good comment Grendel. I think the June-July '72 shows are all underrated here. There isn't a clunker amongst them, and they show one of the bands great transitions between the workshopped excellence of Europe (22 shows in a month and a half....) and the freeflowing insanity of the Berkeley and Venata epics just around the corner. They just aren't as well known, but they're every bit as wonderful. Also, can any of us really imagine what they were going through watching Pigpen fade out in such pain? And yet there they were playing music like this almost every day. What a legacy.

Jerry just keeps finding one more gear to kick it into. "Shredding" doesn't even begin to describe it.