Solid smooth jamming on China Cat for a solid, beautiful 8 mins, including the FGJ. Rider has Phil high in the vocal mix, to a very nice effect.

Builds and builds and builds, faster hotter faster and hotter. The crowd goes wild (stage antics?) Something special was in the wind.

Who's playing the Theremin? There's definitely something odd going on here. Was Ned Lagin sitting in?

Slower tempo gives this one a special feel. Jerry sings it with great gusto and a deeper bluesier feel then others. The whole ride is great fun.

The band is having fun with it on live TV, even though squeezed into under 4 minutes: http://vimeo.com/35129207. Bobby slides over the disco beat.

Ok, so there's a bit of controversy as to whether this show ever happened. Nevertheless, don't let the rough AUD beginnings fool you, at around the 03:15 mark this one clears up into a SBD patch and the jam is one of clear, well-grooved professional '70 sound. Pig's voice is beautiful, and whether or not they were really in Hawaii for a two-show vacation seems beside the point. Here it is. Enjoy. Of course I'm referring here to track 2 on the Archive's only version of this date. The "Easy Wind" track 12 from the same date (questionable) sounds like some filler from another date, plus the mix is very off, with patches of only Phil audible, and almost no vocals in it. Track 14 on the same date is yet a third "Easy Wind", which is also of fairly wrecked tape quality.

The outro, definitely, kicks hard, with just the right amount of prog epic on it. Here, have an upvote.

Very strong intro, with the mellow post-hiatus sound magically merged with that perfect '77 musicianship. Great transition into NFA too.

Hey Dantian! Welcome aboard friend. If you dig Dancin' from '76, (and I know you do...) then check out how they start tweaking it big style in September and October of the same year. There's some wild transitional free-form stuff from the Fall '76 tour, and they're some of my top-shelf Dead from of all time. Cheers!

Will cause brain blisters if used improperly. Chases that eerie mystery at the heart of this song that can make it so transfixing, and sometimes even slightly menacing. Jerry sounds like he could just go on forever here.