At risk of putting all '71 up here. Tell me to stop if too much! I just love the twangy country versions, knowing the evolution in store for it.

Extremely powerful. Strong vocals, massive sound, tremendous jam, great mix. Coming off 30 minutes of TOO like a parachute from the ionosphere.

Intricate zigzagging solo work from Jerry, tight ensemble playing. Doesn't ever "soar" like some of them, but more exploratory and compelling.

They announce the set-break, then decide to blow out the tubes on this one, capping one of the best 1st sets of 1971.

Snarling guitar solo and great organ sound in an excellently mixed (Bobby audible always a plus) SBD. The whole first set is sweet heady goodness.

This is cool and innovative, but not even a little bit on my list of top ten or twenty. The Help>Slip is interesting for its slower groove, but honestly it starts a bit sleepy, even dragging, and Jerry's out of tune - sorry guys - for part of it. The Franklin's finally picks up the steam, and there's a nice little China Cat melodic teaser around 4:20 in, like they were telling us that they hadn't forgotten about it during its off-time. Really, though, Frankln's also gets a bit scattered by minute 7:00 and I can point to many more above this one on this page that I'd take to the desert island with me first. My 2 cents, that's all,

Absolute stunner. They were clearly all warmed up and ready to go from the first note of the first set, and this just caps it off with a great stand alone SB. Starts nicely in the pocket, then Donna adds subtle, gentle touches, as sweet as she ever got with the '76 sound, and then it's off to the moon and back. At around 10:00 or so Mickey (presumably) starts throwing martian golf balls around the cowbell and it kicks everyone into the next level. Should have many more votes here. Don't vote for the mis-listed SB>Fire on this page!

Very hot for a show opener. Gives the heads heads-up that the boys mean business.

Thanks Catalonia for the essay link. I'll read that asap. I love the deadessays stuff. There's a great one about how 76 Dancin' in the Streets versions. All in all there's a ton of great '76 stuff, which I think goes mostly overlooked. The sound is still rougher than the best of the studio-tight '77 shows, there isn't that wild anything-goes feeling of the pre-haitus years. There is, however, a sense of big open spaces, that any song could become a new vehicle for deep spontaneous composition - not just the big Playin's or Dark Stars (in fact no Dark Stars all year). I'm going chronologically - you noticed! - but I prefer not to rush things. I'll spend a couple of days on a single show rather than trying to get through them all so fast that they all become a blur. Next year? I'm thinking of going through '77, but I know most of that year already. I might also deep dive into '69 - a big mostly undiscovered terrain. There's a whole lot of Dead out there. Peace, brother or sister or whoever you are.

Leads into a unique 6 minute unnamed jam mislabeled "Drums" on some versions. Very cool.