3rd ever and it's a beauty. Show uneven at first, then comes together with Cryptical>TOO>Wharf for some righteous Dead, looking for their '71 sound.

Along with every other bit of this concert, raging good time energy and virtuouso groupmind, aided of course by one of the most ultimate AUDs ever.

Stop everything you're doing and listen to this now. No really, do it. Now.

Something happens to Playing' in Europe. Check 'em out, one by one and watch it grow. This one is the bomb. Outrageous shredding.

Listen to this, then listen again for Jerry's solo: Come back and tell me Big River is a "throw away" song, cause he damn-well tears it up here.

Went back to the 26th and 2nd of October, which are more often cited as the first NFBM jams of '72. The 2nd has a clearer statement of the melody, leaving no doubt what Jerry was thinking. But this one is much much clearer to my ears than the 26th, just the night before. It doesn't start with a straight statement, though, so may have slipped through the cracks. For those interested, here is a brilliant essay by a deep scholar on "The Dead's Early Thematic Jams", which is pretty cool. http://deadessays.blogspot.ch/2010/01/deads-early-thematic-jams.html

...and the MHUT out of TOO is totally surprising. I can't think of another TOO>MHUT jam any other time. Plus the version stands on its own as a worthy upvote. The Rio section is ultra sweet.

This show starts off a bit rocky, but this song is where the band really finds their groove. Vocals, as mentioned, are just spot on.

This is tremendous. This is a stop everything and listen to it now kinda thing. Somehow I'd never heard this one before tonight, but I'm pretty sure I'll be listening to it many many times now... in a row. There's a lot to it, including a brilliant brilliant Phil/Billy duo that would be hard to find parallels to anywhere else. With all respect to Grendel, I would humbly suggest that Billy sounds more like Tony Williams than Buddy Rich here - more channeling Tony's interactive poetry and muscularity than Buddy's fine-tuned engine at 6800rpm. Jerry's re-entry after the duo must have melted down more than one sensitive brain, and is some of his finest acid-washed genes on tape. Time to listen to it again.

The only reason this isn't much much higher is the fact that it was recorded from the bottom of a full swimming pool. The Philo Stomp (two rounds) and Tiger Jam blowout are just brilliant, and the He's Gone is just so sweet. Great suite, but a tough AUD.