A Dew>Playin'>UJB>Playin' jam of outrageous power, starting one of the great months in the band's history. Pity the show's not complete, though.

Video w/ TC. See it to believe it. And believe me, Carrion Crow, it's an absolute beauty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqArOogY-c

Get lined up, put on your helmet, then prepare to be shot out of a cannon for about 30 minutes. This is what early Dead is all about.

This one's a must for fans of this song: I know I'd trade some of my tomorrows for one more yesterday with Bobby & Co. Sweet and meloncholy....

So beautiful I had to stop it mid way through and start it again. Impassioned, clear sounding, great vocals and harmonies. (Phil!) Perfect.

First ever, and it's in full swagger and just sweet rockin'. Ignore the ridiculous audiophobes on the archive: This show is burning up from the first note, and much clearer than all the 10th gen tapes we used to have, so skip it and miss out. Dig?

Thanks for the kind words, Sleuth, I do love me some '71 Dead.... Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of different years, but something about the earlier ones just keep me coming back for more. For me, the best of '71 has the intimacy and - dare I say it - innocence of the previous year while transforming into the jam colossus of the Keith and Donna era. I haven't really gotten around to a systematic go-over of the years I followed some tours (mid-80s mostly), but I'm going through '71 one show at a time and man, it's worth it. Thanks archive!

Very hot, yet somehow laid-back jam. Bobby and Jer tear it up for ever. What a treat this is. The locals somehow got turned on in Chateau d'Herouville - who'd have figured?

Just absolutely beautiful, this one.

I'm ambivalent about this one being so high up in the ranks, but not because it isn't awesome. It is. The jam after the drum work is just spectacular and beautiful, going through so many different phases (Stephen tease at 07:20). It's one of the early foreshadowings of where they were going into heightened technical musicality (the Bird Song from this show shows the same...). I'm ambivalent because its just so totally removed from the fissile psychedelic explosiveness of Alligator as it was at its peak years of '67-'69. Gotta note that this was the last show in the Fillmore East, and maybe a bit of a "farewell run" for some of the old tunes. Anyway, it's beautiful. Peace.