Super loose in the joints and fun. They seem to be searching for the '71 sound throughout the run here but I like this one.

High powered and super charged. The last third of the first set is a real killer.

Not the best show, but the best Rat of this run. 4th ever, but the first one to stretch out and become its full self.

Want to be present at its birth? The infant Bacchus emerges. I love this song. This is the 1st time they nail it.

Passes through many phases, always exploring new riffs and hinting at further jams without ever losing its essential feeling and sound. Great stuff.

Go to the Charlie Miller cleanup and you get a great deal more out of Bobby's brilliant work gearing up Jerry and Brent's extensive jam. Jerry has an endless supply of ideas, bringing it on like ten musicians in a high-steppin' conversation with themselves.

I always say that listening to a show's Truckin' is the best way to tell how switched on they were on any given night. A lot of Heads overlook it, but done right - and this one is a fully heady 'done right' - Truckin' is the anthemic 'We are the one-and-only Grateful Dead' head-turner that put people on the bus for good (or for ill!).

As much as I love this show and this song and the stripped down '74 one-drummer coherency, it does sound a bit in places like they were struggling to hear each other through the monitors. There's just enough delay and scramble to make it a bit looser than probably intended. I'm just picking nits, but by Scarlet (next song) they're much more in sync. It's Europe '74 so it's all good. So much love for this show.

Almost all of them? There's great energy, sure, and it's a famous show and movie we all love, but they sound disconnected from each other for about eight minutes before scrambling what might be the easiest lyrics in the whole repertoire. They do finally catch the groove, but then go into The Other One for 2.5 seconds before giving the Devils their due and letting Billy and Mickey loose. Sorry if this sounds snarky, but there are 100 better NFA's on this page.

So much to say again about this one, but really this melodic feedback transition into Sugar Mag hardly even counts as a 'meltdown'. It's a few moments of nerve-jangling tweaky bits at the end before it arrives in peace and beauty for a soft landing. Haven't you guys ever just taken a little bit too much, and passed through a hairy freak-out patch on your way back into the beautiful light? It's just like the lyrics describe: "reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis" and "mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter". The best DSs show us how to get into and back out of the hard part and this gives you just a wee taste rather than the whole deep dark dangerous shattering. I wouldn't change a note. If you want the really heavy dose of weirdness check this rarity out: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=550860