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FreedomHaul

Grateful Novice

+17699


Submissions

5
New Minglewood Blues
May 4, 1977
The Palladium

At least as good as Barton, but not as well known.
5
They Love Each Other
May 4, 1977
The Palladium

very nice. Garcia's floating effortlessly above band.
8
Big River
May 4, 1977
The Palladium

1/2 Step > Big River. The run of top shelf May shows starts here.
5
Uncle John's Band
May 3, 1977
The Palladium

Each night of this run has a stellar encore. I prefer 04-29's UJB, but this one's still very solid.
4
Not Fade Away
May 3, 1977
The Palladium

Builds and builds.

Comments

St. Stephen
May 5, 1977
New Haven Coliseum

Stand alone version with NFA/Iko Iko style first jam. Nice 6/8 section towards end, with "Truckin'" tease (even more than a tease, since they seem to be going there pretty full on), then Bobby enters early on outro vocal material and > Sugar Mag. I don't hear the Morning Dew tease. Or of highlights of a lackluster second set.
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
May 5, 1977
New Haven Coliseum

This one left me pretty indifferent. Garcia struggles some with the lyrics a couple of times, and while there's a lot of coked out bouncing around on the main "Fire" progression (a la 05-08), the tempo's a bit slower and I don't think it works as well. Might need to give it another listen.
Estimated Prophet
May 5, 1977
New Haven Coliseum

coherent playing from Garcia, you can tell he's getting more comfortable with this material. At first I was irked that Bobby resented with the vocals when he did, but it actually presaged a nice studio-like fade out.
Bertha
May 5, 1977
New Haven Coliseum

Slow moving but with soaring leads from Garcia (a la 05-17 "Scarlet").
The Music Never Stopped
May 5, 1977
New Haven Coliseum

Phil comes through the Betty Board to spank your ears with funkadelic goodness. Also, love how this seemed to emerge from the tuning before hand (one of my key markers for a stellar version).