Jerry’s solo is off the walls crazy. A train going top speed and I promise that train won’t slow down! Great energy here overall.

As Jerry shouts, “You know he had to die.” BANG! A massive gunshot right on rhythm. Great reprise with great drum work from Billy and Mickey.

Jerry takes off and soars. Gets really heavy, and out there FAST. Experimental passages and new themes explored. This is what the Dead do best.

Billy and Mickey flowing in and out of the main TOO rhythms. They’re both putting each other to the test as they really get deep in this one.

“At this risk of being repetitious we’re going to do another song in the key of G.”-Bob Weir. This version is quite sweet. Patchy audio, great version

I was expecting to see this one with at least triple the votes, man, this is magical. Hermetic principles being express through sound waves, the regal and majestic music that they perform is nothing short of brilliant. Jerry is a melodic wizard, conjuring his magic through his absolutely brilliant lead playing, which leads to incredible moments of brilliance from the whole band, who picked up on the bending of time and space through Jerry’s wormhole opening playing. Witchy to cosmic real quick. You can tell how much the band is feeling it here, and how Bird Song developed into one of the staple jam tunes in the 80s in place of Dark Star or The Other One of the early 70s. Stunning version unfortunately overlooked by the famous MSG bird song a few night before(which is still phenomenal) 80s Bird Songs, specifically 81 Bird Songs, soar as high as they can.

12 votes?? Come on y'all. Anyways, this suite of Dark Star>Eyes>Stella feels like witnessing a movie. One of my favorite things that the Dead do, whether intentional or not, is when they’re able to create a narrative between different songs. Take 4/24/72’s Dark Star>Me and My Uncle>Dark Star>Wharf Rat. As I’ve called it many times, it’s truly a cowboys surrealist daydream, and the emotions and images conveyed through the pairing of songs just like this, really stimulates my imagination. With this trio, it feels like an inter dimensional descent into the void, very gothic, and very existential. The Eyes had this indifferent attitude accepting the true nature of our universe, along with Stella which felt like a melancholic moment of acceptance. Keith once again gets a gold star for his playing here, creating wonderful descending motifs that create such a unique mood for the tune, and Jerry’s playing is particularly somber and eloquent. A WONDERFUL display of his melodic prowess. This should be rated higher.

Divine inter dimensional space music. As everyone mentioned, around the 9 minute mark we get some MAGIC. Phil tries to take the lead and make Jerry go to the E flat section of the jam, and Jerry keeps going playing in E Major, adding a beautiful dissonance, Keith gets the memo and supports Jerry through this adding this stunningly wonderful passage of music that adds the perfect amount of tension to the music, before ultimately dissolving into cosmic dust and entering deep space. The Slipknot section sounds completely alien, like they were communicating the true absurdity of our universe, and in just a blink of an eye, creation, and we snap back into the 4th dimensional jamming that was going on before that. What ensues is a duel between Keith and Jerry, shadows dance in the night as a witchy jam ensues, only to ultimately enter into this calm meditative space, as we hear about the autobiographical tale that we know as Stella Blue. The boys are truly comfortable with this tune, and they can take it anywhere they want to.

After the meltdown section, Jerry shows off his newly developed jazz fusion chops and puts them on full display, showing that he can truly go toe to toe with the heavyweights of the guitar world. His playing is so precise, and otherworldly here, it’s uniquely Jerry, and you can see why he was such a unique musician with a VERY clever ear. Channeling Weather Report, electric era Miles Davis, Bach and Beethoven, Art Tatum, the Blues greats before him, Latin and West African highlife influence, and when all combined it leads to such a unique sound of this era, a universal sound. Jerry went beyond his bluegrass roots and channeled all his new influences right there in that moment. Phil and Keith lead the jams up until the last meltdown, which is by far some of my favorite experimental passages with Phil’s feedback calling to the outer reaches of our universe, a call into the void. One of my favorite Dark Stars, with its slow start and gradual descent into cosmic realms, it feels like falling asleep and finding yourself in an indescribable dream.

This should be checked out!!! Might be the best version I’ve ever heard. Jerry gets absolutely MEAN and shows no mercy to his strings. This energy is genuinely wonderful, and Phil shines BRIGHTLY on this creating wonderful pockets of rhythmic brilliance. This is ROCK N ROLL!!!