Spectacular depth, detail, and feeling. Drummers drive the transitions, while Jerry offers cool rhythmic variations.

Exploratory transition jam! Very different from most early versions. Has that anarchic ’60s energy.

Practically flawless early version played with focus and intensity.

High-velocity, high-power jamming magic, all packed into less than nine minutes. Intense. From a wonderful overlooked show.

Very well played and sung! Pity about the audience member humming along out of tune, but otherwise a fine ’69 AUD.

Unbelievable heat in this set. Jesus.

Immaculate soloing here — and I love the segues in this pre-Drums.

I am astonished that this officially released powerhouse version had only one vote when I went to look it up. Filled with sly ’78 magic.

I see my negative comment from years ago drew jeers, and misunderstanding. I didn’t say the outro fell apart — I complimented that part — but I pointed out that there are some noticeable wobbles earlier in the song stemming from the slow tempo. It’s *hard* to play Stella that slow. The song keeps fighting it, and you can hear that. You have an ensemble of musicians trying to figure out on the fly whether they should hold a given chord for one bar or two. It’s awkward. But there’s also some really beautiful guitar work and singing in spite of all that. I love the Dead, love Stella, love May ’77, and do not relish the role of killjoy. If this is your favorite version, great!

To me, this is one of the best versions after the initial more exploratory wave (’82-’83) had subsided. Thunderous arena rock.