It's got everything nice about the '76 sound: Crisp and clean while laid back. Perfect execution.

Bobby's warmup after a CRS opener helps kick off one of the best 1st sets of 1976. Part of the brief era when they mic'd and mixed Donna beautifully

Gets right weird as part of a deep PITB sammy. How many first set spacemelts are there in '76? Something in the water for this hometown show???

How these guys (and gal) could turn such a cheese-ball song into massive lift-off spaceship jam event horizon is a modern miracle of music.

Smooth running, out of a very cool, thematically coherent Drums. Beautiful harmonies. Every Wheel is an elegant treat from '76, and this is a beaut.

Absolute stunner. They were clearly all warmed up and ready to go from the first note of the first set, and this just caps it off with a great stand alone SB. Starts nicely in the pocket, then Donna adds subtle, gentle touches, as sweet as she ever got with the '76 sound, and then it's off to the moon and back. At around 10:00 or so Mickey (presumably) starts throwing martian golf balls around the cowbell and it kicks everyone into the next level. Should have many more votes here. Don't vote for the mis-listed SB>Fire on this page!

Very hot for a show opener. Gives the heads heads-up that the boys mean business.

Thanks Catalonia for the essay link. I'll read that asap. I love the deadessays stuff. There's a great one about how 76 Dancin' in the Streets versions. All in all there's a ton of great '76 stuff, which I think goes mostly overlooked. The sound is still rougher than the best of the studio-tight '77 shows, there isn't that wild anything-goes feeling of the pre-haitus years. There is, however, a sense of big open spaces, that any song could become a new vehicle for deep spontaneous composition - not just the big Playin's or Dark Stars (in fact no Dark Stars all year). I'm going chronologically - you noticed! - but I prefer not to rush things. I'll spend a couple of days on a single show rather than trying to get through them all so fast that they all become a blur. Next year? I'm thinking of going through '77, but I know most of that year already. I might also deep dive into '69 - a big mostly undiscovered terrain. There's a whole lot of Dead out there. Peace, brother or sister or whoever you are.

Leads into a unique 6 minute unnamed jam mislabeled "Drums" on some versions. Very cool.

Definitely a weird one, the meltdown is long and heavy, even a bit aggressive - maybe the weirdest one of the year not known for acid meltdowns. This isn't a first-time, convince your friend about the dead kind of Playin', unless your friend is into Trout Mask Replica and free jazz, and all that. The transition into Wharf Rat, is all the more amazing for it, out of wild abstraction they come in fast, landing on one of the more literal, prosaic (in the good sense) and story-telling songs in their oeuvre.