Part of a great first set, the band is on fire, and Pigpen in great form. Tight rocker.

Cracklin' and snappy version. The band is über tight and having fun.

Bobby blows a gasket on this one. Raw and powerful, showing exactly where they were headed before Europe. High energy rocker.

I'd argue this was the first Playin' as we came to know it after the end of the "Main Ten" and "country warbler" versions from '71.

After a pretty sloppy 1st set, they charge up and nail this one. Phil goes bananas on the out chorus.

Listening to this show end to end and you can tell they were feeling experimental and exploratory all night. The first set is full of swagger, but somehow it seems like they're trading precision for that x-factor, constantly pushing outward and furthur, ready to burst. It comes on strong in the second set and you hear it getting together in the Bird Song before this. Then there's this. It's goes completely off the chain with this monster, all the way out and into places unknown before to music. Then, just when you think it's expanded beyond all recognition, a blue-ribbon landing into a hot MAMU, (pity about the cut), then right back into the beast in totally different space-time. But wait, it isn't finished, and we get the closing Cryptical - five more beautiful minutes of it, slow-grooving us back to more recognizable places on earth while still hammering hard before the mind-settling WR.... This is TOO and the Dead at their highest levels and I can only imagine what it was like for those lucky ones who got to catch it live. Thanks Archive!

Could listen to this forever. Fall '74 shows off some of their greatest collective musicianship, and this whole segment from Seastones to Wharf Rat (over an hour and ten minutes of constant creativity) shows it beautifully. They were just burning so very brightly during this phase before the hiatus.... (Plus I dig bizarre electronic weirdness, so for me this represents a special time in the band's history with Ned sitting in.)

Love this one with its waves against the docks indeed. Check out one of my favorites, May 19th '74, for another beautiful evocation of the background ocean rhythms and sounds as they fade it out. Sonic portraiture at its finest.

This show is totally underappreciated on this site. Was it off the archive for a while and unknown to those who haven't picked up the RT? It's the real deal throughout and just has me stopped in my tracks in my tour through '71s. Been stuck here for about a two-weeks. Tight jam, awesome transition, brilliant mix, all cylinders firing. Could go much higher in a crowded field of excellent China-Riders.

Solid and swinging: A superior and sublime submission.