Good vocals from Bob - excellent jamming from Bruce and Jerry. Isn't this song almost always good?

Perfect song selection for starting out a winter run.

Wow. That final jam really cooks.

Driven by a melodic flow missing in many versions.

Bob channels his inner Pigpen. I dig it.

This rocks so hard, it almost makes you forget Hamstrung Blues. Almost. Yeah - that does suck when Jerry is playing so hot and the band shuts him down on a set closer.

It's hard to imagine how a version this smokin' hot can escape our attention for so long. Seriously - this impresses the hell out of me. Jerry and Keith are playing liquid gold, with the final jam before Sunshine Daydream reaching ecstatic heights. In Sunshine Daydream, Bob and Donna blend like some sweet wine with an intense kick to it and you can see how good she could blend in. It's Bob that's the one that's screaming his head off here. Billy puts in one of his best old school performances on this beloved classic. Don't forget to check out the Johnny B. Goode, which really is Keith's best tune. At the 3 minute mark, check out the primal scream from Donna that sounds like she just ripped the throat out of her prey with her teeth and is shrieking thanks to some feral god.

I can't hear these versions without thinking that this is a child playing with blocks compared to a master architect making luxuriously functional and breathtaking works of art. What the Jerry Garcia Band did with Deal was they took a 4 minute song and turned it into an event that you would drive 3,000 miles to experience.

Very slow, but for this song, it works. I'm not always a fan of the slow songs - just thinking of Black Peter makes me want to slit my wrists. Thank God they stopped playing He Was A Friend Of Mine.This reminds me of one of those mid first set Jerry Garcia Band songs like I Shall Be Released or Simple Twist Of Fate. Very slow, but very, very good.

The Dead's vocal aspirations not matching their range makes its cringeworthy appearance again. Aside from that, I have a big-time problem with this song as a show opener. It's 1969 and people are going out for a night of music and the first thing the band does is play a depressingly slow song about death? Not cool, guys - not cool.