headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

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DonnieInMT

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Submissions

1
I Need A Miracle
April 9, 1988
Centrum

The Worcester crowd is really into it. Another hot version. Aren't they almost always hot?
5
Big Boss Man
April 9, 1988
Centrum

Jerry singing Big Boss Man to open the show - and nobody has mentioned this yet?
7
Sugar Magnolia
April 25, 1983
The Spectrum

This era is overlooked and underappreciated. This - like most around this time - cooks.
2
Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad
June 14, 1980
Spokane Coliseum

Love the restraint Jerry plays with during the second instrumental break. Very measured and disciplined.
1
Good Lovin'
Oct. 12, 1981
Olympia Halle

Bob's rap starts off with an indirect mention of Pigpen.

Comments

Promised Land
March 27, 1986
Cumberland County Civic Center

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.
Sugar Magnolia
April 2, 1973
Boston Garden

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.
Deal
April 2, 1973
Boston Garden

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.
Friend of the Devil
Oct. 27, 1980
Radio City Music Hall

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.
He Was A Friend of Mine
April 23, 1969
The Ark

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.