Drums
Jan. 22, 1978
McArthur Court, U of Oregon
Roughly around the end of 1977 the segment listed as "Drums" on official releases up until then got expanded into the lengthier "Rhythm Devils" portion of a show. Having read enough GD history, it seems that the driving force behind it was twofold: Mickey Hart, who just loved to explore the possibilities of his enormous drum/percussion setup; and Jerry, who was getting more and more strung out on Persian and could no longer get through a show without "chasing the dragon". Sometimes it was about 8 minutes, or it could stretch into 20. It also gave Phil the opportunity to down a bottle of Chardonnay, and Keith could do whatever it was he was doing. For me, these devil excursions vary, but this is a pretty good one and a show I got on CD -- one of the last, in fact.