From DP 25, Opens show at New Haven. Takes no prisoners. Extra shot of Jerry heading in bridge jam. Kinda surprised it's not on a list of 90+ Straws

Shame on me for not submitting this earlier. Insane ripper to open 2nd set; Phil OWNS this version. Pause for nothing-- Listen NOW. Thank me l8r ;-)

Latvala from "Grate" Beyond reminds of his Winterland pick: The Best. Jer rips holes in Universe; Drummers pummel; Listen to "drive me BACK" line!

Possibly best-ever of the Brent era. Bob preaches fire & brimstone and Jerry shreds the living daylights out of every jam. Serious MUST listen version

A funk-laden but more laid-back, groovier vibe marks this excellent entry from Chicago. Notable for A+ vocals & harmonies and Bobby shines in end jam!

Finding this under a giant pile of rocks was like the musical equivalent of finding an old painting in the attic & you take it to Antiques Roadshow on a whim & it turns out you have a Van Gogh. OK, I admit to some slight exaggeration there, but I feel like in order to get the proper attention for some of these way under-appreciated gems you have to shout hyperbole from the rooftops. In any event, my vote just clicked this up to a measly 4 and it is so very much better than that. First, seek out the Dusborne Matrix version. It's superb. Second, notice the perfect tempo of this version...never plodding, but never too speeded up either. This becomes especially apparent in the excellent bridge jam, which features a scintillating Jerry solo that doesn't lead into the "Fire" segue, but lays up nicely for Bobby to take over for one of those mind meld rhythm guided forays into "Fire" that just makes your brain smile. Great "Fire" to follow, heavy on drums--especially in "Scarlet" and lots of Phil throughout. Early in Brent's tenure, it's a sweet version, and for cryin' out loud, if you agree, let's get it out of the single digits.

This whole show is grossly underrated. Yes +1 on this fine Althea.

Hands down the best version of the '90s, and quite frankly, stands up to just about any version of any era and by any objective measure should be way higher on this list, top 5, even, no kidding. Why? Let's begin with the vocals. Jerry could not be more committed here. Check out the "nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile" line and the subsequent crowd reaction. Even more telling, in a much more subtle manner, is his reading of the "knife in the back, and more of the same" line, which can sometimes fall flat in other versions but here is given a twisty, bluesy delivery, and the full band nearly acapella coda of "nothing's gonna bring him back" makes you feel like you're hanging with the band in the back of some back country blues bar at the end of a long night swigging whiskey. If that wasn't enough, Jerry rips into a grungy, gritty solo following the round robin vocals, and takes us out on what really has to be considered one of the best renditions of this song ever performed live. If you search the lower rungs of this site for versions of your favorite tunes that you didn't know before and will knock your socks off you will be supremely rewarded here. This is a diamond buried far in the rough.

Everyone loves the Cape Cod shows, except for me. I think they're amazingly overrated, especially with so many better shows in '79 that fly under its radar. HOWEVER, my favorite tune from the 10/27 show is this NFA, which, like most in this year, is super funky, grungy slow and awesome. Skip the tinkly-keyed Franklin's that goes on for far too long and hardly goes anywhere interesting, ditto the hideous Dancin' that precedes it ('ll take any '77 over it any day) & go straight for the Other One (very good due to Phil) and then this NFA, which is A+ stuff.

^^^^ It's fantastic and it's actually one of the better choices they made in issuing 30 Trips Around...You could make a case for any number of great June/July shows in '76 but they'd already released some and this show is a dandy. Highly recommended (I was lucky enough to have a friend who purchased the whole shebang loan me a copy).