headyversion

find the best versions of grateful dead songs

please login or register.

grendel

Books and Music

+23534


Submissions

11
Aiko Aiko
Dec. 31, 1987
Oakland Coliseum Arena

With the Neville Bros. Jerry gets his Big Easy on.
16
Promised Land
May 25, 1977
The Mosque

Perfection to end the first set of one of the truly great shows ever. Keith, Bobby, Jerry--the whole crew is in the pocket and rocking it hard.
14
Promised Land
April 1, 1980
Capitol Theatre

Both the best and worst version ever. Why? April Fool's gag: Bobby - keys, Brent & Jerry -drums, Billy - bass - Mickey -guitar Phil-vocals
75
Big River
May 9, 1977
War Memorial

They just could do no wrong at this show, Hidden among all the other gems is this monster River. Big solo work by Jerry; nice fills by Keith.
13
Brother Esau
Oct. 28, 1985
Fox Theater

Complete with kickin' cow bell, nice long intro, easily one of the best you'll find.
show more submissions

Comments

Eyes Of The World
April 12, 1978
Cameron Indoor Stadium

Unacceptable that this is still languishing in single digits. Freaking intro alone is 4+ mins. with great fanning from Jerry & just a spectacular all around version from a well-known and amazing show w/a great board. WTF folks?
Eyes Of The World
Jan. 14, 1978
Bakersfield Memorial Auditorium

Fluid, colorful jamming, an extension of '77-ness associated with this great tune. Jerry seems to have a weak vocal but he doesn't get the words wrong...more like he's having trouble belting it out. The jamming shows no such signs, though...Garcia's in full command here. Glad to bump this one past the "10" vote mark. Give a listen & see if you think it should be higher still (jam after 2nd verse may very well convince you).
Scarlet Begonias -> Fire On The Mountain
March 10, 1981
Madison Square Garden

All the love given to 90s versions on this site b/c they are so long baffles me when there are equally long (& far better played & jammed) versions from the largely overlooked early 80s to be enjoyed, and this is exhibit A. If you need a SBD version to get you to listen here's the Miller: https://archive.org/details/gd1981-03-10.sbd-set2.miller.91764.flac16/gd81-03-10d2t02.flac Get on this, please.
Cassidy
April 24, 1978
Horton Field House - Illinois State University

^^^^ I'm starting to wonder if they left the final verse out on purpose a few times this year b/c it's also absent on 5/14/78 featured on 30 Trips (another outstanding version btw).
Alligator
Jan. 3, 1970
Fillmore East

The jam on this one is out of this world. Slinky slow tempo to open the verses sung by Pig and then some drums into just a phenomenal jam section that also includes a fairly deep China Cat tease into the coda normally reserved for GDTRFB and then feedback. Easy plus one here.
show more comments
headyversion loves the dead but is in no way affiliated with The Grateful Dead or affiliated enterprises. find out more >:) >:)