Farewell to Winterland; Not 40 mins. long ; no break down into feedback nonsense. Just sweet jazzy jamming; Just exactly perfect send off.

Transition jam weaves into spaces most fail to go; touch-down into Fire is GOLD. Jerry flubs first line in Fire-after that: 1 of the BEST ever!

Perfect, self-contained, blues-infused, stellar vocals, 14+ minutes of bliss. Extra fun: Check out the "Birdsong" riff about 10 secs. into the intro

Amazed this isn't here yet Gorgeous, melodic, jazz-infused, mellow, trippy, spacey into hard ripping Jerry riffs; melts into Brokedown Palace. Sublime

Kicks off with authority a 2d set every DeadHead needs to hear. Perfect bookend to Jerry's scorching Dew. They say it was cold&rainy that nite in ME.

I should have added to my last post that if there any '85 fans out there that can recommend similar shows/versions that rise to this level (or at least close) please point the way. I'll be checking this space.

This floored me, mostly because I'm skeptical that almost anything from '85 is worthy of a "heady version" (and I say this having seen a ton of shows in '85, having a great time at all of them, but knowing that it was a very shaky year, esp. for Jerry.) But this version has it all...Jer nails all the lyrics, the playing is tight and hot all around...none of the choppiness and tentativeness that can mar so many '85 versions...Phil will bust your speaker on "northbound train", which Jerry also rips into vocally...there's an extra flurry thrown into the final jam at the end of "Rider" and damn if this version doesn't just rock head to tail. In fact, this whole show is brilliant (unreal Wheel>GSL and Terrapin) and I just wish I'd been able to see west coast shows like this (or any at the Greek I guess) b/c if this is any indication there may be more in '85 for me to listen to w/fresh ears, Up it!!!!!

They do some jamming towards the end of this Playin' that's as cool and jumpin jive jazzy as anything ever...drops into a sweet Cosmic Chuck after, but listen to the crowd respond to the improv jam that gets going towards the end (listed on the AUD as Stronger Than Dirt...perhaps...sounds different to me, but who knows.) Look for the Miller upgrade and get on this one.

@scarlet_Fire Would be curious to hear your review of 4-13 relative to this and 4-20, which I agree, gets the nod a bit over this one. Listening again what I find interesting is that transition period you mentioned...it feels like the whole band is ready to go into Fire (you can hear Bob tentatively open the rhythm and Phil is right at the edge), and they're just waiting on Jerry, who's definitely noodling along at his own pace and not at all interested in starting until he's damn ready to do so. (I wonder if this being '84 and Jer in the throes of a pretty bad habit, that's partly why), but what I do like is that the other guys go kind of all quiet while letting Jerry make the first move into Fire, and the result is that his noodling takes on a contemplative and atmospheric quality that somehow works once he does pick up the Fire theme...from there the intro works beautifully as Brent again glides along adding flourishes and Phil does what he does so well on this tune. What holds this one back from 4-20 for me is once they're deeper into Fire the tempo drags a bit and it doesn't have the power that 4-20 has. I upvoted it b/c it does have a lot of interesting sections (Brent is awesome during the jam out of Scarlet) and it's a version more about the journey than the arrival.

This is my new favorite version. I know of no other in which Keith makes his piano sound like he's playing in a wild west honky tonk saloon. Jerry rips leads and Bobby takes care of the rest. Segues seamlessly in and out of TOO but needs to be judged mostly on its merits of sounding more like the story the song tells than any other version I've ever heard. Aces.