Yeeeeaaaaah, summer in Berkeley in 1972, fitting

It's not the gnarly 15+ minute versions it would be in later years, but there's something special about these early versions. Sweet/joyful sugareeee

Summer '72, a good time for consistently good renditions of jack straw

Slow and bloozey

Underrated Euro '72 Jack Straw, very solid rendition

This one is gnarly. holy shit. Truckin-> O1-> drums-> O1->Me and Bobby Mcgee -> O1-> Wharf Rat.

Love Jerry's ending chord rake where he downstrums and upstrums the chord with power at the end (not the fanning part), it's so good. This whole show blows minds and steals your face, and you allow it to be stolen from ya cause it's so damn good.

This, 4/26/72 & 4/14/72 are my faves.

5/11/72 CD arrived. Listened a few times to this, it's hard to listen to it all the way through and try to pay attention to every detail because duh, it's 47 minutes. But this is one of the greatest Dark Stars ever, very interesting. I think this and 4/8/72 are the best of the whole year. I know people will disagree and say 8/27/72, which mind you is an insane DS as well, but something about 4/8 and 5/11.. the Rotterdam show in its entirety is an unspoken hero of the Europe '72 tour I feel like. It's absolutely amazing. If you haven't heard the show or bought the CD, I highly recommend it. You'll crap your pants at this mind-bogglingly awesome DS, let alone the whole amazing show.

This version is dawning on me as super good after listening a few times, catching things I hadn't caught on to before. Definitely not as energetic as 4/26/72 or 5/7/72, but still very solid rendition. Top 3 of the tour, very flowing, and awesome all around. Pigpen is killing it in this one!