Nice Playin'. Jerry finds a few good riffs. Not usually a fan of late era playins, as Jerry's speedy playing is so integral. He plays pretty well here

Picture perfect. Soaring leads from Jerry and crashes exquistely back into the verse

Hot Playin>China Doll>Playin. Long and exploratory on both ends, especially for 84.

Very hot tour opener. Jerry's playing is excellent. This show is the only good one from this weird little run in Colorado.

Shockingly good. Only good things to say about the Boston Garden run from this tour. These first few nights allayed fears after awful summer tour.

You have to give these guys credit - whenever they blew a show, or part of a run, or even a whole tour, they really brought it the next time around. This show followed two of the worst clunkers the Dead ever played on 6/24 and 6/25, and while it's not perfect, it's got a hot setlist and really decent playing. This terrapin rocks.

Love that metaphor as well - this is a sweet version with lots of decent playing from Jerry. I would hesitate to say that the lack of urgency is necessarily a good thing. In retrospect, with 25 years between us and this performance, this is certainly an enjoyable version, but I'd hesitate to say that these mellow valleys that the song flies through were intentional (or if they were, it was because Jerry couldn't handle playing more intensely than this). I'd more say that they're representative of a band dealing with 25+ years of burnout (as per Jerry), and who were practically incapable of using dynamics by this time. The thing about Eyes, in my view, is that it demands fluid use of dynamics and some excitement in the solos. Definitely a nice version overall for the era, though. A couple other good 94 versions are 7/3 and 10/17.

I appreciate both of your commentary. I always told myself I’d never be Deader than thou and it seems that I now am — but all I’ll say is that I think it’s unfortunate that so many fantastic versions languish with so few upvotes, when versions like this sit so high. Take it as you will.

Always appreciate your excellent commentary, Grendel. I think most heads fall victim to this bias (and wouldn't we like to think we're better than it!), but it's especially prevalent here, where ranking is specifically the goal. I would say that first-set songs are more likely to be overrated by a majority of listeners than second set, as there's only so many ways a first set song can set itself apart. Thankfully CR+S is one of those that easily can with a good vocal - and this version doesn't have one. I'll take 4/20/84 any day.

Exceptionally overrated. Many versions even from this year are better (see Red Rocks 7/7/78). Nothing more than an average version. Shocked to see this at the top. Nearly all versions from 70-72 and 83-85 eclipse this one.