Jerry’s solo is off the walls crazy. A train going top speed and I promise that train won’t slow down! Great energy here overall.

As Jerry shouts, “You know he had to die.” BANG! A massive gunshot right on rhythm. Great reprise with great drum work from Billy and Mickey.

Jerry takes off and soars. Gets really heavy, and out there FAST. Experimental passages and new themes explored. This is what the Dead do best.

Billy and Mickey flowing in and out of the main TOO rhythms. They’re both putting each other to the test as they really get deep in this one.

“At this risk of being repetitious we’re going to do another song in the key of G.”-Bob Weir. This version is quite sweet. Patchy audio, great version

Enter the hall of the Mountain King!! As epic as they come. I love how this one flows, doesn’t stay in one place for too long at all. Simply sublime. Dickey is quite tasteful on this one, allowing Jerry to traverse these mountain ranges with ease. It’s really THAT good. Highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t checked this out yet.

Deadly interplay on this one. Bobby’s on full attack mode as soon as the jam starts, creating this wonderful urgency in the music without being too aggressive or rushed. This trapezes between underwater exploration and celestial travel through unexplored nebulas and gas giants. Gets into Tiger territory very early on but never leaves it, reappearing multiple times as a swirling vortex that shoots the band into these wonderful and inventive territories. Check out 14:15, unison lines in full force. Phil rings like a bell and the boys enter this witchy and archaic space. Great suggestion darkstar, I forgot this was the show with the famous Mountain Jam, going to be relistening shortly.

Starts as a raging tornado that spirals the listener into a chaotic and twisted journey. This really reminds me of Dorothy’s journey to the land of Oz, the idea of everything you once knew about anything is gone, and you’re taken away by this force of nature only to land in this mysterious and quite dreamlike landscape. The boys follow the yellow brick road and walk towards their goals. Will they get home? Will they muster up the courage within themselves? You can hear the band find themselves in this tumultuous journey. Analogies aside, this The Other One is dense and rich with ideas. Gets into Dark Star territory with not one single person leading. Keith starts this wonderful motif around the 12 minute mark in which Jerry responds with an almost sarod or sitar inspired lick that leaves me utterly speechless. I also find Bobby’s parts are quite intriguing, the way he thinks about the music and how open minded he is with throwing everything you know out the window and just “going for it” really makes this one quite unique. 5 star The Other One with so much to unpack.

Reaches a point of singularity that consumes the band in a dark energy unlike anything before. Undefinable. Out of body, indulging in this desolate, nightmarish world of inexplicable constructs, structures that defy the laws of physics, The outer reaches of the universe, and the edge of insanity. Where are they? I don’t think they even knew at this point. How dark, and how mysterious this version is. “Madness is but an over acuteness of the senses”

Phil, like Atlas, holds the world on his shoulders. With each pluck of a string, maintaining balance of everything that is. The Truckin is a portal to a vast, ghostly realm of the dead, misty, and full of intrigue. This is as uniform as the band gets, astral projecting and leaving the material world behind, and exploring these places not yet known to mankind. RIP Phil.