most dead fans will agree that 77 was a special year for the band, and this blogger will not contest that. but as archivist dave lemieux argues in the liner notes, there is reason to believe that the strength of the band’s live performances carried over into the following spring. it is his contention that this show marks the end of that period. whether it was jerry’s furthering spiral down the smack hole, or keith’s version of the same, the band seemed to go downhill fom here until the addition of brent mydland. the first set is solid. bertha gets off to a slow start but eventually gets into gear, setting the pace for the rest. candyman and tennessee jed have the crowd cheer tennessee references. the jack straw is a real barnburner. the only real detraction is a version of deal that goes on for about 25 refrains too much at the end. donna is close to her home of alabama, and she is very good here until she tries to compete with bob in the sugar mag/saturday night finale. second set has a great estimated/eyes and one of the best wharf rats you will hear. all of the 2015 releases in this series have been great so far, and this one is no exception. dp 16 is a march 73 show from massachusetts. should be in my box any day. if you are a dead fan, i highly recommend subscribing to this series. i will be signing up for my fourth year.
redeyegin 
Nashville is a great show. Having just listened to the Springfield show over the weekend, i was not impressed. Boys were a bit off that night.
I am really looking forward to the next Dave’s Pick, 7-19-74 from Fresno CA. I think that show has one of the most epic second sets with the 44 mins of incredibly tight jamming between WRS through Eyes some of the best. Phil just goes OFF at that show.
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