As Jerry explains during a pause after Rider, “Bobby’s got a broken string. So, we’re going to spend some time and fix it, that’s what we’re going to do. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it.” And apparently that is just what happens as a particularly bright – Jerry’s runs shining right through – Me & My Uncle comes out. The Dire Wolf that arrives next is similarly luscious. And then Pig gets out front for the first time of the night and struts his stuff on Hard To Handle. A tune later, a perfectly formed Mason’s Children leads into, on the heels of TC’s wailing organ, an absolutely phenomenal Black Peter. And while the Good Lovin’ and Cold Rain and Snow that follow are nothing but excellent, it is the closing Lovelight that takes the show. The twenty-five minute version has it all: Pig in full-on stone jack baller form, layered and inventive call and response vocals, some tight blues backing, and Jerry’s inimitable guitar work.

This night at Golden Hall in San Diego, the first of eleven the Dead would play at the venue, was the third show of the year after a pair at the NYC outpost of Bill Graham’s empire, the Fillmore East. And the Dead continued the month in road warrior form, hitting up three shows in Oregon before heading to Hawaii for a pair at the Honolulu Civic Auditorium and then on to that fateful New Orleans stand at The Warehouse.