Dead of the Day: 03-19-1977
Winterland Arena
San Francisco, California
Like so many ’77 shows, this one is tight and magical from top to bottom but also has some real surprises throughout. The first set is an absolute monster, proceeding in excellent form with a strong Bertha opening, a really solid Loser, and a beautiful They Love Each Other. Then, right when you think the band might be looking for set break, they launch into an Estimated and follow it with nothing less than a magisterial Terrapin. Yet even after that they still come forth with more, rolling into a Playing-Samson sandwich. Through the Playings the boys weave intricate and ethereal webs of purposeful noodling that encapsulates a driving, captivating Samson. The second set seems like it cannot possibly live up to the first, but it does, beginning with an amazing Eyes (listed as “tmp” on the playlist here) that goes into a totally funky Dancing, onto which Phil unleashes a torrent of stratospheric cluster bombs. A towering Wharf Rat follows with Jerry dominating on vocals and guitar. The Franklin’s> Sugar Mags to close out the set are almost too much too take with their beauty, speed, and perfection. Anyone would have went home happy at this point, but instead we are all treated to a double encore of a rocking One More Saturday Night and a stupendous, celebratory Uncle John’s.
Bertha, Mama Tried, Loser, Big River, They Love Each Other, Looks Like Rain, Tennessee Jed, Estimated Prophet, Terrapin Station-> Playin’ In The Band-> Samson & Delilah-> Playin’ In The Band
Set 2
Eyes Of The World-> Dancin’ In The Streets-> Wharf Rat-> Franklin’s Tower-> Sugar Magnolia, E: One More Saturday Night, E: Uncle John’s Band*
*Second Encore
Winterland Arena, also referred to as Winterland Ballroom or, more commonly still, simply Winterland, served as a kind of home base for the Grateful Dead throughout the 1970s. Winterland originally opened in 1928 as an ice skating rink that converted to a 5400-seat music venue. Through the years, the place was host to everything from boxing matches to opera to Vaudeville on ice. Beginning with a Jefferson Airplane and Butterfield Blues show in 1966, Bill Graham started to rent Winterland for rock and roll shows that would draw far more than the Fillmore could accommodate. And, after the demise of the Fillmore West in 1971, Winterland became Graham’s – and the Grateful Dead’s – main West Coast home. Over the years just about every major rock and roll act of the 1970s came through the place, including The Band’s stupendous final show, which was immortalized in the film The Last Waltz. The place would eventually host sixty or so Dead concerts before the band played the famous Closing of Winterland show on New Year’s 1978/1979.
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