Technical issues prevented the Dead from getting the show started on time. And while they were diagnosing the issues, Bobby told his deer hunter story, which made everyone groan, particularly because he had regaled the Oregon faithful with the same joke the year before in Eugene. Fortunately, the Dead’s “crack equipment crew” rectified the situation, and the band took off on Jack Straw. After a crack Candyman and a few other sweet tunes, technical difficulties once again derailed the set. But they get things operational for Looks Like Rain with the drums providing a resonate texture behind Bobby’s vocals and Jerry’s inimitable guitar. Another delay ensues before a fiery Deal takes the set out and, luckily, exorcises the gremlins from the equipment.

Lowell George of Little Feat, who had produced Shakedown Street, died of a heroin overdose the night before. And before the second set, Bobby dedicated the afternoon “to the memory of Lowell George; he was good while he lasted.” I Need A Miracle then cracked open the action as the rain abated, a rainbow arched in the distance, and Jerry and the band supplied a deep, bluesy jam to take things to a rocking Bertha. From there, the Dead follow the dozen anymores with a Good Lovin’, keeping the assembled Heads dancing feverishly. Friend Of The Devil takes the pace, but none of the energy, down a bit. Then a classic second set unfurls as the band goes Estimated> He’s Gone> Drums> Space> Other One> Wharf Rat> Sugar Magnolia the rest of the way out. The Estimated is broad and expansive, and, of course, the He’s Gone is particularly heartfelt as the boys eulogize Lowell with nary a dry eye in the band. The soaring and dramatic Wharf Rat followed up by the feverish release of a rocking Sugar Mags is also prime, to say nothing of The Other One out of Space.

Before the Shakedown sessions, not everyone in the band or crew had met George, and there was some concern about how the relationship would work out. But such fears were misplaced; Lowell George and the Dead did not just create a superb studio album together in Shakedown, they also had a ton of fun doing it, starting with their first meeting at Front Street. As Steve Parish relates in Home Before Daylight, shortly before George arrived, Rock Scully had dumped a pile of cocaine on a table before the entire band. As the band joked and jockeyed for position, the coke slid onto the floor just as George walked in. Before the assembled could even lament the loss or welcome George, Ramrod “pulls out a buck knife, shoves everyone aside, and cuts out a chunk of carpet,” slapping it on the table. In the pregnant silence that followed, George dropped the guitar case he was carrying and started snorting. And instantly, the Dead knew that George was one of their own.