Dead of the Day: 07-13-1984
Greek Theatre, University of California
Berkeley, California
Our Dead of the Day comes from 1984 at the Greek with an encore breakout of Dark Star. The show begins with a Bertha, as the band rips out of the gate. From there, they head into Greatest Story Ever Told. The early tunes are all sharp and fun, but the first real liftoff point comes in CC Rider as Jerry throws off some sparking lightning bolts of guitar nastiness in the last few minutes. Loser and Cassidy are both solid as well, and the Dupree’s that comes afterwards is just as psychedelic and calliope-sounding as it should be, though Jerry flubs a few lyrics. The Hell In A Bucket that emerges next is probably the biggest standout of the set as Bobby and Jerry get into some meaty jams and draw the tune out some. Following that, the boys take a Might As Well into set break.
Greatest Story Ever Told
Dire Wolf
C.C. Rider
Loser
Cassidy
Dupree’s Diamond Blues
Hell In A Bucket >
Might As Well
Touch Of Grey >
Fire On The Mountain >
Man Smart (Woman Smarter) >
Drums >
Space >
The Wheel >
I Need A Miracle >
Stella Blue >
Sugar Magnolia
Dark Star
Bob Weir – Guitar
Brent Mydland – Keyboards
Phil Lesh – Bass
Bill Kreutzmann – Drums
Mickey Hart – Drums
While the first set is good, the second enters into outstanding territory from the outset with a very tasty, extended Scarlet Begonias. The drummers keep the pace down as Brent mingles in stunning keys with Jerry’s seeking guitar and Phil’s occasional bombs. As they begin to transition into what seems like Fire, they flip a switch and are in Touch of Grey instead. The Touch is fairly standard fare, which is to say so very good, but what makes it really outstanding is its placement as a massive segue between epic versions of Scarlet and Fire On The Mountain. The drummers are absolutely phenomenal on the Fire while Jerry creates some really funky riffs throughout. Coming out of Fire, the boys head into a Man Smart, Woman Smarter, providing a rocking release and, also, another opportunity to jam off in the latter half of the song before turning it over to the drummers as Mickey brings out the beam in earnest. In the late stages of Space, Phil starts leading the way towards some semblance of a theme, pushing the rest of the band to take up The Wheel, which they eventually do. After I Need A Miracle, a monster, gorgeous Stella Blue comes out. Then a Sugar Mags sees off the set in rocking fashion with Brent killing the keys. Of course, the biggest moment of the night was the Dark Star encore. They had not played the tune since the 1981 New Year’s show and would not break it out again until October 1989 in Hampton. With a full moon on Friday the 13th, the boys sent shivers up everyone’s spines with those first notes, following it up with an excellent version.
Leave a Reply