09-21-1982
Madison Square Garden
New York, New York
After a basic introduction by promoter John Scher, the Dead take Playin’ In The Band right out of the gate. The tune builds into a fervid jam, Jerry driving it on while the drummers sculpt its boundaries. Deep in, the band suddenly shifts gears and drops into Crazy Fingers. Of course, the mesmerizing jamming continues in another form with one of the best of the latter day versions of the tune. From there a fun and frenetic Me And My Uncle gives us a little Bobby cowboy cheese before a standout Big River. Somebody over on headyversion labeled this rendition as “effervescent psychedelic yakety polka rockabilly,” and this seems to pretty much capture it. Afterwards, an early West LA Fadeaway – just the seventh – comes on the scene, so good and with the additional early Ginger verse. BIODTL and a mournful Loser then bridge the gap to a stellar Looks Like Rain with Bobby passionate as hell on the vocals (how many F-bombs do we get?), pushing Jerry on to his magical guitar work. A China> Rider then closes out the incredible opening set in fantastic fashion with a massive, jammed out segue between the tunes and a stratospheric ramble in the waning minutes.
At just the fourth ever, the Touch Of Grey that cracks open the second set is fresh and embryonic. And at the end, the boys shift to Estimated Prophet, which is scorching, followed up by a magical High Time as Jerry’s sonorous vocals, punctuated by the soaring runs, ripple across the Garden. And that special High Time takes it to a thundering Estimated into He’s Gone, the drummers getting more and more prominent until they eventually take the stage all for themselves. Out the backside of Space, the boys play – just like Touch – the fourth ever Throwing Stones, and this one heads into Not Fade Away for the first time ever. The powerful performance continues on Black Peter before the Dead take the set out with Good Lovin’. And while Bobby is no Pigpen, he testifies in the midst of Good Lovin’ with the MSG crowd eating it up. A final US Blues encore puts a cap on the evening. All told, it is a wonderful night at Madison Square Garden early in the Dead’s legendary 52-show career run at the venue.
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