China Cat provides a refreshing and energetic opening to the second set with Jerry offering up some unique and inspired phrasings. Then the China Cat pushes into a blazing, full-on Rider, which is short, but oh so sweet. The rest of the second set continues in similar fashion with bright, inviting takes on so many great tunes. For instance, the Peggy-O is replete with Jerry’s lucid, mesmerizing guitar licks. Then the Supplication a moment later rips, and the Looks Like Rain that rolls out a tune after is inimitable with Bobby’s fresh vocal effort and the super smooth playing by both him and Jerry.

The third set gets off to a powerful start with Samson before heading into a fine It Must Have Been The Roses with a bit of a laugh thrown in when the band cannot get the lyrics together on the chorus. The Sailor> Saint that comes out next has to be one of the better version they ever did, followed up by an always welcome Terrapin. The Drums are really something to behold as Mickey and Billy play a lot of what sounds like conga and a bit of what sounds like the talking drum. Truckin’ emerges out of a seriously deep Space, blistering into a equally feisty Other One. After a scrumptious Black Peter, the band rocks it all the way out with a Sugar Mags closer and a Johnny B. Goode encore.

As we described a few days ago, this long run at the Warfield was followed up by two in New Orleans and eight more at Radio City Music Hall, all with the same format. These shows provided the tracks for Dead Set and Reckoning.