The first set is absolutely monstrous on its own, filled with gems from top to bottom. Even the tuning gets fun at times, especially with the Beer Barrel Polka. As you might expect, some of the highlights include Sugaree, Peggy-O, and the Tennessee Jed. On Jed, Jerry plays some ridiculous guitar, Bobby and Keith add in a ferocious, tasty series of layers, and Billy and Phil put in that extra piece time and again. But don’t miss any of the other tunes, like the near perfect El Paso filled with Bobby’s impassioned vocals. Speaking of vocals, the lovely Row Jimmy has some of the most heartrendingly beautiful by Jerry and Donna. But the boys might have saved the best of the set for last with an unbelievable, last-ever Weather Report Suite; with a performance like this, we will never comprehend why they stopped playing it in full.

The second set, to our ears, is just out of this world amazing. It begins with – or is preceeded by – Ned Lagin’s open form, early electronica composition (or compositions), Seastones with Phil playing on it. At some point, Jerry seems to enter, only to disappear as the music enters a jam, which Phil, Billy, and Ned take into Dark Star. The Dark Star, with the entire band playing, is mind-blowing, sticking to the theme far more than other versions, but still getting mighty spacey. On the heels of the Dark Star, a Morning Dew appears, rolling and crashing with Phil dropping bombs throughout and Jerry soaring to terrific heights. This, folks, is something special, and the crowd recognizes it, howling with approval afterwards.

The third set roars out of the gate with Promised Land, and the high energy rocking continues without a break through Bertha and Greatest Story Ever Told. Finally, everyone gets a short breather before a soulful Ship Of Fools, which might just be a commentary on the band itself at this point in its career, as the Dead crumbled under its own weight, expectations, and financial commitments. After the Ship Of Fools, Billy beats out the unmistakable groundwork for Not Fade Away, and the rest of the band chimes in, leading to a tremendous, Keith-heavy run into Going Down The Road Feeling Bad. And then the rock and roll, dance-filled set ends with a final burner, One More Saturday Night. 

Of course, the Dead filmed this show, along with the entire Winterland run, for the Grateful Dead Movie. The GDTRFB and Morning Dew were the only two tunes from this night to make the original cut, but the Sugaree, Dark Star, and Weather Report Suite all made it onto the bonus DVD from the 2004 release.