The show begins at the stroke of midnight with a rousing Around And Around, which proves to be about as good a way of starting off the year as one can imagine. The rest of the set is solid, including a sweet Box Of Rain and a Candyman featuring some otherworldly sounds that Jerry coaxes from his instrument. But the closing two songs – Playin’ and Casey Jones – are the bees’ knees. Playin’ is simply fantastic, as the greatest rock and roll band in the land lays it down at Winterland with a phenomenal combination of structure and relentless improvisation that is just dazzling. Jerry is up front and leading, but everyone else is so much a part of the jam from Bobby’s sharp runs to Billy’s imaginative rhythm to Phil’s deep bass meddling. And the Casey Jones that follows comes to a feverish, frenetic conclusion that is downright mad.

Promised Land gets the second set out to a rocking start as Bobby pulls his best Chuck Berry rock star persona out. Then the Half Step soars, followed up by a very nice Big River. Next, Sugaree, which is always a treat, does not come close to disappointing here. But then the boys break out the really big guns with an epic string of monster tunes. It starts with Truckin’, which has some luscious jamming. The boys continue to weave a resplendent tapestry right into The Other One. This has to be one of the better transitions between Truckin’ and TOO, seamless and sultry and dripping with barely contained energy. Then The Other One goes off, leaving the theme behind, but driving towards some distant, unexplored galaxy. For a while, Billy takes control of the spaceship all on his own, pounding out a relentless beat, before Phil joins him for some heady bass and drums jamming. Then the rest of the crew comes back on the scene, going off on a sick and, occasionally, spacey mission, finally, somehow, arriving back at the central theme. Once there, they only stay momentarily, though, meandering off through a beautiful scene in some foreign landscape. This Other One is for the ages, bearing riches untold. But the fireworks are from over as the boys go into a magnificently mournful and reflective Morning Dew. Afterwards, Bobby says a few words and launches into a fun Sugar Mags. From there, they change gears quite a bit, going into the incredibly rich and melancholy Sing Me Back Home. Johnny B. Goode then provides a spastic release to end the set. Finally, to cap it all, the boys come out for a final pair of tunes: Uncle John’s and One More Saturday Night, well into the New Year’s first morning by that point.