This very muddy audience recording that is missing a couple of songs is the only version of the only show that the Grateful Dead played on December 22nd. But the show itself really isn’t bad at all when you cut through the sound issues.
It would have been interesting to hear the Shakedown Street opener, but that’s one of the missing songs, so we start the show with Me and My Uncle, which is fine. The rest of the first set is ok – Candyman really gets going, but alas, it gets cut off near the end.
The second set opens with Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain. Like the December 16th show in Nashville, this version of Scarlet>Fire has some great soloing (when you can hear it) that is much better than the average transition between the two songs.
Estimated Prophet is the best part of the second set, with some very jazzy sections interspaced between the rockier passages. The band is really giving it everything they’ve got here.
This is not a show for people who hate audience recordings, but it’s all we’ve got and I’m glad we have it. Take a listen here: https://archive.org/details/gd78-12-22.aud.cotsman.14562.sbeok.shnf
Thanks for the post. A daily dose of dead is most necessary!
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