Dick's Picks, Vol. 10: Winterland, San Francisco, CA, 12/29/77
Here's one for the ages, the type of vibrant show that helped foster the Grateful Dead's reputation as the preeminent live band. To many, the year 1977 marked a peak in the band's history, the point when all of their disparate influences came together to form the most powerful whole, an arresting blend of musicality and sheer force. This show comes from their year-end run at San Francisco's Winterland and it was a fitting conclusion to a triumphant year. Deep into their second decade, the Dead have something to prove here at this particularly intense show. Jerry Garcia's playing is fresh and inventive, the drums fierce, the various cogs in perfect harmony. That's not to say they lost all subtlety: listen how Garcia craftily begins his solo in the lower register on "They Love Each Other," how Bob Weir and Donna Godcheaux harmonize sweetly on "Looks Like Rain," and how the band bring things way down on the fragile ballad "China Doll" only to return to the stratosphere moments later. And Garcia's voice had taken on just a hint of creakiness that made it more expressive than it had ever been. Still, this night will be remembered for the wall-shaking intensity found in spots like the second-set-opening "Bertha"/"Good Lovin'" medley and the crescendo to end the fan-favorite coupling of "China Cat Sunflower" (played this night for the first time in three years) and "I Know You Rider." At the end, they return to their bread-and-butter boogie on "Not Fade Away" before signing off with two encores: a majestic "Terrapin Station" and a rousing "Johnny B. Goode," the latter a telling reminder that they were, after all, just a good old rock & roll band.--Marc Greilsamer