Dick's Picks Volume 15

A complete show from 9/3/77

Set 1:Promised Land, They Love Each Other, Me and My Uncle, Mississippi Half-Step, Looks Like Rain, Peggy-O, New Minglewood Blues, Friend of the Devil, The Music Never Stopped

Set 2: Bertha->Good Lovin', Loser, Estimated Prophet->Eyes of the World, Samson and Delilah, He's Gone->Not Fade Away->Truckin

E:Terrapin Station

Pros

-The versions of Mississippi Half-Step and The Music Never Stopped are perhaps best ever

-Very nice Not Fade Away

-Great Encore

Cons

-Keith and Bobby aren't as prominent as usual.

Overall: 9/10

This show has the best first set I've heard from 1977 other than 5/7/77. The opening Promised Land is hot, with Bobby botching a verse, and after getting it correct, says "that's right". Throughout both sets there is more banter than normal, and is delightful to hear, as the band seemed to be having a great time. the They Love Each Other, a song I usually get sick of easily, is played very well. The Mississippi Half-Step is my favorite verson they ever played, some may prefer others from other eras, but the whole band is very tight throughout the song and climaxes even more powerfully then normal. The Looks Like Rain is also exceptional, sometimes a Looks Like Rain could just seem off, like versions from later eras, but I think because Phil plays spot on the whole time, this version is very beautiful. The rest of the set is tame until a very hot Music Never Stopped. It crackles with energy and makes the set one of the best first sets I've ever heard, even with some boring parts in between the thrillers.

The second set opens with Bertha->Good Lovin', which is a combo that was usually played the same every time. However, tonight the band seemed to have had more energy, as the both the Berthan and Good Lovin' were more frentic and powerful than normal. The segue between the two was very well pulled off as well. A standard Loser follows, although it's odd to note that it was played in the beginning part of the second set, rather than the middle of the first set like it usually was. The real jamming of the set starts with an Estimated->Eyes. The Estimated Prophet is nice, but isn't really any better or worse than other 1977 versions of the song. The Eyes of the World that follows is also par for the era, but par for 1977 is an eagle from most other times if you catch my drift. The He's Gone is drawn out, but in a good way, where Donna, Bobby, and Jerry are mezmorizing. However, the big jam of the concert comes next with a stand-alone Not Fade Away that is very slow, but builds up throughout the song until it's a raging beast! The crowd-pleasing Truckin' is played well, but the encore of Terrapin Station is one of the best I've heard, though not as good as the one on Dick's Picks 10.

I can't give this quite a ten, just after listening to some ten out of ten shows and deciding this wasn't *quite* as good. Still, you should pick this up, as it has some of the best versions of some great Dead songs.

9/10