The Grateful Dead

Date: May 3rd, 1979 
Venue: Charlotte Coliseum 
Location: Charlotte, NC
2nd Show of 1979 Spring Tour 

Promised Land started this show in a very solid manner. The band sounded quite tight, but not exaggerated as they did on 4.22.1979. Indeed, Jerry’s solos are loaded with introspective but raw flavor, and Mydland’s solo is well done as well. The finale solo from Jerry is extended and has three distinct themes – each filled with tension.

After a long pause, Jerry next entered Brown Eyed Women. This version is pretty mellow, but Jerry’s guitar is quite interesting and meanders nicely. The overall tension, though, is missing with this version.

Me & My Uncle is next, and it was quite standard. The band, while still tight, was not embellishing the song changes. Jerry’s solo sounded quite typical as well.

Me & My Uncle rode into Big River. Jerry’s solos on Big River were a bit more flavored, but still mostly complicated but not too flavored. No real peaks were asserted or intensity reached. The band sounded very tight, and Brent’s solo was above average.

Stagger Lee was next and the band finally broke through. The song portion is a bit sedate, but Jerry’s first solo is extended and meanders with flavor. The finale jam starts with a Weir slide solo that was delirious, and Jerry’s ensuing solo was ferocious and angry. Lesh, in particular, landed some choice bombs.

Next was Looks Like Rain. Weir provided a very strong vocal delivery, but the band behind him didn’t sound as enthused. In particular, Jerry’s finale note spacklings were a bit tame.

Row Jimmy next provided more of a dreamy (and perhaps sleepy) atmosphere. The band is tight during the song, and Mydland’s harmonies are superb. Jerry’s first solo meanders a bit but is mostly pretty tame and didn’t reach any peaks. The second solo starts with a Bobby slide solo that sounded pretty good. It would be interesting to see how long this planned Weir slide solo would last in the repertoire. Jerry picked up at Weir’s conclusion, and delivered flavored progressions that had some nice peaks. The vocal finale, with Mydland’s harmonies, was quite effective and gained a lot of tension.

Weir next brought out All Over Now. Weir’s singing was deliberate and angry from the first verse, which provided a high degree of intensity to this version. Jerry’s first solo was bluesy but with an angry tone that gained beautiful amounts of tension and ended with a cycling peak. The second jam was a very nicely delivered Mydland solo. Unfortunately, there was no ensuing Jerry solo. The vocal finale was fantastic as Weir’s screams were very over the top and in tune. The song ends with massive Lesh bombs. Despite the lack of a second Jerry solo, this version was definitely exceptional.

Deal rounded out this somewhat average first first set of the early Summer Tour of 1979. Again the band was tight, and Mydland’s harmonies shined. Jerry’s guitar solo reached some nice peaks but nothing too intense. The vocal finale was well delivered.

The second set began with Sampson’n Delilah. The tempo of this version was quite rapid and Weir’s singing nearly insane (e.g., nearly fourth word is screamed). Jerry’s first solo soared with flavor and intensity as he just flew up and down his fretboard with complex progressions. The second solo from Jerry gains some nice steam but seems to stall a bit at the finale of the solo.

Tennessee Jed followed Sampson. Jerry’s solo during this Jed was twisted and creative, and generated a lot of tension leading to the jam apex. Unfortunately, the apex was not nailed as Jerry’s solo didn’t reach its peak. Brent, again, sounded fantastic on harmony.

Sticking with Jerry tunes, the band next launched into the first ever live Terrapin with Brent. Jerry’s first solo prior to the “since the end is never told” bridge is very deep and complicated as Jerry effectively lost the band within the jam only to navigate their way back. The vocal finale gains some nice steam and is highlighted by very clean and effective Mydland harmony. The structured instrumental Terrapin cycling also gained intensity but was not overly impressive.

Terrapin flowed into Playin’ In The Band. This version had about 15 minutes of space, but it was a bit mundane. The band seemed to be feeling Brent out instead of truly creating improvisational jam. As such, much of the jam has slightly flavored Jerry sprinting, but not amassing into interesting full band jam. Of note, at one point the band gets relatively chaotic which was exceptional. But, this moment was only about 1 minute of the 15 minute space.

Space was very short and had little interesting jam. It seemed that Space had not yet evolved into a separate entity.

Black Peter arose out of the mini-space. This version sounded a bit flat as the band sounded tired. Jerry’s in song solo was very typical, the vocal finale was tame, and the outward jam from Jerry was very brief and barely flavored.

Black Peter wandered into Not Fade Away. Jerry started the song with about 60 seconds of E chord strumming prior to entering a brief but interesting solo prior to the first verse. After the first verse Jerry and Bob had a pretty cool interchange as Jerry strummed A and D chords, inbetween Weir on his slide. Out of this Jerry entered another solo that meandered a in an non-exceptional manner. Mydland had an uninteresting solo as well. After the second verse, Jerry started with a ferocious lead that quickly blended into a tame and uninteresting solo that wandered into an extended jam. Eventually, the band returned for a vocal NFA reprise. After a calm series of NFAs from Weir, the band and Jerry eased into a transition into PITB.

PITB started with a space that blended out of NFA very nicely. The space from Jerry wandered a little bit but, as with the majority of songs from this show, didn’t quite develop into anything truly interesting.

The encore was U.S. Blues. Jerry rose to the occasion with a nice vocal delivery and guitar solo. Still though, nothing spectacular.

All in all, an average show with some highlights including the Promised, Stagger Lee and All Over Now. The second set faltered a bit as the band sounded tired at times.

Set 1: 7.64
Set 2.1: 7.35
Set 2.2: 7.22
Set 2sum: 7.285
Show: 7.46

Promised 8.25
Brown Eyed Women 7.4
Me & My Uncle 7.2
Big River 7.35
Stagger 8.15
Looks Like Rain 7.3
Row Jimmy 7.6
All Over Now 8.15
Deal 7.4

Sampson 7.4
Tennessee Jed 7.35
Terrapin 7.45
PITB 7.2
Space 7
Black Peter 7
NFA 7.3
PITB 7.35
US Blues 7.45

*wherein:
5 to 6 is among the worst versions ever
6 to 7 is below average
7 to 7.499 is average
7.5 to 7.99 is above average
8 to 8.99 is exceptional
9 and above is among the best versions ever 
Rob Goetz ©