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Oct 13, 2021 Web Exclusive By Hays Davis

According to the CD notes for Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 2: Carousel 2-14-68, bassist Phil Lesh once ranked this as his favorite Grateful Dead show ever. Whether or not that assessment holds, it was a hot night that was well worth capturing for posterity.

This stop in the Road Trips series would be worth it alone for capturing an early ’68 run through “Dark Star”>“China Cat Sunflower”>“The Eleven”>“Turn On Your Lovelight.” Mickey Hart had become a Dead member only five months prior to this show, joining Bill Kreutzmann in the drumming duo that plays to this day in Dead & Company. This set’s “That’s It for the Other One” includes, for the first time it was presented, the verse referencing Neal Cassady that Bob Weir had unknowingly written about their friend and Merry Prankster on the day he died.

Along with this show, from a night where the Dead shared the stage with Country Joe and the Fish at San Francisco’s Carousel Ballroom for an FM radio simulcast, worthy period performances of “Viola Lee Blues,” “Beat It On Down the Line,” and others round out the package. (www.dead.net)

Author rating: 7/10