Dead of the Day: 11-26-1980
The Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, Florida
From the site: "In their first show since the epic Warfield, Saenger, and Radio City run back in October of 1980, the Dead headed down to southern Florida. And, in the early going, some of the hottest tunes they play – Greatest Story, Must Have Been The Roses, Race Is On, Jack-A-Roe, and more – are electric versions of the music they had been polishing in the acoustic set of those earlier shows. But then they get to the Althea, which is not only inventive and moody, but also utterly changes the tone of the set with its understated, purely electric jamminess. And that near-space exploration continues with Lost Sailor, which sends mellow waves of gooey lusciousness sweeping out through the speakers until a steamy jamming and vocal crescendo cascades into Saint Of Circumstance. The Saint kicks up the tempo, charging forward into a rapturous jam. Then a typically strong Deal takes it into the break. On the other side of the intermission, the boys fire up a Cold Rain And Snow, as Brent and the drummers seem to assert themselves in this milky, cosmic treat of a tune. Then, after Samson, a funky, savory China Cat comes out, heading into a soaring Rider, which, like the China Cat before, is relaxed and soothing. From there, Estimated bridges the gap to a wonderful Eyes. Throughout the latter song, the drummers bang out an awesome beat while everyone else charges off, delivering a heady, churning jam, which eventually gives way to Drums. Coming out of Drums, Phil solos for about a minute before the rest of the boys start filtering back in and begin bouncing licks back and forth. A magisterially down and out Wharf Rat ends up rising out of all that. Then Bobby leads the band out with a rocking combo of Around And Around and Good Lovin’. For an encore, the Dead pull out Satisfaction for the first time since the mid-60s, if at all. The Stones do not really have anything to worry about with this rendition, but it is fun nonetheless."