The Closing Of Winterland: December 31,

The Grateful Dead includes: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir (vocals, guitar); Phil Lesh (bass); Mickey Hart (drums). Additional personnel includes: Bill Graham, Dan Aykroyd (spoken vocals). Recorded liveat the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, California on December 31, 1978. Includes liner notes by Gary Lambert and Glenn Lambert. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. This pristine recording of the final concert at Winterland, the crumbling SanFrancisco venue that had witnessed thousands of often incandescent rock & roll shows between 1967 and 1978, features theonly band deemed worthy of closing the old place down. The Grateful Dead performed three sets of relaxed, often inspiredmusic that night, most of which is captured here--favorites like "Dark Star" showcase their often almost telepathic improvisatory skills, while covers like "Johnny B. Goode" and "Good Lovin'" show that they're also not averse to pure entertainment. Reviews: Rolling Stone (1/22/04, p. 73) - 3 stars out of 5 - ". . . Even by Dead standards, this was an epic show. . . . WINTERLAND is loaded with the Dead's peculiar revisions of rock and pre-rock idioms. . . "Rolling Stone (p. 154) - Included in Rolling Stone's The 10 Best Reissues & Anthologies Of 2004 - "[T]here is a reflective fondness and daredevil giving in the singing and jamming here that suits the end-of-an-era air. "Q (4/04, p. 131) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Jerry Garcia's guitar is at its most inventive, and they play allthe requisite anthems. . . "Dirty Linen(4/04, p. 59) - "The energetic performance included a sprawling repertoire that blended recently penned tunes like 'Stagger Lee' and 'I Need a Miracle' and old classics like 'Saint Stephen'. . . "

Track Listing

• Disc 1
• • 1 sugar magnolia
  • 2 scarlet begonias
  • 3 fire on the mountain
  • 4 me & my uncle
  • 5 big river
  • 6 friend of the devil
  • 7 it's all over now
  • 8 stagger lee
  • 9 from the heart of me
  • 10 sunshine daydream
• Disc 2
• • 1 samson and delilah
  • 2 ramble on rose
  • 3 i need a miracle
  • 4 terrapin station
  • 5 playing in the band
• Disc 3
• • 1 rhythm devils
  • 2 not fade away
  • 3 around and around
• Disc 4
• • 1 dark star
  • 2 the other one
  • 3 dark star
  • 4 wharf rat
  • 5 st. stephen
  • 6 good lovin'
  • 7 casey jones
  • 8 johnny b. goode
  • 9 we bid you goodnight