Dick's Picks Vol.33: Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA 10/9 & 10/10/76

After their touring sabbatical (November '74 through June '76), the Grateful Dead returned to the road with a renewed enthusiasm, returning with several formerly abandoned classics -- such as "St. Stephen" and "Dancing in the Streets" -- adding a few numbers that would ultimately remain in their repertoire. Most notably, "Might as Well" and "The Wheel" from Jerry Garcia's (guitar/vocals) solo songbook and Bob Weir's (guitar/vocals) "Lazy Lightning"/"Supplication," a coupling that Weir initially worked up with Kingfish. Dick's Picks, Vol. 33 (2004) captures two consecutive performances at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium on October 9 and 10, 1976. This marked only the second run that the band had played in their native Bay Area since '74. With Mickey Hart (percussion) back in the fold, the Grateful Dead are as rhythmically sinuous as ever, retaining their lissom nature and instantaneous penchant for improvisation. Prime examples include the intricate improvisation in "Scarlet Begonias" -- which had yet to be linked to "Fire on the Mountain" -- and pretty much the whole of set two on October 9. Beginning with a sublime "St. Stephen" that sandwiches an equally limber "Not Fade Away," the musicians drive steadily through an incendiary "Help on the Way"/"Slipknot," detouring into a percussive duet between Kreutzmann and Hart before tumbling headlong into a Weir-led arrangement of Rev. Gary Davis' "Samson and Delilah." The jam returns into "Slipknot," followed by a feisty "Franklin's Tower" before ending up in an inspired "One More Saturday Night." The show on the 10th offers up another helping of "Cassidy," "Promised Land" and "Samson and Delilah," as well as impressive -- if not downright boogie-a-fied -- readings of "Dancing in the Streets" with a tender "Wharf Rat" center. Another top-shelf second set that is dominated by "Playing in the Band" with a lyrical version of "The Wheel," a simply lilting "Stella Blue" and a loose and laid-back "Sugar Magnolia" that is corralled into a considerable finale. ~ Lindsay Planer|