Well, I'm the last person to say anything about Jerry's growing dependency on the BAD THING, because he brought me so much joy right up to the very end. But, this was it...this was the night when I said "Man, Jerry is just gonna keel over right on stage." He was pale and kind of teetering and having a lot of trouble playing in time. This show wasn't even in the same galaxy as the night before, where almost every song, particularly the second set, was note-perfect and full of innovative energy.
However, as was usually the case in the later years when Jerry's playing was suffering, his singing at the end of ballads became more powerful than ever before. As if to make up for his unsteady hands, he delivered such a beautiful ending to So Many Roads that it almost erased any miscues. "EASE MY SOUL!!!" he screamed over and over emphatically, and the crowd went nuts. It gave me chills on what was a pretty warm night.
Bobby delivered a nice Sugar Mag at the end.
I figured it was probably best to take this show as kind of a long encore to the previous night, and, doing so, the Star Lake shows were a really good time.