Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 3.9.81

Description

A new legendary concert recorded on March 9, 1981, at Madison Square Garden in New York. "We are just starting to relax to the point where we were, let's say, in 1970, 1972, where we can start to drift from key to key, from rhythm to rhythm, and in the jams, interesting stuff has emerged. Again, we tend to go to new places every night." - Bob Weir, Rolling Stone, 1980. 3/9/81 at Madison Square Garden offers all of this. It has color, texture, and freshness, the Hammond organ of keyboardist Brent Mydland painting a new layer for the Dead. And they did it, from the opening "cannon shot" of "Feel Like A Stranger" to the "ephemeral romance of 'Althea'", through the bright 80s blues of the first set to the second set, both intense ("China>Rider", "Samson And Delilah", "Estimated Prophet") and dramatic ("Ship Of Fools", "Stella Blue") in its ability to envelop you with its spirals and accents. Everything has been restored by Plangent Processes tape restoration, speed correction, with mastering by Jeffrey Norman. Hot, hot, hot!