After the glancing blow of the Easter weekend snowstorm, I decided to make the trek to Fargo for the Quarterly. Tonight looked to be a great event, with the band attempting to recreate a possible setlist for a show from the Grateful Dead’s October 1980 run at Radio City Music Hall. Many of these shows brought back the acoustic/electric format used frequently in 1970 with great success.

It was evident that great care went into curating the setlist, and the opener “Monkey and The Engineer” set the 1980 mood exactly, and like it’s companion from 1970, “Dark Hollow”, showed a different side of the players and singers. A delicate “It Must Have Been The Roses” had not been heard by myself at any other previous Q show, and “China Doll” approached perfection with TA’s exquisite upright bowed electric bass.

The second set (1 of 2 electric) started hot with high energy “U.S. Blues”, “The Music Never Stoppped”, and “Casey Jones” all mobilizing the dancers as if on command. Tempos were pushed, but never sloppy. “Friend of The Devil” was most interesting as it could’ve been played as the uptempo acoustic version, but here it was the slower electric version with capable soloing all around further demonstrating the solid professionalism of this crew. A surprise free-standing “Franklin’s” (although not too surprising for fall of 1980) rocked into a gorgeous “Stella”- another ballad that just breathed in the audience, held them, and placed them perfectly back into the room as it took on a delicate crunch with a life of its own.

Like the previous 2 sets, set 3 featured a perfectly played ballad-“Wharf Rat”, further revealing the willingness of this band to take chances to play and sing them well in acoustic and electric environs. Prior to this was the dawn of the set with a high energy “Iko Iko” and “Minglewood” as peaks of the night- or so we thought, until we were treated to 2 encores, “Good Lovin”, and “Shakedown Street”, both pushed hard, but not to the point of losing the feel of the band of tribute. Red hot solos were the signature of this set.

Shaking hands and hugs all around, until next time, I made my way to my truck, and with a head full of snow, let the full moon show me home into the very wee hours of Sunday morning.

Recommended Fall of 1980 acoustic/electric shows- 9/29/80 Warfield,SF), 10/11/80, 10/25/90, 10/31/80(all Radio City), and the official releases “Reckoning” and “Dead Set”