Golden Age

Sunday, December 31, 1978

San Francisco, CA · Winterland Arena

Show stats

Sunday
Day 365 of 1978
Show #
87 of 87
Era
Golden Age
Keys
Keith
Recordings
16
Top rating
★ 5.00 (1)
Official release
The Closing of Winterland
Top-rated tape
SBD
Total dl
217,225
Songs played
27 · 4 sets
Show length
3h 45m
Longest track
Not Fade Away · 18:31

Curator Score

How this is computed →
99CanonicalRank #7 of 1,999
Rolling Stone Top 30Official releaseRelisten ratingarchive.org ratingShow lengthBust-out rarity

Featured on: The Closing of Winterland

From the Curator's listening journal · 2 entries

From the tapers · archive.org · 3
  • ★★★★★ · An all-timer · gphishmon · 2006

    I used to have a dub of a bootleg album of this show. It was weird - all of the jam out of Scarlet and all of Fire was skipped, so it went from the end of Donna's vocalizing straight to the coda. I never even knew that wasn't how the show went until I got the DVD. It's a nice, trippy Scarlet>Fire, and I totally agree about the Ramble on Rose. I wonder why they so rarely did this bluesy kind of jam out of Miracle in the 80's. It sounds so natural.

  • ★★★★★ · If you own only one Grateful Dead CD, you can't go wrong with "The Closing of Winterland" · DJPeebs · 2014

    The atypical, yet joyous aNd life-reaffirming opening at midnight of Sugar Magnolia-Scarlet-Fire is truly gobsmacking. The archetypal Jerry licks during the transition and lead-in to Fire on the Mountain are unparalleled. Anyone who wishes to know within two minutes what made Jerry's guitar playing historically notable only need listen to those couple of minutes. Next comes his signature virtuoso phrasing during Fire. I had to wipe the drool from my chin.

  • ★★★★★ · and then Jerry smiled at me rum pum pum pum · sfdead · 2014

    I was at this show with about 8 of my buddies from HIGH school, class of 77, from our school in SF Sunset District. Most of us dropped the A bomb (4 way) and walked there from our friends house. Saw the Blues Brothers, but I know we were just starting to crank when New Years hit, the balloons dropped, the lights flashed, and Sugar Mag started!!!I had all my buds around, about 6 feet from the stage, and it was one of those times when you just "smile, smile,smile"!

Community reviews from archive.org, not the Curator.

Official release

Bust-outs & rarities

Setlist

Set 1

  1. 1.Sugar Magnolia
  2. 2.Scarlet Begonias
  3. 3.Fire on the Mountain
  4. 4.Me and My Uncle
  5. 5.Big River
  6. 6.Friend of the Devil
  7. 7.It's All Over Now
  8. 8.Stagger Lee
  9. 9.>From the Heart of Me
  10. 10.Sunshine Daydream

Set 2

  1. 1.Samson and Delilah
  2. 2.Ramble on Rose
  3. 3.I Need a Miracle
  4. 4.Terrapin Station
  5. 5.Playin' in the Band
  6. 6.drums
  7. 7.Not Fade Away
  8. 8.Around and Around

Set 3

  1. 1.Dark Star
  2. 2.The Other One
  3. 3.Dark Star
  4. 4.Wharf Rat
  5. 5.St. Stephen
  6. 6.Good Lovin'
  7. 7.Casey Jones
  8. 8.Johnny B. Goode

Encore

  1. 1.We Bid You Goodnight

Setlist from CMU Dead archive (mleone/gdead)

Recordings on archive.org · 16

Top-rated source

gd1978-12-31.139554.sbd.gaswirt.miller.sirmick.flac1644

Source: sbd > master reel (15ips half track) > pcm > dat (44.1k) - Provided by Rich Gastwirt; Transfer: Dat > Panasonic SV-3700 > Tascam DA-3000; wav 16/44.1 - Transferred by Charlie Miller; Lineage: wav > iZotope RX6 Advanced > iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced > CD Wave > TLH > Flac 16edited and mastered SIRMick · ★ 5.00 (1 reviews) · 17,797 dl

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