We're not only headed back to the Bay Area with the release of July 17, 1976, the 5th of a phenomenal six-night run at the Orpheum Theatre, but back to the basics - smaller venues, lighter loads (post-Wall of Sound) - and the results are electric! While the operations may have been stripped down, the Grateful Dead and their music were anything but. 7/17/76 packs plenty of surprises from the Chuck Berry bookends of the first set to the double encore featuring one the finest versions of "Not Fade Away" you're likely to hear, clocking in at almost 15 minutes. The hour-plus seamless second set jam includes a dream setlist, featuring such classics as "Comes A Time," "Eyes Of The World," "Goin' Down The Road Feeling Bad," and a recurring "Other One" that takes us on some spectacular journeys. The venue's superior acoustics coupled with the band's tight intuitive playing lend to a warmer sound and plenty of golden moments. A short one, we've rounded Dave's Picks Volume 18 out with a handful of favorites from the previous night's first set, including a magical coupling of "The Music Never Stopped>Scarlet Begonias".

As always, Dave's Picks Volume 18 has been mastered to HDCD specs by Jeffrey Norman and is limited to 16,500 individually numbered copies. Grab your copy here.