By the spring of 1981, the Grateful Dead were deep into what longtime fans often call the "Brent era" — the band had found a new center of gravity since Brent Mydland joined in 1979, and his Hammond organ and bluesy vocals had reshaped the group's texture in ways that were still unfolding two years in. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and the drum tandem of Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann rounded out a lineup that was gigging hard and sounding increasingly confident in arenas and theaters alike. The early '80s don't always get the love that '72 or '77 do, but there's a muscular, road-worn quality to the playing from this period — tighter than the exploratory late '70s runs, and with Brent adding a harder edge to the harmonies and keyboard fills. The Rainbow Theatre in London is one of those rooms that carries genuine rock and roll weight. A converted cinema in Finsbury Park that hosted some of the most celebrated British rock performances of the '60s and '70s, the Rainbow had seen everyone from Jimi Hendrix to the Who tear its stage apart. By 1981 it was winding down as a major venue, which makes any show there feel like catching something on borrowed time. For the Dead to bring their American psychedelic circus to this storied London room was a genuine event — part of their occasional forays into Europe, where audiences tended to bring a particular kind of reverent intensity.
Of the songs confirmed from this night, both are worth savoring. "Ship of Fools" is one of Garcia's most achingly beautiful compositions — a slow-building meditation on betrayal and regret, with a vocal performance that rewards close listening. When Garcia was locked in on a song like this, the room went still in the best possible way. "Althea," from 1980's Go to Heaven, was still relatively fresh in the repertoire at this point, and hearing the band work through its winding, philosophical lyric in an intimate European theater setting would have been something special. Garcia's lead guitar on "Althea" has a searching, conversational quality — it's worth paying close attention to the dialogue between his playing and Brent's fills. Whether this recording is a soundboard or a well-positioned audience tape will shape how you hear the room itself, but either way, this is a snapshot of the Dead on foreign soil, playing songs that ask something real of the listener. Pull it up and let London 1981 do its thing.