By the spring of 1985, the Grateful Dead were deep into what might be called their arena-rock middle age — a band that had survived everything from acid tests to the Wall of Sound, now settled into a reliable touring machine with Brent Mydland firmly established as their keyboardist. Brent had been in the band since 1979, and by '85 his voice and Hammond organ had become genuinely integral to the sound rather than merely filling the void left by Keith Godchaux. The band was road-tested and tight, if not always incandescent, and the spring '85 tour reflects that — nights that could range from pleasantly workmanlike to genuinely inspired, often within the same show. The Providence Civic Center was a mid-sized New England arena that the Dead returned to regularly throughout the '80s, part of their well-worn northeastern circuit that also included the Boston Garden and the Spectrum in Philly. Providence audiences were always warm and enthusiastic — the city had a loyal contingent of heads, fed partly by its college population, and the Civic Center had decent acoustics for a hockey barn. It wasn't a legendary room the way Cornell's Barton Hall was, but it had a lived-in familiarity that the band seemed comfortable with. The songs we have from this date are a genuinely interesting cross-section.
Crazy Fingers flowing into The Wheel is a lovely pairing — Crazy Fingers, one of Garcia's most harmonically adventurous compositions from Blues for Allah, has a way of opening up the second set when the band leans into its cyclical, floating quality, and the segue into The Wheel is a natural gravitational pull, both songs orbiting similar themes of motion and return. Dire Wolf, meanwhile, is a first-set staple that Garcia could make feel intimate even in an arena — his delivery on that chorus always carried something quietly mournful. And El Paso, the old Marty Robbins cover, was a crowd-pleaser the band genuinely seemed to enjoy, Garcia's voice loosening up as the narrative rolled along. The dual Drums section is notable — the Dead were doing extended percussion interludes throughout this period, and while they could be an acquired taste, they often gave the second set a meditative center. The recording circulating from this show is generally considered a listenable audience tape — not the crystalline soundboard sources some '85 shows are blessed with, but enough to let you feel the room and follow the music. Put on the Crazy Fingers and ride it through to The Wheel; that sequence alone is worth the trip.