By the fall of 1985, the Grateful Dead were deep into the Brent Mydland era, a period that doesn't always get its due but deserves serious attention from anyone willing to dig in. Brent had been in the band since 1979, and by mid-decade his Hammond-driven keyboard work and muscular backing vocals had become fully integrated into the band's sound. Garcia was in complicated personal shape during this stretch — the years surrounding his 1986 diabetic coma were marked by uneven performances, but the band could still catch fire on the right night, and late summer 1985 found them on the road and occasionally delivering the goods. The Starlight Theater in Kansas City, Missouri is a grand old outdoor amphitheater that has hosted the Dead multiple times over the years. Nestled in Swope Park, the Starlight is one of the Midwest's genuine treasures — a classic open-air venue with a sweeping stage and the kind of natural acoustic environment that rewards a band willing to stretch out. Dead shows there carried a certain regional loyalty, the Kansas City faithful turning out in force and giving the room its own particular warmth. The Midwest crowd always seemed grateful in the truest sense. What we have from this show is tantalizing precisely because it centers on the encores — Lovelight and a flowing run into Smokestack Lightnin'.
Both are deep-roots blues numbers that reach back to the band's earliest San Francisco days, and seeing them appear together in 1985 is a reminder of how the Dead never fully let go of that Pigpen-era swagger. "Turn On Your Lovelight" was Bobby Bland's showcase that Pigpen turned into an improvisational bonfire in the late '60s, and even in the mid-'80s it could still serve as a vehicle for extended vamping, crowd call-and-response, and genuine abandon. Running it into Smokestack Lightnin' — Howlin' Wolf's bone-deep classic — shows the band in a generous, swaggering mood, willing to stay out on the porch a little longer than necessary. The recording quality for this show is worth checking against available sources before you dive in, as Starlight tapes from this period range from excellent soundboards to decent audience captures with some ambient bleed. Whatever the source, the thing to listen for here is the energy at the tail end of the night — how the band closes out, whether Brent's organ finds that deep groove under Smokestack, and whether Garcia's guitar sings in the summer air. Some nights close with the feeling that nobody wanted to leave. This might be one of them.