By early 1986, the Grateful Dead were well into the Brent Mydland era, and the band had settled into a muscular, keyboard-driven sound that contrasted sharply with the more exploratory, jazz-inflected work of the Keith Godchaux years. Brent, now six years into his tenure, had grown into a confident and occasionally ferocious presence — his Hammond organ and gospel-tinged vocals adding a hard rock edge that suited the arena circuit the Dead had increasingly made their home. Garcia, meanwhile, was navigating some difficult personal terrain during this period, and performances from this stretch of the mid-eighties can swing dramatically between transcendent and perfunctory. When they were locked in, though, the band could still conjure something remarkable. The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland is a room with real resonance for Bay Area Deadheads. Sitting on the shores of Lake Merritt, this grand old hall hosted numerous Dead runs through the eighties, and there's something fitting about seeing the band play a stone's throw from their home turf. Shows here often carry a looseness and familiarity — the crowd is deep with locals and longtime followers, and the band tends to respond in kind.
The songs we have from this show offer a compelling cross-section of the Dead's vocabulary. China Cat Sunflower is always worth tracking, since any given night could yield a tight, charging transition into I Know You Rider or something more sprawling and exploratory. Stella Blue, one of Garcia's most emotionally devastating ballads, rewards close listening — the way he attacks each verse when he's genuinely present is something few guitarists can approximate. Might As Well, a sprightly Hunter-Garcia number from the Terrapin Station era, makes for a warm, crowd-pleasing moment wherever it lands, while Bird Song — a perennial fan favorite that can stretch into gorgeous, arcing improvisation — is the kind of tune that separates a good night from a great one. The Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad closer (marked with an asterisk, suggesting a reprise or partial performance) is a communal, jubilant send-off with deep roots in the Dead's tradition of folk and jug band music. Recording information for this one leans toward a decent audience or matrix source circulating among collectors, typical of the Oakland runs from this period. The room sounds good on tape and the mix tends to be balanced. Pull this one up and let Bird Song tell you everything you need to know about where the band's head was on this particular February night.