By the summer of 1986, the Grateful Dead were a band in full command of their arena-era powers. Brent Mydland had by now thoroughly settled into the keyboard chair — no longer the new guy who replaced Keith Godchaux back in 1979, but a genuine emotional anchor of the band's sound, capable of both muscular Hammond B-3 swagger and devastating balladry. Garcia's guitar tone in this period carried that warm, slightly rounded quality that fans associate with his mid-eighties work, and the rhythm section of Weir, Lesh, Hart, and Kreutzmann was as locked in as ever. The Dead were heading toward a commercial peak — "Touch of Grey" and *In the Dark* were just around the corner, set for release in 1987 — but in the summer of '86 they were still fully in their live-band groove, playing outdoor sheds and amphitheaters for audiences that had grown enormously since the early eighties. The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley is one of those rooms that feels purpose-built for the Grateful Dead. Nestled into the Berkeley Hills with the open sky overhead, the venue carries a certain Mediterranean warmth even by Bay Area standards, and hometown crowds there have always brought a knowing, celebratory energy. The Dead played the Greek regularly throughout the eighties, and these shows tend to have a relaxed confidence about them — the band comfortable on familiar ground, the audience deeply tuned in. Of the songs preserved from this date, *Fire on the Mountain* flowing directly into *Stella Blue* is a transition worth sitting with.
"Fire on the Mountain" in the mid-eighties often found Garcia and the band locked into that hypnotic Hart-driven groove with real patience and depth, while "Stella Blue" — one of Garcia's most quietly devastating compositions — demands absolute tenderness from the whole ensemble. When it works, it's one of the most emotionally concentrated moments in any Dead set. The segue from "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" — a Brent vehicle that always brought a loose, good-natured calypso swing — into "It Must Have Been the Roses" is an interesting bit of programming, the playful giving way to something more bittersweet. Closing out what we have with "U.S. Blues" speaks to the communal celebration that always characterized the Dead's set finales in this era. If you're new to mid-eighties Dead or just looking for a summer evening that captures the band at ease and in the pocket, this one's worth your time. Hit play and let the hillside come to you.