By the summer of 1987, the Grateful Dead were riding a cultural wave that few bands their age could have imagined. *In the Dark* was just weeks away from release — it would drop in July and send "Touch of Grey" into genuine MTV rotation, transforming the band's audience almost overnight. The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley was practically a home court for the Dead, one of those intimate outdoor amphitheaters nestled in the Berkeley hills where the band seemed to breathe easier than in the arenas that had become their standard habitat. The natural acoustics, the loyal Bay Area crowd, the eucalyptus-tinged air — the Greek had a way of bringing out a certain relaxed confidence in the band's playing, and summer dates there often landed somewhere between a neighborhood party and a religious gathering. Brent Mydland was firmly established as the band's keyboardist by this point, his gospel-inflected Hammond work giving the mid-eighties sound a harder, bluesier edge than the Keith Godchaux years, and Garcia's tone in '87 had a singing, almost vocal quality that suits the warmer material perfectly. The partial song list we have from this show offers a nice cross-section of the band's working vocabulary in this period. "West L.A. Fadeaway," one of the stronger Garcia-Hunter originals from *Go to Heaven* (1980), was a reliable first-set closer or mid-set anchor by this era — a strutting, slightly world-weary shuffle that always gave Brent room to shine alongside Garcia's leads.
"Women Are Smarter," the old Calypso number the band had been dusting off since the Pigpen days, offered a loose, almost joyful change of pace whenever it appeared, and hearing it drop into a mid-set slot is always a treat. "Mexicali Blues," the Weir-Barlow country waltz, is another tune that rewards close listening — it's deceptively simple until Bobby locks in with the rhythm section and the whole thing starts to swing. The drums slot, as always, functioned as the set's hinge point, a chance for Mickey and Bill to stretch and for the crowd to catch its breath before the second set resumed. For listeners exploring this one, pay attention to the interplay between Garcia and Brent throughout — in 1987 they were genuinely simpatico, trading fills with an easy fluency that the band had worked hard to develop. If a soundboard source is circulating, the separation between instruments will reward headphone listening. This is a comfortable, lived-in performance from a band at the edge of their biggest commercial moment, still playing the neighborhood rooms that made them who they were. Worth a spin.