By the summer of 1988, the Grateful Dead were deep into one of the more underappreciated stretches of their later career. Brent Mydland had been in the fold for nearly a decade at this point, and the band had developed a muscular, keyboard-forward sound that suited the massive venues they were increasingly calling home. The Touch of Grey breakthrough the previous year had brought a wave of new fans into the fold, swelling crowds and shifting the cultural temperature around the Dead considerably. This wasn't the loose, exploratory band of 1972 or the tightly wound peak-form outfit of 1977 — this was a road-hardened ensemble that knew exactly how to move a stadium crowd while still leaving room for the unexpected. Laguna Seca, the famous racing circuit nestled in the rolling hills of Monterey County, California, had become a natural home for large-scale outdoor rock events, and the Dead played there on multiple occasions during this era. The setting — open sky, coastal California air, a natural amphitheater formed by the hillside — gave these shows a festival-like atmosphere that suited the band well. There was something fitting about the Dead playing a racetrack; both things are built around the thrill of controlled chaos and the question of what happens when you push to the edge.
Of the songs preserved in this show's record, each one earns its place. Gimme Some Lovin, the Spencer Davis Group stomper, was a crowd-pleasing opener type that gave the band room to stretch out with real rock-and-roll swagger — Brent's organ work is always a treat on this one, and by 1988 the band wore it comfortably. Candyman, one of Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia's most elegantly written songs, is worth seeking out in any year — a slow-building gem that rewards patience, and late-80s versions often find Jerry in a warm, emotionally generous mode. Black Muddy River, introduced on In the Dark in 1987, was still relatively fresh in the concert rotation here and carries a genuine weight in live settings — it's Garcia at his most autumnal, and crowds who understood its gravity tended to go very quiet. Whether you're coming to this one for the California sunshine captured in the crowd's energy or to hear how these songs sounded in the thick of the Touch of Grey era, this is a show worth your afternoon. Put on some headphones, find a comfortable spot, and let Laguna Seca do its thing.