The halting Terrapin and awkwardly slow presentations of a few other songs including Throwing Stones and TMNS (for the first half) really speak to the lack of time the whole band spent together.

Hornsby should have been better prepared for these shows. If he was, I bet he would have earned a few more singing parts. As it was, his piano was functional, but not rising to the level of the occasion.

The musical creativity and performance was best on the left, weakest on the right. Trey, Phil, Billy, and (in Chicago anyway) Bob were great. The other three were mostly superfluous. Mickey earned the right to be there, but he wisely played with brushes for the half of the material he was less prepared to play.

Yet the numerous highlights were very high and worthy of the legacy of the Grateful Dead. Lots of great music underneath all that production and talent and age, built on a foundation laid in 1965. I felt like a guest, but I really enjoyed participating in the anniversary celebrations and thought they were a big if imperfect success.