1974-05-19 Portland, OR

5/19/74 – Portland, OR***** (from Bobby McGee onwards) GREATEST TRUCKIN JAM EVER

A MUCH better looking setlist tonight. BRB, Scarlet, BT Wind... Yes, BT-Wind is excellent tonight but the guys don't really seem to turn off the breaks until the WONDERFUL Bobby McGee. 

Everything before, while fine, is basically a warm up to this awesome rendition. Wonderful noodling from Jerry on it. It's like the guys said “hey, we need to wake up!” and they flipped the “ON” switch. The vibe and energy is totally transformed in an instant. I can't describe. They go from sleeping to running just like that. 

Sugaree is downright excellent. 8 minutes of killer. Jack Straw sounds really good, but unfortunately the vocals weren't recorded, so if you want a great “instrumental” version, this is the one for you! :) Roses and El Paso follow and sound good too but the vocals are still absent, unfortunately. Thankfully this is remedied by the start of a great Loose Lucy. These '74 versions are so enjoyable to hear. :) 

Up next is the 2^nd of only THREE performances of Money Money. Donna sounds great on it! Guess she could hear herself tonight, lol. Great stuff! 

Up next is THE GREATEST CHINA>RIDER EVER. Ok, that's exaggerating, but it's a DAMN EXCELLENT AND AWESOME VERSION! The jam between China and Rider is just phenomenal. Perfection at it's most, well, perfect. This China Cat is INSANE. 

Up next is the one-two punch of a ROARING Promised Land and a perfect Bertha. Actually make it a threesome – GSET is smashing like the first night of Euro '72 at Wembley! Things just keep getting better and Weather Report Suite is downright fantastic. It's 18-minutes long and Let It Grow just goes on and on and on and on! After Wharf Rat, we get the most delicate, fragile, gorgeous Peggy O these ears have ever seen. Holy moly again.

TRUCKIN IS FRICKIN AWESOME. LISTEN TO THE JAM THAT BEGINS AT 9 MINUTES IN. GREATEST FRICKIN TRUCKIN EVER JERRY GOES ALL STATIC WAH ON US JSUT LISTEN TO THIS JAMMING HOLY MOTHER OF EFF.  

Faints.

The Truckin>MLB>GDTRFB is all-time-greatest-must-hear material. This cavalcade of holiness comes to a conclusion with the hottest OMSN this side of the sun and an unenventful US Blues to take us home.