I had originally wanted to use this Casey Jones pick the last time I visited the song, but I wanted a bit more diversity in terms of years at that point so I tabled it until now.
Obviously these shows, 2/13-14/70, have developed their own mythos over the years, and rightly so. The Dark Star > Other One > Lovelight from 2/13 is about as good as it gets for this period. It may seem a bit odd to opt for the bread instead of the meat of the sandwich, but the rawness of this version of Casey Jones just grabbed me from the get-go.
The band played the shit out of Casey Jones from 1969-1972. Probably around 75% or so of the 300+ performances of the song took place in that span. When you think about it like that its easy to see how the band probably got tired of playing the song and did everything with it that they wanted to do. Fortunately, there’s plenty of life in this version!
Remember, this show is on the cusp of the dance-era GD transformation to the mellow country-rockers of Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. This take on the neo-folk Garcia/Hunter original is hot and snappy. When the guitar break section comes around, Jerry tentatively chunks out some lines where Weir will in the future be featured. The second half of the solo — later all Garcia’s — is still equally iffy. Nonetheless, this one signals to the New York audience that things are changing in the Grateful Dead camp. Watch your speed!