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Set 1:
Jack Straw
Franklin's Tower
Mama Tried
Mexicali Blues
Tennessee Jed
Looks Like Rain
Alabama Getaway
Promised Land

Set 2:
Sugar Magnolia
China Cat Sunflower
I Know You Rider
Samson And Delilah
Ship Of Fools
Lost Sailor
Saint Of Circumstance
Deal

Set 3:
Althea
New Minglewood Blues
Uncle John's Band
Drums
Not Fade Away
Stella Blue
Sunshine Daydream

Encore:
Good Lovin'

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Comments:

One of the last 3-set shows they ever played. They became quite rare in the 80's and 90's.
-

2nd set is all type of wonderfully mixed and fun. Ship of Fools has crystalclear vocals.

-Perrinswolf (05/03/2007)

watched it on cable in columbus took sound offa fm radio simulcast!!!partied till dawn with time difference !!!
- (02/03/2008)

Steve,

I have to politely correct you here. This show was three sets as was (and is) the tradition.

The boys continued to play three set shows on New Years Eve till the end AND there were all the three set acoustic shows in '80.
Anyway sorry to correct you but this wasn't anywhere near the end of three set shows.
'89 was close to the end but not '79.
-gdjake (07/04/2010)

I hardly call the 12/31/83 and on "third set"...a third set, more like an extended encore...I agree with Steve.
-Anonymous (05/11/2011)

Steve just said "one of the" last. He is right. lol
-Anonymous (12/04/2011)

There was another guitar player on stage most or all of the night - somebody with long dark hair - any idea who it was?
- (06/20/2012)

I think the guest guitarist you saw was John Cipollina, formerly with The Quicksilver Messenger Service. He was known for his stinging lead playing. John died in 1989 from a chronic respiratory aliment.
- (07/13/2012)

It's probably for the best that after '82 the "third set" was just an extended encore. besides, '74 and back were the years for three set shows, cause they weren't solely for new years. they just sometimes had a lot of time to play and they enjoyed playing for the whole block of it, no early finishes in '74.

but as for the last GREAT three setter, i'd say it was the closing of winterland. (i'm not counting the Warfield/New Orleans/Radio City shows from 1980, cause their first set was acoustic, so it was basically a two set show with an acoustic intro, which were amazing, but i don't count em.)

The 1980, '81 & '82 new years shows were goog, but the energy coming from the last crowd to ever party in Winterland with the dead is just too intense to overlook. New Years after that was basically a novilty, one which, if you listen with a clear head, sounds like they are playing for the sake of a tradition, not the sake of playing. it gives me a feeling of something that had to be done, no neccisarily if they wanted to or not. But at least the shows were good.

But i digress, steve is absolutely correct,this is one of the last actual, all electric, three set shows ever played. look though every show after and every show before, the answer lies within the setlists. This website is beautiful btw, just felt someone should say that.
-Murphy (12/16/2013)

Steve is correct - there were just a handful of 3-set shows in the 80's (NYE 80, 81, 82), and I don't really count 83 as a 3 set show. But still you can count the number of three set shows on one hand in the 80's and 90s. No more than 2 hands. And they played 15 years of gigs from 1980 - 1995!!!
-Bill (01/28/2017)

The electric sets in late 1980 were three sets, about 20 of them more or less. But we are talkin' 3 electric instrument sets!!!
-Bill (01/28/2017)

7/12/87 is a three set show also (only one I saw). But I agree this site is AWESOME!
- (07/19/2019)

"we used to play for silver, now we play for Clive"
- (12/11/2019)

"We used to play for acid, now we play for Clive,"-Bobby 1-11-79
- (01/24/2020)

Who was opener?
- (08/31/2020)

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