Total BS, although as you point out, Mickey did say something to that effect, 20 years later. Fact checking is a lost art.
Except that moments of brilliance were sadly much fewer and further between that year, although not altogether lacking.
The first GD shows I potentially could have seen were Hartford March ‘86 but my they played there on school nights (I was 15) and my parents weren’t having it. No NYC area shows that summer, Jerry in a coma, school night shows in Hartford March ‘87... It was a long wait until I finally made it to a show (or two, actually) in summer ‘87...
Ooh, Crazy Fingers from the Beacon Theatre, 14/06/76 is nice. Is that a Spanish Jam I hear? Then a short Drums seguing into Dancing In The Street! Wow, what an excellent sequence right before that H>S>F! Fluck, Cosmic Charlie is sandwiched in-between! Ok, this 2nd set is the schiit.
Revisited 5/25/72 (Lyceum Theatre) this morning. A fantastic show. The UJB > Wharf Rat > Dark Star is an out of this world sequence. This Dark Star is one of the best of the E72-tour. This sequence is also unique in that all three songs are Garcia-sung. Other highlights includes Ramble On Rose, Sitting On Top Of The World, Brokedown Palace and Sugar Magnolia.
The Dew to end all Dews. And the Scarlet>Fire is a great one as well. Sadly, there is no SBD, but they were absolutely "on" that night.
4 April 1969- Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco. Primed for primal, the band is back playing in a hometown venue freshly invigorated by their successful recording work at the Fillmore West.
For me, the best shows in the June '76 box are easily the two from the Beacon, 6.14 and 6.15. I feel like the band was just on fire throughout, front to back. I thought 6.19 Passaic was a come down after those shows honestly. It's a fun show with good energy, but nothing transcendent like those two nights at the Beacon. I've never heard 6.18 Passaic but it's on my list coming up.
Saturday Morning listening and Strong Coffee Live Dead 1969 Dark Star 2/27/69 blasting .......is this the definitive Dead record or maybe 2/14/68? Well then again Europe 72 is awesome. Inspired by Mazzy’s Greatful Dead Video. Peace , be safe... RSD 2020 Buffalo 5/9/77
Here I was thinking that "The Dew to end all Dews" was hyperbole. But I thought better, and realised that there are plenty people in this thread who know way more than I do, so I thought I'd give it a listen. Holy smokes, that was good.
I'm also in the Deadbase market for a friend. My own copy is 7 and I like the one column format of the lists. Does anyone know if 8, 9, or 10 use the same format for the lists?
Hoping for a miracle SBD or really good quality AUD to somehow surface, but as our buddy @Archtop has said in not so many words, that horse left the barn loooooong ago.
I was there that night and Phil ripped off the top of the universe, lobbed in an incendiary device or three and the rest of the band mutually concluded: what a great idea!
I have Deadbase X. It used two columns. I used to have the one that ended around summer 1993 and I think it was one column.
4 April 1971- Manhattan Center, NYC. I believe I have found a Peanut! @davmar77 will be along in a while to share his experience of meeting Pigpen at these shows. It's always good to hear the stories from our Elders, they connect us into the history and depth of this music.
Just looked at db.etreedb.org and there doesn't seem to be a SBD circulating of any show from this June 1983 tour, so I guess it is true that they didn't bring the DAT or cassette decks Healy used to record most shows in this era.