On the subject of 1985. Riverbend was my first show June 24. It was included in the 30 trips and it sounds quite good. I think we might see a 85 Dave's picks eventually. Just not a box set.
No merit badge.......they never liked me. I just live in New Jersey and took the train in every night. I saw a lot of shows, but not until 1984. There's a lot of people here who saw more impressive earlier shows. 1988 was an up & down year (for me). Sometimes they were great - Hampton, Summer Tour - but there were some flat ones too....Hartford, Worcester, most of Madison Square Garden.
Oh boy, I finally have a chance to contribute and annoy again I'm mega jelly to anyone that got to see this awesome show! I've enjoyed the show more in recent times but apparently when I first heard it and wrote this review (2016?) I found it to be a mixed bag: 6/9/91 – Hebron, OH A rockin' Picasso opens the show. A really nice and chill Sugaree follows. Minglewood is ripping tonight, but unfortunately Jerry is way down in the mix to where you almost can't hear him! Ramble On Rose saw Jerry back in the mix with some really great lead playing throughout. Masterpiece he sits out, unfortunately. Ruben is up next and as great as the song is, it's a bit anti-climactic. The Dead debut from back in March is probably the best they did and this one is probably the 3rd best of the 4. Too bad Jerry is still missing in the mix, because the Let It Grow that closes the set is the surefire highlight. IT IS FREAKING GREAT! I'd say absolutely worth hearing. Overall, aside from the ripping Let It Grow, set 1 is basically disappointing and skippable. Thankfully, set 2 continues the upbeatness of Let It Grow and has us wiggling our rears from the get-go. The sound/mix is WAY better than set 1!!! Samson is just insane tonight. Hotter than hell! Crazy Fingers is fantastic and has a great uptempo jam at the rear. This throws us full force into a full-steam-ahead PITB. PITB has some fantastic jamming. Jerry breaks out the midi flute. That's always welcome. Just as it sounds we are about to lift to outer space, we slam back down to earth for He's Gone. He's Gone is powerful and awesome. Basically the reverse of 3/21/90. Very bluesy and it sounds like it's perfect for another Speedway breakout, but alas this is not to be. Into Drums and Space we head. Out of D/S with a 9 minute TOO that tries it's hardest. Everyone is going in every different direction – the only thing coherent is the drumming, lol. A very enjoyable trip – very, very powerful!! After a nice Wharf, this mixed-bag show ends with Around and Around. I guess, overall, get Let It Grow and the second set highlights.
And those woods in the picture on the bottom left, nothing but trouble in there. I lived about a hour from there and it wasn’t possible to get home before 7am.
playing 11/6/77, i thought i listened to this in april or may but maybe not. this is fire. super jamming mississippi and tennessee jed with blistering jerry. funky mexicali blues >me and my uncle. i'm on duprees diamond blue now. jaw hit the floor. lets keep going . the band just sounds angry in a good way
I'm listening to the first set of the first night of MSG 88 and there's been like 5 vocal miscues so far but the heart is still beating like a lion and musically the band is rock solid. I'd still take this over anything post-Brent FWIW. If we were both back there hanging and not commuting out of Penn Station, I think you'd be on the "release the damn nine night MSG box set" bandwagon with me. That said, I can only imagine how pissed I would've been to get to the last night, no major bustouts to speak of, and then be rewarded with the Oates.
Just wanted to add that the Dark Star>Wharf Rat>Dark Star sequence is amazing. Seemless transition between the songs which makes sense as I've always considered them as similar in vibe/tempo/key...
Transmissions from the hot tub....currently listening to the victom>foolish heart combo from...... 10/16/88 Bayfront Arena, St. Petersburg, FL I: Mississippi Half-Step, Never Trust A Woman, Feel Like A Stranger, Friend Of The Devil, Stuck Inside Of Mobile, To Lay Me Down> Don't Ease Me In II: Box of Rain, Victim Or The Crime> Foolish Heart, Looks Like Rain> Terrapin Station> Drums> Space> The Wheel> Gimme Some Lovin'> All Along The Watchtower> Morning Dew E: Quinn The Eskimo Not feeling it too much and a perfect example of a misused >. The foolish heart does have some groovy Jerry/Brent interplay. Edit: OK, Jerry is definitely locked in on the back half of FH which turns it a pretty special performance. Any cool victim combos out their? I seem to remember a killer victim/touch several hundred pages back. Double edit... Think arch may have recommended this one from.... 8/16/91 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA I: Jack Straw> Bertha, It's All Over Now, Ramble On Rose, Desolation Row, Dark Star> Promised Land II: Scarlet Begonias> Victim Or The Crime> Fire On The Mountain> Truckin'> Drums> Space> Playin' Reprise> Standing On The Moon> Good Lovin' E: U.S. Blues ..assuming this was a split Playin from the prior night.
Southeast 1988 was the one time I chose city over tour. It was my 1st time in New Orleans, and I decided to just spend a week there around the Grateful Dead show instead of going to the surrounding Florida and Texas shows. Plus it helped that New Orleans was 10/18.......the 4th anniversary of my first show. Got to see them with The Bangles after seeing them with Hall & Oates at the rainforest show.....how very 80s.
I’m gonna get savaged for this but... Im not that big on Fall ‘77. Shrug. It’s probably just me and I’m fine with that. I prefer Spring. It’s good but overrated. I’ll see myself out.
The Playin' Reprise concluded the 8/12/91 Playing in the Band from a few nights earlier. There was a day off between the two 3-night runs, and they treated it like a week-long run. The only repeat across the 6 shows was Promised Land, if I recall correctly. This was a really fun show, but in my state of mind, I was very confused after the first set, and thought the show was over. I had to be convinced not to leave after Promised Land. How could there possibly be more show after they'd already played Dark Star. (In short, like a fool I had mixed Texas medicine and railroad gin, people had gotten uglier, and I had no sense of time).
