John A

That's actually a curious one. Per the Grateful Dead Song Finder, David Gans says Brent gave this song the title "Good Time Blues." But both "Dozin' At The Knick" and "Nightfall of Diamonds" list it as "Never Trust A Woman." But these were both released after Brent had died. And of further note, the record in the Library of Congress from the copyright application lists "Application Title: Gonna See Some Good Times" Looks like this is one where neither title is a wrong answer.

That is one hell of bizarre 2 encore sequence, Saturday Night and Miracle. I wonder what precipitated that.

Well, I didn't leave but I will second your friend's sentiment. This was indeed the worst sound, by a long shot, that I ever experienced at a Dead show. I recall the only exciting moment being the mid set Iko. I was even with the soundboard about 1/2 up the lower section, so not great not not exactly horrible seats. There's an FOB Schoeps tape that sounds at least somewhat passable, so the sound was apparently better in the sweet spot. But still. Horrific venue and a totally flat show. Santana opened, and this was the only show I ever saw where the opening act outshone The Boys.

Back to Sugaree. I finally got to the 5-22-77 the other night - it had been many years. This version is all about the jam before the the 3rd verse. It's epic, with lulls and peaks aplenty. There is then no jam before the final verse, just a brief, quiet instrumental. This is how Jerry often approached the song in later years, when the big jam was followed by a very soft interlude before the ":meet you at the jubilee" verse. Another thing 5-22 has going on is the transitions from the jams to the first lines in the following verse are stunningly smooth. 5-19-77, on the other hand, has a jam before the 3rd verse that, if you didn't know better, could suffice as the main jam. Then before the 4th verse all Garcia/Lesh driven hell breaks loose. It was pointed out to me that 3-18-77 is a player, so I listened to that as well (and why not - what a great show that is!). It has a wonderful playfulness to it, but it isn't up to the level of the May versions. Sadaka, a little bit above, brought up 5-5-77, and Found brought up 5-28-77. Again, all these May versions are smoking, but I suggest you re-familiarize yourselves with the Fox.

Oddly, the Estimated Eyes switcheroo isn't as rare as one might imagine. The Dead did it 14 times, mostly in '90 and '91. Although the most famous occurrence is probably Colgate 11-4-77. This 3 set beast looks awesome! I saw the final 6 New Year's Dead shows. The 3 set ritual slowly devolved. Proper 3rd sets in '86 and '87, then a 3 song encore in '88, then down to double encores in '89 and '90, and finally just Knockin' encore in '91. At that point, with Uncle Bobo having just passed away, the writing was on the wall. NYE Grateful Dead was no longer. Great that DSO carries the torch with such gusto.

I found the power outage show - it was 5-23-12. Just a random Wednesday in Marin. 😆 The other highlight was Peggy-O. Phil's voice, sans amplification, was so soft, fragile, and delicate. And given the utter silence in the room, it worked beyond any preconceived notions I may have harbored. Here's the list with a photo that gives a decent general idea of what it looked like. They brought out some heavy candle artillery. http://www.deadheadland.com/2012/05/24/setlist-phil-lesh-john-kadlecik-jon-graboff-terrapin-crossroads-bar-wed-may-23-2012-accoustic-set-by-candlelight/

I think, at least as it comes across on tape, the most insane audience reaction to a bust out was that Box in Hampton '86. Honorable mention to Dark Star Hampton '89 and Stephen both MSG and Hartford '83. Rude - as for why Visions was unflubbed while most other songs were mistake laden, Jerry would have been using the teleprompter early and often for Visions, but likely not at all for the songs he should theoretically have known cold. The best Visions I've seen was done by JK at Terrapin Crossroads. Perhaps this was 8 or so years ago. Phil was doing a free bar set with JK and a few other musicians, and a transformer blew in the neighborhood shortly before the set was to start. When it became clear the power wasn't going to come back on anytime soon, they announced that they were scrambling to come up with acoustic instruments and that there would still be music played. Apparently there had to actually be a run to Phil's house to procure them. So the set was played to candlelight, the audience was fully respectful (what choice did they have? There was no vocal PA), and JK just nailed the most haunting Visions one could imagine. Just wow.

I consider 12-16-92 the best show post "medical malfunction 2" as BillK puts it. Just gold from start to finish. Check out Row Jimmy. Casey Jones was the cherry on top. Recommended source? My FOB Schoeps recording. 😊 https://archive.org/details/gd1992-12-16.140956.FOB.Schoeps.Ammons.Noel.t-flac.1648

While '93 was generally tough, December '93 is exceedingly so. But to your question, it was the ambience. The Grateful Dead were on stage. Anything seemed possible. (And as of Dec '93 I generally believed that, although that belief would erode rapidly.)

Not pathetic at all. For a taper at a Dead show, one of the treats was listening to the evening's work in the hotel room during after show partying.

Based on the lineage in the link to the recordings, it looks like you used the Nak shotgun capsules (CP-4). These are designed to cancel sound other than what the mics are pointed directly toward, so any talkers should indeed be minimized. But note that these capsules were not designed to capture full frequency ambient space. They're typically used to record dialog in situations were a mic can't be placed directly in front of an actor.

Ratdog played Masters of War, usually acoustically, on a fairly regular basis from about 2005-2008. As for Broken Arrow, I thought Phil's '93 versions were quite nice.

Words that should not be spoken, written, nor read. Ouch.

Hmmm...I've got Bob Wagner's FOB Nak 700 recording of this show. I'll have to revisit the Wise capture. The Beyer M160s are ribbon mics. Dead recording with them tend to be somewhat hit or miss, but when they hit they can indeed be fantastic.

Plus I think that was the first west coast Box after the breakout. What a huge 1-2 punch to open with. And at about the best venue The Boys still played at that stage. Random curiosity: I wonder if Red Rooster appeared that late in a 1st set again.

Never heard Jerry play the opening bars of St Stephen, but have been privy to a few ribcage raps. Here's what I need for enlightenment: what are the world's top 3 rock bands ever?

Last show chronologically that's not available to listen to is Tulsa 2-6-79. Going backwards from there, other than 1 or 2 in each from '72 through '74, you need to go back to '71 to find any appreciable gaps. But to the point, yeah, what a jackass that Facebook tool is.

Isn't that the "reprise before the main verses of the song" Playin'? Those '85 set lists can be quite fun.

I'm a 5-19-77 Fox Theatre Sugaree guy myself, but certainly we can all agree that Spring '77 was a fine time for that number.

Did DSO play up the Miracle->Shakedown transition? One of the more powerful segues in Grateful Dead history!

We all know that Dead lyrics constantly seem to morph into new meanings based on current circumstances, but that observation is just simply bad ass. I love it.

I think that Dew might have the most intense middle jam ever. Almost makes you wonder if Jerry forget where he was in the song.

The only Dew in '79 and quite a unique one at that. Good stuff!

And on a tragic historical notes, the anniversary of Bill Graham's helicopter crash. RIP

Hey, in fairness to that fool in the bathroom maybe he was at the '85 Kaiser show where The Dead played Big Boy Pete. Can't help him with Golden Road, Doin' That Rag, or Alligator though.