John A

Jesus, you two. Get a room. 😜 Everyone knows that 8-6-71 is THE Hard To Handle. 😎 (Disclosure: Due to the mind boggling nature of the quality of the 8-6 audience tape I am massively biased. Fuck, there may not be a better audience tape in the entire decade!)

I think that taken as a 3 night whole that '89 Cal Expo run is as good as any shows I attended.

There's a set 2 only with AKG mics and an Uher deck (rare and very nice German portable cassette) that's also a pretty sweet listen for that 8-3-82. It's worth seeking out.

That Keith Gotto '76 Hartford is a pretty solid audience capture , which is good because no board circulates!

That 8-1-94 Stella stands alone with 3-21-94 Richfield OH as the "Garcia vocal jam" late era Stellas. The man had virtually no chops left, but he could still muster a way to bring it.

Hey - saw 'em both then! The Laguna Seca isn't ringing a bell though. And speaking of rare songs, when Believe It Or Not slipped into the ballad slot at Laguna Seca it felt like something that was probably there to stay. Alas, no.

Caught that in Pittsburgh summer '88...might have been the only one??

That could be the "best" show (scene, location, band kicking it down, etc) I saw. I recommend finding Sean Weber's spaced Schoeps omni recording as the source if it's on archive. That's the go to. Taping wasn't allowed due to David Lindley opener, so it was all stealth. I mean, seriously Lindley? You're going to unilaterally stop Heads from capturing this show because you're freaked about about your set going to tape? Get over yourself! This was right before I made the jump from taper section to FOB, and as we were completely unprepared to not be let in at the gate we dutifully trudged back to the car and put the gear away. When the Dead came on, however, there was nobody stopping open taping, so if you'd got your gear past the gate you were good. Some grizzled old big bearded hippy was running shotguns on a tall stand way over past the stacks on Phil's side. I was initially shaking my head at the guy's tactics, but when China Cat worked its way into Crazy Fingers I recall thinking this guy ain't looking so dumb after all. 😆

That angry taper banter is absolute gold. As an aside, the new '82 Red Rocks references, IMHO, are the Nak 700s with DBX noise reduction that were recently transferred from my Beta copies. Here's 7-28: https://archive.org/details/gd1982-07-28.142567.Anon.Severson.Weber-Small.Donaldson.Ammons.Noel.t-flac1644 More epic, however, is the same source from 7-29 which features an extended explosion by Phil like no other, which no other taper captured nearly this well. The board is useless, as it actually distorts (more like cuts out) during this savage passage; watch your levels...but I suppose that is for tomorrow.

Those summer '74 Slipknot jams were indeed fascinating. And what a sequence that is. How many were there? Likely deserves its own thread. No more than a handful, and certainly some were more fleshed out than others.

One song / one moment sums up '94/'95 perfectly. Deer Creek '94 is the only show The Boys played on July 20th? What a quirk in the calendar.

That transition into Smokestack is some of the best shit the post coma Grateful Dead did. Then Garcia proceeded to simply not let up for the duration of Smokestack. Great stuff. And nice Deer Creek credentials to have seen every show there!

Hmmm... What do those 3 shows have in common? 30 Trips Around The Sun!

Nice story! I gave 3 years later at Buffalo a whirl last night. 7-4-89. Great show. Ultra-Matrix is the recommended source.

During the show, in real time, I'm thinking, "really, We Can Run in the 2nd set?" Today I'm thinking, "what a blessing to have been witness to that about 15th row center." Jerry didn't leave stage during the second set, or at least that's my recollection.

Billk, That Derby Day Frost show featured a whopping 23 songs - 12 in the second set. Fine afternoon to be riding the rail!

There's a moment in that Alabama that's actually a highlight of '95, for what that worth. Check out Jerry belting "down in the valley of the shadows..." Beyond that, it seemed for a brief moment the first set was going to run all of 1/2 hour when Don't Ease ended, before the shocker of shockers, Unbroken Chain. Too bad they didn't give that one a try while Jerry still had some chops to lend it.

Well then you saw better shows than I did...that Dylan set 2-12 must have been a total blast!

Dec '89 LA Forum was GA. Can't speak for other shows there.

Irvine was reserved in the seats, GA in the lawn. Shoreline was the same, perhaps the last bastion of reserved seating for the Dead in CA. Jerry at Warfield was reserved balcony and GA floor. Just like DSO.....wait....DSO plays the Warfield? 😲👋🎶

I think the Victim jam then into Standing is the best music The Boys played on Spring Tour '90. And that is no small statement, given all that happened on the tour. Best heard via the 24 track Box Set release.

Sadly, balcony tapes from the Warfield are historically mediocre and this is an upper balcony recording so even worse. There was a mic stand set up by the soundboard (just behind the drink rail) in the sweet spot. I didn't get the impression that this was a band deal, but maybe it was. If this is something that will be circulating though it should be FAR more preferable than what is linked here.

I mean, they GOTTA do a Wall of Sound show with that bad boy...right?!?

Did Eaton say, "just like a Swiss watch" at the Sailor Saint transition? That was the final Lost Sailor.

Healthy Dylan quota in that bad boy!