Grateful Dead

I streamed rest of 6/20 - really really enjoyed it. Big fat old Terrapin > Drumz > Other One at the heart of it. The Other One probably bent a few brains, including mine, back then.

Yes Oro, it was miserably hot and I didn't manage heat well back then (that came when I moved out to the southwest.) Buckeye more of the same. I think Maine was a huge relief for the band and any heads that did the full tour. 7/2 probably show of the tour except for the things that made 6/23 special.

6/23 needs to be understood in context of 6/22 and all that heat. "A gift lost will be recovered." I wrote up my recollections and Gans posted it as part of a gdHour years ago. I'll see if I can find it. Blackbird>Brokedown was a truly remarkable musical gift to cap that night and that run. Totally off the cuff move. It was a thank you from the band and a blessing. Not so much bragging rights but just the feeling of how lucky we were to be there.

Alpine '89 was what it was musically because of Alpine '88.

and there were shows, and there were shows between.
Like this lil nugget (3/30/88)!
Really enjoyed this. Great opening trifecta, couple different era songs for variety, nice Cassidy. We get a Shakedown, fun inverted Uncle J/PITD/Uncle J, and a nice post drums sequence to ramp up the vibe!
Love to check out these shows that fall between/around official ones!

Enjoyed it so much I hit 4/3/88 for extra credit. Jers starting to get the dreaded spring north east tour bronchitis, but not the whole show? Next night I recall he sounds worse? Decent show, but I dug 3/30 more.

So then I through on Dicks 30 while doing some chores, but didn’t get to the second set, though I did catch the fun BD bonus stuff from 3/25. So not a DHB but a grateful day none the less!

Summer 88, sighhhh.
Was all stoked, armed and ready for the last six of tour, until I broke my ankle…
87 Alpine was such a hot shit show as it’s rep had blown up and like all good places it seemed to get too big? So we figured Maine would be the laid back alternative to freak freely and it surely was! When we got to Buckeye the general consensus was that besides the Blackbird bragging rights, folks were writing the whole scene off as miserably hot, too many people, and the band didn’t play that great overall?
I don’t know, I wasn’t their, that’s just the vibe we were getting.
I do know that Buckeye seemed like more of the same though I thought they played decent. Over tge years I’ve really come to enjoy this show, the first set with early Bruce encounters etc, and the three new songs to open the second was cool. But being at that venue in those conditions on crutches and still pretty sore even with enough analgesics for a platoon, it was a ruff day. Pittsburg was a god send comparatively, with no adventures through the countryside and seats to keep off the leg. Don’t recall much of that one cept maybe a good Cumberland and the first of only 2 Start your Engines, which we liked.
We’ll long/short I’d had an unfortunate incident involving ambulance and hospital before the tour started that time has led me to believe was related to excessive acetaminophen in the analgesics? So had to skip Toga, gulp, yep, that one still really hurts, but had to go back to hospital for upper GI and testing. One of the few shows I had a ticket fir but had to get rid of : (
Crotchfester was a good show, and nice flat soft baseball lawn which combined with a week or so of healing made things more fun and less hassle. Another very crowded show and a really muggy day.
So when we got to Maine the night before and it snowed it was quite the change lol.
Maine was a blast all the way around. Things came together and a good time was had by all, though the long slog home on the fourth after all those shows etc was ruff and rememberer it felt weird not seeing then on the fourth.

So since I’ve never heard any of the 88 Alpines (that I remember), figure I’ll fire up 6/23/88 in BC and DVs honor!
ONWARD,

PS: yeah BC those Hampton shows truly were mind blowing. 3/27/88 is definitely one of the best shows I was fortunate to be at, though 3/26 was the only show I went to that I didn’t get in…
Sometimes you eat the Baaarr, sometimes the baaarrr eats you ; )

Yep, I was there too DV. So I have a fair amount of memories about these shows. Some of its already out there. One of the most powerful Dead concert moments was the Morning Dew last night of the run (6/23). that, and the Believe it or Not earlier in the set. But some aspects of this run were a struggle. Damn was it hot. did Buckeye and Pittsburgh afterwards. my last Midwest shows until 7/8 and 7/9/95 at Soldier Field.

Without a doubt one weird thing going back to the tapes is that Healy seemingly recorded the entire run with strong panning across the sound stage. I have never heard anything like it on any other SBD. Question came up on the GD Hour many years ago regarding the panning on the SBD source for 6/23. At the time I had never gone back to listen to the other nights, but 6/23 tape I knew very well. I replied that I thought maybe the panning was a one-off and gave the context. But no, It's there 1st night 6/19. and it's on the Jam of the Week first set 6/20. "Sort of" cool in some ways and sort of a big WTF was going on with that guy. Just odd stuff. Truly.

I had 2 mail order pavilion seats each night. sold the other to a friend who in the end only made the last night. 6/20 was near soundboard to left. Great sound. "kids" next to me proceeded to stub in 20+ of their friends on what were like 4 seats worth of tickets - completely freaking rude, asinine, and ridiculous - literally forcing myself and others out of our legit seats as more and more of them got ticketed in. I was already overheated by Day 2 and not very tolerant of that thoughtlessness. sort of still pisses me off, though I write that with something of a dream time memory smile on a beautiful rainy morning here in the high desert some 30+ years later. at set break I was wandering the lawn and ran into some other folks i knew from OH (school/home at the time) and when Set II rolled in I was like F*** the pavilion I'm hanging up here, and we danced our asses off upper hill right end. It was great. Super fun. Remember an awesome Terrapin. I'm not sure if I have ever heard 6/20 since, maybe once. listened to JOTW 1st set last night and now again listening this morning. It's a great 1st set. I'm like, Box of Rain song 2??!! Band is on. Guessing Dave will feed us the whole show JOTW but probably will stream the whole show today.

Academy of Music 3/26/72 DaP 14 - great to hear that one again (has been very much neglected in this household.) Thanks Daverock!

Will have to check out 3/30/88. Was at Hampton right before this and that was some mind blowing music.

Interesting Dave had the Alpine 88 shows as well as the 88 Met Center show in the Tapers compendium. To be honest, I don't look at that to much.

I was at these shows as a wild eyed 17 year old. Great times. The Alpine shows were 4 shows in five days in the hot sun. We had a crazy drought that summer. Our crew rented RVs for those shows and we were able to camp at Alpine. Crazy times.
I am hoping someday we get the Alpine box set 87-89, would be a fun ride.

New in Jam-o-Week: 6-20-88 Alpine Valley.
Most days I only have time for a taste so Jam and Taper's fit the bill.
Already curated by Dave so you know it will have something tasty.
So often it gets me to try eras and tours I'm not as familiar with like last week's two from 6-11-92 (Jam) and 6-12-92 (Taper's) from Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY. Both very tasty which I rarely expect from the later era. It all just depends on whether they're ON that night no matter what era. Like this week's Taper's 6-17-88 selection from Bloomington, MN was NOT ON. Didn't help that I didn't care for the setlist. But I always learn something so thanks Dave L. and POTDWD crew.
Cheers and onward through the fog, literally this morning in W. Colo.

Absolutely, count me in on 3/30/88.

I think we did hit a few other 88 shows in the past, 3/27 Hampton from the DL series, 4/1 from RT4. 2 and I believe the 30 Trips 88 show as well from 7/3.

I was going to offer a show from 87, but I will save that for next week.

Thanks!

“and now for something completely different”
Think we’ve only hit one 88 here so far via vguy. (10/2/88)
Was going to go 7/29/88 off of Dave’s list, but think we’ll save that for later…

Sorry I skipped 3/26/72 as I don’t have that yet and like to save official shows for when I get them…
Makes me think I should try to get a DP 30 spin in as I just got that from Realgone fairly recently.
But first I figured something completely different for Fri yea!

I tend to play this - and the companion Dicks Picks 30 with the 25th and 28th featured - every year as a prelude to starting off on the European tour. But these shows are great in their own right. The first shows of 1972 after New Years Eve ( that I have) and so usually they are the first 1972 shows I play each year. And they sound so refreshing and energetic - whatever I have been playing before hand, this always sounds like what I have been waiting for.

The 2nd disc is the center piece, but the first set is top notch too. Extra variety for this line up with the additions of Pigpen, which introduces a level of blues and soul that they never recaptured. With Keith on board, anything seems possible. Amazing how "The Other One" was such a powerhouse in earlier years and got reinvented so successfully as at these shows. Jazz rock as literally no one else played it.
Each musician sounds at the top of their game too. You can listen to the whole and zero in and out on any musician and hear something of interest - but I tend to notice Bob Weir more on these dates than is usually the case.
All this...and Europe 72 to follow.

Cheers folks !

I don't think this release gets a lot of play at my house, but it should. That Good Lovin, Truckin -Drums-Other One-Me and My Uncle-Other One into Wharf Rat is a wild ride of Dead nirvana. Man, so good and nice Sugar Mag, The Stranger, NFA, GDTRFB, NFA. Good call Daverock.

And then there is the bonus disc, great stuff First Show.
Definitely an underrated release.

I failed the assignment but did the bonus disc.
No extra credit for you the teacher says.
Uh, the dog ate my homework. Yeah, that's it!
First impressions were that the band was (high)ly motivated as they often are by the NY crowds. Right off the bat Jerry having difficulties with the Bertha lyrics. Great mix with everyone being heard. I do love Phil but his singing was often off key. Based on frequent comments and opinions no one, including me before this, seems as bothered by this as they are by DG's occasional lapses in that department. But Donna never bothers me either really. She's a bonus no matter what. No biggie, just sayin'. And it has a Cumberland!
Second half from six days earlier is good solid '72. Love Bob's reversal of "one of your favorites and we certainly hope it's one of ours" intro to Truckin'. Short listen, short review. Had a busy Wednesday.
Trying to get to my second listen of London 5-26-72 today and this was a great warm up. Thanks Daverock.
Cheers