Grateful Dead

The booklet is in with the Des Moines cds, you just gotta poke around.

I can't even download my files. I have a box set that I think has been with UPS since last Friday but has been "Delayed due to operating conditions". I think it finally left California yesterday for delivery to Baltimore hopefully some time next week. The delivery date is still "pending". They do great work on these box sets. I don't understand why we have to work so hard to get it.

For my own sanity - has anyone who pre-ordered the digital files been able to download? The last communication I had back to me was on Saturday afternoon, with an email saying that they were sorry I was experiencing technical issues with the digital download, they are investigating the issue and will follow up as soon as possible. Since then, nothing.

My copy is currently held in customs in the UK. Hopefully, I’ll hear tomorrow whether they need me to pay any duty on it so that it can be delivered soon.

Nope, you're not alone -- still waiting. Nothing from support beyond the form email everyone got over the weekend. Are we trending towards "credit card company dispute" territory at this point? I feel like they could at least send another email out to ppl who preordered FLACs with a status update. :(

Junk1234:

For my own sanity - has anyone who pre-ordered the digital files been able to download? The last communication I had back to me was on Saturday afternoon, with an email saying that they were sorry I was experiencing technical issues with the digital download, they are investigating the issue and will follow up as soon as possible. Since then, nothing.

Picked it up from the Post Office this morning. None of the discs were loose but maybe only 3 were fully seated, and the funny thing was the fully seated ones were way snug and sorta hard to get out. To echo the sentiment of many it seems a seriously flawed design. My CDs aren't going back in those slots. As for condition - most had some sort of dust which was relatively easy to deal with. Disc 4 of Des Moines has a speck of glue towards the edge. Disc 1 of June 9 has a speck of "something" stuck to it right in the middle. Disc 1 of Kezar has glue on the edge but not playing surface. On Steve Hoffman thread 91% isopropanol is the recommended way to remove glue. Disc 3 of Kezar and Disc 3 of 1st RFK have light scratch/scuff marks and my thought was that it had to happen before being inserted in the slots because scuff marks were at an angle to insertion. Maybe one other disc where I spotted an issue but can't remember which right now. I'll reach out for replacements as necessary.

DJMac - Don't think I've seen anybody comment with the problems your having either here or the dedicated thread for this box on the Steve Hoffman Music Forum. I'd reach out to Dead net and Rhino of course but in the interim I think you might have better luck tapping into trouble shooting advice, if that's something you're looking for, on the Steve Hoffman thread. Good luck.

And as for the Dead and Co discussion here - guilty as charged and I probably started the whole thing by mentioning that I was headed last minute to the shows in Boulder. Big Tent as to what gets discussed on any particular thread.

Thank you for the info and have a note into Rhino already, but will check out the SH forum as well.

Re DeadCo, no worries, it truly is a catch all here. Frankly I am just fatigued 7 years into this outfit of the constant Love Em/Loathe Em stuff and the associated proselytizing efforts each side undergoes. By now, if you don't dig em, you won't be convinced by anyone that you should. And if you do dig em, the naysayers are equally exasperating. I fall squarely into one of those camps in a big way, but respect all sides of the coin. Its a true OMGWAMS situation.

That's for sure. I had an awesome time in Boulder.

wow, check it out if you can find a video, reminds me of several excursions taken back in the day. D & C love them or hate them Mickey and Bob still going at it, gotta love that if nothing else. Saw a video of the drone light show in Boulder, again, wow, check out that Dragon, with matches.
I would love to see a 91 release in this series. Spacebro wants 4-1-91, but those 3 shows in Orlando right after that are quite impressive also, especially that 4-8 show.

In addition to all those mentioned, would offer up 4-27, 6-6, 6-24 and 6-25 as well.

Well, #08749 is here. I'm WFH today and it's super quiet, so I am just beginning my unboxing. My first thought was, "hey, no booklet?" so I dropped what I was doing to come over here and read this thread. Once I realized I'd missed it, I went back. Mine was hiding inside of the first sleeve or whatever these big things are called.

Initial thoughts: these shows are legendary and I can't believe I'm holding official releases almost 50 years to the dates. We're some lucky fans. Thank you, Dave Lemeiux and Jeff Norman, and the producers at Rhino; thank you Kidd, Betty, and Owsley.

That said, now I guess I'd better start carefully looking at my CDs for scratches or glue, ugh. Hope I'll get lucky, because I don't relish trying to find a human at Warner to take care of me otherwise. Because believe it or not, I *still* do not have my Dave's Picks 46... I think they are finally taking care of me, but it feels like WEA took a page out of Twitter's book and decided that they could hollow out the customer service/support dept without anyone noticing...

BOX 00088 arrived safe in SW Houston today. So far all seems well, best of luck to everyone else.

Apparent delivery time.

Patience, bro.

DnC...if they played in the city instead of the Gorge I might go. But also ticket prices...I will use the money for more GD.

It's quite scary, seeing if any extra duty will need paying. Then it will be even more scary when it arrives, and I open it up to see what condition all the discs are in, and find out if they play or not.

at my tiny rural PO in Vermont, just picked it up. Tortured myself by reading comments on Steve Hoffman, so opened it VERY carefully. Nicely but oh so impractically packaged as many have noted. Six discs were loose, all of those lightly scuffed, one with a significant scratch that likely did not happen because of cardboard sleeves. Three discs were very difficult to remove due to glue residue on their stuck edges, two others less badly stuck. Really, the most nightmare beautiful packaging yet, discs will be placed into something far more safe, leaving the wonder, why. Would vastly prefer simple, space efficient format like the Winterland boxes, even 76/78 boxes, don't need extras beyond booklet with details and a few photos. Maybe WMG can produce two versions, basic and deluxe collector. Now on to the important stuff, the music.

Is an absolutely monumental show until He's Gone. If they had closed it there, still would be an all timer. The third set did nothing for me. And it reminded me that I have listened to this show on the Archive at least a couple times over the years. I probably skipped the first set back then. This time, loved first and second sets (up to Wharf Rat, and with the exception of a couple others), and was bored with set 3. I expected guitar fireworks, instead, Jerry and Dickey both play rather tentatively, and very quietly. There are some nice moments, to be sure, but I was fairly let down by the last set and parts of the second set. I can't remember if it was here of the Steve Hoffman board, but somebody mentined Wharf Rat being off in the vocal delivery and being abandoned to Truckin' quickly. I think Stella Blue is much worse. It's very much like the DaP 24 8/25/72 version where Jerry sings it terribly, trying to find the right delivery. (Or on too much of something, which is my hypothesis for 8/25/72 as well as for 6/10/73). The Bird Song, Playing, Eyes, Here Comes Sunshine, Dark Star, and He's Gone are all sublime. I really really liked this show, but I don't ever recall feeling like I was waiting for a show to be done, and every song after He's Gone I was just amazed that they kept going. I was exhausted listening to it.

Still awaiting my box, so no other new, old Dead tunes to blast. Cannot wait to dive into 5/13.

Also, pre-emptive thanks to whomever advocated signing up to UPS to get them to auto-upgrade all SurePost to UPS delivery. Hoping that works, also having them deliver to nearby UPS Store as there have been reports of packages going missing in my building, and not risking shenanigans,

Lastly, I will join SpaceBrother in advocating 4/1/91, but with 3/31. Both will fit together on 4cds.

I posted a comment early on the 4th about having the same issues. I’m working my way through the shows and keep finding tracks with dead air. I’m up to 18, the latest being Beat it on down the line from 6/10/73 crapping out around 0:47 in. As you mentioned, every track of third disc content of 5/20/73 except Truckin’ was corrupted. I have email into Rhino but still nothing other than generic auto reply.

I think he warbled a bit because he was probably

REALLY, REALLY HIGH.

I haven’t had time to fully dive in since I’m still decompressing from the Taylor Swift concert.

So far I have only listened to the 6/10 Bird Song. That alone is worth the money. I almost feel like if I listen to any more of this box set it would be akin to stealing.

Whatever happened to that tune anyway? The earlier versions of 72 and especially 73 are transcendental. To me it really never regained its glory in the later years.

So unbelievably disappointed. It arrived with over half of the discs scuffed and scratched. Many skip and two have glue imbedded in the discs. It's absolutely unacceptable and I contacted WRner directly. I've had way too many issues with DEAD.NET

My favorite bands website is apparently being run by the keystone cops. I'm sure that you have dropped hundreds here at least..if not more. I've had multiple issues with this website, ordering, damaged packages, late packages, etc. It's inexcusable and incredibly frustrating. Hopefully you get some answers. I'd go to WARNER DIRECTLY.

Last message on Sunday, apologising for 'technical issues' - nothing since then. Has anybody heard anything different?

....when the glass came shattered, I stumbled across something called damage control on this site. Don't ask me how.
I was high. I stumbled. And it worked.
Seriously though, I hope you all get your '73 GOGD. I'm familiar with the frustration.
And I've spent a pretty penny here fo sho.
Edit....GarciaLive 20 arrived. The Simple Twist Of Fate is stunning. Good shit.

As for FLAC-control&FLAC-updates from Dead.net (crickets... crickets...). It can't end good for pre-order customers: no money, no product.

I'm quite astounded they've ignored it all. As if "the plane has not crashed."

I've been having those problems too. I just ordered and downloaded the shows yesterday, so I've only played the Kezar show so far (my second Dead show IRL). There are several dead spots in the audio, most lasting several minutes.

I've been sending tech support a list of exactly where the dead spots are. So far, no response...

Parcelforce tracking shows my boxset is being held in Liverpool until the customs charge is paid. Unfortunately they don’t tell me how much this is so I can’t pay until I get a letter from them! With our postal service I now expect to see the box sometime next week.

EDIT: After a little poking around I saw that I didn’t need to wait for the letter, by telephoning Parcelforce I was able to get the required 17 digit code and then pay on-line. £45.57 which I think is the same Dave Rock has been asked for. Delivery is scheduled for tomorrow. Then I can spend the weekend checking it is OK.

I got a letter from Parcel Force today, telling me they are holding a parcel for me from overseas. Before it will be delivered, I need to pay them £45-57. This breaks down as £33.57 Import VAT and £12-00 Clearance Fee.
I hope Deadnet don't release anything else I want this year.

Ordered on 5-1 with no updates or communication. Sent email earlier this week with an automated reply. No tracking/shipment information provided.
7-7 update: Dead.net was helpful in tracking package and providing update. Thank you and now just excited for the weekend to enjoy listening to GD

Just dipping back in to share that I haven't heard anything either -- hard to gauge from this forum, but it seems like *nobody* who preordered FLACs has gotten them.

OTOH, I *am* seeing that people who bought them more recently have gotten them, *and* they are apparently full of mysterious silent gaps, so it seems like it's lose/lose :(

One additional weird/sad thing is that this forum supposedly has admins -- one of them posted the initial sales pitch post that started this topic -- but they have also been completely silent.

I'm suddenly flashing back to when I was in college in the late 80s, when you dealt w/the Dead directly by calling a phone number & listening to a recording of upcoming show dates, and you ordered tix by mail, and it all just worked out.

Does anyone have what sounds like a skip in Bird Song, (6/10) around 1:26 ?
A lot of my discs are beat up but so far they seem to play ok.
I'm not sure if I should bother contacting customer service about the damage...

The music and recording quality is amazing of course!

Bluecrow - thanks for mentioning this solution as being something that can remove glue from discs. So far, the only discs I have bought where this has an issue has been with some cds in the King Crimson box " Heaven and Earth." Long may it remain so.

Yep, same exact issues right down to the BIODTL at the same exact second of silence. Still nothing from Rhino, will try to keep folks posted. Seeing similar issues on the Hoffman board with a similar lack of anything from Rhino. Pleading patience to myself here, but boy is it difficult

I, too, discovered 6 floating discs but haven't examined for scuffs or glue.
I'm the kind of person who likes surprises, so I don't look at setlists before playing.
So far so good with discs 1 and 2. Phil is super animated on Box of Rain, and Jerry sounds great all around.
I was coming home from dinner last Friday, and Sirius was playing Estimated>China Doll from Des Moines.
Spoiled the surprise, but who cares. Then I was coming home from a BBQ and fireworks Tuesday, and guess what?
Estimated>China Doll from Kezar...what the? Feeling a little "Groundhog Day"ish, I had to check out the setlists.
Lo and behold, we have two (discs 4 and 10) He's Gone>Truckin>The Other One>Eyes of the World>China Doll>Sugar Magnolias.
All I can say is, "Let the comparative analysis begin!"

Has anyone scanned the individual show artwork? I've found a few images on google, but usaully one of our more tech savvy posters puts something out there.

Good luck to those spending the weekend at the Gorge, it's gonna be hot, like really hot, 99 degrees, hopefully the music is too

All discs "ripped" but there will certainly be sonic anomalies where the glue is. Listened to Discs 1 - 3 from 5/13 Des Moines yesterday. Kidd's reels used for Disc 1/Set I and they sound pretty darn good but Betty's reels were used for the remainder of show as primary source and, Holy Mother of Sweetness, do they sound amazing. The Playing In The Band to close Set II is fantastic. I had a brief bit of glitchy static on the ripped version of Around and Around ending Disc 1 and when I reexamined the disc it has the tiniest "specklet" of glue near the edge that I missed in my initial quality check. So add that disc to the list of problem children. Same glitchy static with the Playing but inspecting disc no glue, still a couple specklets of dust that I cleaned off, disc played ok then, reripped at a slower speed and problem solved. Phew.

Daverock - I haven't had a chance to try the 91% isopropanol but trust the source over on the SH forum. Don't have any and It's a drive to civilization to get some, so it'll be a day or 3 and I'll report back. Rubbing alcohol is 70%, still would work according to source, but the 91% more effective and worth waiting for as far as I'm concerned. I saw comment from at least one satisfied user over there last 24 hours.

DJMAC - Patience became harder and harder for me to come by in the course of the last few years. Hopefully an official response and solution re the corrupted ALAC files in very near future. Fingers crossed.

I Woke Today - I too ordered the box first day and having sort of run out of patience with no shipping email by 6/30 release date I used the "Submit A Request" form that loads when you click Contact Us on the Store page. I had a personal response in 24 hours with a tracking # and delivery date, which, as it turned out, was going to be 7/1. I was on my way to Boulder by then so only picked it up from PO yesterday. Maybe you used the same form but if not I'd give that a shot. Good luck.

BigBrownie - An "Estimated > China Doll" from Des Moines '73? A surprise spoiled with an even bigger surprise!

Wonderful CD set. Great Sound, and Jams!!! Set arrived in perfect condition.

I was getting a very brown acidy feel from all the negative comments

Still waiting on mine. Hope it arrives well.

I got the "on the way" email 2 days after me "on the way" email for Garcia Live Vol. 20. Which I've had for 5 days now Though the 4th being in the middle certainly makes is reasonable for it to be taking a bit longer.

No tracking info though, other than "label created." Anticipation building.

Just for kicks I sampled the 6/10/73 BIODTL track from the Apple Music store and it played for the standard 90 seconds without cutting out. So, for this show at least, I guess Apple got the good files and dead.net customers got the beat ones. For years, I bought physical or downloaded what was made available on iTunes. This is only the second time I’ve purchased a full “box” download here, the first and only prior being just last month, the June 76 box. Those files were made in 2020 and that thing went down smooth as silk in all respects so, I figured why not on this one. Now I know why not. It seems like the quality of everything these days has been cheapened down to the bone.

Since I’m venting, I will also say I’m tired of the pre-order and subscription boogie. Just put it up for sale fer Chrissakes! I remember the days of browsing and buying the plastic CD clamshells at a record store or a Borders Music a la carte. Positively genteel. Even ordering from dead.net was more pleasant before Rhino got involved. I don’t remember any preorder BS or overdone extras when ordering Winterland 73 CDs way back when. Just a box of good music. My one regret is not getting Winterland 77 when it was available. Scarce as hen’s teeth now. Hey dead.net/Rhino, how ‘bout a reissue of that one to make up for the current SNAFU? Hehe, worth a shot…

This glorious box arrived today in North Carolina. It's in perfect shape with no apparent scratches, scuffs or glue on the CD's. Hopefully the playback will be fine too. Sorry to all having issues with damage control. Here's to hoping there will be some resolve. It's just unacceptable.

I listened to the 5/26/73 Kezar show first, that being one that I actually attended. Here's a complete list of the silent spots in the download for that show:

Row Jimmy 5:00-6:44
Here Comes Sunshine 3:49-7:24
China Cat Sunflower 0:54-6:47
Mississippi Half-Step 3:36-7:45 (with a burst of static at the beginning of the silence)
Truckin' 3:52-8:01 (also with a burst of static)
Casey Jones 0:38-6:05

Also, did anyone notice that the cover art jpegs were all the same - RFK 6/10?

Did anyone else get the same or different results from their downloaded files?

....wow! That's bullshit to the nth degree. Totally unacceptable.

Same exact issues here on Kezar. So far only 1 corrupted track each on 5/13 and 6/10. The three middle shows are a mess.

:)))

....awaiting the condition of Proudfoots box. Mine had no glue or scuff issues.

No complaints

Another fine box set. And, for various reasons, it is truly special

May all purchasers get their music

My package made its way to Warwick, RI from CA for a first update, then made it the 40 min up to Norwood, MA, where it has sat since just before 6am, and despite it making it a few miles from me, they have now inexplicably tacked on another day, so I should receive it Saturday now. There are worse problems, but I was hoping to listen as I did some packing tomorrow night. Now, I'll just have to choose 6/22, 24, and 26/73 for some packing music. 6/22 is fantastic, the only possible nit to pick is the sibilance of the cymbals, which 6/10 did not have. So, if UPS is right, I have backups. I hope they are wrong, and I get my box tomorrow.

....Jim! I know who borrowed your John Deere. It was that dude.
Turkuaz is a fun band.
Also, the teaser trailer for the Bob Marley movie dropped today.

I paid the duty to Parcelforce yesterday, and as I was meeting a friend today, I arranged for it to be delivered on Monday. It would have been more still on Saturday.
Then my friend got in touch last night to cancel our get together. So here I am without a box and without a friend. Looks like it's back to the West Coast Pop Art etc etc.
That Jimi Hendrix at The Winterland 1968 is a good box, too. Well worth it. What a sound that man made.
Another good box just released could be "Written in Their Soul" a 7 cd box set of Stax demos. A 15 track sampler was included in this month's "Mojo" magazine - and if they are anything to go by it should be a great set.

I found the same issues with Kezar and have yet to analyze the 2 RFK shows
but I did find....

27_Truckin_Live_at_Iowa_State_Fairgrounds_Des_Moines_IA_5_13_73
(4:17 silence > 10:19)

19_Greatest_Story_Ever_Told_Campus_Stadium_UCSB_Santa_Barbara_CA_5_20_73
(1:06 silence > 4:46)
23_El_Paso_Live_at_Campus_Stadium_UCSB_Santa_Barbara_CA_5_20_73
(Silent the entire song) WTF?
26_Jam_Live_at_Campus_Stadium_UCSB_Santa_Barbara_CA_5_20_73
(7:06 silence > 7:36)
29_Stella_Blue_Live_at_Campus_Stadium_UCSB_Santa_Barbara_CA_5_20_73
(5:44 silence > 6:57)
30_Sugar_Magnolia_Live_at_Campus_Stadium_UCSB_Santa_Barbara_CA_5_20_73
(3:48 silence > 5:15)

Of course I've reached out to support and hopefully, they will correct these issues