I was there, great show , great venue.

I saw the Dead a lot of times in 1983, a lot of great shows at a lot of cool venues, but 12/28/83 was definetly my favorite show and should be an official release.

....I'm sure you probably posted it before, but how many shows did you attend? Genuinely curious.
Edit. The 4.11 Terrapin is outstanding. 🐢
As is all of the rhythm devils so far.
Another edit. A Brokedown to end the second set @ Santa Cruz?
Like A lot of others here, I usually don't look at setlists when I decide to hit play. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
If you want to do the shows in order, play Dave's 37 Williamsburg, VA after Blacksburg, then Huntington, then the Pittsburgh 4.18 philler from 37, then Dave's 15 Nashville then Dave's 7 Normal,IL.
That leaves Columbus & Lexington regarding the Spring '78 tour.
Those will be released in the future, along with the rest of Pitt as philler split between the two. I guarantee it. 🍻
Mark my words. I mean, the ptb are putting out a treasured Sante Fe show, so it's definitely doable.

over 100 times. My brother saw them over 300 times, so did Nite Cat. Pretty easy to do when the Frost, Greek , Warfield, Ventura, and all the other places they played are fairly close to where I live. Saw Garcia's Band play a lot at Keystone Palo Alto , and at the Warfield.

....you should tell your brother to join the group here.
We enjoy cool stories.

THAT'S better

Louder and fuller sound

Finally arrived!

Thanks for listening

Estimated>He's Gone from 4/6/78, allowed me to understand it was worth the wait.

rock on, gang

I have a list of 50 all time greatest show's. This list has show's that I'm sure you all are very familiar with. One of these show's from the list is in the box.

Would you all like to take a guess? It's a show that I was very happy with after listening!

But I got a strange letter last week, which I've only just opened. It's from parcelforce and it says they are holding a parcel for me sent from overseas which they will not release until I send £47.29. I assumed this was for the 78 box, but on closer inspection, it says the country of origin was Germany. I suspect it relates to another box I bought from Bear Family - in Germany last month. Which was delivered without additional charges. The tracking number reference number etc don't tally with the Dead box, which I understood was still with DHL en route.

There's no reason why the Dead box should have come via Germany, surely! I don't want to not pay it and lose it in the system. But I also don't want to pay for what has already been delivered.

DAVE ROCK
it will be the GD box. DHL shipped to Germany and then into the UK. If you look at the shipment tracker and click the details tab it should show you a second tracking number in red ending in DE. Clicking on this will show you further tracking into the UK.
Hopefully, you’ll see it soon.

Thanks Colin - I'll phone them up tomorrow and pay up. I got a bit confused with ordering a box set from Germany recently as well as this Dead box. I do remember either you or Frank mentioning that the customs charge was £47.29
Just thought I had found a way of wangling out of paying!

4 16?

4 7 right now sounds just exactly perfect

4/16 Maybe yea? Maybe nay?

Yes 4/7 is sounding great! I like that crunchy sound. Peggy O is masterfully played! Loser oh my sweet Lord! Music Holy Cow!!

I will go with 4 8

Long a top show of a friend

4 8 71
4 8 72
4 8 78

All strong in their own way

Played at the commercial break of the Padres Dodgers game Great song from a great album. Estimated Prophet played at next commercial break

Santa Fe!!!!! Whoo!!!!

....indeed.
Anticipation is making me wait - Heinz ketchup commercial. Circa the '80's.

Carly Simon singing

....but. I get it. 9.14.78 Blacksburg spinning.
Tennessee Jed in the number two spot is nice.
Stopping after the first set.
My cousins son notified me of a new Blood Incantation release, so I'm going to make a left.
First cousin once removed.

Paid up and due tomorrow. I hope it's worth it. I don't automatically buy Dead box sets these days, but I still like and play the last 78 box - the one that culminates at Red Rocks, so I thought I'd have a punt on this one.

There's so much dead air on the 5th cd of "Wattstax The Complete Concert" that in 74 minutes there's only room for 5 tracks. None of which are particularly long. Most of it is spent telling people to get off the grass.

Got my box at the post shop.
Greetings to Gerd. Enjoy your box.

Very excited all I had back in the day were AUDs. This is gonna be real good.

Started year with Frost ending with this!

Let's get some Meriweather shows, 83,84,85 in 2025.

'85 too!?

My recollection of set two is more meh, but next time it might glow

Set one is a keeper, for sure

Fun show.
Only show I took a camera, front row, not bad for tripping and no prior experience lol

Doing the 4th show in the box today. Life in the way but that's a good thing. Purposely not reading the book in this 1st go round. Just doing the comparisons between shows without the influence of info or opinion to see if my take is as others have seen it. Too early for any conclusions but so far, other than the 1st show in the box, these seem fairly standard shows for the era. Not complaining at all as this is my era and you really can't have too much Dead, lol. I'm imagining that touring takes its toll on creativity sometimes. So seldom that I listen to tours in order. More like, hey Jerry seems a little too high on this or that particular show. But even that is a generalization (i.e. 7-8-78 where being a bit too high is fantastic!) as it can turn on a dime sometimes, especially after a set break. Rambling on now so back to the music.
Cheers

Cocaine often does.

It actually arrived by FedEx (but I didn't pay for fancy shipping) two weeks ago, but I waited until today to open it. I wanted to make sure I had a lot of time to dig through it when I cut the tape open, and today was finally that day!

Philly was a crazy town if you didn't play good enough they might riot and if you didn't bring the energy down before you let them out you might get the same thing!

4/16 a well oiled machine!

...1985
3rd night of 3 in PHL
last show of 14 for spring tour
JG voice
brutal
requiring time-off to re-charge the batteries

My buddy Rich was at this show talks about it alot... His first was Englishtown saw The Dead 200 times. Had an audience tape from Rich, played it often!

Like Christmas Day here today. I am very impressed with the box - very snazzy. Excellent article by Steve Silberman, and the whole book looks very attractive. Ominous how drums....sorry, drumz... expands exponentially during the first 6 shows from a modest 7 minutes to a jaw dropping 25.
A few gimmicks - it took me a moment to work out the existence of the draws, and for all the flamboyance the cds are still just housed in bog standard card board sleeves. I will put them in paper sleeves back in the draw and put the empty cardboard covers on top, where the drum was.
I like the first show I have listened to - Estimated really developed in 78 compared to the previous year. Because it's all on 2 cds I though of it as a short show - but it is still about 2 hours 20 minutes long.

Weird sounds you can get on that drum. Today I got my Kalamazoo guitar delivered too. Made in 1937, it's in amazing condition for an 87 year old instrument. and sounds much louder than you expect looking at it's diminutive size. This was the guitar that Robert Johnson played, according to his contemporaries, and he can be seen holding one in that photo of him taken in a photograph booth.
I am wondering if I can use this drum as accompaniment to my guitar playing - get a bit of Hill Country/John Lee Hooker groove going. Though I don't want to put my foot through the drum by mistake.

is divine!!

Just listening 2nd time. What a beauty!
---
Gerhard,
morgen ist (leider) Kellerschluss und: we're preparing for the last ride to OFR in this season.

Cheers G.

I had a great time at those shows and always have dug em.
Last GA? Or was that 86?
The “voice” doesn’t bother me so much, but I understand why some folks can’t get past it.
Too bad, that Easter Sunday show is a short but sweet monster…except for the voice : (
Thought it was better by the 8? Maybe not, been awhile…I think I recall an interesting set list?
Yeah Philly, crazy energy! Some how saw more shows there than any other venue. What was that Mick Jagger quote? Lol

So Glad ya made it…awesome our friends across the pond are getting their boxes and digging on em! Woah Daverock, that sounds like a interesting axe, sounds expensive too lol You need one of those one man band set ups with the kazoo, harmonica, cymbals and kick drum etc ; )

Does anyone know if the Harding shows are in the Vault? If so, does their having been radio broadcasts in any way limit their chance at ever being an official release? Or because the shows already circulate in good quality audio?

Also, anyway to acquire the music on DP23?

Peace!

Buddy Rich was a Deadhead? Who knew?!!! ; ^ )

Oro - it was expensive, but nowhere near as pricey as all the others I have seen for sale online. Something of a bargain off a chap who also sent it in one of the most beautiful leather guitar cases I have ever seen. He wanted to talk to me on the phone before he sold it - which really added to the experience of buying it.
Not a bad idea, that one man band thing. Apart from the inclusion of a kazoo. No way was that a musical instrument !

I think I'll skip a day before I play the next show in the box - do one every other day. So far so good.

My 3rd show was one of the 86' shows. At 15 I made the mistake for a moment down on floor before show started and thank God exited before 1st set. Way bad scene in my opinion.

Pre GPS, driving in Philly always scared me a bit, which curtailed my visits to the Spectrum. Jerry's voice in '85? Goodness..

Thankfully, there was an explosion of new material and a focus on his playing. True, it's not for everyone and even for me, an avid '85 fan, I have to be in the mood. But it works.

I listened to 4/8 on my PC while working today. I had this on tape way back when but my recording sucked. This was much better. The things you are exposed to here.. every once in a while it's amazing Grateful Dead music you never really listened to before, especially when the only exposure you had was a raunchy, generation X cassette you had 35 years ago. Once in a while you get shown the light..

I guess that's what these forums are all about. Thanks to you all.

I had the same Buddy Rich idea/joke running through MY mind! :)

....the Dancin' was very nice. As was the Black Peter segue into Sugar Mags. All three of our dogs tails were wagging in the beat.

Almost half the shows played in Philly closed with a Jerry ballad.

4/8/85 I remember listening to the first set more than the second, D/S was sick! I love when they come out of space into GDTR...

4/8/78 guess I got to give it another listen...

I can send it to you if you give me an email address

Ian

Something else occurred to me listening to 4/7/78, 1st set songs were often much longer in 1978 than they were in the 72-73 shows I have listened to so much. The opening Promised Land here clocks in at 5.14 seconds compared to - picked off the shelf at random - the one that opens 9/17/72 which is only 3.39 seconds long. Sugaree 12.12 seconds compared to 7.59 in 72, and Tennessee Jed 9.30 in 1978 compared to 8.05 in the 72 show I chose,
To my ears, this makes the 1978 versions more exciting, as Jerry takes more solos in the middle sections before returning to the concluding verses. It doesn't work out like this in every 1st set song from 1978, but it does often enough for me to notice.
Things are reversed in the second sets though . "The Other One" clocks in at 39.07 on 9/17/72, and only 16.15 on 4/6/78.

Birchwood, don’t know what’s in the vault but I know Dave has 11/7/71 listed on his list he doesn’t have, but has been chipping away at for the last 12 years or so…so I bet we’ll get it eventually.

Daverock: good catch. I call this “wait for it dead” since they often really take their time and move at a relaxed easy pace and slowly build up and then WHAMMM! Jerry especially gets all animated and peaks out loud! Then back down again, really great dynamics on much of this box!
But then in the second set, perhaps not as much big or long jams.
One thing I don’t like about the late seventies: usually not a lot of big jams, or spacey stuff…but that’s personal minor quibble, overall I’ve been blown away by the consistent excellence throughout the box (really, the whole tour!)
Watching the video from the 12 really helped me fully grasp these shows.
And 8 shows of some of Betty’s best, yeah atta boys all around to the team on this one! MUCHO GARCIAS!

44 years ago I was up in S.F at the tiny Warfield Theatre for a knockout of a show with the Good old Grateful Dead. 3 sets of acoustic and electric Grateful Dead, it doesn't get any better then that. Big Fun!

Wow that 4-8 sure kicks off the first set with a rousing Half Step! Jerry is burning up on guitar licks!

but won't let me post it.

I do wish they would take the time and publish what is allowable and what isn't. I have no links or embeds. Keep names to a minimum. Getting old very fast.

Saw my last GD show!